The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov 📚

Finished reading: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

❗️Disclaimer: Possible spoilers ahead.

This book gives a glimpse of Solaria in its early days, centuries after its colonization. It’s an offshoot of another one of the Outer Worlds and was colonized by Spacers, probably ones who were already rich as hell on their original planets. I say this because their lifestyle is very unique to rich people in that they want everything for themselves, very individualized, and to their comfort. They live alone on their estates with their partners, being served by robots.

This is way before the time they become hermaphrodites, so procreation still requires two people, who only interact with each other on “assigned days.” While both live on the same estate, they have their own quarters completely separate from each other.

In the end, these books are sociological thought experiments more than anything. What if humanity became so dependent on mechanical slaves and focused on their wellbeing alone? While the former book introduced the reader to a crowded and underground Earth living in fear of the mythological Spacer, the second novel shows us that the mythological Spacers are human after all. Just a very peculiar type.

Rating: 4/5