Isaac Asimov's previous collection, Buy Jupiter!, was largely a selection of Asimovian trivia, outrageous puns and shaggy dog stories. The Bicentennial Man, however, shows him to be once more the master of science fiction that has written the Foundation trilogy and "Nightfall"….

Four of the stories are of his famed positronic robot series. One of these, "Feminine Intuition", even has Asimov's favorite character, Susan Calvin. The others are: "That Thou Art Mindful of Him", which … is about the final solution to the robot problem; "The Tercentenary Incident" is similar to his other positronic robot story "Evidence" in that both deal with suspicions that an important public figure is in fact a robot; and finally, "The Bicentennial Man"…. It is among the best things Asimov has ever written, being a tale of freedom and humanity as told through the eyes of a robot who wanted to be free and to become human. It is a touching story…. (p. 43)

Another excellent story is "The Winnowing", which is about a biochemist who is forced to turn over virus-like material to government officials who plan to use it to kill off 70% of the human race so the remainder won't face famine. There are excellent reasonings on both sides of the question, and the ending is a shocker….

Rounding out the collection are two small items. "Birth of a Notion" was written for Amazing Stories' 50th Anniversary, and describes how a time-traveller managed to get Hugo Gerns-back not to call his magazine Scientifiction. The other item is "The Prime of Life", a poem which seeks to disprove for all time that Isaac Asimov is over a hundred, several people, or a science fiction-writing computer.

Besides the excellent stories, there are Asimov's notes to each story, telling how they came to be written, and interesting facts about them. This running dialogue has come to be a trademark in Asimov's collections, and some people enjoy them as much as the stories themselves. This collection is not to be missed by anyone who enjoys science fiction, or who just likes good storytelling. (p. 44)