The Naked Sun [Mass Market Paperback]

Isaac Asimov (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 1, 1991

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history:  the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain.  On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants.  To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations.  The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection.  Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.  Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities:  Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on. Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!

From the Inside Flap

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history:  the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain.  On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants.  To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations.  The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection.  Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.  Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities:  Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Spectra Books by Bantam Books (November 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553293397
• ISBN-13: 978-0553293395
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Naked Sun, won't you come, and wash away the rain March 11, 2004

By Andrew McCaffrey VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

THE NAKED SUN is a witty little novel that is unmistakably a product of Isaac Asimov. Not just because of the ubiquitous robots, but because of the familiar themes that Asimov explored over the course of his decades-long career. On the surface, the novel is a science-fiction mystery story told in the author's usual enjoyable style. But by the time I reached the end of the book, I realized that Asimov had been doing something a little cleverer than his normal runaround, and upon reaching the conclusion, I immediately flipped back and started revisiting some of the earlier scenes to catch what I had missed the first time around.

THE NAKED SUN starts up where THE CAVES OF STEEL left off, although you certainly do not need to have read the earlier book to enjoy this one. Earthman Detective Elijah Baley is once again teamed up with R. (for Robot) Daneel Olivaw to solve an unexplained murder. The gimmick this time is that the homicide occurred on one of the mysterious Outer Worlds, and Baley must not only act as policeman, but as an unofficial spy for an Earth government curious as to what the culture is like on those advanced, robot-dependent planets.

The mystery is rather clever, although I did figure out what the murder weapon must have been before Baley did. As usual with Asimov's mysteries, I found myself enjoying the investigation more than the occasional plot logic that's thrown to the audience. In the case of this book, the storyline has some solid twists and turns, the only real flaw being that the cast of characters is so small that one could just pick a suspect at random to have a pretty good shot of correctly identifying the killer.

The real star of this story is the universe that Asimov builds.... The Earth is still the lagging, suspicious and enclosed world of THE CAVES OF STEEL, but now we turn our attention out to one of the colony worlds, Solaria. I could tell that Asimov was having a blast creating this society, giving us all kinds of details such as this planet's frosty relationship with Earth, its delicate relationship with other Outer Worlds, its population levels, its staggeringly high ratio of robots to people, etc. But he has even more fun giving birth to the inhabitants. He has them still as recognizable humans, but from an extremely skewed perspective. For most of the book, it's the story of these strange people and their odd customs that overpowers what is currently going on in the murder investigation. This definitely makes for an interesting read, as once we get to the end, we find that the detective portions were only secondary to the real point of the book.

Often Asimov would insert little bits of social commentary into his fictions, with varying levels of success. And indeed, the summation at the end, where Baley lets the cat out of the bag and tells us what the novel has been exploring, is a little on the clumsy side. But the real triumph is how the author quietly and cunningly led us down the garden path to the end. When I opened the book to page one and found Elijah Baley nervously flying into a Washington, DC airport (by sheer coincidence I was making the same approach, albeit I started my journey in a different city than Baley had) and wishing to once again be safe indoors, I chucked to myself, recalling passages from Asimov's autobiography that discussed his legendary fear of flying and his mild claustrophilia. While reading all this stuff about people who hate flying, people who have an unnatural fear of face-to-face meetings, and people who yearn for enclosed spaces, I assumed that Asimov was doing nothing more than his usual shtick of inserting his own neuroses into his fictions (there's nothing wrong with this; it can make for very interesting reading, and it's something I particularly enjoy from Asimov). And with that assumption in place, I didn't pay much mind to what the author was actually setting up beneath the surface. So when the end of the novel rolled around and it was suddenly revealed what he had been up to this whole time, I was very pleasantly surprised.

I like pulpy books that work on more than one level, and THE NAKED SUN gives us a very clever look at human fears while also providing an entertaining murder mystery. No, the characters aren't terribly deep, but the plot is a fun one and the extra bit of world building that Asimov engages in raises this book up. I like to read Asimov novels while traveling, because I find them to be a nice relaxing way to pass a few hours. Anytime the good doctor can provide me with something even better and smarter than his usual high standard of amusing, whimsical adventures, I'm a very happy camper indeed. Read more ›

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you liked Caves of Steel, then pick this up.....perfect!! August 11, 2006

By Surface to Air Missle VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The Naked Sun is the second book in Asimov's robot series and probably my favorite but all are worth reading. This book continues the futuristic Sherlockian adventure of Elijah Bailey and his straight-man robot sidekick Daneel Olivaw. This time they journey to the planet of Solaria to solve a murder that has political implications across the galaxy.

Asimov creates and socially interesting world in Solaria where people avoid human contact, live miles apart from each other and dependent upon robots to automate their society and keep their standard of living of high. Asimov deftly ties the intricacies of the Solarians into the mystery of the murder and ongoing multi book arc or robot progression. The whole thing is executed with Asimov's straightforward style and the character interaction and relationship between the two main characters is excellent as well.

I highly recommend this series to any science fiction fan as this is really top shelf sci-fi writing from the best. The series should be read in order though and one should start with the I, Robot short story collection before proceeding to The Caves of Steel (which is the predecessor to this novel). Also this series is entirely appropriate for any one of at least high school age.

Bottom Line: This series was revolutionary when it came out in the 50's. It's still one of the best ones out there.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of the caves, into the sunlight January 26, 2002

By Paul E. Harrison

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Naked Sun is the sequel to The Caves of Steel, and like that is a detective story set on the featuring robot-hating Plainclothesman Baley and, as if to prove Asimov really could predict the future, or movie-making of the '80s anyway, his entirely unsuited partner R Daneel Olivaw, a robot. Unlike CoS it's set on the (spacer) planet Solaria, a planet of few people and many, servile, robots.

I was a little disappointed after reading CoS, and was expecting something of the sort here, but that didn't happen. CoS was set on an Earth which I found awkwardly described - you got the impression Asimov was trying to say things about the way people thought but couldn't quite get them out. No such problem with The Naked Sun, where Baley's future-Earth foibles are out in the open (figuratively and literally), and Asimov also successfully hints for the first time that a utopia made up of a world where everything is done for you and where people can live for hundreds of years may, possibly, be flawed, a thesis that becomes stronger in "Robots of Dawn" and "Robots and Empire."

Asimov wrote that CoS was an attempt to answer a critic that it was impossible to combine the genres of science fiction with detective stories. The Naked Sun is much more than an answer to that challenge, it's one of Asimov's earliest studies of humanity, and it's a well written thoroughly readable one at that.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Asimov Strikes Back December 11, 1999

By MD

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This is the second book in the Baley-Daneel duo. And it's better than the first one, The Caves of Steel. The Science Fiction aspect is more creative--the Solarians are unlike any race I'm seen or read. The mystery is even tougher. Looking at the two books, The Naked Sun is almost the opposite of The Caves of Steel. The latter takes place in a confined Earth, with few robots. The former is on Solaria, a world with many robots and open spaces. Baley's reaction to the expierence rings true to his character--especially when dealing with the open spaces. To sum up, this is sequel will hook you and make you crave more. How fortunate there is a book called The Robots of Dawn!