I, Robot

First published in 1950, this book is a linked set of stories about robots and the Three Laws that are supposed to govern them: a robot may not harm a human, must obey, and may protect itself, in that order. A framing interview with the robopsychologist Susan Calvin holds the pieces together. Technicians Powell and Donovan face machines that reason their way into paradoxes on space stations and mining worlds; other tales concern a child's nursemaid robot, a mind-reading robot, and robots used in politics and planetary economy. The collection is puzzle fiction about logic, labour, and control, not a single novel with one protagonist.

Bound in red cloth, cover blocked in black, grey and white with a design by the artist. Red slipcase. Black endpapers.