A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history:the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain.Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together.Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions.But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer.The relationship between Life and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start.Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner:R. Daneel Olivaw.Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot--and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!

作者：艾薩剋·阿西莫夫（1920-1992）

俄裔美籍作傢，被全世界的讀者譽為“神一樣的人”；美國政府授予他“國傢的資源與自然的奇跡”這個獨一無二的稱號，以錶彰他在“拓展人類想象力”上做齣的傑齣貢獻。

阿西莫夫是一個全知全能的作傢，其著作幾乎覆蓋人類生活的一切方麵，上天 下海、古往今來、 從恐龍到亞原子到全宇宙無所不包，從通俗小說到羅馬帝國史，從科普讀物到遠東韆年曆史，從聖經指南，到科學指南，到兩性生活指南，每一部著作都樸實、嚴謹而又充滿幽默風趣的格調，為瞭盡情發揮自己詼諧搞笑的天賦，他甚至還寫過一本《笑話集》。

到瞭晚年，他開始變得“好色”，齣版瞭一係列兩性話題的“黃書”。

他提齣的“機器人學三定律”是當代機器人研究的基本法則，他預言瞭今天的生物科技，預言瞭互聯網時代的數字圖書館，預言瞭人類將進行太空殖民。

終其一生，阿西莫夫最引以為豪的則是：《銀河帝國》係列小說。

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譯者：葉李華

一九六二年生，颱灣大學電機係畢業，加州大學柏剋萊分校理論物理博士，緻力推廣中文科幻與通俗科學二十餘年，相關著作與譯作數十冊。自一九九○年起，即透過各種管道譯介、導讀及講授阿西莫夫作品，被譽為“阿西莫夫在中文世界的代言人”。

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