Positrooniline inimene : [romaan] (original 1993; edição 1999)

Faithful robot friend
you've more than earned your freedom
keep up the good fight. ( )

It's amazing sometimes to see the differences between books and the movies they inspire. There are definite similarities to both and there are major discrepancies between them. Thankfully the book is not nearly as schmuckish (not sure that is even a word) as the movie was. I am so glad that there was so much artistic licensing in the second half of the movie, since it turns out to be more or less a Robin Williams vehicle. As is usually the case, the book is much better than the movie.
This is Asimov at his best I think, with the help Silverberg fleshing out the characters more than Asimov did in the Bicentennial Man short story. You can see the difference in styles when comparing this to the Foundation Series that Asimov wrote alone. This really gives the Three Laws a thorough going over legally as the story progresses. Highly recommended. ( )

This is an excellent story of robots and men in its own right, but, at first, I thought there appeared to be some inconsistency with some of Asimov's other books. It is obviously set in the same fictional universe, but the previous advancement of robotic science and creating lifelike androids on planets other than Earth (e.g. Aurora) seems to be unknown. Then, I realized this is actually a prequel to the events told in the other robot books (The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn). ( )

For such a quick and easy read, at least on the technical level; intellectually, it will blow your mind.

There is so much more to this story than that of an individual's struggle to evolve to an autonomous entity in a society that considers him to be nothing more than a appliance. Is he any less human or sentient simply because he was manufactured not developed? The story will have you thinking quite a bit about subjugation, slavery, autonomy, humanity, prejudice, and more.

Readers who have seen "Bicentennial Man" and "I, Robot" will recognize names and situations and will enjoy seeing where the ideas for these movies was born.

This is a book I would recommend to those who've been hesitant to read science fiction, or want to introduce it to a younger or reluctant reader. It is definitely one I will keep multiple copies of because I plan on giving away/loaning them when I have enough on hand. ( )

J'ai d'abord vu le film "L'Homme bicentenaire" tiré de ce roman (que l'on trouve aussi sous le nom "l'homme bicentenaire"), avec Robin Williams dans le rôle d'Andrew. Excellent film au demeurant mais j'ai voulu lire le livre et je n'ai vraiment pas été déçu de cette lecture. Ecrite à quatre mains par deux maîtres du genre, Robert Silverberg et Isaac Asimov, "Tout sauf un homme" est un roman sur la nature humaine plus que sur les êtres artificiels. Disons plutôt que le thème principal est celui qui permet de déterminer ce qui fait le propre d'un homme, au delà de ses raisonnements, de ses parties biologiques, de ses capacités sociales. Le dialogue incessant entre Andrew le robot et les générations humaines qu'il croise au long de son existence montre les limites entre les choses "inanimées" et des personnes. C'est à cette frontière que se déploie ce roman très agréable à lire, fluide et clair dans ses propos. Nous y retrouvons avec plaisir tous les développements qu'Asimov avait fait sur les interprétations de ses trois lois de la robotique, jusque dans leurs retranchements ultimes qui touchent Andrew.

Un excellent livre que je ne peux que recommander. ( )