Asimov's Youth

"Youth" is an early, and short, work. It tells the tale of two explorers who crash on a mission of commerce and are discovered by two children. The children cage the explorers and want to sell them to the circus.
It is an interesting piece because it hints at themes Asimov expands on in his later works. The children see the visitors as animals because they look different and they don't have a means of communication. The visitors know the children mean no harm because they are telepathic.
The children's parents represent two ends of the human spectrum: scientist and industrialist. The scientist is expecting the visitors and is eager to learn from them. The industrialist awaits the visitors with a mixture of trepidation and opportunism.
The world of the story has suffered from a cataclysmic man-made disaster. The people could not control the technology or their base instincts. The result was near annihilation. The scientist thinks that the visitors and their technology can jump start a new technological era for the world and that the visitors offer hope that a race can master technology without destroying itself. The industrialist is not so sure. He fears their technology and it's effects on his people, while desiring to see if their technology can make him profit.
In the end, the visitors win over the industrialist. They demonstrate restraint in the use of their deadly weapons. The industrialist sees that the visitors are not too much different than he is. They have basic human kindness and want to explore and make profit.
The end of the story is an O'Henry twist. It makes the point of the story more poignant.

His Robot Girlfriend

As the title implies this book is about a man who buys a robot girlfriend. I downloaded it for free hoping that it would be a meditation on consciousness, humanity, and intelligence. At the very least, I was hoping for some commentary about how attached to our digital crutches. Sadly, it just a book about a lonely guy who buys a robot girlfriend and ends up marrying her.
The robot is smoking hot and exists solely to make the protagonist happy. There are a few glimmers of her having a personality when they visit a Star Trek exhibit the has "anti robot" sentiments. Sadly, it bothers her only because she fears it will make him uncomfortable.
While, the protagonist's life steadily improves over the course of the book, it made me sad. His life gets better partially because the robot girlfriend feeds him the right foods and forces him to exercise. Most of his improvement must be attributed to his escape from loneliness. His robot girlfriend provides him with companionship and sex and a reason to get up in the morning - things that he couldn't find another human being to provide for him.
Color me old fashioned, but I cannot fathom how a mash-up between an iPhone and a blow-up doll can replace human companionship. Relationships between humans can be messy and hard, but that is part of what makes them special. At the end of the day, I don't want my partner to have no desires or interests beyond making me happy. I'd shoot myself.
On a positive note, the book is short, free, and easy to read.

Feed

Feed is a first person political thriller written in a time when zombies are a serious threat. Thirty years before the novel takes place two viruses-one that cured cancer and one that cured the common cold-combined into a highly contagious disease that turns its victims into mindless flesh chomping disease vectors.
The other bit of background required to drive the plot is that blogging has gone mainstream. When bioterrorists released the cure for the common cold and triggered the epidemic of walking dead, the mainstream media dropped the ball and bloggers picked it up.
The story is a first person narrative that follows a group of bloggers on the campaign trail as they report on a hot Presidential campaign. Things heat up when it is discovered that someone is intentionally infecting people with the zombie plague to effect the outcome of the campaign.
The main characters are well drawn and the plot moves along at a good pace. I had a hard time putting the book down. The author occasionally repeats information or spends too much time laying out background information, but that does not detract from the overall pace of the novel. Towards the middle of the novel a number of supporting characters are introduced that are never fleshed out enough. Since this is the first of a planned trilogy, I assume that they are important in the following books. (I have a general problem with a potboiler that is a planned trilogy. I think a good murder/conspiracy story should be able to fit into 500 pages. More than that allows for story destroying flab.)
For non-zombie fans the author does a good job of keeping the zombies in the background. They are just a part of the world in which the novel takes place. Their effect permeates the story as it permeates the lives of the characters. The gore is also kept to a minimum.
Aside from being a good read, Feed considers a lot of interesting questions. What unintended consequences will our quest for better health bring about? Is genetic engineering safe? What is happening to our news agencies? How would society change when being social can get you killed? Is righteousness bordering zealotry capable of good?
Overall, I recommend Feed as a good read.