#55 in Classics
The Caves of Steel
- 259
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
- Film 2004
- On screen
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
“The Caves of Steel” pairs a human detective with a robot partner, and the partnership matters more than the case. Some readers find it loose as a whodunit, but the investigation gives Asimov room to argue about where humanity is heading and how people might live alongside machines. Short and brisk, it suits readers who want classic science fiction of ideas more than a tightly plotted crime novel.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Caves of Steel is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited genre in itself.
Reading order · Robot series
Full order & progress →- I, RobotStart here
8.28.2 / 10 - The Caves of SteelThis book
8.18.1 / 10 - The Naked Sun
8.18.1 / 10 - The Robots of Dawn
8.08.0 / 10 - Robots and Empire
8.28.2 / 10
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- FilmI, RobotIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 757 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 84% of the weight and the score stays at 8.1 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 28 | 4% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 23 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 706 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Caves of Steel?
It has 259 pages — shorter than 84% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 8.1 and 8.2, closest to this book.
