The Naked Sun

This is the sequel to [b:The Caves of Steel 11097712 The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1) Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328328744l/11097712.SY75.jpg 140376], and Asimov considered it to be better than the first book. Perhaps it is better constructed in a technical sense; I'm not sure. But this one has somewhat less appeal to me, I think because it's mostly set on Solaria.In the far future of these stories, Earth and Solaria are social opposites: Earth is overcrowded, while Solaria is so underpopulated that its people don't normally meet each other in the flesh, and have a phobia about doing so. Both societies are unattractive from our point of view, but the overcrowded Earth has more life to it than the dry and sterile society of Solaria.The hero of both books, Elijah Baley, is sent to Solaria to investigate a murder that has (most unusually) been committed there. And the murder is ingeniously conceived, as indeed was the murder in the first book; although they're both so ingenious as to seem somewhat contrived.This story was first published in 1956. Although it's set in the 47th century (approximately), the attitudes of the 1950s remain in it. At one point Baley is startled to discover that the murdered man's assistant (who then takes over his job) is a woman; he had expected a man, because a normal man of the 1950s would expect most jobs to be done by men.