I, Robot

Written by Isaac Asimov and having since been made into a blockbuster movie starring Will Smith (it’s got to be my favourite of his pictures so far), I, Robot doesn’t appear to be anything special on first glance, but it’s actually one of the most important and influential works in science fiction literature. 

The Three Laws of Robotics: 

1) A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 

2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders conflict with the First Law. 

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 

A journalist is putting together a profile of the life of famous robopsychologist, Susan Calvin. During these interviews, Calvin depicts the world and humanity’s evolving relations with robots and the Machines, regaling the journalist with her own personal stories of robot evolution where a robot as interpreted the Three Laws and something has gone wrong. 

The thing that is most incredible and phenomenal about this book is Asimov’s startlingly accurate predictions about the evolution of technology and humanity’s changing relations with it. I, Robot was first published in 1950 and to think about how the book reads to a modern audience is pretty spooky really. Asimov was lightyears ahead of the curve! 

The writing is nothing special, indeed the entire book is a mere 250 pages made up of 9 chapters that are each a short story about a drama with a robot. The stories are all interlinked with their relevance to robotics and that they are all memories of Susan Calvin, that she had been directly or indirectly in one case, involved. The book’s simplicity in terms of narrative and indeed character establishment serves to highlight the ground thoughts on which the book is written, making it a gripping book in that it the story doesn’t rope you it, it’s the ideas associated with the happenings of the chapters. I, Robot is a hugely thought-provoking book, which ironically has much more relevance to today than it did back when it was first published. Asimov’s establishment of the Three Laws of Robotics is a set of rules that other science fiction writers have adopted and base their more modern works on. See? Despite its size and apparently unprepossessing simplicity of narrative structure, characters, and plot, I, Robot is one of the most influential books in literature. 

Filled with horror, technology, science, emotions, tensions, drama, and a little dash of sly comedy, I, Robot is a fantastic book that no one can afford to skip reading. In his autobiography, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? Steven Tyler said that this was one of his favourite books! There you go, instant cred! It’s easy to read, the individual stories are rather gripping, but the thoughts associated with each robotic escapade are what gives this book its phenomenal cosmic power!