The Robots of Dawn: The Robot Series, Book 3

I've read all of the Foundation series and just finished the robot series. While I enjoyed both, immensely; this book, while fantastic in it's own, has completely changed my understanding (and appreciation) of both series. READ THIS LAST!

The smart deductions of our hero Elijah "Lije" Baley had to be quick in solving a case in less than 3 days. Despite the quick reactions a complex case is discovered keeping you interested while raising questions about culture diversity and the role of robots in the future of humanity

As the short bio in the book says, Asimov wrote 470 books and three major series. One of them introduced the concepts of robots, their contributions to human progress, the emotional response to early models, and the researchers who designed improved models. In  The Caves of Steel (R. Daneel Olivaw, Book 1) , he introduces Elijah Baley, a detective on Earth who must investigate a murder of a human visitor known as a 'Spacer'. After that success, he is called away from Earth to clear a beautiful Spacer, Gloria Delmarre, of her husband's murder in  The Naked Sun (The Robot Series) . A dramatic movie is made after he closes the case, and it creates no end of complications for Baley. This book continues the pattern- only the victim was a robot.In 'Dawn', Asimov imagined Baley as a middle-aged man, most comfortable when surrounded by people and the teeming city. He works hard for the measly privileges given to a civil servant. If he could get over his fear of outdoors, maybe he could emigrate to a new world; Earth is experiencing high unemployment. So, visiting the leading Spacer world of Aurora might lead to opportunities. The space flight is uninspired but once there, we are given decent character descriptions and scenes are detailed. The single POV writing drags at times, repeating some emotions, puzzling over inane details of Spacer society, meals, and robot actions.The plot is split among Baley's search for perpetrator, relationship with several suspects, and his foibles (including storms). After a vehicle breakdown, he is walking for help in the dark:'And then he remembered that lightning might hit trees and might kill people. He could not remember that he had ever read a description of how it felt to be hit by lightning or if there were any measures to prevent it. He knew of no one on Earth who had been hit by lightning....His teeth were chattering and he was trembling.Another flash. Not a bad one. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of his surroundings.Trees! A number of them. He was in a grove of trees. Were many trees more dangerous than one tree where lightning was concerned?He didn't know.Would it help if he didn't actually touch a tree?He didn't know that, either. Death by lightning simply wasn't a factor in the Cities and the historical novels (and sometimes histories) that mentioned it never went into detail.He looked up at the dark sky and felt the wetness coming down. He wiped at his wet eyes with his wet hands.He stumbled onward, trying to step high. At one point, he splashed through a narrow stream of water, sliding over the pebbles underlying it.How strange! It made him no wetter than he was. ' (p. 352)Like a good mystery tale, there are twists until the very end. Baley offers advice for several characters to take. This time, Asimov writes a sweet romantic interlude.The real impact of this book is to discuss the programming of humanoid robots, impersonal video conferencing, and especially, the need for humans to move population off Earth and settle new worlds. He interrogates people who knew the robot's owner, interacted with it, and the man who designed it. In between, he battles his fear of the outdoors, of strange technology, and nature, learning to depend on robots for information and partnership.Published long after the first two books, this links to the future Empire and sets the stage of Foundation series. In the future, Human settlements will grow into that empire and robotic design lead to Psychohistory. And Daneel Olivaw will appear again....

If you are of a fan of the greatest science fiction writer of all time (Mr. Asimov) as I am, this is a book NOT to be missed. The final book in the Robot series that deals with R. Daniel and Detective Bailey. It is always amazing how many thins Mr. Asimov got correct about the future, but beyond that point writes with a humanistic bend that is most enjoyable.Highly recommended...

I really enjoyed listening to and reading the book using the Kindle app on my iPhone. It departs from the first two novels in its exploration of sexuality on Aurora in general and in particular of sexuality between robots and humans on that particular planet in the fear distant future. Most of the discussion of sexuality surrounded the character Gladia and her sexual experiences with a humaniform robot whom she considered to be her husband and who had been found dead in the sense that his positronic brain had ceased to function. Elijah Bailey had been summoned to solve the case with dire consequences for both himself and for earth if he failed, which seemed to be the path that he was headed down for most of the novel as he chased lead after lead without promise of success. He had a meltdown in a thunderstorm, which I found annoying because of my experiences in this day and age, but to the character it was very realistic in the time period that story was set where human beings from Earth were agoraphobic from living completely enclosed inside of buildings (Caves of Steel) and never had contact with the world outside. There was a sexual attraction between Gladia and Elijah Bailey who had been called to Aurora to investigate the roboticide. The attraction resulted in sexual encounter near the end of the novel. Asimov approached the subject matter frankly with consequences for those involved and with tenderness in the case of Gladia and Bailey. The novel moved along slowly at first, but it did pick up with more interest and excitement towards the ending, which made me to listen or read as much as I could to find out the eventual outcome, which I never could have imagined but which I really did enjoy. I would recommend reading the first two novels, Caves of Steel and Naked Sun first and then this one afterwards. it's a trilogy which involves the main characters and some other characters from the previous novels, and which ends with this novel.

I read all three books in this series and liked them all. They are good detective mysteries. A bit like Agatha Christie but a few more foibles than Hercule Poirot has.What I found really interesting in the last book - Robots of Dawn - is a bit of a precursor for the foundation and Hari Seldon. Perhaps Hari was not human but a robot whose purpose was to help humans along out there in their galactic empire. Perhaps Hari is friend Giskard doing his thing to insure that "Earth itself that is the true World of the Dawn". Maybe!!!

A entrega não seguiu o padrão de qualidade da Amazon. Livro veio sem a invólucro de plástico, direto dentro do envelope. Por sorte não havia avarias, mas me surpreedeu o desleixo da Amazon. Quanto ao conteúdo, trata-se de mais um clássico de Asimov.

It was a pleasure finishing the Robot novels. I find Asimov fun to read, if a little campy and predictable sometimes. He explores humanity in a humane way. Robots isn't quite as epic as Foundation, still worth a read.I'm aware some people find some of his topics (especially in this book) inexcusably perverse. These people likely choose to ignore that he's merely asking us to question what relationships really mean to us, and to recognize that cultural norms are subjective, not absolute.Print quality was good. Almost no typos.

A very relevant book to today's AI debate. Surprising when you consider when it was written. Ties in well with his other books.

The last "Robot" book that I had not read, it features Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw; the connections between the two series, "Robot" and "Foundation", found its conclusion in the last "Foundation" novel, in which Olivaw is about to stop functioning, after guiding the three humans searching for Terra : perhaps Asimov had read Verne's "Mysterious Island" ; Olivaw plays the same part as the dying Nemo.

Buena edición, aunque las tapas son algo blandas, pero muy bien para el precio que tiene.