So did I - I recall covering one of the Clark's novels in what we call "Reader's Notebook" when I was a second grader. My teacher summoned my parents for a meeting, questioning them if it was suitable reading for a kid of my age :) It indeed was :P
I believe I've read about robot psychology too, but it's been ages :))
Interesting times, that's another British author, though. Sounds like a Discworld novel to me :P
I've read most Pratchett and he is also insightful. He did not write much about technology, but he knew how people think.
I believe he actually wrote a lot about technology in his late novels which cover industrialization of Ank Morpork. True, it's often outdated tech from our point of view, yet these books are kind of counterpart ro Dicken's novels. They cover the same topics, in a realistic manner in one case and with a satiric imaginatory mockery in the other. Well, that's how I percieve it myself ;)