I, Robot Resources

If you wanted to see how much Asimov wrote—or how many times his books were published, check here first. (And check out how long that list is.)

This isn't Asimov himself, but a fan page (we hope) that collects a lot of useful Asimov information. Especially useful for that FAQ.

We're including this link not because we love the review (though it might be useful to see what other Asimov readers think of these stories), but more because we love the covers this website collects. Check out that French Les Robots with Gloria and Robbie hugging.

Here's an article about Dr. Daniel H. Wilson's new book, How to Survive a Robot Uprising, which we mostly include just because we like the title.

Here's the thing—this movie wasn't actually based on Asimov's stories. It was an original screenplay and then someone decided to merge that screenplay in with some I, Robot stuff. There are only little shreds of Asimov's story in here; for instance, the robot Sonny tries to lose himself in a warehouse full of other robots, kind of like in "Little Lost Robot." (If you haven't seen the movie, check out the trailer here; the "Little Lost Robot" moment shows up around the 1:28 mark.) But mostly this is less Asimov and more a typical "technology is going to get us" movie. Also, is it just us, or do the homicidal robots kind of look like iPods?

For more on this movie, check out this New York Times article, "For Asimov, Robots Were Friends. Not So for Will Smith." And here is their review of the film. And here is a review of the movie from the Guardian, which notes that this movie reverts to the Frankenstein Complex in some ways, and so is opposite Asimov's own lesson.

The British television anthology show did a pretty faithful adaptation of Asimov's story, which you can even see on Youtube.

Another British television series, Out of the Unknown, is lost except for a few clips and photos. Still, it's interesting to see how popular these stories were on British TV. 

The New York Times helpfully collects several articles here. We're especially interested in this brief glimpse into his life from 1969—apparently, he spends a lot of time writing. Also of special interest, here is his obituary from 1992. Lastly, Asimov wrote for the Times occasionally, mostly about technology and the future; here's a 1964 piece he wrote imagining what the World's Fair of 2014 will be like.

The Guardian newspaper recently reprinted some of an interview with Isaac Asimov (and other science fiction authors, like Douglas Adams and Arthur C. Clarke).

This Asimov obituary in the Guardian was written by Brian Aldiss, another great science fiction writer.

Also, he pronounces "robot" the way that we hate—like "row-butt."

Start with the one where he discusses the Golden Age, which included the time when Asimov was writing his robot stories in the 1940s. He also mentioned John W. Campbell, Jr., a famous science fiction editor and writer. Notice he talks about the importance of science as it is actually practiced. Here and here.

This interview with Isaac Asimov is from 1988, so it's a little dated, but he talks about a lot of big ideas.

Here's a short piece on NPR on the book and the adaptation onto the screen

And here's a short NPR review of the I, Robot stories (which frustratingly confuses "Liar!" and "Runaround").

The science fiction radio show Exploring Tomorrow did an adaptation of "Liar!" with an introduction by John W. Campbell, the editor who worked with Asimov on most of his robot stories from this time.

Asimov was clean-shaven when young, but all his older pictures have that facial hair that makes him pretty recognizable.

Robert A. Heinlein, L. Sprague de Camp, and Isaac Asimov were not only all great writers of science fiction and fantasy; they also all worked for the military during World War II. Here's a picture of them at the U.S. Naval Air Experimental Station in Philadelphia.

A good baseline cover to compare the others to.

This cover interests us because it shows a semi-typical image—a robot or alien holding a human body. (Check out these movie posters for contrast.) But notice the difference? The human that the robot is holding is a dude, not a woman. And the robot isn't stealing or threatening the human—it's trying to help.

This isn't a published cover, it's something a fan made. But we're throwing it in here for two reasons: 1) check out the wood grain of the robot—as the designer points out in the comments, there's other robotic characters in her design, like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz, which is a good reminder of how there's a long tradition of non-human humans; 2) we dig that the most obvious feature of the robot is its heart, which is not what we usually think of with robots, but is pretty accurate with Asimov.

Most of our robots don't look like people—we have Roombas instead of Rosie the robot maid from The Jetsons. But with the Asimo and with this, you can see that we're still working on humanoid robots.

Look at this while thinking of Stephen Byerley—we're not yet making human-looking robots, but we're getting there.