The Rest of the Robots. By Isaac Asimov

The Rest of the Robots


Isaac Asimov


Published in 1967 by Panther Books

    A collection of short stories (as usual) - eight of the robot short stories that did not find a place in 'I, Robot', but had been published, most of them anyway, in Sci-Fi magazines in the 1940s. The stories are mainly explorations of possible variants and deviations of Asimov's famous three laws of robotics, esp. the first law. The stories are not heavy, very light in fact, but ingenious and make good reading. There are several prescient observations and descriptions - video phones for example. And I could not find a single instance of any grossly stupid or wrong forecast. Also in the great American (e.g. Tom Clancy today) tradition, the heroes (and heroines) are 'All-American' types, full of rugged self-reliance and Yankee can-do. The one meta-message that comes through loud and clear is about the goodness and greatness of the American way of life. The most prominent example of this is that the robots are all researched, produced and owned by a private corporation called United States Robots and Mechanical Men Inc., and all heroes and heroines (actually one heroine called Dr. Susan Calvin) are employees of the company.

   I read the book a few days after watching the Rajnikanth movie 'Enthiran' and see that many ideas have been lifted from Asimov, including the central one of the Robot developing seemingly human emotions and feelings. Of course there is, in the movie, more than one specific reference to Asimov, including to the first law. Though the story and screenplay (and direction) are credited to Shanker, I understand that the short story writer 'Sujatha' (S. Rangarajan) contributed, maybe informally, by way of ideas, bits of dialogue, etc.