Asimov is a science fiction novelist with no pretensions toward innovative techniques, hidden allusions, or occult symbolism. He is, as he professes to be, a popular writer whose work is immediately accessible to a wide audience. It is worth asking, then, what it is about Asimov's writing that accounts for his popularity…. My argument is that Asimov's characters are at the center of appeal in his major fiction because they enrich and enliven the science fiction worlds he creates. (p. 13...

Asimov has balanced the demands of [two genres, mystery and science fiction] by building on their common ground. Both types impose the need for logical, analytical method and for subtle, acute reasoning—applied in the one instance to untangling a puzzle in immediate time and place, the other in speculative time and place. Both exercise the special knowledge of the author. Detective fiction demands a knowledge of police procedures and an understanding of the deductive process; science fiction, of the ...

The Foundation Trilogy is a basic work upon which a vast structure of stories has been built. Its assumptions provided a solid footing for a whole city of fictional constructions. The way in which it was created, then, and the way in which it came to prominence may be useful examples of the process by which science fiction was shaped in the magazines. (pp. 27-8) How to explain the continuing popularity of the Trilogy? Why has the Foundation become a foundation? The student of science fiction who can underst...

Isaac Asimov is deservedly regarded as the father of robot stories in SF. He has produced more robot and computer stories than any other writer, and the quality of his fiction is consistently high. (p. 54) Asimov has been both comprehensive, thoughtful, and imaginative in creating his substantial body of fiction.

The beginning of Isaac Asimov's career as a writer of science fiction coincided closely with the beginning of the development of "social science fiction." (p. 13) [Asimov defines "social science fiction"] as "that branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings." He recognizes the existence of the other types of science fiction—adventure and gadget—which do not fit this definition, but he feels tha...

"Asimovian." I have used the adjective myself, and I have seen it used by others. What others mean by it I cannot say. But I would like to suggest in some detail what I have found the term to mean…. On matters of style: The typical Asimov sentence is short and clear. His sentences tend to gain length not by the accumulation of dependent clauses, but by the addition of simple sentences: not "The boy who hit the ball ran around the bases," but "The boy hit the ball, a...

The solution to one of Asimov's most important questions, the role of the individual in history, lies in one of his most basic principles, the mystery-story structure. Can man control his fate, or is he part of a hurtling chain reaction in which individual initiatives are predestined or inconsequential? Isaac Asimov deals with this question specifically, yet we find a curious difficulty in determining his precise view. We can, however, clarify the question by examining Asimov in the context of Leo To...

Before the nineteen-fifties, many critics considered the science fiction mystery novel an improbability—if not an impossibility…. [It was assumed] that both detective fiction and science fiction are frivolous literary forms and that both are too limited in scope and techniques to permit fusion between them…. [But, an examination of the two genres] would have noted the intellectual openness of both genres and emphasized that the spirit behind both is that of inquiry, of the willingness t...

Isaac Asimov's previous collection, Buy Jupiter!, was largely a selection of Asimovian trivia, outrageous puns and shaggy dog stories. The Bicentennial Man, however, shows him to be once more the master of science fiction that has written the Foundation trilogy and "Nightfall"…. Four of the stories are of his famed positronic robot series. One of these, "Feminine Intuition", even has Asimov's favorite character, Susan Calvin. The others are: "That Thou...

Much of [In Joy Still Felt] is fascinating. In addition to chronicling his personal and professional lives, Asimov offers intelligent perceptions of such varied topics as aging and mortality, politics and politicians, and fan clubs as sub-cultures. His several anti-Nixon diatribes are particularly biting and he claims his pro-feminist ideas ante-date the Women's Liberation movement by several years. Especially touching are the emotions he displays toward his daughter. But Asimov is most enlightening ...

[In Venus: Near Neighbor of the Sun] Asimov uses the description of a single astronomical object to relate much basic astronomy in a direct, easily understood manner. The text presents a significant amount of the content of an introductory astronomy and planetary physics course clearly, and without mathematics. The wealth of figures and tables complements and clarifies the descriptions of the relative sizes of the planets when viewed from different distances, the orbital characteristics of planets and satel...

