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eBook Category: Science Fiction Locus Poll Award Winner, Nebula Award(R) Nominee, Asimov's Reader's Choice Award Winner, Hugo Award Nominee
eBook Description: Legendary robopsychologist Susan Calvin questions robot LVX-1 about his unique ability to dream, and opens a frightening window into the hidden underlayers of his positronic brain.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Robot Dreams, 1986
Fictionwise Release Date: June 2001

754 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [17 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [33 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [7 KB] , Portable Document Format (PDF) [182 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [6 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [64 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [76 KB] , hiebook (KML) [50 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [39 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [5 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [7 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [34 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [13 KB]
Words: 2026
Reading time: 5-8 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 1590621344

For those of you unfamiliar with the robot stories of Isaac Asimov, this is a fine place to take a taste. The story features one of his most famous characters, Susan Calvin, a robotics expert. She’s faced with a puzzle -- a robot that claims to experience dreams. Read as she interviews the robot and unravels the puzzle. This is classic Asimov, complete with his Three Laws of Robotics; to me like a visit from an old and dear friend. -Scott Danielson, Fictionwise Recommender

I wouldn't have thought it possible at this late date for someone to come up with another seminal short-short in the SF field, the equal of Clarke's THE STAR or Asimov's own THE LAST QUESTION, but the good doctor has done it here. Robopsychologist Susan Calvin is back, and at her best (but you don't need to have read any of Asimov's other robot stories to enjoy this one). A treat, short and sweet. -Robert J. Sawyer, Fictionwise Recommender

"Last night I dreamed," said LVX-1, calmly.

Susan Calvin said nothing, but her lined face, old with wisdom and experience, seemed to undergo a microscopic twitch.

"Did you hear that?" said Linda Rash, nervously. "It's as I told you." She was small, dark-haired, and young. Her right hand opened and closed, over and over.

Calvin nodded. She said, quietly, "Elvex, you will not move nor speak nor hear us until I say your name again."

There was no answer. The robot sat as though it were cast out of one piece of metal, and it would stay so until it heard its name again.

Calvin said, "What is your computer entry code, Dr. Rash? Or enter it yourself if that will make you more comfortable. I want to inspect the positronic brain pattern."

Linda's hands fumbled, for a moment, at the keys. She broke the process and started again. The fine pattern appeared on the screen.

Calvin said, "Your permission, please, to manipulate your computer."

Permission was granted with a speechless nod. Of course! What could Linda, a new and unproven robopsychologist, do against the Living Legend?

Slowly, Susan Calvin studied the screen, moving it across and down, then up, then suddenly throwing in a key-combination so rapidly that Linda didn't see what had been done, but the pattern displayed a new portion of itself altogether and had been enlarged. Back and forth she went, her gnarled fingers tripping over the keys.

No change came over the old face. As though vast calculations were going through her head, she watched all the pattern shifts.

Linda wondered. It was impossible to analyze a pattern without at least a hand-held computer, yet the Old Woman simply stared. Did she have a computer implanted in her skull? Or was it her brain which, for decades, had done nothing but devise, study, and analyze the positronic brain patterns? Did she grasp such a pattern the way Mozart grasped the notation of a symphony?

Copyright © 1986 by Isaac Asimov