The Robots of Dawn
{4.5/5} “It was a wasteful and inefficient procedure and there are now no Earthpeople that we will allow to serve as further settlers. We have become Spacers, long-lived and healthy, and we have robots who are infinitely more versatile and flexible than those available to the human beings who originally settled our worlds. Times and matters are wholly different — and today only robotic exploration is feasible.”
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov, published in 1983
Lije Baley is once again sent off Earth, this time to Aurora. Not to solve a murder, but the destruction of a human-like robot. Dr. Han Fastolfe, a friend of Earth, is accused of this destruction. The Commissioner warns Baley that this is a delicate mission, but Baley feels better when he sees his friend R. Daneel Olivaw upon boarding the ship.
This is the sequel to The Naked Sun, but written nearly 30 years later.
It’s about, as always, the investigation of a mystery by asking penetrating questions. It’s about people who have different ideas about colonizing other worlds.
And it’s about someone with extraordinary long-term plans that involve the future creation of psychohistory.
I’ve read 18 books by Asimov.