In "More Words of Science," Isaac Asimov exhibits, as he did in his 1959 "Words of Science" (to which this book is a sequel), the same deep attention to the science of words as he does to science. Dr. Asimov's knowledge of his subjects embraces their etymology, lending, in most cases, a simple clarity to even the more complex definitions…. From ablation to zpg, a full page is devoted to each definition. This page-length treatment permits a scope and style most dicti...

[Saturn and Beyond] consists of a historical description of what we know about the outer parts of the solar system and how we found the information. The author is very careful to indicate what sort of data are still uncertain, such as the sizes, and hence the densities, of the smaller satellites of the outer planets. He also points out fallacies in various theories of the origin of the system, which are apparent if the supposedly measured values are right; and he doesn't try to push us toward a favor...

[The Complete Robot] collects everything from "Robbie" (1940), which was the first robot story of this the most famous series of robot stories in the world, down to "The Bicentennial Man" (1976), which is the last of any significance, and just about the best story Asimov has ever written. (This may not be saying a great deal. It has become clearer and clearer over the years that Asimov is a much better novelist than storyteller, and that his best treatments of the robot theme are...

["Words of Science and the History Behind Them" is] entertaining and informative…. Isaac Asimov, who has written science fiction and science truth, here discusses almost 1,500 scientific terms under 250 alphabetized headings, one to a page. The result is that Enzyme and Equator glare at each other incongruously from opposite pages, as they might in a dictionary. But this is no dictionary, nor even a comprehensive reference work. Yet it is packed with information about the meanings and d...

Asimov's new book on Venus [Venus, Near Neighbor of the Sun] is in much the same vein as his earlier works on Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They are all compendia of the latest information on the planets. Unannounced in the title is the fact that almost 40% of this book deals with topics other than Venus, namely Mercury, asteroids and comets. It would have been more honest to have included this information in the title or on the cover. If nothing else, Asimov is thorough, providing us with just about ev...

The language of science continues to grow at an astounding rate. When Isaac Asimov's book, Words of Science, was published in 1959, term such as "quasar," "laser," and "transfer RNA" were not included; since they were not yet a part of the common scientific vocabulary. More Words of Science takes up where the earlier volume left off and provides the reader with 250 more clearly and interestingly written explanations. Very often, books of this sort are useful ...

As the companion volume to Asimov's earlier Breakthroughs in science …, [Great ideas of science] is composed of short essays on famous scientists and their accomplishments. In Great ideas of science the major contributions of sixteen scientists … are discussed. Ten years ago a reviewer suggested of Breakthroughs that the "general juvenile encyclopedias give far better coverage to the subjects treated." We feel that the same criticism is valid for Great ideas of science. As...

Asimov employed the wide-angle lens for his view of life and it is a pity that his largest milestone, the Foundation trilogy, was written before sf authors were able to think of their books as books, rather than as short stories or serials in ephemeral magazines (or magazines that would have been ephemeral but for the dedication of fans). Conceived as one organic whole, the Foundation series would have undoubtedly risen to greater majesty…. Asimov has developed into one of the polymaths of our day, p...

Every author has his favourite hero, usually based on a flattering version of his own personality. In his first work of fiction for fifteen years, The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov continues with his fictional alter ego in the form of the questing man of science. A man, it need hardly be added, of intellect, vision, courage, and so on. In this tripartite novel there are, basically, three distinct personalities who might be said to fit these rather exacting criteria, including an exotic though blobby alien. ...

Like a black hole, Extraterrestrial Civilizations contracts, moving from a billion trillion possibilities to imaginable probabilities as Asimov shows how the origins of life and the conditions that permit it to evolve limit civilization to 540 planets in our galaxy. The information, ranging from early speculation about space to pulsars and red giants, is impressive and is lucidly presented; but the chain of logic leading to the title's assertion is as unstable as a mile-long game of crack-the-whip. W...

It is tempting to say that [Asimov on science fiction] has been assembled by a robot, but accuracy—and the state-of-the-art—blames the more prosaic computer printout. Asimov has scrutinized his prodigious output of over 200 volumes on diverse subjects, and culled from them these 55 pieces on science fiction. His incentive is a sense of the historical occasion. Rather surprisingly, Asimov has never exclusively devoted a volume to the subject. Sadly, this effort is, for the most part, mechanical...

