title: Robot Dreams (Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
author:  Isaac Asimov 
description: Isaac Asimov authored over 400 books in a career that lasted nearly 50 years. As a leading scientific writer, historian, and futurist, he covered a variety of subjects ranging from mathematics to humor, and won numerous awards for his work.
zlib_text: ISAAC ASIMOV
  
    
  
  Dreaming Is a Private Thing
  
    
  
  Goods obviously can have a price assigned to them. But what of abilities-can
  we really determine the worth of something like creativity? This fine story by
  Isaac Asimov considers the merchandising of creativity, but it raises other
  important issues as well. It anticipates (as Frederik Pohl has pointed out)
  how science fiction often alerts us to what we could be worrying about in
  future years. A current controversy exists over the impact of sex and violence
  on television on the behavior of individuals and groups. As Dr. Asimov shows
  in this story, the advent of new technologies may make current concerns seem
  mild. But he also recognizes an important economic truth-there will always be
  a market for quality.
  
  Isaac Asimov has not written very much science fiction in recent years, and
  that's a shame, because even if dreaming is a private thing, SF writers share
  their dreams (at least some of them) with us, and for that we are the richer.
  
  