August 2021-#4 Robots and Empire

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

Hello and Welcome to August! I cann never beleivehiow fast the summers go by... and here we are again! Our August read this year is Robots and Empire, the final read in our Robot Series

Mine actually just arrived in the mail today, so I hope to be starting it in a day or two.


Let us know your thoughts please!

[Mickey]

This will be a reread again. Although I have the hardback collecting dust on my shelf. I downloaded six of the Asimov’s robot novels onto my iPad.

I already have donated almost 1000 of my hard bound books to the local library over the years. Another 500 books to go. I plan on moving to a smaller apartment in the next five years or so. Getting to old to maintain a house, yard and garden.

[Karin]

I just finished this over the weekend because it was overdue; I liked it the best of the four books. I don't have a lot of time, but will link my review later.

[MadProfessah]

I agree that ROBOTS AND EMPIRE is one of the best books in the series…

[Phil]

Seems like I'm in the minority. My favorite parts of the Robot series were the Susan Calvin stories and Caves of Steel. I felt like the last two Robot books were bloated. I thought Asimov's characters worked best in small doses and became less interesting when they have 100 page conversations. It's been at least 15 years since I read the Robot series, but I remember having a pretty strong reaction against the last two books.

Anyone else feel that way, or am I just crazy?

[Karin]

Phil wrote: "Seems like I'm in the minority. My favorite parts of the Robot series were the Susan Calvin stories and Caves of Steel. I felt like the last two Robot books were bloated. I thought Asimov's charact..."

It's obvious that there were some changes in how Asimov wrote in the 1980s vs the 1950s, so I think that if you prefer the earlier style then your reaction makes sense. I am no longer a big fan of most scifi from the 1950s-1970s the way I once was. I am not a huge Asimov fan, and none of these got more than 3 stars from me, but this one was better for me in terms of story telling. But also I think I preferred it without the murder mystery. Also, I liked the interactions between the two robots the most, and we didn't really see that the same way in the previous books.

[Ryan]

I enjoyed the book. Here is my review: The robots becoming actors with individual agency is a notable change from the earlier books in the series, but it was believable. The plot was generally interesting. The conclusion was mostly good, but one of the central mysteries of the book is never resolved. This is a big flaw in a last book of a series.

Here I am obviously referring to the Solarians - what happened with them? Why did Asimov choose not to reveal it? Does he go into it in any of his other books?

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

I liked this one better....the two robots were an interesting pair, and sometimes I found Baley grating.

[Karin]

Maggie wrote: "I liked this one better....the two robots were an interesting pair, and sometimes I found Baley grating."

Yes, I agree!

[Mickey]

I’ll finish the book over Labor Day weekend. I have been busy canning summers bounty.

So far an excellent reread and yea, I know how it ends. I’ll make more comments next week.

[Mickey]

I have finished reading the book, an excellent reread.

This book was needed to complete the universe that Isaac Asimov’s universe of Robots and the Empire. I believe the goal of this book was to create the foundation of the “The zeroth law”. To go over the problems of the basic three laws of robotics was not enough.

It was not the stories or the plot lines that was of interest to me. What I find fascinating in all of Asimov’s robot novels was the argumentation of the laws of robotics and how they are applied.

[Mickey]

Ryan wrote: "Here I am obviously referring to the Solarians - what happened with them? Why did Asimov choose not to reveal it? Does he go into it in any of his other books? "

All of them did not leave Solaria. (view spoiler)[From the book Foundation and Earth that takes place 20,000 years after Earths destruction. Trevize and his shipmates traveled to Solaria and discovered that advanced humans were living on solaria deep underground. They were few in numbers, I believe only a few hundred.

Also from the same book “Foundation and Earth”, Trevize and his crew went to Aurora and found that the world was empty of all intelligent life.

From the book, “Prelude to Foundation”, there was a community on the planet Trantor , the Empire's home world, that we’re descendants of the planet Aurora that worshiped robots. So the Spacers more than likely also melded into the settlers worlds.

It is also conceivable they bred themselves out of existence of the 50 spacer worlds. <\spoiler>

I am not an expert on Asimov’s books, just what I am currently thinking. (hide spoiler)]

[Ryan]

Thanks for your thoughts. I found Foundation just okay so I never continued with the series.

[Karin]

Ryan wrote: "Thanks for your thoughts. I found Foundation just okay so I never continued with the series."

Same here, so I am very pleased that Mickey gave us thoughts in a spoiler :)

[Mickey]

Karin wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Thanks for your thoughts. I found Foundation just okay so I never continued with the series."

Same here, so I am very pleased that Mickey gave us thoughts in a spoiler :)"

That is what this forum is all about. I have learned a thing or two from Ryan and others about the extra short stories regarding the two mathematicians.

In the end, I am rather grateful, I reread novels.

I am ready for the new Foundation tv series on Apple TV in two weeks. As the pessimist and skeptic that imbedded into my DNA, I am sure I will be disappointed. Then maybe there is a smidgen of hope that I will be wrong :)