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This is a classic collection of SF short stories, first published as a single book in 1950. The stories, written mostly in the 1940s, where later united into Isaac Asimov’s future history, which has three main arcs: Robots, Empire and Foundation. This year (2021) a new TV adaptation of Foundation is planned, so I decided to refresh my memory, for I initially read these stories over 30 years ago and they were an important step to my love of SF. Now I see they are rather naïve, a tendency of characters to smoke in almost every story as well as some gender prejudices are rather stingy nowadays, but it is definitely an important part of SF genre development and therefore highly recommended.


"±õ²Ô³Ù°ù´Ç»å³Ü³¦³Ù¾±´Ç²Ôâ€� (the initial portion of the framing story or linking text). The stories are presented as parts of an interview with a Robopsychologist Susan Calvin when she is quite old (according to the writer), namely 75. Each story can be read as a standalone.

"¸é´Ç²ú²ú¾±±ðâ€� (1940, 1950) a young Susan had a robo-nanny, but her mom under social pressure decided it gives wrong education to her daughter, so forces her husband to return it to the factory. 5*
"¸é³Ü²Ô²¹°ù´Ç³Ü²Ô»åâ€� (1942) a second expedition to Mercury has its new robot behaving as a drunk, while only old giant robot models from the first expedition as a replacement. 3*
"¸é±ð²¹²õ´Ç²Ôâ€� (1941) the same duo from the previous story, Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, field specialists for U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, and are employed mainly on testing new or experimental robots in practical situations, on a space station that supplies energy via microwave beams to Earth and their robot replacement there questions that humans created him, devising own religion. 5*
"Catch That Rabbit� (1944) Powell and Donovan are testing a new model of robot on an asteroid. This robot has six subsidiary robots, described as "fingers", which it controls via positronic fields, and sometimes they stop working no one knows why. 4*
"³¢¾±²¹°ù!â€� (1941) a mind-reading robot is developed, following hidden wishes as orders. 4*
"Little Lost Robot� (1947) a robot with truncated First law hides among other robots on a military research station on an asteroid, scientists are working to develop the hyperspace drive. All work is halted so it should be found ASAP. 4*
"·¡²õ³¦²¹±è±ð!â€� (1945) Powell and Donovan are sent on the first ever manned hyperspace flight. The machine that made it possible pouts like a little kid, hiding something. 4*
"·¡±¹¾±»å±ð²Ô³¦±ðâ€� (1946) a city mayor supposes that his opponent is a robot in disguise 5*
"The Evitable Conflict� (1950) Earth is ruled by robot minds, but now a number of errors in their plans starts to grow. Why? 4*