Paperback, 221 pages
French language
Published 2005 by Pocket.
On l'a retrouvé nu, amnésique et balbutiant. Ça n'a pas intéressé les Patrouilleurs. Ils n'ont même pas fait un rapport sur l'incident. Alors, les gens l'ont appelé Rik. Rik le Dingue. Et ils l'ont confié à Lona, la petite paysanne. Elle lui a fait faire ses premiers pas et voici qu'il se souvient. Rik semble détenir une information capitale, tout au fond de sa mémoire détruite. Tout le monde va mourir. Tous les habitants de la planète Florina. Car il y a des courants dans l’espace. Les étoiles sont secouées par de grandes marées stellaires. Qui pourra sauver Florina ? D'autant que les habitants aimeraient bien se débarrasser des Sarkites qui les ont colonisés. Faut-il pour autant appeler Trantor à l'aide et changer un tyran contre un autre ?
On retrouve dans ce roman quelques éléments précurseurs du cycle de "Fondation". C’est en quelque sorte un prélude à l’épopée de …
On l'a retrouvé nu, amnésique et balbutiant. Ça n'a pas intéressé les Patrouilleurs. Ils n'ont même pas fait un rapport sur l'incident. Alors, les gens l'ont appelé Rik. Rik le Dingue. Et ils l'ont confié à Lona, la petite paysanne. Elle lui a fait faire ses premiers pas et voici qu'il se souvient. Rik semble détenir une information capitale, tout au fond de sa mémoire détruite. Tout le monde va mourir. Tous les habitants de la planète Florina. Car il y a des courants dans l’espace. Les étoiles sont secouées par de grandes marées stellaires. Qui pourra sauver Florina ? D'autant que les habitants aimeraient bien se débarrasser des Sarkites qui les ont colonisés. Faut-il pour autant appeler Trantor à l'aide et changer un tyran contre un autre ?
On retrouve dans ce roman quelques éléments précurseurs du cycle de "Fondation". C’est en quelque sorte un prélude à l’épopée de Trantor dans cet Empire galactique qui compte plus de 20 millions de mondes.
Esta saga es regular, aunque la historia que lleva este libro es entretenida, la verdad no la recomiendo pero si eres fan de Asimov, debes leerla pero ojo no es buena.
The first thing to get out of the way is the movie starring Will Smith. Basically someone negotiated the rights to use Asimov's title, threw out all of his content, and made the movie they had already decided they wanted to make. (This is very similar to the movie Starship Troopers which shares a title and a couple of character names with Heinlein's novel, and nothing else. It would be better if they would just make their own damn movies, but at least some writers got paid, which I am always in favor of. I know a few writers. ).
This book is a collection of short stories originally written for the pulps in the 1940s. At the time, Asimov was always looking for story ideas, and had just read a book also called I, Robot by Eando Binder, and it helped spark an interest. He also has talked about …
The first thing to get out of the way is the movie starring Will Smith. Basically someone negotiated the rights to use Asimov's title, threw out all of his content, and made the movie they had already decided they wanted to make. (This is very similar to the movie Starship Troopers which shares a title and a couple of character names with Heinlein's novel, and nothing else. It would be better if they would just make their own damn movies, but at least some writers got paid, which I am always in favor of. I know a few writers. ).
This book is a collection of short stories originally written for the pulps in the 1940s. At the time, Asimov was always looking for story ideas, and had just read a book also called I, Robot by Eando Binder, and it helped spark an interest. He also has talked about how so many stories about robots took the view that they would turn into killers and would endanger us all. (Very similar to the breathless alarmism over Artificial Intelligence we see currently.) Asimov thought that was not the way things would work, so he wrote stories in which he introduced the Three Laws of Robotics:
First Law
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
These have entered the science fiction world as shared culture by now. And what they allowed Asimov to do was look for ways in which things might still go wrong, and then have his characters try to figure it all out. He later took his robots and the Three Laws into some Science Fiction/Mystery novels: The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn.
BTW, the real company U.S. Robotics took its name from the company in these stories. The real company is known primarily for making modems.
The later stories were the best ones. Unfortunately, you can really tell his early works are his early works. The stories in the second half are great, though.
