Venue: Online
Date: Tuesday, 9th November 2021
Time: 18:00-19:30

In this session of the Dialogue Society Book Group, we will explore Rest of the Robots by Isaac Asimov on Wednesday, 3rd November 2021.

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The Dialogue Society Book Group - Meeting 38: Rest of the Robots by Isaac Asimov

A classic collection of eight short stories and two full-length novels—all about robots and robotics—completing the entire library of Asimov robot writings begun in I, Robot.

At first, they were simple, unthinking machines victimized by frightened men suffering from a “Frankenstein complex.” Later, as the technology advanced, they became capable of independent action.

In eight short stories and two novels, master storyteller Isaac Asimov traces the development of positronic robots with brains of platinum-iridium. Sensible, non-mephisophelian robots designed by engineers and not pseudo-men created by blasphemers, Asimov’s robots revolutionized the field of science fiction.

All the more fascinating because they are not supernatural creatures but precision engineered machines, the positronic robots react along rational lines that exist in their brains from the moment the last rivet is in place and the last electrical connection has been made.

‘A fine book of entertainment … the single most useful publishing idea of the year (1966)’
Algis Budrys, Galaxy Science Fiction

About the Dialogue Society Book Group

The Dialogue Society Book Group explores the capacity of books to provide windows into different cultural and intercultural worlds. We will be choosing a series of quality novels to read and then to discuss together at relaxed, sociable gatherings at the Dialogue Society. Participants are welcome to suggest books for future sessions.

Participants will need to find a copy of the book chosen for each meeting and will need to read it prior to the meeting.

We will have a conversation about the book and our responses to it. Discussion may cover:

• the quality of the storytelling
• the authenticity and accuracy with which a historical/cultural situation is portrayed
• our personal responses to it

You do not need to be an expert on literature or anything else to join in. The group should be enjoyable for anyone who enjoys a good book and likes discovering new ones.

Prospective books for future sessions (NB we are open to suggestions)

• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain