My favourite Asimov robot book.

Asimov's three laws of robotics have been criticised as being unrealistic, but if you understand them as a plot device for exploring the implications robotics on humans then the issues he explores are as valid today as when he wrote.

People fearing for their jobs.
People no longer being stimulated to explore new knowledge.
Effecting peoples social skills.
The inherent contradiction in programming a robot to protect humans - to be totally protected the human has to be cocooned.

An much more. ( )

Having read The Caves of Steel, I was more prepared to enjoy this for what it was - a detective story, than comparing it unfavourably with the original Foundation trilogy by Asimov. I enjoyed followed Baley's logic, the depiction of an unusual society and as always, the ideas. Fun and engaging. ( )

The second robot detective novel in Asimov's Foundation universe again features the detectives Elijah Bailey (human) and R. Daneel Olivaw (robot). This time the mystery directly clues in to one of Asimov's main topics: the inability of a robot to kill a human according to the so called "Three Laws of Robotics" (introduced in Asimov's famous collection "I, Robot"). Can it be subverted? ( )

This book is the next in the Robot series, and the second which features Detective Baley. Again Baley is solving a murder, although this time its occurred on a Spacer world instead of his own Earth. Along the way he has to confront his own fear of open spaces, as well as other's fear of proximity to other humans.

This was again another excellent book. I enjoyed it a lot.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Isaac_Asi... ( )

The Naked Sun is the sequel to The Caves of Steel, once again featuring Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw as they attempt to solve a seemingly impossible murder. Unlike The Caves of Steel, which was set on Earth, this time the pair head to Solaria, the most extremely "spacer" or all the spacer planets.

As before, the mystery in the novel is well-crafted, and the process of solving it is well-written. Much of the book serves to contrast the conditions on overcrowded impoverished Earth where the bulk of the population is hostile to robots, agoraphobic, and live in an almost communal manner to those on wealthy Solaria, with strict controls limiting the human population of the entire planet to twenty thousand people, and robots outnumber humans tens of thousands to one, and where face-to-face human contact is regarded as obscene.

As usually for Asimov robot novels, the plot revolves around the meaning and application of the Three Laws of Robotics, and some frightening implications those laws have that had not been previously considered and which are fully explored much later in Foundation and Earth. The mystery also allows Asimov to explore the problems of Earth culture (exposed by Baley's contact with the Solarians), and the troubles faced by the dysfunctional Solarian culture specifically, and the spacer culture in general.

While this book isn't quite as good as The Caves of Steel, it remains one of Asimov's best. ( )