Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Isaac Asimov (/ˈæzɪmɒv/;[b] c.  January 2,[a] 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction.

I, Robot Although the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots, and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics. (224 pages)

The Robot Novels: The Caves of Steel / The Naked Sun / The Robots of Dawn

The Caves of Steel is a science fiction novel. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited genre in itself. (206 pages)

The Naked Sun is a science fiction novel, the second in the Robot series. This is a whodunit story that arises from the murder of Rikaine Delmarre, a prominent "fetologist" (fetal scientist), whose death Elijah Baley is called to investigate. (208 pages)

The Robots of Dawn is a "whodunit" science fiction novel about Detective Elijah Baley who is training with his son and others to overcome their socially ingrained agoraphobia when he is told that the Spacer world of Aurora has requested him to investigate a crime. (435 pages)

Most of Asimov's robot short stories, which he began to write in 1939, are set in the first age of positronic robotics and space exploration. The unique feature of Asimov's robots is the Three Laws of Robotics, hardwired in a robot's positronic brain, with which all robots in his fiction must comply, and which ensure that the robot does not turn against its creators.

Consider reading one or more? Which one or all are you reading?

Hi Lesle, thanks for this great topic :)

Once reading Asimov's "I Robot", I fell in love with his positronic robot short stories.
Afterwards, I read the next two collections: "The Rest of the Robots" and "The Complete Robot" (which pretty much sums up the first two compilations, but has a few additional stories).
I actually created an Excel file with all stories inside these compilations, so that I don't get lost in what I read and what not, because there are few stories that are present in most compilations like "Sally" , "Reason" and "Robbie".
From most of the stories, I loved the Susan Calvin narratives. "The Bicentennial Man" was also a real treat, which inspired the "The Positronic Man" and I can't wait to start reading it. But I still have to finish the other collections before, the "Robot Dreams" and "Robot Visions".
This is basically the order I'm reading it: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4917....

Regarding the novels, I read only "The Caves of Steel". I plan to focus on "The Naked Sun", "The Robots of Dawn" and "Robots and Empire" after I finish the short stories.

Your more than welcome Armin!

Feel free to discuss any of the series not listed here. Maybe others would like to read the ones you have mentioned as well. Just let us know in your comment which title you are chatting about.

The Caves of Steel was not really what I expected. I enjoyed it so much that I think I immediately read the next two robot books. I thought all were very good.

I apologize for the double posting, I never know how that takes place? I deleted one of them which removed comments from:

Rosemarie
Piyangie
John
Chad
Book Nerd

Please repost your comments if you like. Thank you!

Little Lost Robot is a tense story and raises the question: What were they thinking?

Rosemarie wrote: "Little Lost Robot is a tense story and raises the question: What were they thinking?"

That was my favourite from the collection, Rosemarie. I thought it was very cleverly written.

I finished rereading I, Robot and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It seems to be very well liked!

I forgot this was to be over 2 months for the read. It is set for April and May, with May a short story read or complete read is still just over 250 pages.

Finished re-reading I, Robot....perhaps not quite as great as I remembered, but still enormously enjoyable; well worth the re-read.

Started re-reading The Caves of Steel tonight; after just 10 pages in I remembered why I keep re-reading Asimov's Sci-fi; his clear, direct prose style may not be great literature - but it slips down as smooth and warm as a 25-year-old malt.

Finished re-reading The Caves of Steel. I'll decide in a day or two whether to continue with the others.

I'm reading The Robots of Dawn and it's really grabbed my attention from Page1.
In the fourth chapter Susan Calvin is mentioned in context of the story "Liar".

I finished Robots of Dawn late Monday evening, or was it early Tuesday morning? This was a very satisfying conclusion to the Elijah Bailey trilogy. And the final chapter raised my original 4 star rating to 5 stars!

I finished The Naked Sun tonight - and thoroughly enjoyed this re-read. From memory, the best is yet to come - The Robots of Dawn.

I liked all three, but Robots of Dawn is the best-for me, anyway!
I enjoyed the elements of humour along with the gripping plot.

I am not through with I, Robot yet but I am loving it so far. I've never read any of Asimov but The Foundation series has been on my tbr list for years. This will make me read those books sooner rather than later. Excellent writing.

They're something about Asimov's style that gets your attention quickly. He's addictive.

I loved the foundation trilogy and have whizzed through the first few stories of I, Robot. I’ve been in something of a reading slump the last few weeks and this has definitely pulled me out.
I couldn’t have put it better myself Rosemary - his ability to have your full attention even after only a few paragraphs is incredible!

The Robots of Dawn got out of a reading slump as well. I read it in three days, staying up late to finish it.
The first novels in the series are good too.

I'm planning on rereading the sequels to the Foundation trilogy this year.

Gem wrote: "I am not through with I, Robot yet but I am loving it so far. I've never read any of Asimov but The Foundation series has been on my tbr list for years. This will make me read those books sooner ra..."

I am happy you are enjoying the writing!