Between the Lines discussion

Started reading I Robot. wow not at all like the movie. Started out slow then got interesting, getting slow again. Nothing resembles the movie so far.

This is one of the 1001 books to read before you die. Not sure how I feel about it yet. Will let you know when I finish

This book is frustrating. One minute I like it the next minute I'm bored. Then I like it again! I will get through it!

This is a collection of science fiction short stories. A few of the stories i did enjoy "Robbie", "Escape" and "Evidence".

Some of the characters were in all the stories or majority of the stories. The three laws of Robotics were in all the stories. They were threaded together.

Overall I would have to say the concept with the stories was okay. I only enjoyed three of the nine stories.

This book was okay. Movie adapation was much better took some of the concepts from the book the story in the movie is more exciting then any of the stories in the book.

If you really like science fiction I would recommend this book but i have read other science fiction that I felt was more interesting and enjoyable.

I finished the book and that is quite an accomplishment as I found it drab. clean book, no swearing or sexual content.

I am never going to read that book. You're flip-flopping is making me sea-sick. ;o) Way to stick with it!

It wasn't worth it. But I can put a notch in my belt! I have never read a book that I felt like a human yo-yo! Now I have!

You need to think of this book as a period piece.

Not only is it very old science fiction, but it came out of a period when you could not publish a science fiction novel for adults. There was some wiggle room for YA science fiction, but no market for adult science fiction.

Imagine a world were no science fiction book had been on the best seller lists for more than 40 years, and you have Azimov's writing period.

Also Azimov is a pretty typical SF author of his period. Most of the SF books written in the 40s and 50s just aren't readable today.

Starling wrote: "You need to think of this book as a period piece."

I read and enjoyed this as a child. It was my father's and I thought it was quite adult at the time. In the light of what Starling says, I don't think I ought to reread it!

Starling,
I would have to disagree with your statement that most SF books written in the 40's and 50's are unreadable today.

Some examples of great sci-fi written back in the day:
Day of the Triffids
I am Legend
Earth Abides
Fahrenheit 451

Lori,

OK, I'm checking copyright dates...

Day of the Triffids - 1951 TV series 1981
I am Legend - 1954 movie 2007
Earth Abides - 1949 never filmed I believe
Fahrenheit 451 - 1953 movie 1966

OK, I am wrong about the dates. I took it for granted these were books from the 60s or even later, but none of these books were typical of the science fiction of the time. And I think that in many cases they didn't find their audience until the 60s, or in some cases even later.

Also, I said "most" in my post, and I'll stand with that.

Hey... I liked I, Robot. I thought it was fascinating to see how the Three Fundamental Rules of Robotics applied to each story.

Beth, I liked I, Robot too. Probably read it more than once, but like a lot of books I used to read, I haven't read it in 20 or 30 years.

Richard, I was a teen ager in the 50s. I wasn't into comics at all so I'm sure you were right about Ray Bradbury and comic buyers. As for the "infamous Comics Code" I experienced that first hand. What I do know is that libraries, in the New York City area which is where I lived, didn't buy science fiction books until the 60s. Of course they also didn't buy a lot of children's books that are considered classics today. Believe it or not you couldn't find Louisa May Alcott much less Isaac Azimov in a New York City library.

So perhaps it is just my own experience. Libraries in places other than New York City. Paperback bookstores opening on 42nd street in 1962 with books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

It is interesting how different people's experiences can be living in the same city, during the same decade, even if they are more or less the same age.

I loved science fiction as a kid, what little I could find.But my main source was the library, in fact for most of my childhood it was the only source. And being a female science fiction "fan" in the 50s was weird. I was very much alone.

I have to say that I love all sci-fi, but the older stuff will always be my favorite. It shows us so much about the times they were living in then, not just what their idea of the future was. Same thing with really old sci-fi movies. Are they cheesy? Absolutely! But they all have that kernal of truth and paranoia that just gets me every time.

I have a collection of old sci-fi anthologies and magazines from the late 40's, 50's and 60's and while they may not have been mainstream popular, they certainly had an audience and earned respect.

Oh my, my father is into all that well when he was younger at least he still has all his destinies, astounding, and fantastic, and all those sci fi/fantasy magazines, also he keeps boxes of old comics some of them fall apart when you pick them up interesting how much cheaper they were back then... ah well I'm not much of a sci fi buff I basically read fantasy or classics, I have read one really good sci fi book though that I would reccomend its called Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl.... I had read I robot though but that was when I was ten and I dont remember much of it.....

I find some of the discussions here strange. I started reading science fiction in the 1970s, with Asimov and Heinlein being two of the first authors I came to love. It's weird to see comments that the stories are too "clean," with no swearing or sexual content; once upon a time you didn't need to be racy to write a compelling story, you just had to write well.

I was so familiar with Asimov's Robot Stores (and the R. Daneel Olivaw/Elijah Bailey stories), that differences in the movie from the original works are what stood out for me.

This happens to me a lot, like the adaptations of Philip K. Dick's stories, I Can Remember It for Your Wholesale and The Second Variety. The movies are good in their own right, but nothing like the stories.