Annotation: I, Robot

In Readers' Advisory, we learned to write annotations, which are brief notes about a book. They include general information about the book, a plot summary, subject headings and appeal terms, and similar works you might like. These valuable advisory tools give readers a snapshot of the book to see whether they might like it. Below is one I did for I, Robot.

Author: Issac Asimov

Title: I, Robot

Genre: Science fiction

Publication date: 1950

Number of pages: 192

Geographical setting: New York City

Time period: The future

Plot summary: The Three Laws of Robotics: (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 it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. As humans develop robots, their creations must follow these three laws. But while robots make humans’ lives easier, other problems arise. A reporter writing the history of these creations in the year 2057 interviews Dr. Susan Calvin a robopsychologist at U.S. Robot and Mechanical Men. Through her reminisces we learn about the evolution of robots and the dilemmas that humans and robots must deal with under the Three Laws.

Subject Headings: Science fiction — American; Robots; Human/computer interaction

Appeal: compelling; measured; intriguing; reflective; multiple points of view; episodic; open-ended; evocative; polished; darker; psychological; haunting

3 terms that best describe this book: futuristic; contemplative; engrossing

Similar authors and works:
Fiction
Margaret Atwood’s satire, The Handmaid’s Tale, takes place in the future in Gilead, what was once the United States. A handmaid named Offred struggles under a monotheocratic government that refuses her her femininity and her identity.

Robot Dreams, a textless graphic novel from Sara Varon, tells the tale of a lonely dog who orders and assembles himself a robot companion. But things don’t go quite as the dog or the robot were hoping.

Ted Hughes tells a compelling and poignant story of a boy and a huge alien robot in Iron Giant. After crashing to earth, the robot befriends a boy, and soon they are very close. But the townspeople and the Army are unsure if they want a giant robot roaming free.

Nonfiction
In Love + Sex with Robots: the Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, artificial intelligence (AI) expert David Levy examines what man’s relationship with robots will be in the future. Using anthropology, psychology and current research in robotics and AI, Levy paints a vivid picture of what robots will become and how humans will interact with them.

Beyond Human: Living with Robots and Cyborgs by Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Malartre explores the history and future of robotics. More important is their examination of human’s uneasy relationship with sophisticated machines and their own will power.

Kim Vicente looks at the widening gap between humans and their technology in The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology. With technology moving faster than we humans can manage it, Vicente argues for a technology that works for humans instead of surpassing them.

Reading Maps

A reading map is a website that uses a single book as its focus. Using the themes from the book, pages are created that offer recommendations for similar books (read-alikes) and links to other websites. There is usually a summary of the book and information about the author as well. Libraries are creating reading maps to harness the energy of popular books and provide a one-stop source of read-alikes and additional information for their patrons.

For my Readers' Advisory class, I created a reading map for Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford. This nonfiction book deals with the importance of being able to work with your hands and how this is no longer valued in an "information age" to the point that most shop class programs in high school are gone. Using many examples from his own life, including his work as a motorcycle mechanic, Crawford claims that job satisfaction can be easier for a tradesman than a cubicle worker.

After creating summary and author pages, I decided on four themes: Hands, Work, Early, and Ride. Hands refers to working with your hands; Work relates to job satisfaction; Early is for getting kids to work with their hands; and Ride refers to motorcycles. Each theme got its own page with read-alikes and links to websites that feature similar information to the theme. I threw in some of my own pictures as well as those of the book's cover and author and, voila, a reading map.

Reading Soulcraft is the end result. It was not too hard using Wordpress to create the site. It takes a bit of time to do the research, but the results are great. For a popular book in a library and readers asking for something similar, a reading map is a great tool.