This collection consists of 11 short stories (5 included in the earlier Robot collections - including the title story) and 1 poem.
None of the new stories were on a par with the best of previous collections and I couldn't get into 'The Life and Times of Multivac' at all.
The highlights were 'The Winnowing' and 'Old Fashioned'.
Each story was preceded by an explanation from the author about how the story came in to being. It was surprising that (although perhaps not given the extent of the his back catalogue) he had exact dates for when the stories were begun and for exactly what purpose.
I am amazed by a writers ability to create a story to fit a certain scenario. Asimov discusses how he had been asked to write a particular story for a particular publication and time and again delivered. I have often wondered whether I could write fiction - any fiction - and when I get down to trying there is nothing there. An idea might be present, but translating that to words that are entertaining and follow some sort of logic just seems beyond me.
So, after 6 collections of short stories it is time to start the 'Robot Series' proper with the first full length story - 'The Caves of Steel'. It has a lot to live up to, the motivation for reading all the stories prior was to better understand the logic behind robotics, so I hope it delivers. I've not been disappointed so far, so I am sure it will be fine.
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