Robot Novels

Important Robot Novels

Time and Again (1951) by Clifford Simak
- A novel in which enslaved androids seek freedom.
City (1952) by Clifford Simak
- The only creatures left on Earth are outdated robots, dogs, and inferior humans. Highly advanced computers and robots have gone into space, and they have left "butler" robots behind to take care of Earth.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert Heinlein
- A lunar colony's central computer, called Mike, gains sentience and helps the colonists in their revolution against Earth's domination.
When HARLIE Was One (1972) by David Gerrold
The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age (1974) by Stanislaw Lem
- A collection of short stories about robots. They often satirize traditional science fiction cliches, even Asimov and his robot laws, and explore the philosophical issues surrounding machine intelligences. Lem's stories show robots, computers, and androids in a very human way, with human fears and human faults.
Tower of Glass (1970) by Robert Silverberg
- Androids are created for labor in an underpopulated world. The androids eventually strive for freedom and develop a religion based on their creator.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke
- An expansion of the original filmscript by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. A ship's computer, HAL, goes haywire as he succumbs to humanlike fears and an inability to handle lies.