Product Description

Robot Dreams spans the body of Asimov's fiction from the 1940s to the mid-80s, and features classic Asimovian themes, from the scientific puzzle to the extraterrestrial thriller, all introduced in an exclusive essay written especially for this collection. TP: Ace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218036 in Books
• Published on: 1990-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780441731541
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Isaac Asimov authored over 400 books in a career that lasted nearly 50 years. As a leading scientific writer, historian, and futurist, he covered a variety of subjects ranging from mathematics to humor, and won numerous awards for his work.

Customer Reviews

Mostly NON-robot short stories
I expected this to be a collection of robot stories because of the title, but only two are robot stories. They are the first two, and the first one is also a story from _I, Robot_ (which I just re-read). The second one is "Robot Dreams" from which the book takes its title, and it is another Susan Calvin robot story like those from _I, Robot_ but was written in the mid-'80s (_I, Robot_ was written 30 years earlier). It is in the same mold with the earlier stories, but with a nod to advancing technology (small computers, for instance).

Many other stories in this collection center on "Multivac," an immense computer. The name is an obvious derivative of UNIVAC, a large, vacuum-tube based computer of the early 1950s. UNIVAC became famous for predicting that Eisenhower would win the 1952 election based on early returns (against pundit predictions that Stevenson would win). That led directly to one story, "Franchise," which takes the ability to sample a small number of votes to predict a total election outcome and drives the idea to an absurd (but nevertheless interesting) extreme.

There are a variety of other stories, from ones dealing with beings without bodies to one talking about an alien medical investigator who has come to Earth to find out more about a disease. All are worth the read, and some are truly fascinating and end in very unexpected ways.

Ralph McQuarrie provides the cover illustration and several others for individual stories; they are of the style familiar to anyone who has seen original art from "Star Wars" (which he worked on). Asimov's introduction is amusing; he explains what he got right in predicting the future--and what he got spectacularly wrong. He discusses this with respect to both stories in the book (Multivac, for instance) and to other books and stories he had written decades earlier.

All in all, this book was a fun read.

Why have I not heard more about this book? It's great!
This is a collection of Asimov's probably 20 best short stories. Only three of the stories have anything to do with robots, unless you consider computers and talking cars robots.

This is easily one of the best books I have ever read. I read it in between his robot novels and Foundation novels, and it holds its own quite well against those.

Only one of the stories is in any other collection I know of. "Jokester," "The Billiard Ball," and "The Last Answer" are some excellent ones, but I agree that "The Last Question" (as it is named in my book; not "Final Question") is the best story I have ever read. Anybody remotely interested in science fiction at all should definitely buy this book. Before long you will be an Asimov fan for life.

A fine collection
This is a fine collection of the Good Doctor's tales. It's partly an excuse to publish a book with Ralph McQuarrie's haunting illustrations, but it's also a collection no Asimov fan should be without.

Most of the stories have nothing to do with robots. However, there _is_ a story written just for the collection, and it's the title piece -- a short and haunting Susan Calvin tale that introduces some _very_ deep ethical ambiguities. You'll want to let this one roll around in your mind for a while.

The rest are selected (and selected quite well) from the Good Doctor's lifelong output. Some of them are indifferent, but two of Asimov's own favorites are here: "The Last Question" (my own choice for his very best short story ever) and "The Ugly Little Boy". The usual cliche applies here: these two alone are worth the price of the book.

This volume was originally conceived as a companion to _Robot Visions_, and Asimov fen will want the other one too.