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    Robot Dreams
    Robot Dreams
    Robot Dreams
    Audiobook14 hours

    Robot Dreams

    Written by Isaac Asimov

    Narrated by George Guidall

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 17, 2014
    ISBN9781490633107
    Robot Dreams
    Author

    Isaac Asimov

    Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, the world’s most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor’s fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century.

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    Reviews for Robot Dreams

    4/5

    467 ratings19 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a great exploration of technology and human nature. The author's speculations on changes that computers and robots may bring are engaging and ahead of their time. The anthology plays with various ideas, morals, and philosophies, and it is fun to see what the author got right about 'the future.' The stories are amazingly creative and imaginative, pushing the boundaries of sci-fi. Although some readers found the technology mentioned to be distracting and the plot descriptions terrible, overall, the title is highly recommended for adult listeners who enjoy clever and informative stories.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Author's speculations on changes that computers and robots may bring to mankind's ways of living and dying. In an Era of exponentially growing capabilities of artificial intelligence,robotics,IT systems it often feels to me like we're living inside one of his stories. Is it written with the good end in mind?..
    • 5/5
      Amazing little stories that stimulated the imagination and the curiosity like a furious tempest. Asimov styles is both astonishing and simple. you found yourself filling in the blanks and constructing the worlds in which his characters live, and yet its easy to understand the complexity of what he is saying and imagining. his creativity was wonderfully pushing the boundaries of sci-fi in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and even today is still a force on its own!
    • 4/5
      Short story collections are always a mixed bag, but the stories here that are brilliant, perceptive, satirical and illuminating make up for the ones that I thought were just ok. Despite the title, robots are not featured in many of the stories, but they did contain computers, aliens, social science, Neanderthals, memory-enhancing drugs and bees. A very entertaining group of stories.
    • 5/5
      Brilliantly clever stories, an absolute joy to listen to.
      I’m usually not a fan of science fiction but the detail, narratives and writing kept me hooked, I listened to the whole thing in 2 days! Highly recommend!
    • 5/5
      Highly imaginative and informative all the while inspiring for cognitive scientists.
    • 5/5
      Isaac Asimov, Wow! What a great exploration of technology and human nature. It's like Black Mirror, but 30 years earlier.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the themes of the stories and the narrator does a good job of delivering them. I’m aware of the sacrilegious nature of the next part though, lots of the technology mentioned is waaaaaay off the mark and I found it to be a bit too distracting at times. Yes, it was written a long time ago and I understand how the in universe progression could have gone that way. For me though, it cost the title a star.
      I would still recommend adult listeners give the series a go, not younger listeners though as many of the social norms from the period don’t necessarily foster appropriate behaviour for today’s society.
    • 5/5
      A great anthology that gets better with every story. It plays with various ideas, morals and philosophies. Plus it is fun to see what Asimov got right about "the future."
    • 1/5
      Kept skipping every time the plot was being described terrible
    • 5/5
      The best science fiction writer ever. Vision ahead of his time.
    • 5/5
      Asimov tells coherent and engaging stories. I recommend for reading.
    • 3/5
      A collection of early Asimov tales with an introduction by the author. I'd read some before in other collections (I think a few were in 'Nine Tomorrows') and some were new to me. My favourite was 'The Martian Way'.
    • 2/5
      I'll admit--this book just did not click in my brain. It's a collection of short stories which advocate a particular future. The unrelated short stories wore on my patience, and I didn't find them all that engaging or thought provoking. I was disappointed and did not finish it.
    • 5/5
      I am a big fan of all of Asimov's robot stories and novels and this is a pretty quintessential entry in that universe focusing on Susan Calvin.
    • 4/5
      Brilliant. Considering some of these short stories were written in the 1940s, Asimov is shockingly prophetic about our time - not in terms of specific technological advances (though he nails a few of those as well), but more in terms of how 21st century humans would think and interact with that technology and with each other.
    • 4/5
      The entire impetus for this collection was a piece of artwork by Ralph McQuarrie - which eventually became the cover painting for the book. Containing one new short story (Robot Dreams) and a bunch of reprints of Asimov's short fiction, the book is a very good compilation of his work. Oddly, despite the title, only a handful of the stories in the volume are related to robots, although that doesn't detract from the quality of the finished product.The new story in the book concerns a robot that is dreaming somewhat disturbing dreams. It features a return of Susan Calvin, a figure who shows up in many of Asimov's robot stories, and, as typical of the robot stories, deals with the effects of the Three Laws of Robotics. Which it isn't one of the best robot stories, it is still one of the better ones.The remaining stories are drawn from some of the most famous works by Asimov - "Does a Bee Care", "The Ugly Little Boy", "Spell My Name With an S" and others pull from Asimov's consistently well-written body of short fiction. Unlike his later atempts to link up all his novels in a somehwat unsatisfying manner, Asimov's short fiction never seemed to suffer, and remained strong throughout his career. This collection of short fiction is no exception.
    • 4/5
      All stories herein are Asimov written and vary from good to excellent. Many of them feature a computer called MultiVac, the computer of Asimov's pulp magazine day. It took up a large warehouse bay and cost a fortune to create. Even the bard of science fiction couldn't imagine a computer the size of a package of cigarettes that could contain thousand sof books. This is a must read for Asimov fans.
    • 5/5
      Regarding "Franchise":A couple of paragraphs in, I was hooked. A futuristic tale involving a presidential election… this should be interesting, given our current world. Cut to the date of the vote in Asimov’s story: November 4, 2008. I begin to wonder how close to home this tale will be, given Asimov’s foresight as to so many other issues in our current world.This story is too perfect for me to ruin it for you. Go find a copy of it. While we don’t have a Multivac crunching numbers and evaluating data for each election, I believe that Asimov was closer to our current truth than I would like in a perfect world. Elected officials are not chosen by issues or counts as they should be. I think the 2000 and 2004 elections could be considered evidence of this.I am not a political activist. I do not want to be; I don’t even want to pretend to be. But I have to pose one question to you: How long until all of our elections are based on how one person feels about the price of eggs?
    • 5/5
      This is my favorite collection of short stories. It includes my favorite story of all time, "The Last Question". 15 pages of pure bliss. Other great stories, such as "The Ugly Little Boy", are included in this collection. And the artwork on the cover looks fantastic!