I, Robot Analysis

OK, so 1998 isn't the future anymore, but it was the future when Asimov was writing these stories in the 1940s. And in that future, there were going to be robots, and a lunar base, and manned exped...

The Short VersionThe frame story is told by a first person narrator (the journalist), and he's on the edge of Calvin's story; so it's first person, peripheral narrator.The stories themselves are to...

Science FictionWell, the science fiction part is pretty clear: this is a book about an imaginary technology (humanoid robots) and how people deal with them. (This was even more science fiction-y wh...

Compare Speedy ("Runaround") and Herbie ("Liar!"): both robots are caught in dilemmas where the Three Laws are in conflict. Speedy has to follow an order but also has to protect himself; Herbie has...

Asimov once said, "Everything I write is intended to enlighten, even my science fiction." We're with you on that, Mr. Asimov. In fact, from 1958 to 1991, Asimov wrote almost 400 essays on science f...

Asimov did not like this title. He wanted to name this book Mind and Iron, which is a phrase Calvin uses in the Introduction (Introduction.32); she seems to be saying that people think robots are j...

There are lots of little endings in this book of nine stories, but let's deal with the last one: Calvin and Byerley discuss how the Machines have started directing human progress. Byerley seems ups...

Asimov once said, "Everything I write is intended to enlighten, even my science fiction" (source). And that's why we're giving this a 4 on the Tough-o-Meter: Asimov probably knew a lot of big words...

Since I, Robot is a collection of short stories, we're going to try something a little different here. Here, we're going to break the plot of the whole book down—but we're going to do so as if th...

Since I, Robot is a collection of short stories, we're going to try something a little different here. Here, we're going to look at "Runaround" and see how it doesn't exactly fit with the "Overcomi...

Since I, Robot is a collection of short stories, we're going to try something a little different here. Here, we're going to break two different stories down to show how Asimov uses (and abuses) his...

"Robot": Asimov didn't invent the word "robot" or the idea of mechanical or created men. Honestly, it would be hard to trace the idea of mechanical or created life. Certainly, we'd want to bring up...

There is one instance in this book where a woman likes a man and puts on lipstick to seem more attractive to him; and that's about as steamy as the whole things gets. There is no—we cannot stress...

Descartes (Reason.56), French philosopher, most famous today for his phrase "I think, therefore I am.""Lead on, Macduff" (Runaround.70) is a reference to Shakespeare's play Macbeth, though it is, i...