# The best Asimov? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311 "2003-01-27T19:38:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/21 "2003-01-30T07:33:47Z")
That’s amazing that someone so devoted to science and against ignorance would want to cover up the cause of his death. As for his books, I’ve read only one collection of his short stories. Pretty good, but I am a devoted reader of his non-fiction books. His guides to the Bible and Shakespeare are frequently consulted around here. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/22 "2003-01-30T07:40:13Z")
The best Asimov? I vote for Isaac. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/23 "2003-01-30T10:24:55Z")
I’ll probably be in the minority here, but I’ve always love _The Black Widower Club_ series of mysteries. They’re enjoyable short stories where enough clues are given to allow the reader to solve the mystery before it’s revealed. I grew up on _Encyclopedia Brown_, so this is just a more “adult” version of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Yesterdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@Yesterdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yesterdog)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/24 "2003-01-30T16:49:08Z")
What was the book on the robot/human cop team? I think it might have been I, Robot, or Caves of Steel. The Robots name was Uje? or Lej? or something like that I think. I had to read it as a child as punishment. My parents didn’t spank as much as they made me read books, and I hated that even more. Espeacially when I got to A Conneticuit Yankee in King Aurthurs Court. Ha, I appreciate it now though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/25 "2003-01-30T17:25:46Z")
> [@](#): > > What was the book on the robot/human cop team? I think it might have been I, Robot, or Caves of Steel. The Robots name was Uje? or Lej? or something like that I think. R. Daneel Olivaw. His human partner was Lije (short for Elijah) Bailey. They appeared in **Caves of Steel** first, then in the sequel **The Naked Sun**. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/26 "2003-01-30T19:14:59Z")
_The Gods Themselves_, for sure. I’m also in awe of the vast number of story anthologies he edited. His _Tomorrow’s Children_ was the book that got me hooked on SF. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/27 "2003-01-30T19:30:24Z")
God, how am I suppose to pick **one**?! I typed in “Asimov” at [amazon.com](http://amazon.com), and it found 1023 results! For novels, gotta go with Caves and Naked sun. They’re just such well-written mystery/SF (a really hard combination to do fairly). The first three Foundation novels come a close second. For short stories, I’m putting myself in **Mr. Frink’s** minority with the Black Widower’s series. And for pretty much the same reason, loved Encyclopedia Brown :). And I always enjoyed the ones with the friend who had an extra-dimensional demon to try to fix people’s problems. And I’m not even going to try on non-fiction. I mean, this is a guy with at least one book in every major category of the Dewey Decimal system. Science, math, the bible, Shakespear; if you want a basic intro to just about any subject, you can probably find an Asimov book to start you off 🙂 And how many people have tried reading the “Asimov’s \*” books? You know, like Caliban/Inferno/Utopia and the Foundation prequels with Hari Seldon? I tried, I really did, but they just never seemed to have the good old Isaac spark. ---
**Author:** ![Yesterdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@Yesterdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yesterdog)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/28 "2003-01-30T20:09:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*R. Daneel Olivaw. His human partner was Lije (short for Elijah) Bailey. They appeared in **Caves of Steel** first, then in the sequel **The Naked Sun**. \*\* Thanks…I’m pretty sure it was Caves of Steel then. Those names bring back alot of memories about that book. I’m going to have to get it and read it again. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/29 "2003-01-30T20:34:07Z")
“Breeds There a Man …?” is the story about the suicidal physicist genius who is conscripted by the govt. to help them develop a force field to withstand nuclear attacks. His personal delusion (?) is that humanity is being studied by extraterrestrial intelligences that will surely kill them/him off if they attempt to progress too far (much like bacteria in a lab are killed before they propagate out of control). A classic. I, too, had forgotten which story that title went with, until a quick search turned up a site that has the entire text of the story … along with the entire text of the whole Foundation Trilogy, I Robot, and many others! Yipe! I shan’t post it for fear of supporting piracy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311/30 "2003-01-30T21:00:26Z")
Thanks, **toadspittle**. “Suicidal pysicist genius” was all I needed to remember that one. I was thinking for some reason that it was a robot story; I think I was conflating it with “…That Thou Should Pay Homage to Him”. I enjoy the Black Widower stories, too, but I don’t think too highly of them as mysteries. Most of them require too much specialized knowledge to solve, and many of the rest are trivial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-asimov/151311.md?page=1)