I don’t like the main character of The Caves of Steel but it has become a joy following him along him stumbles and a nightmare watching him get close to growth and then reverting. Baley is by no means the worst character or person I have ever been introduced to but I don’t know if I have yelled at and about a book so much before.

I suppose I can’t remember if he’s ever actually referred to as a “detective”. He’s a “Plain-clothes Man” and a “policeman” from much of my recollection. But his role here is as the detective and so that’s what I’m continue to refer to his title as. And he is just the worst at it.

Baley has two very big “AHA!” moments in the book and, to the surprise of no one, he’s wrong and is humiliated because of the fact. How he ends up with a working theory at the end is beyond me, because he approaches everything with a decided confidence and yet does NO ground work. He never tests his theory or tries to gather more evidence before he presents it, he just slaps it out onto the table and then Surprise Pikachu Face’s when he’s wrong.

As I start posting my reading reflections for The Caves of Steel, you’re going to hear me complain at length about this man. I still can’t decide whether I believe that Asimov made him a terrible character on purpose or if Asimov thought he was great and just writes terrible main characters. I haven’t read nearly enough to make that determination for myself just yet but right now I can’t believe Baley was written without the intention of being rubbish at his job. There has to be some theme or parallel here. Right? ( . ‸ .)

There are a couple of reasons that I can think of for Baley being how he is on purpose and not just poorly written. A: Asimov is showing the degradation of human ability and critical thinking as they’re all trapped in the vacuum that is the caves of steel. B: Asimov just doesn’t like Baley either and thought it would be interesting to make the protagonist antagonise the reader.

Despite Baley, I did enjoy part of the novel and am glad I read it. I don’t think I would re-read it but there are a lot of talking points that are still relevant today as they were when it was written. I’ll start dissecting that as I bring out my reading reflections. There’s far too much to muse on in one post (˶◜ᵕ◝˶)