Category Archives: Isaac Asimov

Ls&Cs: The Fiction Novel

About how language changes, how some cultural assumptions are common among some but unknown by others, and how some people don’t know any of the things that anyone reading this blog know. With my own personal experiences of such matters, … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Isaac Asimov, Notes For, science fiction | Leave a comment

Dole & Asimov’s PLANETS FOR MAN

Stephen H. Dole and Isaac Asimov, PLANETS FOR MAN (Random House, 1964) Here’s an older book co-written by Isaac Asimov, based on a RAND study by Stephen H. Dole, called PLANETS FOR MAN, from 1964. It’s about consolidating available knowledge … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, Science | Leave a comment

Isaac Asimov: THE EARLY ASIMOV (1972)

This is a book I’d never read before, and debated recently about whether to ever read it. On the one hand, life is too short to read every book one might have accumulated, and this book consists, frankly, of all … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Isaac Asimov: THE EARLY ASIMOV (1972)

Asimov, I, ROBOT

(The photo shows a 1969-era Science Fiction Book Club edition of a Doubleday hardcover, with the jacket copy claiming the book is “Long out of print and in great demand”; a 1984 mass market paperback from Del Rey; and the … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Asimov, I, ROBOT

Asimov, THE CURRENTS OF SPACE

[draft] The third of Asimov’s “Galactic Empire” novels, first published in 1952, opens with a fish out of water situation a bit like that in PEBBLE IN THE SKY. But first there is a prolog as the book opens with … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Asimov, THE CURRENTS OF SPACE

Asimov, THE STARS, LIKE DUST

This second of Asimov’s three “Galactic Empire” novels is the least interesting of the three, despite the poetic (and gratuitous) title. It’s entirely about circumstance, with no specific science fictional content at all. Presumably this is an example of Asimov … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Asimov, THE STARS, LIKE DUST

Asimov: PEBBLE IN THE SKY

Isaac Asimov began publishing stories in magazines in 1939, but his first book wasn’t released until 1950, and that first book was his first proper novel, PEBBLE IN THE SKY. By 1950 however he had published in the magazines all … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Asimov: PEBBLE IN THE SKY

Asimov, Six Lucky Starr novels

In the 1950s Isaac Asimov wrote six short science fiction novels for the ‘juvenile’ market, what today we would call ‘young adult.’ These were: DAVID STARR, SPACE RANGER (1952) LUCKY STARR AND THE PIRATES OF THE ASTEROIDS (1953) LUCKY STARR … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Asimov, Six Lucky Starr novels

Asimov: THE WINDS OF CHANGE

THE WINDS OF CHANGE AND OTHER STORIES, published in 1983, is the 11th of 14 collections of SF and fantasy stories from the ‘main sequence’ of Asimov’s collections: the set of his collections that don’t overlap, that don’t consists of … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov | Comments Off on Asimov: THE WINDS OF CHANGE

Isaac Asimov: Foundation

Rereading classic SF in the 21st century: In which I both tease out themes of, and try to summarize, Isaac Asimov’s first Foundation book. I reread Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, i.e. the first book in the ‘Foundation Trilogy,’ a couple weeks … Continue reading

Posted in Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Isaac Asimov: Foundation