A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Life and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot - and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!

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Listening Length	7 hours and 43 minutes
Author	Isaac Asimov
Narrator	William Dufris
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	July 15, 2014
Publisher	Random House Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00KY2YPLO
Best Sellers Rank	#8,656 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #75 in Hard Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #241 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #266 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)

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Gail M. Gary

Important because it has many intelligent ideas, but very dated

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019

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Liked it and appreciated it for its prescience about human problems. Asimov was a visionary. Love the robot stuff.

Figured I'd start at the beginning of Asimov's journey with establishing the foundations of his now-canon robot ideas, as much as I dislike the writing style of early sci fi (it's usually unreadable for me).

So. It wasn't terrible, but still. Disliked it for use of dated words and presentations. Could have cheerfully lived without any biblical stuff (can't I escape this even in robot sci fi?), and use of "golly" or "gosh" from the obedient teenage son and "Jehoshaphat" as a "curse word" from the dad. Please. And the wife crying and acting like Lucy Ricardo, oh, that was painful. I was a 60s kid and was continually disappointed back then for idiotic tv, movie, and book depictions of women. This is no exception. Child-woman, terrified of society and husband's disapproval! I never met any in my family...and seldom anywhere else in real life, either.

But. This kind of junk is always part of old science fiction. Grit your teeth and move on. This is the way men wrote fiction then. (Most women too, trying to meet common expectations for their readers.) These bigger ideas trapped in the silly sexist pages still deserve a hearing, in all fairness. These writers were products of their time, as we ALL are. Someday people will be laughing at MY pretensions.

So, fellow and sister explorer. Read it for the ideas and not for the stupid dialog. Asimov was a brilliant man, and this is clearly an early but earnest effort. He is a better writer than he sounds from this review. He can tell a story, and he's learning here.

Try it. I found myself rewriting the dialog as I went, and still could work with the story. But try the story...take the journey with Asimov and his ideas.

56 people found this helpful

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Richard Irwin

Asimov and robots - who could ask for anything more

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018

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I first read this book in 1961 and it holds up well. It takes place some 3000 years in the future where people on an overpopulated Earth live in gigantic cities (hence the title). However, Spacers live on fifty underpopulated planets.

The Spacers have established an embassy on Earth on the outskirts of New York, called Spacetown. The book goes into great length contrasting the culture of the Spacers verses the Earthers, and this is necessary to understand the significance and possible motive of the murder of a Spacer in Spacetown.

Plain-clothes man Elijah Baley is assigned the case and in an unprecedented move is partnered with a Spacer robot, R. Daneel Olivaw.

The book succeeds as both a great work of Science Fiction speculation and as a fine mystery. Asimov does not cheat the reader, providing many clues to solve the perplexing murder.

This robot novel introduces the human looking robot R. Daneel Olivaw who would appear in many other robot novels as well as the continuing Foundation novels. This book is top notch.

24 people found this helpful

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Classic Sci-Fi from the Great Isaac Asimov

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2018

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I grew up with Asimov, along with Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and many other great writers during that classic time of science fiction writing.

Today it is just as enjoyable to return to these books. They have lost very little of their impact despite the many years that have gone by - in the case of The Caves of Steel, nearly 65 years ago (it was first published in February of 1954). In fact, it is remarkable how well this story has aged.

The title 'Caves of Steel' refers to how Earth has evolved into massive cities, where the population lives, works and recreates without ever departing into the 'real world' of sunlight, wind and rain. Mankind has separated into two groups, the majority remaining on earth and a smaller number who have emigrated to other planets. Robots are an established part of both groups, but the humans who have remained on Earth are distrustful of robots.

Asimov's famous 'Three Laws of Robotics' are integral to the story:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

This is a refreshing, enjoyable and worthwhile story that reminds me how great Asimov was, and remains.

10 people found this helpful

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In the world of tomorrow...

