Robot Fiction is, in fact, a sun genre of very popular Science Fiction. A concept of a machine that can exhibit all the desired physical & emotional aspects of a human while inherently having capabilities far beyond what we can individually achieve has fascinated authors and filmmakers alike. From adaptations in popular motion picture franchises such as “Star Wars” to famous sci-fi books like ” i-Robot”, humanoid mechanical beings and the idea of Artifical Intelligence has not only remained in fiction realms but crossover long ago to actual research. In this article, we will cover some of the best Robot fiction books that you must read like a sci-fi enthusiast.
10. How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion by Daniel H Wilson
In 2007, the book was chosen as the American Library Association’s 2007 Popular Paperback Novel for Young Adults. The book is littered with witty guides and satirical comments; the Author writes this book in the form of manual helping you defend yourself in the age of artificial intelligence. The author himself has a doctorate in robotic, so he obviously knows a thing or two in how to disarm your robots.
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9. R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Karel Kapek
Written in 1920 the books author certainly showed his imagination in this wonderful piece of writing. The book starts off in a factory where artificial beings are created out of organic matter and though first these beings are submissive to humans things change & they end up wiping the human race. The book has had a huge influence on western sci-fi culture and was one of the first fiction books to mention the word “Robot.”
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8. The War of the Worlds by H.G Wells
Written in the 1880’s this book does not directly deal with the concept of robots. But the idea of out worldly beings and their machines being used to drive the human race to extinction is still pretty much present. The book paved the way for future apocalyptic adaptations, many of which are on our list.
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7. Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H Wilson
Ever wondered what was the inspiration behind all those Terminator movies?? Well look no further the Robopocalypse can perhaps be just that. The novel is written in a set of first-hand accounts told by the few international survivors of the robot attack manipulated by Archos, the child-like Artificial intelligence that controls the global network of machines.
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6. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
This novel follows a different tone than the rest as thee book revolves around an intelligent mechanical automaton that is caught between the fight of two human factions The Alchemists and the Mechanics. The book is dark but contains themes such as freedom, ownership, and power which will resonate with a lot of readers.
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5. Neuromancer by William Gibson
William Gibson initially thought that his book might be seen as a shadow of the movie blade runner released in 1983(one year prior to the release of the book). None the less the book was not perceived with the criticism first thought of by Gibson and went on to win some of the prestigious laurels for science fiction category that included the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards.
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4. Ilium By Dan Simmons
This book relates to an alternate history where wars were fought on Mars and were subsequently watched over by Greek gods including Zeus and his immortal family. Apart from gods and humans, there is the third race of extraterrestrial robots that play a major role in the novel. The book published in its original form in 2003.
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3. 2001: a Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke (5.08$)
The book was developed concurrently along with the movie of the same name but was released after the film. The robot in this book is HAL the computer onboard the spaceship, alternative you can think of HAL as the robot having the entire spacecraft as its body. There a total of four books in the series by the Author and were released from 1968 up to 1997. Both the novel and the movie were a follow-up from the author’s short story “The Sentinel”, written in 1948.
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2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?by Philip K. Dick (Author), Roger Zelazny (8.92$)
The novel depicts a story in not so distant future of 2021 where the World War has killed millions and has driven many humans off the planet. The immigrants to Mars have received incredibly life like droids so subsequently worried governments of the potential havoc these robots can create on earth they are banned from the planet. Rick Deckard, is depicted as a bounty hunter who charged with retiring any rogue robots that may roam free on earth but if cornered the droids strike back with devastating results.
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1. i-Robot by Isaac Asimov
Written in 1950 the novel was adapted in a movie of the same name starring actor Will Smith. The book is renowned in the Sci-fi world especially for its three laws that govern robot behavior; these laws are as stated:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
The laws changed the way world perceived robots and made them far more interesting than they were ever before. The novel deals with the relationship between man and robots in the future and even has the depiction of emotional robots. A great book and a must read for the ones interested in robot fiction
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