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| Isaac Asimov, The Naked Sun |
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The Naked Sun is the second of the robot novels
featuring detective Elijah Baley. When Elijah is summoned to
Washington to meet Under-Secretary of Justice Albert Minnim, he
suspects that he will be given an important assignment. What he
could not suspect, however, even in his worst nightmares, is that he
would be sent to investigate a murder on one of the Outer Worlds,
the planet Solaria... Without being
given a choice, or time to say good bye to his wife and son, Elijah
is on board a spaceship to Solaria, where people live in
free space. For an earthman who has always lived underground in one
of the small living units (the "caves of steel"), the idea of space
and sun and the simple concept of "outside" are unbearably scary. But the strangeness of Solaria and its
inhabitant does not end here, as Elijah soon will learn. Solarians
have many bizarre customs that are better left for the reader to
discover...
The first surprise for Elijah is that the
partner he is assigned to work with is no other that R.(obot) Daneel
Olivaw, his previous partner in The Caves of Steel. The
second is that on Solaria, Daneel seems intent to be mistaken for a
man...
The murder victim is Rikaine Delmarre, a
foetologist and respected Solarian, and the main suspect his wife;
Gladia. Elijah Baley will investigate and use his skills as an
expert of the human mind and its motivations, trying, not always
successfully, to adjust this knowledge to what he learns about Solarians. The conclusions he will
reach with his observations and deductions will change him
forever...
The Naked Sun is a very good
science-fiction story and mystery. Asimov develops very interesting
sociologic theories and predictions about the evolution of species
which remain very convincing, not a bit outdated. Maybe the best in the
robot series so far (but it is best to read them all, starting with
I, Robot)...
Rating: 
© Discussing Books, 01/23/2005
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| Further Readings |
By Isaac Asimov:
The Foundation Saga:
Asimov, Isaac Prelude to Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1951) Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1952) Foundation and Empire
Asimov, Isaac (1953) Second Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1982) Foundation's Edge
Asimov, Isaac (1986) Foundation and Earth
Robots Stories and Novels:
Asimov, Isaac (1950) I, Robot
Asimov, Isaac (1964) The Rest of the Robots
Asimov, Isaac (1982) The Complete Robots
Asimov, Isaac (1954) The Caves of Steel
Asimov, Isaac (1957) The Naked Sun
Asimov, Isaac (1983) The Robots of Dawn
Asimov, Isaac (1985) Robots and Empire
Galactic Empire Novels:
Asimov, Isaac (1952) The Currents of Space
Asimov, Isaac (1950) Pebble in the Sky
Asimov, Isaac (1957) Earth is Room Enough
Asimov, Isaac (1955) The Martian Way
Asimov, Isaac (1955) The End of Eternity
Asimov, Isaac (1983) The Winds of Change
Asimov, Isaac (1968) Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov, Isaac (1972) The Gods Themselves
Asimov, Isaac (1990) Nightfall One
Asimov, Isaac (1969) Nightfall Two
Asimov, Isaac (1993) The Bicentennial Man
Asimov, Isaac (1959) Nine Tomorrows
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Critiques