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018

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...men will be cops, women will be dieticians, and you'll still have to run down the hall to use your phone. But we'll be colonizing the galaxy, and robots will look like humans.
I'm of the generation that grew up devouring Asimov - who, among others, got me imagining a fantastic future - but now that vision is revealed as much less imaginative than was once thought. What value this book retains is in nostalgia for those who read it long ago, or as a semi-important example of the development of the genre. (The Foundation Trilogy being a better example of the latter.) I give one star for each, though I cant disagree with anyone who rated this 1 star overall, that's likewise reasonable.
As for the "mystery" element - that wasn't good when the book was new. Our hero stumbles along doing pretty much nothing worthwhile (though we do get descriptions of Asimov's future New York), then the solution - jehosphat! - just pops into his head a few pages from the end.

12 people found this helpful

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Robert Tostevin

Asimov at his ever prescient best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2018

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Caves of Steel was written in 1954 by the remarkably ever prescient Asimov and, chronologically, is the first in his suite of "future histories". The book is tinged, of course, with a 50's optimistic vision of how they saw the future: robots, speeders, space travel (and still with people smoking tobacco) but you HAVE to admire Asimov's ability to start predicting things that we have either seen come to pass or at least are looking more and more likely.

His insight into the "human condition" and what motivates mankind to evolve/excel/invent/revolutionise is nothing short of remarkable.
In this novel he gives us a vision of what earth might look like in 1,000 years with an ever burgeoning population - a strain on Earth's resources along with a sort of inevitable erosion of some of the forces that had previously driven mankind through the millennia to expand. He sees a risk-averse, conformant homogenised society - ring any bells with modern globalisation and our very present "health and safety" risk-averse society we can see 'blossoming' before our very eyes? This, he identifies, is the problem with earthmen of 1,000 years plus. Consider this ... would Christopher Columbus ever have set sail if he's had the "health & safety" brigade doing risk assesments on his "project proposal" to set off into the unknown to discover a hypothetical 'new world'?

He develops this theme into how mankind can get out of this sociological 'cul-de-sac' in an intriguing and thought provoking way.

5 people found this helpful

Eric Faragher

Asimov at his Best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2020

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One of the best of Asimov’s considerable body of work. The enclosed city and its moving walkways hark back to H G Wells, but the main theme of the novel, the social and evolutionary aspects of the introduction of robots, is all Asimov’s own. In particular, his use of his famous laws of robotics and the role they play in a "murder". One of the flaws of the established Asimov is that his story and his characters can suffer from an overweening tendency toward philosophical explaining, as if success stimulated an over confidence, as it did with Wells also, in my opinion. This doesn’t happen here. Baley is a recognisable and sympathetic protagonist, understandable and very human and the plot is not overpowered by philosophical debate concerning the future of mankind, whilst at the same time many an interesting and arresting conversation does fall aptly into its natural place in line with the novel’s developing themes. Very engrossing and worth re-reading (fourth time for me). The sequel “The Naked Sun”, whilst not quite as good is also well worth reading.

One person found this helpful

Tracey Madeley

Fantastic ideas, but writing could be clearer.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2019

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After seeing the film, I Robot, I had very high expectations for this book, the first in his robot series. It is good, but I was a little disappointed. The idea of a human robot is present, with the positronic brain and the author has taken it a step further by making it look human. However, there is no desire to understand or explore human emotions compared to I Robot (the film). The book does make a good distinction between the way Baley speaks and the robot Daneel. You can tell the thought processes are different and there is a desire to learn and fit in with human society.

I like the idea of Medievalists who oppose the spread of robots and technology in general. The commissioner's use of a disguised window is one example. I found the idea of Spacers a little unclear. At first, I wondered if they were robots, but they just use robots as useful tools. They are in fact the original descendants of earth. They are the ruling elite who keep the new settlers in megacities, ration food and enforce a classification linked to privileges. These people fear robots will come and take their jobs away resulting in de-classification.

