I, Robot: To Protect
{4.5/5} “Clearly, robots did not just think and learn. Nate had applied logic to circumstances to account, not only for facts in evidence, but for complex human emotions. Susan knew more than a few living, breathing people with a lesser grasp of empathy than Nate.”
I, Robot: To Protect by Mickey Zucker Reichert, published in 2011
Susan Calvin graduated with a medical degree specializing in psychiatry. Now she’s working with kids at a hospital in New York. She finds out about the Three Laws of Robotics from her father, who works at the company that builds robots. She meets a robot named Nate, and finds him remarkably human-like. Then she gets a chance to work with researchers on something brand new — nanorobots.
This book takes place thousands of years before the other books in the Robot series, when robots are in their infancy. Susan Calvin is a character created by Isaac Asimov, and is featured in several of his short stories.
This novel has a different feel than the others in the series. It’s much closer to our own time, and there’s nothing about galactic politics since everyone’s on Earth.
It’s about successes and failures. It’s about people advancing science, and people who don’t want it to advance and are willing to use violence to make their voice heard.
This is the 1st book I’ve read by Reichert. I will read at least 2 more.
The previous novel in the series is Have Robot, Will Travel.