Humanity gets that awful sinking feeling when Dr. Warren Mansfield invents perfect robot servants--the Humanoids--whose prime directive is ``to serve and obey, and keep men from harm.'' So the Humanoids gently, impartially, and implacably enforce their directive, the result being that anything dangerous, exciting, or new in human existence is utterly forbidden. Williamson's groundbreaking original story, ``With Folded Hands,'' with its remorseless logic and chilling dystopian conclusion, is included here, while the subsequent novel puts a more hopeful complexion on matters. A pair of science fiction classics, as fresh and apposite today as they were nearly half a century ago.