Isaac Asimov's In memory yet green, [volume] 1 of a two-volume autobiography, suffers from the faults that mar Asimov's fiction; it is long on plot (708 pages of revised diary entries) and short on characterization (few of his acquaintances emerge as anything but foils for Asimov). While Asimov is candid, as in revealing his own foibles and in exploring the effects of his immigrant background and previous early life on his attitudes and actions, he too often resorts to a parody of his legendar...

[Saturn and Beyond is another] in Asimov's series of astronomy books for junior high, misleadingly titled as always. The first three quarters of the book deal only with the planets known to the ancients, one supposes in order to use a historical approach, but then Asimov talks of the 1977 discovery of Chiron (an asteroid between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus) before admitting that Uranus was discovered in 1781. He spends a great deal of time on the various moons, discussing what one could see from ...

["Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus"] is Paul French's best juvenile science fiction book to date. Crackling with suspense, lit by humor, sparkling with complexities of plot, and alive with interest, it is a tasty deep-sea dish for every reader who is young at heart. The great underwater cities which harbor Earth's settlers on Venus are threatened with destruction by a hidden enemy who can control men's minds. Lucky Starr, youngest member of Earth's Council of Sci...

That peerless science writer Asimov here presents [Change!], a collection of short essays (most about three pages), all but one of which first appeared in American Way magazine, the inflight publication of American Airlines. The selections offer insights into what the world of tomorrow may be like, based on the knowledge and trends of today, all presented with that remarkable lucidity which is the author's trademark. And there are many messages about contemporary issues, such as that coal is a danger...

In [Asimov's Mysteries], Isaac Asimov has brought together 14 short stories illustrative of the "science fiction mystery"—a form which, he explains, he began writing in response to comments that the two could not be combined. Obviously, they can be: the puzzle as hero can be as entertaining in its way as galactic empires, alien life-forms, or social extrapolation. This book provides further evidence if it was needed. In most of the stories Mr. Asimov draws the puzzle elements fro...

[In Extra-Terrestrial Civilizations] Asimov turns his talents for clear explanations of complex scientific subjects to the question of the existence of extraterrestrial life…. The chemical and physical bases for life are discussed in detail but never beyond the comprehension of high school students. If alien life exists, as Asimov believes it does, why have we not found any evidence of it? Asimov theorizes that cosmic distances between even the nearest stars, not to mention galaxies, are so great tha...

The continuing popularity of Asimov's earlier novels should guarantee an audience for [The Gods Themselves]…. The story of earth's demands on its dwindling energy reserves is told in three tenuously linked segments…. The plot, which can almost be read as three short stories, reflects the contemporary search for an energy source free from dangerous side effects and demonstrates that self-serving convenience can be an overwhelming argument against probable consequences. Although th...

Asimov, who has written a virtual galaxy of excellent popular science books,… achieves something valuable [in Extraterrestrial Civilizations] by making a fresh, rigorously statistical analysis of the universe as we "know" it. In a sequence of short chapters he discusses possible habitable planetary systems that may be found in the cosmos; by well-argued processes of elimination he narrows his analysis down to a startling statement: "The number of planets in our galaxy on which a ...

Isaac Asimov displays a portion of his impressive store of science information in Venus, Near Neighbor of the Sun…. Five of the nine chapters are devoted to Venus, two to the planet Mercury, one is on asteroids, and another on comets. The information is solid on physical attributes such as circumference, surface temperature, density, axial inclination, and orbital eccentricity of the various bodies. Fifty-four tables of facts and 39 figures help organize and clarify the information, including histori...

[The Rest of the Robots] is a true delight—reprints of eight short stories and two novels all by Asimov and all written with his characteristic verve, intelligence and humor. In his introduction he gives a capsule history of the art of science fiction and its changing philosophy. He has arranged his selections by date of writing and has prefaced each with critical comments which trace his increasingly serious approach to the world of "robotics." These stories cover a span of 15 years an...

