Soul Of A Robot

Author: Barrington J. Bayley

Soul of a Robot is sweet, and funny, and ridiculous. And I mean ridiculous in the nicest possible way. The novel is like the Katy Perry of the robot world (if she was just a bit smarter and more erudite), rather than say, the Mozart of the robot world. The concepts are clever and endearing, with a side of appropriately portioned silly. This book sits in sixth place, thanks to the novel concept of a robot with a soul, who tries to prove to the humans around him that he is their equal. Jasperodus starts off his life thinking that he is a real person, and perhaps he is - created by a robotician with the help of his wife, transferring part of their souls into a complex robot. Some rather mean-spirited humans take advantage of his flawless robot logic, and convince him that he only thinks that he thinks, and that he does not truly exist in a conscious state. He agrees, but by the same logic, explains that humans are susceptible to this flaw in being, also. Along the way, he dies a couple of times and gets reborn (resurrected?). The conflict he bears is whether to share his soul secrets with other robots or betray them to save the humans. If you are one of those super serious, intellectual sci-fi fan boys, Soul of the Robot may not interest you. If you like enjoyable, entertaining, and thoughtful prose, then read this novel.