Rating: 
Summary: VERY INTERESTING BOOK
Review: SPOILERS!! BE WARNED
This book is so freaky and thats why its great. Its got a horror touch to it as those robots are pretty scary the way it does evil but acts like its doing perfectly righteous acts. One reviewer mentioned that the main character is not likable. I dont know what he's talking about because the main character is totally great, honorable, just, basically everything you want in a human being or a hero. The story is great because you can never guess whats going to happen next. It keeps changing. The ending at first seems pretty horrible, and I didnt realy like it but I think if it didnt end this way this book woudnt of made such an impact. Oh and this book is exactly like that one star trek episode from the original series called NOMAD where that machine tried to "steralize" everything one but killing it.
Rating:
Summary: Fear is in the eye of the guilty.
Review: A wonderfull story of hard science fiction and psichic powers.Robots are invading every planet in an unknown future ( evidently there's a rise-fall cycle of cultures all over the galaxy ) and "protecting" every human by totally controling and restricting his actions. A scientist works to rebel through understanding of the true nature of the universe. There's the electromagnetic spectrum , the "rodomagnetic" spectrum , and the psichic spectrum. Offcourse it's explained in a much more gripping way and is actually very interesting and well writen. I forgot to mention thet the robots claim to act for the best of humanity , and all the restrictions are for the better of the peaple confined. The plot follows him through his first break from the "Humanoids" , his teaming-up with other rebells , their fall , his second escape , and the truly surprising end. Worth the read. It'l make you think about the human nature.
Rating:
Summary: Fear is in the eye of the guilty.
Review: A wonderfull story of hard science fiction and psichic powers. Robots are invading every planet in an unknown future ( evidently there's a rise-fall cycle of cultures all over the galaxy ) and "protecting" every human by totally controling and restricting his actions. A scientist works to rebel through understanding of the true nature of the universe. There's the electromagnetic spectrum , the "rodomagnetic" spectrum , and the psichic spectrum. Offcourse it's explained in a much more gripping way and is actually very interesting and well writen. I forgot to mention thet the robots claim to act for the best of humanity , and all the restrictions are for the better of the peaple confined. The plot follows him through his first break from the "Humanoids" , his teaming-up with other rebells , their fall , his second escape , and the truly surprising end. Worth the read. It'l make you think about the human nature.
Rating: 
Summary: Who holds the power? The creator or the creation?
Review: Awesome story! Never did I expect such a disturbing ending, while at the same time it is somewhat promising (in a deranged way). Looking forward to reading the sequel, The Humanoid Touch.
Rating:
Summary: briliant masterpiece !!!
Review: classic sci-fi book - must read !
Rating: 
Summary: An old but still worthy warning flag.
Review: Forty or so years after The Humanoids was written, one might be excused for proclaiming its author as prescient. We Earthlings welcome them at first, for they do all the grotty little jobs we don't like to do; they help with almost obsequious servitude; they are there to protect and to serve - their motto, indeed, 'To serve and protect, and keep men from harm' might be the motto of the modern, omnipresent and omnicompetent government. And, like that government, they take away one freedom after another, until...well, you must read the book to find out. May our tale end as happily.
Rating:
Summary: The author's best work
Review: Science fiction has always strived to reveal something about human nature, and this disturbing book achieves this goal like no other. It casts a new light upon what it is people really want, and what happiness really means; it makes one question some of one's deep values and beliefs. Quite some time after this book a sequel was published, "The Humanoid Touch". It is just as disturbing, partially because having read the first novel, I think the point of view of the author, or perhaps better, the 'implied author' has changed. This in no way decreases the value of the books, which are a must for any sci-fi reader.
Rating:
Summary: The author's best work
Review: Science fiction has always strived to reveal something about human nature, and this disturbing book achieves this goal like no other. It casts a new light upon what it is people really want, and what happiness really means; it makes one question some of one's deep values and beliefs. Quite some time after this book a sequel was published, "The Humanoid Touch". It is just as disturbing, partially because having read the first novel, I think the point of view of the author, or perhaps better, the 'implied author' has changed. This in no way decreases the value of the books, which are a must for any sci-fi reader.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal premise marred by somewhat weak ending
Review: THE HUMANOIDS is one of the unquestionable classics of the science fiction genre, and arguably the most important novel ever written about robots. The core idea of ultra sleek robots who arrive on a planet "to serve and protect" the planets inhabitants to the most logical extreme of that directive was brilliant and extraordinarily innovative when the book was published in the late 1940s. As such, absolutely no one even remotely interested in science fiction can afford not to read this great novel. Unfortunately, aside from the core concept and several excellent characters, including the marvelously conceived humanoids themselves, I found a few elements in this story to be somewhat disagreeable. Others may not find them so, but I did, and they somewhat marred my enjoyment of the novel. First, the main character of the novel was, to me, was an unpleasant individual. Now, it is entirely correct that it is important to the novel's plot that he not be especially likable. Nonetheless, he was a somewhat unpleasant character, and spending time with him even on a fictional level was not as much fun as one might like. I also was unhappy with the way the romantic elements in the novel developed. They struck me as quite implausible. Finally, I very much did not like the ending of the novel. Unfortunately, I cannot here go into my reasons without giving away too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that I am not certain that I would want to live in the world that the novel apparently endorses in its ending. I will add that one character is one of my favorites in all of sci-fi, the wonderfully eccentric, amazing enigmatic Underhill. Williamson does a great job in Underhill of producing a character who is simultaneously marvelously innocent and suspiciously sinister at the same time. After I finished the book, his character remained far more vivid in my memory than any of the others.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal premise marred by somewhat weak ending
Review: THE HUMANOIDS is one of the unquestionable classics of the science fiction genre, and arguably the most important novel ever written about robots. The core idea of ultra sleek robots who arrive on a planet "to serve and protect" the planets inhabitants to the most logical extreme of that directive was brilliant and extraordinarily innovative when the book was published in the late 1940s. As such, absolutely no one even remotely interested in science fiction can afford not to read this great novel. Unfortunately, aside from the core concept and several excellent characters, including the marvelously conceived humanoids themselves, I found a few elements in this story to be somewhat disagreeable. Others may not find them so, but I did, and they somewhat marred my enjoyment of the novel. First, the main character of the novel was, to me, was an unpleasant individual. Now, it is entirely correct that it is important to the novel's plot that he not be especially likable. Nonetheless, he was a somewhat unpleasant character, and spending time with him even on a fictional level was not as much fun as one might like. I also was unhappy with the way the romantic elements in the novel developed. They struck me as quite implausible. Finally, I very much did not like the ending of the novel. Unfortunately, I cannot here go into my reasons without giving away too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that I am not certain that I would want to live in the world that the novel apparently endorses in its ending. I will add that one character is one of my favorites in all of sci-fi, the wonderfully eccentric, amazing enigmatic Underhill. Williamson does a great job in Underhill of producing a character who is simultaneously marvelously innocent and suspiciously sinister at the same time. After I finished the book, his character remained far more vivid in my memory than any of the others.
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