[Breakthroughs in Science is a collection] of brief (1,500 words) essays on the life and work of nearly 30 important scientists and technologists…. Style is odd: paragraphs and sentences seem often to have been artificially shortened and most unlike Asimov's usual excellent, smooth-flowing exposition. The essays themselves seem far too short for the amount of ground covered. The whole project bears a most un-Asimov-like air, and the result is an inferior work from an author whose true excellen...

With more than 200 books including science fact as well as science fiction and mysteries to his credit, it is not surprising that [in Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts] Asimov has finally turned to assembling systematically some of the facts he has accumulated. He offers 3,000 odd bits of information here to entertain as well as inform, setting them down in categories ranging from kings and eccentricities to fashions and the Civil War. Presented with a bit of Asimov's characteristic sparkle, this i...

It seems to be an open secret that "Paul French" is Isaac Asimov; and the latest adventure of Lucky Starr ["Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus"] is the first in this series to deserve comparison with Asimov's often admirable adult science fiction. Here he has dropped the foolish trappings which made earlier books seem like a blend of Space Patrol, Superman and the Lone Ranger, and devoted himself to a straightforward, near-Heinlein adventure on Venus—a tight, fast ...

[In "David Starr: Space Ranger," a] tale of the seventieth century, Paul French ingeniously combines mystery with science fiction. His inventiveness and his use of picturesque details remind one of Robert Heinlein's books and, though his Isaac Asimov 1920– Photograph by Jay Kay Kleincharacters are not so fully developed as are Heinlein's, they are for the most part more individualized than in the usual stor...

["Words of Science and the History Behind Them"] is an alphabetically arranged collection of one-page essays on such unfamiliar words as catalysis, isomer, occultation, tantalum, and yttrium, and such quite ordinary words as artery, continent, cortisone, lever, nucleus, and planet…. In addition to being a useful reference book, this is a delightful book for children of any age to read at random, because of the charm and freshness of the author's information and speculation, and h...

The swashbuckling science-fiction hero, Buck Rogers style, can be a pretty depressing fellow. In "Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn" … Paul French tells us how Lucky spoils the Sirians' plans to colonize one of our sun's planets. Studded with what one supposes are spaceman epithets, such as "Great Galaxy!" and "Sands of Mars!", this is a good guy vs. bad guy situation in which neat plotting is the saving grace of an otherwise ordinary effort. ...

[In "Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn"], French-Asimov has fun with fresh variations on the Three Laws of Robotics … and lets David Starr contribute to future history by establishing, against the opposition of the sinister Sirians, the principal of the indivisibility of stellar systems. The novel's a mite short on plot, and much of its banter seems more childish than youthful; but like all Asimov it is ingenious and carefully credible. H. H. Holmes, "Three,...

[In Asimov on Science Fiction] Asimov's forthright views are presented in a crisp and witty style. His lifetime of experience in the field provides mature judgments. Readers of all ages who have any degree of interest in science fiction will enjoy listening to Asimov discourse on the topics he knows so well. Katherine Thorp, in her review of "Asimov on Science Fiction," in Library Journal (reprinted from Library Journal, April 1, 1981; published by R. R. Bowker Co. (a Xerox...

In the lucid and information packed style that has rendered the author outstanding in the juvenile science field, Isaac Asimov describes twenty-six men and the moments at which they reversed the course of scientific thought [in Breakthroughs in Science]…. Embracing every area of science, this is a readable text which should interest even the most reluctant student, and is therefore recommended to school libraries. A review of "Breakthroughs in Science," in Virginia Kirkus&#...

["I, Robot"] is an exciting science thriller, chiefly about what occurs when delicately conditioned robots are driven off balance by mathematical violations, and about man's eternal limitations. It could be fun for those whose nerves are not already made raw by the potentialities of the atomic age. Nancie Matthews, "When Machines Go Mad," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1951 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), February 4, 1951,...

["Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury"] is much the best of the Space Patrol genre this spring. It's an interplanetary detective story of sabotage on a mysterious project on Mercury, with well constructed deduction, exciting action and accurate astronomical information. H. H. Holmes, in his review of "Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury," in New York Herald Tribune Book Review (© I.H.T. Corporation; reprinted by permission), May 13, 1956, p. 36.