# I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

8 Hacker News commenters recommended I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend Asimov's short story collection for its thoughtful mapping of robot issues and subtleties, and for being a great read as a teenager. Critics mostly object to the 2004 film adaptation rather than the book.

## What people warn about

- 2004 Will Smith film criticized (2 comments): "We would need bots of the level of that awful I Robot movie with Will Smith." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46809022)) "tripe like Will Smith's _I, Robot_ or the Matrix sequels" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167842))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir](https://hackerapproved.com/p/project-hail-mary.md): 117 recommend
- [There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-is-no-antimemetics-division.md): 98 recommend
- [Blindsight by Peter Watts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blindsight.md): 96 recommend
- [Dune by Frank Herbert](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dune.md): 82 recommend
- [Accelerando by Charles Stross](https://hackerapproved.com/p/accelerando.md): 71 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/000753227X?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780007532278) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "I, Robot by Isaac Asimov", https://hackerapproved.com/p/i-robot/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).