Counting the Eons

by Isaac Asimov

Counting the Eons is a collection of seventeen nonfiction science essays written by Isaac Asimov. It was the sixteenth of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, these being first published between August 1980 and December 1981. It was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1983.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

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

[David Matteri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays by science fiction author Isaac Asimov that examine and explain the natural universe similar to Carl Sagan or Neil Degrasse Tyson. Asimov begins each essay with anecdotal stories about his personal life, which are funny and charming, before connecting them to the central theme of each essay. I must admit, though, that much of the hard numbers and facts were lost on me. Quarks and neutrinos still seem obscure and puzzling to me, but at least I feel like I understand them better now that I've read this book. I believe that the later essays are the stronger ones in this collection, particularly the last one where Asimov argues that Milton was a science fiction writer centuries before the genre was popular.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a list of facts trying to be jazzed up as a series of small narratives of some kind. Some of it is interesting, some of it -- especially the stuff about subatomic particles -- was confusing or too fast. Then weirdly Asimov makes some stuff up as informed guess, which does not really fit with the the theme of the book.

Best parts of the books are the <2 page personal anecdotes that lead in to the chapters. Then the science and sometimes disappointment starts.

[Ben Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some interesting physics stuff in the several months it took me to get through this 200 page book

[Pablo María Fernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

No sé si pienso parecido a Asimov o si es que de tanto leerlo de adolescente fue forjando en mí (y en mi hermano) una cosmovisión racional, científica y escéptica. Ataca sin pruritos horóscopos, astrología, pseudociencia. Hoy se haría un pic-nic con los conspiracionistas antivacunas, anti 5G, creyentes de la Tierra plana. En el prólogo de este libro queda muy claro este enfoque ya que lo aprovecha para demoler al creacionismo (que aún tiene poder en Estados Unidos) contraponiéndolo al evolucionismo.

Al igual que la mayoría de los libros de divulgación científica de Asimov es un compilado de artículos publicados en The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction y es el criterio de selección y consistencia temática lo que termina diferenciando la calidad final. Esta edición en español no tiene índice pero los diecisiete ensayos están agrupados en cuatro de temas: La Tierra, Las Estrellas, El Universo y la Literatura. Algunos son olvidables y fuera de contexto como La palabra que inventé en el que responde preguntas de lectores sobre robótica. Otros con introducciones pintorescas como Todo y Nada en la que confiesa que no le gustó tanto El Señor de los Anillos en la primera lectura pero que después lo leyó cinco veces y describe qué le gustó especialmente (interesante conocer de primera mano la visión de uno de los grandes de la ciencia ficción). ¡Milton! Deberías vivir en este tiempo me pareció la propuesta más interesante porque sale de la fórmula habitual de este tipo de ensayos de Asimov porque hace un inusual contrapunto conectando El Paraíso Perdido con datos científicos relacionados.

Más sobre esta reseña y otras en:
https://pablomariafernandez.substack....

[Mmiller400m · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 17 essays from Asimov. This is the 3rd such collection I've read. I'm not as interested in cosmology and particle physics or perhaps just not intelligent enough to really appreciate everything Isaac is trying to do in these essays. That makes it harder to read in that I don't follow or understanding everything I'm reading so bits and pieces hopefully stick and I just try and complete it. One particular essay called "Let Einstein Be!" summed up my experience with the book. It was the essay that I got stuck on and stopped reading for a long time. Once it was finished though it was one of my favorites and I think I learned the most from. It helped me to visualize or provide structure to the theory of relativity and all physics in giving the example of the difference in euclidean geometry on a plane vs geometry on the surface of a sphere. The sphere being the Earth in this example. I'll plod on and continue with the great explainers works. Maybe I'll work my way through the crash course phyics class before trying too much more in that area.

[Bill Fish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this book is way over my head. It's a collection of essays related to the universe, which I do find interesting, but he uses a lot of math, which I'm probably not smart enough to keep in my brain for total comprehension. However, each essay starts with a little piece of his life as in introduction to each topic, which is very interesting and amusing. In particular his story about a book signing (and his description of book signings in general) is very good. These essays are a perfect combination of creativity and science - he's using science to imagine the possibilities of our universe, and backs up all his claims with data. Very interesting, and if I was smarter I would have appreciated it more.

[Dale Alan Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his usual, folksy way - Asimov has done it again! This book puts the *big picture* together in an understandable way. I don't know if, it's this book - or just that Asimov has taught me so much in the past, but this particular collection caused me to experience multiple-epiphanies; the big picture becomes clear.....
David Matteri's review says, best, how I interpreted this collection! - I think I'll ask him to write ALL my reviews!

[Les Litwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the later chapters haven't aged well - one of the problems with writing about science is that science is always making new discoveries which results in some of Asimov's later chapters being out of date.

[Anthony Faber · Rating 4 out of 5]

F&SF science columns from 1980 & 81. Amusing

[Julian Abagond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to love these books of his of science essays as a teenager, but now they do not seem so great. Maybe because I know more science.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Asimov’s essays for F&SF are excellent. This collection is no exception. As usual on rereading a book I am shocked how much of it I have forgotten. I do not care so much about the essays on pressure (between you and me, I found them actually a lit bit boring). But "Let me count the Days" about Justus Scaliger and his quest for the day in history to start his Julian days calendar was absolutely fascinating. He decided on the 1st of January 4713 B.C. Counting the Eons, nearly as good.

If I should pick one typical Asimov essay I would suggest: Getting down to Basics. Where he gives a brief tour through the history of our views on the "basic composition of the universe", from the Greeks concept of the Atom to Quarks. A pity that it stopped there. How I would love a edition of Asimov’s complete essays, with some updates. Maybe AI will be able to give us updates - or even new essays - in the inimitable (except for AI) Asimov style. The one thing missing would be the funny autobiographical introductions.

The only drawback in this collection is that the essays are all on physics and astronomy (except for a piece on Robotics and one on Milton). I like a bit more diversity.
9/10

[Hunchback Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Asimov science essay collection from F&SF magazine, written around 1980. Heavy on astronomy and physics, and some of the particle theory is probably a bit out-of-date. Asimov makes it all fascinating, though, explaining not just the concepts themselves, but the series of discoveries that led to the current thinking.

Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

[Mark]

Another collection of Asimov essays on various topics; I like 'em. One I need to bookmark and come back to in particular: the discussion of Julian days and how Scaliger arrived at his "Day 1" (Jan 1, 4713 BC).

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic science writing, as usual; but much of the content is now seriously out of date (hence 3 stars rather than 4). There's a lot of particle physics here, and it's developed a lot since the early 1980s...

[Keith B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread this after almost 30yrs and didn't realize what an impact it had on my young teenage mind. Many of the references are still in my repertoire today.

[Robert Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great lessons in science from the Good Doctor.

[AndrewP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of essays and science articles from various publications.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelentes explicaciones sobre mediciones sobre presión, extinción de los dinosaurios, movimientos de las estrellas, y edad del universo entre otros temas científicos.

[Greg Ricci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, very informative, however very detailed

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative, while a bit dull, i found certain parts to be very interesting...

[FranklinTV · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some science writing stuff from Asimov. I guess the problem here is that as this was written in 1980, what bits need updating. Purely kept because I am a collector.