The murder mystery element of the book is a little forced in the sense that it does not flow smoothly. The clues to the identity of the murderer and their motives are in the book and there is a logical revelation at the end, but it lacks the sophistication readers may expect.

I think Asimov, like Huxley, is a brilliant scientist but lacks literary technique in the modern sense of the word. His novels will be read for their insightful ideas, not for their literary brilliance.

One person found this helpful

A. Butler

Simply timeless and brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2016

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Is such a shame that whoever wrote the synopsis for amazon didn't actually bother to read the book before they write it. Anyone who actually does read the book will discover early on that the New York City we know lasted for at least 3000 years before the New York City that becomes The City of the story comes into being and this new City is several hundred years old at this point.

Ok, that's the gripe about the synopsis over and done with.

Earth, thousands of years into the future. Massively overpopulated ever everyone loves in one of 800 Cities - enormous structures that protect their population from the outside, the feed them, Clothe then and nurture them. There is nothing wrong with the outside, it's just that people have been closeted in the Cities for so long that they simply don't go outside. On the outskirts of New York is Spacertown. A reminder to earth that it lost the war against is one time colonies of in the stars. Spacertown is where the ever arrogant and superior spaces stay when visiting old Earth. And now one of them is dead. Murdered. A major diplomatic incident needs to be avoided as any such week price very costly for dear old Earth. Plainclothesman Elijah Baley , C5 rated, of the New York police department is assigned the case along with a partner from the space community. Solving the case will save Earth and will also save Elijah Baley and his family , because fake is not an option.

I've always loved the good doctors books and these books that start what turned into the Robots and Foundation series, a massive conglomeration of a lot of his scifi works, are among my favourites of all. If you can find 'I, Robot' and 'The Rest Of The Robots' these will give you a great background info the Asimov Robots, robots built upon a foundation of ethics, the laws of robotics. a more modern collection is 'The Complete Robot' anthology.

With this book and is follow ups ('The Naked Sun' and 'Robots Of Dawn') we meet one of Asimov's most loved characters, Elijah Baley. An Earth detective called on to solve the most difficult of crimes - murder. Elijah is human, fallible and capable in equal measure. He has to offer come his feelings and failings as he feels into the complicated world and lives of the Spacers.
Surely one of the best characters ever created. Elijah Baley seems to blunder around the problems accidentally finding the solution to the tricky problems with which he is faced. He is so completely human, timelessly so. Thrown into situations that no school could ever prepare him for, he's so it off his depth and comfort zone. But somehow he finally sees the core, the one thing that let's him solve the problem.

Alongside our good detective is his Space partner, Danieel Oliver, their to smooth ruffled father's and explain the Society and technology that no man of Death could ever hope to understand otherwise.

The characterisations are brilliant and the stories are well crafted for all that they were created and published back in 1950.

7 people found this helpful

FallenGrace

Deeper than I expected.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2014

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This book has been my first foray into the world of Issac Asimov and I must admit I finished it quite impressed with it.

The plot focuses on earth in the far flung future where humanity's numbers have swelled to immense proportions causing the creation of "cities", giant enclosed superstructures capable of housing millions of people where food and space are planned and regulated accordingly. Hummanity has also spread out to the stars and colonized other planets without the overpopulation or resource limitations causing a rather large rift between them and earth, they are know as "spacers".

One of these spacers has been murdered on earth potentially causing diplomatic problems between the two already struggling cultures. In steps detective Baley, an earthman who doesn't like robots to investigate. The spacers are willing to hold off consequences on the condition that one of them investigate with him, problem is Daneel is a robot.

For a book about the police and robots there is surprisingly little action, instead it focuses on the possibility of humanities future, it's struggling differences, and it's use of advancing technology and the divide that causes. I enjoyed the book all the more for that and found it not only interesting material but also rather clever in it's examination of culture and survival.

All in all a good book if a little short, next up the sequel The Naked Sun, I can see myself becoming an Asimov fan.

+ Clever.
+ Well developed themes running throughout.
+ Interesting characters.

4 people found this helpful

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