I, robot

Yes, I know, not having read Asimov before now is a shame, but at last, this is over and I can now stand proud again ;) So I've been to my local bookstore seeking advice about what to read first from Asimov and I've been redirected to his great "Foundation" series which sounded as though it would be months before I could read a single volume so I decided that a small collection of stories would be a good start; I've waited 2 weeks for the book to come and here I am : this book consists of 9 stories.
[RANT MODE] I've been shocked by the cover when receiving the book : there is a huge Will Smith, set in a futuristic landscape, featuring his "I'm in a bad mood" face, and a title "Isaac Asimov - I, robot"; and it is subtitled "now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox starring WIll Smith". Yeah right. I just want to read the book, I don't care about the 20th Century Fox producing so-called "major" movies. Yes I know, I'm getting old and am ranting too much, but I just don't like being forcefully fed the advertising junk with every step I make. [OUT OF RANT MODE]
Aside from this minor annoyance, the stories have been really interesting, all of them presenting the psychological study of a robot which has gone astray, for whatever reason. I was thinking that the style would be somewhat outdated, due to the age of the books, but it is very straight, simple and contemporary.

1. Robbie : nice little story about the ties bonding a little girl with her nursemaid robot.


2. Runaround : a robot goes mad, lost between rule 1 and rule 2...


3. Reason : I've loved this one. A robot, capable of reason, comes to the same conclusion as Descartes "I think therefore I am" and creates his own religion. I find it ironic that the robot created by humans recreates their metaphysical conflicts and invents his own god to fill in the blanks of his existence.


4. Catch That Rabbit : This one is about a robot and his "fingers"; not as acute as the others in my opinion.


5. Liar! : This one is excellent too : the great experts are being plaed with by a robot able to understand the "human" feelings (love, ambition...)


6. Little Lost Robot : What happens when you tell a robot "Go lose yourself!"


7. Escape! : one more "bending rule one" case, to get to the space-warp engine and interesting theories about people dying and reliving in order to "time-space-jump".


8. Evidence : This one is nice too, about a robot replacing a human being and how human intolerance can be fooled by simple tricks : seeing is believing.


9. The Evitable Conflict : interesting (again!?) story about how robots govern life and future of mankind and act to protect themselves to protect mankind.

All in all, this book is very witty, makes you think about things, and has made me want to read more of Asimov's work... and why not Foundation Saga. Time will tell.