Sunday, 4 August 2013 01:40 am
Book Review: The Caves of Steel
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deckardcanineCharging ahead, I finished the 209 pages (plus Isaac Asimov's own introduction) just in time for vacation. Much shorter than its threequel, The Robots of Dawn, which I read and reviewed nearly two years ago, and possibly a little better.
TCoS, in contrast to TRoD, takes place entirely on Earth. I don't know quite how many millennia have elapsed, but people clearly mean the 20th century or thereabout when they say "the Middle Ages." The Earth's human population is 8 billion, which doesn't sound nearly as daunting now as it did in 1953 (we're currently just a little past 7.1 billion). To maximize efficient use of resources, nearly all "Earthmen" live in capital-C Cities, each with a population in the millions. Most of the story takes place in New York City, which has expanded pretty much across the Mid-Atlantic region of what was the U.S., leaving plenty of room for its 20 million citizens. I still can't tell exactly why the City is domed; maybe it helps with organization, but with so many largely disregarded doors to the outside, it's not very good for keeping out unwanted visitors.
The system of these Cities may best be summarized as high-tech communism without a prominent leader, religious intolerance, or brutal punishment. It appears more successful than the Soviet Union (which Asimov assures us he was glad to leave early in life) but still no better than a necessary evil in desperation. Nearly everyone resents robots as job usurpers. And while nobody's starving yet, a City would not survive even an hour with a spanner in the works. Small wonder that the romanticizing, "back-to-the-soil" Medievalist movement is thriving.
We do hear a bit from Spacers, humans born on one of the 50-odd colonized planets, none as populous as NYC alone. They enjoy more freedom and luxury, have designer genes, needn't worry about communicable diseases at home, and lack Earthmen's crippling agoraphobia and robot hatred, but I'm not so sure I'd rather live on any of their worlds: Most of them have customs and values abhorrent to me, as demonstrated by a brief mention of euthanizing genetically defective kids. They're also getting too complacent, which could exacerbate the next disaster. I don't like them disdaining Earthmen either, even if it helps Spacers retain dignity while staying back from Earth germs.
Oh, about time I got to the plot, right? Well, as in TRoD, police detective Elijah Baley must solve a murder mystery with high stakes for the future of Earthmen and perhaps humanity in general. The victim is a roboticist in Spacetown, the Spacer-filled neighbor to NYC. If the culprit is an Earthman as widely suspected, interplanetary relations will get even worse. To complicate matters, Spacers insist that the victim's own creation, R. Daneel Olivaw, who looks utterly human to Earthmen (tho the cover artist took liberties with telltale straight lines), be Baley's partner on the case. Not only does Baley hate robots, but for his career's sake, he'll have to solve the mystery first while appearing to be cooperative.
Basically, it's an odd but not silly Wunza Plot. "Lije" and Daneel offer interesting dynamics, almost like Dr. McCoy and Spock. One is decidedly bright but sometimes lets emotions and prejudices lead him the wrong way. The other remains patient, passionless, generally highly informed and talented, but oblivious to sarcasm and unclear on some of the more nuanced motives of humans. I like them both.
I've learned to expect nothing short of brilliance from Asimov, albeit not always agreeable. Here again I readily accept his focus on dialog over action. Little of his vision of the future is really questionable, tho I wonder how NYC's unique transit system could outdo modern alternatives. It helps my enjoyment that we see a lot more of Baley's wife, teen son, and boss, as well as broadly a greater sense of what people do in everyday life.
Much as I like to chase a book with a dissimilar one, I am taking a set of mysteries with me on vacation, namely the Father Brown collection by G.K. Chesterton. It's a tome, but the format makes it easy to shelve and resume much later if need be.
TCoS, in contrast to TRoD, takes place entirely on Earth. I don't know quite how many millennia have elapsed, but people clearly mean the 20th century or thereabout when they say "the Middle Ages." The Earth's human population is 8 billion, which doesn't sound nearly as daunting now as it did in 1953 (we're currently just a little past 7.1 billion). To maximize efficient use of resources, nearly all "Earthmen" live in capital-C Cities, each with a population in the millions. Most of the story takes place in New York City, which has expanded pretty much across the Mid-Atlantic region of what was the U.S., leaving plenty of room for its 20 million citizens. I still can't tell exactly why the City is domed; maybe it helps with organization, but with so many largely disregarded doors to the outside, it's not very good for keeping out unwanted visitors.
The system of these Cities may best be summarized as high-tech communism without a prominent leader, religious intolerance, or brutal punishment. It appears more successful than the Soviet Union (which Asimov assures us he was glad to leave early in life) but still no better than a necessary evil in desperation. Nearly everyone resents robots as job usurpers. And while nobody's starving yet, a City would not survive even an hour with a spanner in the works. Small wonder that the romanticizing, "back-to-the-soil" Medievalist movement is thriving.
We do hear a bit from Spacers, humans born on one of the 50-odd colonized planets, none as populous as NYC alone. They enjoy more freedom and luxury, have designer genes, needn't worry about communicable diseases at home, and lack Earthmen's crippling agoraphobia and robot hatred, but I'm not so sure I'd rather live on any of their worlds: Most of them have customs and values abhorrent to me, as demonstrated by a brief mention of euthanizing genetically defective kids. They're also getting too complacent, which could exacerbate the next disaster. I don't like them disdaining Earthmen either, even if it helps Spacers retain dignity while staying back from Earth germs.
Oh, about time I got to the plot, right? Well, as in TRoD, police detective Elijah Baley must solve a murder mystery with high stakes for the future of Earthmen and perhaps humanity in general. The victim is a roboticist in Spacetown, the Spacer-filled neighbor to NYC. If the culprit is an Earthman as widely suspected, interplanetary relations will get even worse. To complicate matters, Spacers insist that the victim's own creation, R. Daneel Olivaw, who looks utterly human to Earthmen (tho the cover artist took liberties with telltale straight lines), be Baley's partner on the case. Not only does Baley hate robots, but for his career's sake, he'll have to solve the mystery first while appearing to be cooperative.
Basically, it's an odd but not silly Wunza Plot. "Lije" and Daneel offer interesting dynamics, almost like Dr. McCoy and Spock. One is decidedly bright but sometimes lets emotions and prejudices lead him the wrong way. The other remains patient, passionless, generally highly informed and talented, but oblivious to sarcasm and unclear on some of the more nuanced motives of humans. I like them both.
I've learned to expect nothing short of brilliance from Asimov, albeit not always agreeable. Here again I readily accept his focus on dialog over action. Little of his vision of the future is really questionable, tho I wonder how NYC's unique transit system could outdo modern alternatives. It helps my enjoyment that we see a lot more of Baley's wife, teen son, and boss, as well as broadly a greater sense of what people do in everyday life.
Much as I like to chase a book with a dissimilar one, I am taking a set of mysteries with me on vacation, namely the Father Brown collection by G.K. Chesterton. It's a tome, but the format makes it easy to shelve and resume much later if need be.