The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
"What I hold is not a neuronic whip, nor is it a
tickler. It is a blaster and very deadly. I will use it and
I will not aim over your heads. I will kill many of you before you
seize me, perhaps most of you. I am serious. I look serious,
do I not?"
The wonderful thing about Isaac Asimov is that he's just so readable.
A person can pick up one of his books and just dive in with little or no
preparation, and yet Asimov is still able to open up different worlds
and distant futures. Asimov also has a way of making one think
about the issues that society will face in the future. These are
just a few reasons why Asimov is rightly regarded as one of the real
giants of science fiction.
The Caves of Steel is a mystery story. It is also a
science fiction story. The title refers to how populated Earth has
become in the distant future. There are so many people that our
planet has become one gigantic city. Every piece of ground is
covered with buildings that not only rise high into the air but also
descend deep under the surface--like caves of steel. In this
future, a murder has been committed, and police detective Elijah Bailey
has been given the task of finding the killer. He is also forced
to take on a new partner: Robot Daneel Olivaw.
For me, the pleasure of reading The Caves of Steel comes more
from watching Bailey and Olivaw interact than from trying to solve the
mystery. The mystery story is fairly interesting, but what I
enjoyed more was trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a
world populated by robots. Asimov does a very good job of showing
the kinds of issues humanity would have to deal with if we ever got to
the point of making intelligent, humanoid robots.
The Caves of Steel is an easy-to-read, entertaining book that
asks important questions about the future. It's a great
introduction to science fiction, especially for those who don't think
that they like science fiction, and it's also great for mystery fans
looking for something different.
Student
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