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Robot Dreams
''Robot Dreams'' (1986) is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, illustrated by Ralph McQuarrie. The title story is about Susan Calvin's discovery of a robot with rather disturbing dreams. It was written specifically for this volumeAsimov, Isaac. ''Robot Dreams''. Ace, 1990, page xvi and inspired by the McQuarrie cover illustration. All of the other stories had previously appeared in various other Asimov collections. Four of the stories are robot stories, while five are Multivac stories. The companion book, which also showcases McQuarrie's illustrations (and includes Asimov essays in addition to short stories), is titled ''Robot Visions.'' Contents It contains a foreword by Asimov as well as the following stories: # "Little Lost Robot" (1947), a ''Robot'' story # "Robot Dreams" (1986), a ''Robot'' story # " Breeds There a Man...?" (1951) # " Hostess" (1951) # "Sally" (1953), a ''Robot'' story # "Strikebreaker" (1957) # " The Machine tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (1922–1928)American (1928–1992) , occupation = Writer, professor of biochemistry , years_active = 1939–1992 , genre = Science fiction (hard SF, social SF), mystery, popular science , subject = Popular science, science textbooks, essays, history, literary criticism , education = Columbia University ( BA, MA, PhD) , movement = Golden Age of Science Fiction , module = , signature = Isaac Asimov signature.svg Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sally (short Story)
"Sally" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the May–June 1953 issue of ''Fantastic'' and later appeared in the Asimov collections ''Nightfall and Other Stories'' (1969) and ''The Complete Robot'' (1982). Plot summary The story portrays a future in which the only cars allowed on the road are those that contain positronic brains; these are autonomous cars and do not require a human driver. The story takes place in 2057. Fifty-one old cars have been retired to a farm run by Jake, where they can be properly cared for. All have names, but only three are identified by Jake. Sally is a vain convertible, possibly a Corvette (the only convertible US-made sports car at the time the story was written), and one sedan, Giuseppe, is identified as coming from the Milan factories, where Alfa Romeo was headquartered. The oldest car on the farm is from 2015, a Mat-o-Mot that goes by the name of Matthew, which Jake had once chauffeured. The cars in the far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Billiard Ball
"The Billiard Ball" is a science fiction short story by American author Isaac Asimov, written in September 1966 and first published in the March 1967 issue of '' If''. It appeared in Asimov's 1968 collection ''Asimov's Mysteries'', in his 1973 collection ''The Best of Isaac Asimov'', in his 1986 collection ''Robot Dreams'' and in '' The Complete Stories, Vol. 2''. Plot summary An example of what Asimov called his "late style," the story is a journalist's recollection of the events surrounding the discovery of an anti-gravity device in the mid-21st century. Heavy with physics theory, the story describes the relationship between the creator of the device, the billionaire inventor Edward Bloom, and his former classmate James Priss, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who had developed most of the theory that made the device possible. The men are expert billiards players and bitter rivals. Challenged to execute a shot on a table which is equipped with the device, Priss sends a b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ugly Little Boy
"The Ugly Little Boy" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' under the title "Lastborn", and was reprinted under its current title in the 1959 collection ''Nine Tomorrows''. The story deals with a ''Homo neanderthalensis'' child which is brought to the future by means of time travel. Robert Silverberg later expanded it into a novel with the same title published in 1992 (also published as ''Child of Time'' in the UK). Asimov has said that this was his second or third favorite of his own stories. Plot summary A Neanderthal child is brought to the present day as a result of time travel experiments by Stasis Inc, a research organization. He cannot be removed from his immediate area because of the vast energy loss and time paradoxes that would result, and is kept in the present by way of a Stasis module. In order to care for the boy the organization hires Edith Fellowes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spell My Name With An S
"Spell My Name with an S" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the January 1958 (and only) issue of ''Star Science Fiction'' under the title "S as in Zebatinsky", and was reprinted in the 1959 collection ''Nine Tomorrows'' under Asimov's original title. The story was inspired by Asimov's frustration with the frequent misspelling of his name as "Azimov". Plot summary The story concerns Marshall Zebatinsky, a Polish-American nuclear physicist. He is concerned that his career has stalled, and in desperation consults a numerologist for advice on restarting it. The numerologist advises him to change the first letter of his name to "S": Sebatinsky. A complicated series of events ensue in which Sebatinsky is investigated by the Security establishment, who feel that he must be trying to hide something. His Polish origins lead them to suspect that he is trying to distract attention from relatives in the Eastern Bloc. They disco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Feeling Of Power
"The Feeling of Power" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the February 1958 issue of '' If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', and was reprinted in the 1959 collection ''Nine Tomorrows'', the 1969 retrospective ''Opus 100'', the 1970 anthology '' The Stars Around Us'', and the 1986 collection ''Robot Dreams''. In the introduction to ''Robot Visions'', Asimov lists this story as one of the notable robot stories. The story is representative of the genre of sci-fi that started in the 1950s as a reaction to computers, around the theme of caution against human mental atrophy in the computer era. Arthur C. Clarke's 1960 story "Into the Comet" is in a similar vein. Plot summary In the distant future, humans live in a computer-aided society and have forgotten the fundamentals of mathematics, including even the rudimentary skill of counting. The Terrestrial Federation is at war with Deneb, and the war is conducted by long-range weap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Verse (short Story)
"Light Verse" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the September–October 1973 issue of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. It later appeared in the collections '' Buy Jupiter and Other Stories'' (1975), ''The Complete Robot'' (1982), and ''Robot Dreams'' (1986). The author has reported that he wrote the initial draft in one session and later had to change hardly a word in the final revision. This story details a small portion of the life of Avis Lardner, the widow of an astronaut, William J. Lardner. Plot summary After her husband's death, Mrs. Lardner receives a large pension, which she invests wisely, becoming very wealthy. She buys many valuable jeweled artifacts from a number of countries, and displays them in her home. She then takes up the art of light-sculpture, which fascinates many, but she refuses to sell her works and only paints them for her parties. Mrs. Lardner had become notable not only for the light sculptures, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Does A Bee Care?
"Does a Bee Care?" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in '' If: Worlds of Science Fiction'' in June 1957, and reprinted in the 1975 collection '' Buy Jupiter and Other Stories''. Gold Key Comics also published a comic book version of the story in 1976 in #4 of the four issue science fiction series ''Starstream: Adventures in Science Fiction.'' It also appeared in 1976's ''Questar: Illustrated Science Fiction Classics'', published by Golden Press and adapted by A. Moniz with artwork from Jack Abel and in 1975 in '' Buy Jupiter and Other Stories''. Plot summary An ovum is deposited on pre-human Earth by an alien race and in due course it gives birth to a creature that takes the form of a human. Over the centuries, the creature lives amongst humans and mentally influences certain of them to advance the development of civilization. In particular, it works on scientists and eventually it causes the development of space travel. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Question
"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was anthologized in the collections Nine Tomorrows (1959), The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973), Robot Dreams (1986), The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov (1986), the retrospective Opus 100 (1969), and in Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 (1990). While he also considered it one of his best works, “The Last Question” was Asimov's favorite short story of his own authorship, and is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac. Through successive generations, humanity questions Multivac on the subject of entropy. The story overlaps science fiction, theology, and philosophy. History In conceiving Multivac, Asimov was extrapolating the trend towards centralization that characterized computation technology planning in the 1950s to an ultimate centrally-managed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jokester
"Jokester" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the December 1956 issue of ''Infinity Science Fiction'', and was reprinted in the collections ''Earth Is Room Enough'' (1957) and ''Robot Dreams'' (1986). It is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac. Plot summary Noel Meyerhof is a "Grand Master", one of a small cadre of Earth's recognised geniuses, who has the insight to know what questions to ask Multivac. But a computer scientist is concerned that Meyerhof is acting erratically. As a known joke-teller, he has been discovered feeding jokes and riddles into Multivac. By computer analysis, the characters in the story investigate the origin of humour, particularly why there seems to be no such thing as an original joke, except for puns. Every normal joke is something that was originally heard from someone else. The computer eventually tells them that humour is actually a psych ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franchise (short Story)
"Franchise" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the August 1955 issue of the magazine '' If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', and was reprinted in the collections '' Earth Is Room Enough'' (1957) and ''Robot Dreams'' (1986). It is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac. It is the first story in which Asimov dealt with computers ''as computers'' and not as immobile robots. Plot summary In the future, the United States has converted to an "electronic democracy" where the computer Multivac selects a single person to answer a number of questions. Multivac will then use the answers and other data to determine what the results of an election would be, avoiding the need for an actual election to be held. The story centers around Norman Muller of Bloomington, Indiana, the man chosen as "Voter of the Year" in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Although the law requires him to accep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Martian Way
''The Martian Way'' is a science fiction novella by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1952 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' and reprinted in the collections ''The Martian Way and Other Stories'' (1955), ''The Best of Isaac Asimov'' (1973), and ''Robot Dreams'' (1986). It was also included in ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two'' (1973) after being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965. There were originally no female characters in "The Martian Way", but ''Galaxy'' editor H. L. Gold insisted that one be included. Asimov complied by giving Richard Swenson a shrewish wife. It was not what Gold had in mind, but he accepted the story anyway. When Asimov wrote "The Martian Way" in 1952, it was thought that the fragments making up Saturn's rings might be over a mile in diameter. It is now known that none of the ring fragments is more than a few meters in diameter. The final journey back to Mars is described to be under constant ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
