The Caves of Steel

Amazingly, this book was first published in 1953, while still feeling so modern, relevant and fresh.

It borrows quite a bit from 1984 by George Orwell, which was published four years earlier in 1949, with the 'caves' representing closed off cities with harsh restrictions and austere living conditions, including communal food rationing and mess halls, where having your own washbasin is considered a luxury!

Humans are rated C-1, C-2 going upwards, a bit like an ancient caste system in which C-1 has the lowest rights, where you can get promoted for good deeds over time.

C = classified, but you can even get declassified!

This book teaches you the three essential laws of robotics, starting with law No. 1: Robots shall not injure humans.

Robots are essentially harmless because of their inbuilt programming, but put them all together as a collective and, who knows, they could be incredibly dangerous. One day our intelligent household appliances may all gang up on us?

Although a technical book in places, it's surprising how fluid The Caves of Steel feels as a detective thriller with gradual reveals and subtle plot nuances, and the relative continuity of the plot and the smoothness of the character interrelationships and world building, which to me as a first time Isaac Asimov reader, feel superior to the less fluid style of Arthur C. Clarke, although I am no master of either and have only read two ACC books before.

Maybe even Philip K. Dick borrowed ideas from this book for his most famous 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The Caves of Steel is inevitably a little bit quaint in places but it's still fun, sometimes even riveting, and regularly thought provoking and insightful, such as the use of zymology as the study of fermentation through yeast, and 'zymoveal' as a mixture of veal for an imaginary type of synthetic food.

And I've sent a friend request to R. Daneel Olivaw, or will when Robots become available on social media.

I can't quite give this 5 stars however because it’s not absolutely unputdownable, but a very strong 4 stars nonetheless and a must read sci-fi book.

Finally reading some Isaac Asimov and getting that little monkey off my back feels great also!