The Naked Sun

Isaac Asimov’s Robot series – from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels – contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.

Reacting in fear against the technological superiority of the Outer Worlds, the people of Earth have hidden themselves in vast underground cities, nursing a hatred for Spacers. The fifty Outer Worlds of the Spacers together are home to fewer people than planet Earth. And home to many, many more robots. Earthmen hate Spacer robots, too…

But Baley doesn't. He once had a robot partner, R. Daneel – and when the authorities of the planet Solaria request terrestrial assistance in investigating a murder, Baley is once again teamed with Daneel. He is the first Earthman in a millennium to travel to the Outer Worlds…and he must endure the glare of a sun far more deadly than Earth's.

Reviews

‘One of the classic presentations of the womb-city, metropolis as mother, which has haunted imaginations ever since… The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun are the best books Isaac Asimov ever wrote’

The Guardian

‘Isaac Asimov was one of the great explainers of the age…It will never be known how many practicing scientists today, in how many countries, owe their initial inspiration to a book, article, or short story by Isaac Asimov’

Carl Sagan

‘Asimov displayed one of the most dynamic imaginations in science fiction’

Daily Telegraph

‘Asimov’s career was one of the most formidable in science fiction’

The Times

About the author

Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Russia and was brought to the USA by his parents three years later. He grew up in Brooklyn and attended Columbia University. After a short spell in the army, he gained a doctorate and worked in academia and chemical research.

Asimov’s career as a science fiction writer began in 1939 with the short story ‘Marooned Off Vesta’. Thereafter he became a regular contributor to the leading SF magazines of the day. Asimov wrote hundreds of short stories and novels, including the iconic I, Robot and Foundation. He won the Hugo Award four times and the Nebula Award once.

Apart from his world-famous science fiction, Asimov also wrote highly successful detective mystery stories, a four-volume History of North America, a two-volume Guide to the Bible, a biographical dictionary, encyclopaedias, and textbooks, as well as two volumes of autobiography.

Asimov died in 1992 at the age of 72.