# Which Asimov Robot book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552 "2001-11-10T00:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/1 "2001-11-10T00:54:26Z")
I’m just rereading the Elijah Bailey detective books. I know of 3: ‘Caves of Steel’, ‘Naked Sun’ and ‘Robots of Dawn’. In ‘Robots of Dawn’, Robot Daneel Olivaw says that he hasn’t met Elijah since the problem of the two mathematicians. Is that another story? If so, which book is it in? Go, cultured Dopers! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/2 "2001-11-10T01:47:08Z")
I don’t think it’s a novel, glee. I think Daneel is referring to a short story. I cannot remember its name, but it appeared in a collection “The Best of Asimov.” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/3 "2001-11-10T02:14:13Z")
It’s from a short story called “Mirror Image.” I just listened to it this week, via audiotape. A web search reveals that this story was published in _Analog_ magazine on 14 October 1971. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/4 "2001-11-10T23:12:49Z")
Merci beaucoup\* \*as this is Cafe Society, I thought I should be posh! ---
**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:** [November 11, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/5 "2001-11-11T19:12:15Z")
There’s also the fourth book, _Robots and Empire_, if you haven’t read it. Lije is dead by then, but there’s a few flashbacks with him, and Daneel and Giskard star. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/6 "2001-11-11T23:33:51Z")
Chronos, Yes, got that one. Ta. ---
**Author:** ![JubilationTCornpone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JubilationTCornpone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JubilationTCornpone)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/7 "2001-11-12T06:10:48Z")
BTW, “Mirror Image” is also features in Asimov’s compilation, _The Complete Robot_. Actually, that’s a bit of a misnomer, since the book was compiled in 1986. It thus fails to include Asimov’s later adventures with Giskard and R. Daneel Olivaw. A better title for this book would be _The Almost Complete Robot_. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/8 "2001-11-13T01:31:30Z")
> [@](#): > > It thus fails to include Asimov’s later adventures with Giskard and R. Daneel Olivaw. A better title for this book would be The Almost Complete Robot. Do you just mean the novels, or are there other short stories? If the latter, where can I get them? ---
**Author:** ![JubilationTCornpone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JubilationTCornpone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JubilationTCornpone)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/9 "2001-11-13T05:50:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > It thus fails to include Asimov’s later adventures with Giskard and R. Daneel Olivaw. A better title for this book would be The Almost Complete Robot. > > Do you just mean the novels, or are there other short stories? If the latter, where can I get them? \*\* To the best of my knowledge, just the novels. Aside from “Mirronr Image,” I don’t know of any short stories involving Daneel, Lije or Giskard. Incidentally, if you want to be a Daneel completist, I suggest that you read some of Asimov’s last Foundation novels. (I don’t recall which ones off-hand, but to my mind, you’re better off reading them all anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![TokenFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@TokenFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokenFemale)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/10 "2001-11-14T15:11:20Z")
The Complete Robot is an anthology of all of Asimov’s short stories involving robots, there is only one involving Daneel but there are about 20 odd other stories involving robots of some kind or another. A very interesting read. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/11 "2001-11-14T18:47:28Z")
Yeah, I know about those, having read all of Asimov’s novels (well, almost… I still haven’t gotten around to _A Whiff of Death_). I just didn’t want to refer to them directly, lest I spoil them for someone. ---
**Author:** ![Revedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@Revedge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revedge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/12 "2001-11-15T05:04:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Yeah, I know about those, having read all of Asimov’s novels (well, almost… I still haven’t gotten around to _A Whiff of Death_). I just didn’t want to refer to them directly, lest I spoil them for someone. \*\* Did you also read “Murder at the ABC?” ---
**Author:** ![TokenFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@TokenFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokenFemale)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/13 "2001-11-15T08:35:53Z")
So, can anyone tell me if there is a novel which links up the last foundation book and the last Robot book. I want to find out about how the Solarians got to be the way they were and what Daneel was up to all that time and I want to know more details about Gaia. I know it’s sad to be curious about things that never happened, but I need closure dammit 😉 ---
**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:** [November 15, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/14 "2001-11-15T19:16:40Z")
Yeah, I read _Murder at the ABA_. Great execution, but it sucked as a mystery. I mean, when halfway through the book, the main character goes “Well, there was a crucial clue, that levels the murderer down to only two possible suspects, but it probably doesn’t mean anything, so I’ll just ignore it”, it’s not a good sign. **Token** , the books in that chronology were _The Caves of Steel_, _The Naked Sun_, _The Robots of Dawn_, and _Robots and Empire_ (the Robot Novels), _Foundation_, _Foundation and Empire_, Second Foundation\*, _Foundation’s End_, _Foundation and Earth_, _Prelude to Foundation_, and _Forward the Foundation_. Asimov considered _Pebble in the Sky_, _The Currents of Space_, and _The Stars like Dust_ to be part of the same world, but they don’t really tie in. Of those, the one which comes closest to being the “bridge” is _Foundation and Earth_… Have you read that one? ---
**Author:** ![TokenFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@TokenFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokenFemale)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-asimov-robot-book/92552/15 "2001-11-16T10:48:33Z")
Yeah I’ve read it, but I still feel like Asimov was promising more explanation, There was a comment by Daneel (I think) insinuating that people should consider the fact that all humans in the galaxy had more or less the same physical attributes except for the solarians and that was significant. So I had always thought that he was planning a story or novel to explain this. But I understand that he wrote Foundation and Earth near the end of his life so maybe he just never got the chance to write it.