Author - Asimov, Isaac

Birth: January 2, 1920. Maybe. Asimov was born in what soon thereafter became the Soviet Union, to Jewish parents, and emigrated with them to the United States when he was about three. Because of the uncertainty of records in Russia at the time, coupled with the differences between the Jewish and Julian calendars, he never knew his exact birth date, but decided to observe his birthday on January 2.

Death: April 6, 1992

Comments: Isaac Asimov along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was one of the "Big Three" of science fiction authors. In the field of science fiction, he was most influential for two groups of books. The first is his Robot series, featuring I, Robot, The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. This series established the now almost universally known three laws of robotics and explored the impact that such a set of rules would have. The second is the Foundation series, which initially included Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, revolving around a collapsing galactic empire and the science of "psychohistory" which allows the prediction of history so long as you deal with large groups of people. Later in his career Asimov wrote a number of books linking his Robot books with his Foundation books, an effort that resulted in a lot of very mediocre books. As with most early science fiction authors, Asimov was a prolific short story writer, cutting his writing teeth producing fiction for John Campbell, whose influence on Asimov's fiction is apparent to anyone familiar with Campbell's preferences.

Asimov was also a prolific science writer, and produced a large volume of popular science books. He used a very simple and direct writing style, and to some extent his style was better suited to nonfiction science books, all of which are quite good (though for obvious reasons, are a little out of date on some points now). Asimov was a quite prolific author, with more than 500 books published under his name during his career, on almost every topic, including Asimov's Guide to the Bible. He was a claustrophile and afraid of flying, which meant he rarely traveled and preferred to be in a confined office. During his lifetime, this made him pretty much perfectly suited to be an author. Now, he'd probably become an MMO addict or spend half his life on twitter.



My reviews of Isaac Asimov's books:
Asimov on Numbers
The Caves of Steel
The Collapsing Universe
The Currents of Space
David Starr, Space Ranger
The Double Planet
Earth: Our Crowded Spaceship
The End of Eternity
Forward the Foundation
Foundation
Foundation and Earth
Foundation and Empire
Foundation's Edge
The Gods Themselves
I, Robot
Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids
The Martian Way and Other Stories
The Naked Sun
Nemesis
Pebble in the Sky
Prelude to Foundation
The Rings of Saturn
Robot Dreams
Robots and Empire
The Robots of Dawn
Second Foundation
The Stars, Like Dust
The Wellsprings of Life



Books edited by Isaac Asimov that I have reviewed:
The Hugo Winners, Volume 1
The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 1
The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2
More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II
TV: 2000 (with Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg)

Books by Isaac Asimov I have read but not reviewed:
The Asimov Chronicles
The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov
The Bicentennial Man
Buy Jupiter and Other Stories
The Early Asimov
Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter
Nine Tomorrows
The Winds of Change

Books edited by Isaac Asimov I have read but not reviewed:
Before the Golden Age: Book 1
Before the Golden Age: Book 2
Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction (Fourth Series)

Short fiction by Isaac Asimov appearing in works that I have reviewed:

The Billiard Ball found in Robot Dreams

"Breeds There a Man...?" found in Robot Dreams

Catch That Rabbit found in I, Robot

The Deep found in The Martian Way and Other Stories

Does a Bee Care? found in Robot Dreams

Dreaming is a Private Thing found in TV: 2000
Escape! found in I, Robot
Evidence found in I, Robot
Eyes Do More Than See found in Robot Dreams
The Evitable Conflict found in I, Robot
The Feeling of Power found in Robot Dreams
Franchise found in Robot Dreams
Hostess found in Robot Dreams
Jokester found in Robot Dreams
The Last Answer found in Robot Dreams
The Last Question found in Robot Dreams
Lest We Remember found in Robot Dreams
Liar! found in I, Robot
Light Verse found in Robot Dreams
Little Lost Robot found in I, Robot and Robot Dreams
The Machine That Won the War found in Robot Dreams

The Martian Way found in The Martian Way and Other Stories and Robot Dreams

Nightfall found in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume I, 1929-1964

Reason found in I, Robot
Robbie found in I, Robot
Robot Dreams found in Robot Dreams
Runaround found in I, Robot
Sally found in Robot Dreams and Time Untamed
Spell My Name With an S found in Robot Dreams
Strikebreaker found in Robot Dreams
Sucker Bait found in The Martian Way and Other Stories
True Love found in Robot Dreams
The Ugly Little Boy found in Robot Dreams
Youth found in The Martian Way and Other Stories

Essays by Isaac Asimov appearing in works I have reviewed:

The Light-Bringer found in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 72, No. 4 (April 1987)

Opposite! found in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 72, No. 1 (January 1987)

Sail On! Sail On! found in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 72, No. 2 (February 1987)

The Unmentionable Planet found in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 71, No. 4 (November 1986)

Related works I have reviewed:

An Asimov Companion: Characters, Places and Terms in the Robot/Empire/Foundation Metaseries by Donald E. Palumbo

Authors - A     Authors A-Z     Home