The Edge of Tomorrow

by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov writes about actual and fictional scientists--from Archimedes in his bath to the alien astronomers on the far planet of Largesh--whose minds and discoveries have shaped our past, present, and future.

Unique is where you find it
The eureka phenomenon
The feeling of power
The comet that wasn't
Found!
Twinkle, twinkle, microwaves
Paté de foie gras
The bridge of the gods
Belief
Euclid's fifth
The plane truth
The billiard ball
The winds of change
The figure of the fastest
The dead past
The fateful lightning
Breeds there a man?
The man who massed the earth
Nightfall
The planet that wasn't
The ugly little boy
The three who died too soon
The last question
The nobel prize that wasn't

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Collections, Essays

462 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1985

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Khalid Abdul-Mumin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eclictic collection of both fictional and non-fictional pieces from the mind of Asimov. Dated but still worth the read. A few excellent essays and stories too.

[K. Rezaiezadeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very surprised this doesn't have more reviews - I may not have the brainpower to really understand the nitty gritty of some of the essays, but Asimov's zippy enough of a storyteller to keep me interested anyway. Some great short stories too - sure they're generally more cerebral than heart-wrenching, but don't let that detract you.

These are some smart and very readable stories - plus, 'The Ugly Little Boy' reads like Asimov responding to all the critics who call him out for placing ideas over character. Makes me wish he had written in this key just a little more, honestly.

[Dana Cameron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually couldn't make myself finish this. The science essays were not my bag, partially because they seemed incredibly inaccurate (at least on the "history of science" side). The short fiction was very hit-or-miss. The introduction to the book and then Asimov's own introductions to his works were very egotistical, swaggering, and indicative of his serial sexual-harasser behaviour. Bleh. There are better books I could spend my time on.

[James Swenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mixture of Asimov's non-fiction essays with some of his best-known short stories.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both the short stories and essays were equally interesting in their own way. Fiction that engages a cognitive part of the mind is almost as rare as scientific essays that both manage to engage and entertain. I will admit that some of the science and math in the essays went over my head, but this says more about my declining math and science attention span than the quality of the work.

[Doug Plamping · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a short story fan, this was a book I've kept on my shelf forever.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a combination of short stories and essays. The unifying theme is scientists. Each essay explores a scientist (or the history of a scientific discovery) and each story features a scientist, usually as the protagonist.

Many of the stories included here have been anthologized before, and they include some of Asimov's best and most famous tales. "Nightfall," "The Ugly Little Boy," "Belief" and "The Billiard Ball" all make an appearance here. If you've not read these stories before, they are well worth your time. They will give you some idea of why Asimov was considered a Grandmaster of Science Fiction.

I found the essays quite a bit less engaging. Most deal with some odd fact of scientific history or describe the process of how a single discovery took a hundred years and three different scientists to actually accomplish. I know these essays were written to help non-scientists engage with science and usually that kind of thing appeals to me. But for some reason, here, I just found it a bit dull and tedious. I don't know if it's that I don't enjoy Asimov's more didactic voice or if the jumping back and forth from fiction to non-fiction didn't work for me.

So this book is a mixed bag for me. I recommend the stories but not the essays.

[Helena Soares · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories and essays is quite amazing. Anyone who loves science, math, and/or science fiction would probably love The Edge of Tomorrow.
While I rated the overall book 5 stars, there were some stories/essays, as with most collections, that weren't quite as good. Despite the 1 I didn't like, "The Last Question," the overall book was wonderful.
My favorite short story was most likely "The Ugly Little Boy," a short story that deals with far-out concepts in science fiction while also having character relationships that make this short story both touching and memorable.
As for the essays... I can't quite decide which is my favorite, as all of them were spectacular.

In this book, I also heard of who is now my absolute favorite mathematician. János Bolyai, a Hungarian mathematician that, "fenced with thirteen swordsmen one after the other, vanquishing them all - and playing the violin between bouts."

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a science fiction novel, the Edge of Tomorrow by Isaac Asimov is rather a collection, or blend, of some of his fictional short stories with some of his non-fictional essays. Isaac Asimov has always been one of my favorite science fiction writers with such classics as his Foundation series and the Robot stories to name a few of the more than 500 books he has written or edited. This book allows us to see more of the breadth of his skill at using his scientific knowledge and experience as a professor of biochemistry to write on a wide variety of topics. True Asimov fans will love reading this book if they have not already.

[Bill Fish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories and essays, alternating between the two. It has a central theme around scientists. Although I prefer the fiction over the essays, the look into the scientific advances and the people who made them is very interesting. However, my favorite piece in this book is the story "The Ugly Little Boy". For anyone interested in scientific essays and science fiction, this is a well balanced book.

[Gregory Walgreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My fantasy college football team's name comes from an Isaac Asimov novel (Sterling University). I thought it best to catch up on my Asimov reading. I did not realize that Mr. Asimov was such a prolific author. That being so, Minnesota winter's are long so I have the time to put a significant dent in the Asimov collection.

[Rodney Bond · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated - 1985. Collection of short stories written around some aspect of math or physics. A couple good ones out of many. Too much historical background before getting into the stories. Many "short" stories too long.

[Sergey Selyutin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid collection of twelve short stories (all, except for the very first one, science fictional) and twelve popular science essays for 'The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'. Recommended to all Asimov fans.

[Mirana Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book not only has not much reviews but also has no book description on Goodreads. I'm so surprised because I heard of this well enough to get myself to read at least one or two of the short stories in it. It's a collection book, and it's as good as the rest of Asimov's books.

[Shana]

I read this mid-80's along with a lot of Asimov short stories and the I, Robot books.. I remember loving Asimov , but finding it a bit complicated.. Maybe over my head at 12-14? Maybe.. I read a lot.... But I can barely recall anything beyond the I, Robot stories.. Mmm

[Peter Ness · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books.

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great "how to repel the aliens" by Asimov the king of sci fi.

[Jay Maudlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely collection of short science fiction stories, and Asimov’s published scientific journals.

[Tom Oman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Low brow science fiction drivel. It's a series of short stories and the whole thing really lacks any substance when you realize the formula that Asimov follows. He will take some curiosity of science, such as the mundane fact that the 59th Element Praseodymium is the only element with 6 syllables. That boring fact is used to pad out a 10 page story about a professor trying to challenge his student to an impossible task of figuring out which element is the most unique.

Many times you get to the end of the story only to be sorely let down. I think the audience of 1985 must have felt like anything scientific was on the order of mysticism for them to be enthralled by this. The short story Nightfall could be considered the best of the bunch, but even that is resting on flimsy ground. None of it is gonna change your life for the better.

I used it as a bathroom reader and it made me begin to regret my bowel movements.

[Gus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this was a fun read; different. I liked the "essay" format and the mix of fiction and non-fiction. And, I liked reading the original nightfall. I'd read the book. The short story was good as well.

[Salim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique is where you find it
The Billiard Ball

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly not one of my favorite Asimov books as some of the stories were more factual, and I'm not a huge short story fan, but not a bad read anyway.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

so so

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paperback, own

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the different perspectives of scientists in these short stories. 'The Last Question' is my all-time favorite short story.

[Yvonne]

I want to read Nightfall (a short story in this book), recommended by Keilor in Tthe Writer's Almanac 1/2/2011.

[SaraKat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun mix of science fiction short stories and essays on science. My favorite was Asimov's favorite "The Last Question".

[Dale Alan Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? His fascinating stories are constructed around explaining various scientific ideas. I've learned something new, every time I close the book!