THE COMPLETE ROBOT

Virtually an anthology of anthologies: all 31 of Asimov's robot yarns, 1939-76, only four of which—recent, YA-ish filler material—have not appeared in other collections. Based, of course, on his famous Three Laws of Robotics, Asimov's mechanicals come in every variety: there's Multivac the super-computer; robot dogs, birds, autos, and walking bombs; robots immobile and robots humanoid. Asimov's first robot tale, "Robbie," is here, along with all the yarns about those Mutt & Jeff robot field testers, Powell and Donovan. Plus: all the stories featuring robo-psychologist Susan Calvin, one of Asimov's more memorable creations; a tale starring Lije Bailey and his robot partner Daneel, detectives from the novels The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun; and, finally, the award-winning robot-becomes-human yarn, "The Bicentennial Man." To be sure, many of the older efforts look a bit bedraggled today, though the best of them ("Reason," "Liar!," "Little Lost Robot," etc.) have weathered pretty well; and the newer stories tend to be weaker if more thoughtful. But even if the overall quality here can't match that of its exemplar, I, Robot, there's quantity and variety enough to please Asimov fans and robot fanciers—who can now assure themselves that they've missed nothing.