Robot Dreams (Remembering Tomorrow) Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1990

I expected this to be a collection of robot stories because of the title, but only two are robot stories. They are the first two, and the first one is also a story from _I, Robot_ (which I just re-read). The second one is "Robot Dreams" from which the book takes its title, and it is another Susan Calvin robot story like those from _I, Robot_ but was written in the mid-'80s (_I, Robot_ was written 30 years earlier). It is in the same mold with the earlier stories, but with a nod to advancing technology (small computers, for instance).Many other stories in this collection center on "Multivac," an immense computer. The name is an obvious derivative of UNIVAC, a large, vacuum-tube based computer of the early 1950s. UNIVAC became famous for predicting that Eisenhower would win the 1952 election based on early returns (against pundit predictions that Stevenson would win). That led directly to one story, "Franchise," which takes the ability to sample a small number of votes to predict a total election outcome and drives the idea to an absurd (but nevertheless interesting) extreme.There are a variety of other stories, from ones dealing with beings without bodies to one talking about an alien medical investigator who has come to Earth to find out more about a disease. All are worth the read, and some are truly fascinating and end in very unexpected ways.Ralph McQuarrie provides the cover illustration and several others for individual stories; they are of the style familiar to anyone who has seen original art from "Star Wars" (which he worked on). Asimov's introduction is amusing; he explains what he got right in predicting the future--and what he got spectacularly wrong. He discusses this with respect to both stories in the book (Multivac, for instance) and to other books and stories he had written decades earlier.All in all, this book was a fun read.

This book is a collection of Asimov's robot short stories. Each story is a stand alone. It does provide a good background knowledge of the development of robots prior to the Caves of Steel story in which we are introduced to R. Daneel Olivaw, a humaniform robot who works with Elijah Bailey. I would recommend reading this volume if you are going to continue on with the Bailey books and then on to the Foundation series.

A buddy recommended an Asimov short story so I bought this with the intention of focusing on that one. It's my 1st Asimov reading.I loved it. It's imaginative. But best of all, I have a new fave short story. Not the 1 recommended. And not widely known! It's called The Billiard Ball. And I read the last few pages grinning ear-to-ear.As in all collections of stories, I found some better than others. But I never found 1 that I didn't like outright. (how often can that be said?) And ALL the stories are thought provoking (how often...?)It's robot stories (only a few) made me think "How could they've made 'I Robot' better?"The disclaimer/introduction is interesting too. Written in the 80s as an old man, it's not so much of his mea culpa of things he got wrong, but the timeline of his writing that impresses. 1st story he wrote was in 1939 when he was 19! Think of the (lack of) technology back then and these stories jump off the page!

A collection of intriguing short stories from a master. Quick reads, and I was sorry to finish the final tale. If you love Asimov, this should definitely be in your library.

From a good time and the style is fully engaging.I could feel the promise of the time that this was written. QWERTY fun

This collection has many stories and references to the super-computer Multivac. Some of the tales deal with philosophy, existentialism, and all manners of deep thought. The stories are highly sophisticated in their scientific or mathematical approach and well-thought out plots. Because of the time at which they were written, though, the few female characters in the stories seem more like an obstacle for the main character to overcome or like competition to surpass than the helpful companions or co-stars we are used to nowadays.

After finishing the last story of the book, I lay trying to get to sleep thinking about how I could best write a review of this book. So I got up an here it is. Isaac Asimov is clearly writing dreams to his robots, the readers, about the birthing pangs of artificial intelligence and trying to control it, to the co-habitation of Man and A.I. Each story starts with you guessing, "What is this going to be about," to wondering at the end with tears or a gasp of "How can he do that?" So if you get this book thinking it's going to be about robots dreaming, you will be sadly let down. This book is about Isaac Azimov giving you his dreams about Artificial Intelligence and the rest is up to you.