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Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction #5
Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction (5th Series) by Isaac Asimov (1-Nov-1986) Hardcover
Excellent Book
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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104 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,346 books27.9k followersWorks 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 20, 2021
Another in the great series edited by Asimov and Greenberg collating some well known and other very obscure Golden Age tales. I've enjoyed them all and this was no exception. As usual, about half of them I'd read in other collections, about half were knew to me. Due to the period these are drawn from (1947-48) there's a high proportion of "atomic mutation" stories, but the editors have weeded out the dross and the result is mostly excellent.
December 27, 2023
I started on this book minutes after wrapping up Asimov on Science Fiction. It's the fifth series in what I understand to be a 25-volume set, and fond as I am of SF anthologies of that period, this is the first one I've read so far. These were written in 1947-48, to a world grappling with the infinite possibilities of atomic power. Most of the stories feel dated, which I find both a drawback for its sexism and stereotypical roles, and a boon, since I like my SF retro. (I'm contradictory, it's hard to explain.)
Of the 30 handpicked titles by Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov, only 6 packed some real punch, with at least 10 watered-down:
1) Thang by Martin Gardner is the shortest story, barely covering a page and half. But it appeals to most readers' sense of humor, especially those who grew up on Greek and Norse mythology.
2) Don't Look Now by Henry Kuttner is a tale of Martians and men in brown suits, and harks back to an era when most men, especially city folks, wore hats and brown suits. The ending reminds me of that classic Twilight Zone episode, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
3) The Strange Case of John Kingman I've read before, in one of the anthologies jostling for space in my SF shelves. Reading this again, I find Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth) jostling for space in my mental visual of the mysterious John Kingman.
4) In Hiding by Wilmar H. Shiras, one of only two or three women writers in this selection, is a delightful story of a precocious child--one for the books, so to speak--and another story I've had the pleasure of reading before.
5) Brooklyn Project by William Tenn is intensely archaic in its treatment of women, but significant as a parallel plot twist to Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder.
6) John D. MacDonald is a writer I never associated with any branch of SF before, and yet he has two notable stories here. But A Child is Crying veers toward the exceptional for its take on the phenomenal child of genius, one with the capacity to impact the course of world events and humanity. With an ending that packed the most punch.
Other titles still worth the read:
1) Tomorrow's Children by Poul Anderson is reflective of the world's worries of what was to come, post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among all the stories here, I think this weighed heaviest on my heart.
2) Time and Time Again by H. Beam Piper is another shot at the story of second chances, a plot that worked so lucratively for Back to the Future.
3) E for Effort by Theodore Sturgeon, which I've read before. Fantastic fare, but interesting, nevertheless.
4) With Folded Hands... by Jack Williamson is a short story which foresaw today's reliance on computers by decades, and nailed by the animated movie, Wall-E.
5) The Fires Within by Arthur C. Clarke reads like a far more superior take on Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth.
6) Thunder and Roses by Theodore Sturgeon combines old Hollywood with dystopian films of the seventies.
7) He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper unfolds in a series of letters which center on an unfortunate "alien" from an alternative dimension.
8) That Only a Mother by Judith Merril has the most predictable ending, but in no way dilutes its horrific import.
9) Ring Around the Redhead by John D. MacDonald has a palpably socially dated narrative, yet still enjoyable for its madcap foray into other dimensions.
10) Knock by Fredic Brown, one of the first writers* I've come to associate with the genre of retro SF, or as Asimov terms it, the "Golden Age of Science Fiction," tells a mildly charming tale of some of the most benign aliens in science fiction.
* The others being Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford D. Simak, and Ray Bradbury. That said, it's worth noting that Asimov's one story (Little Lost Robot) and Bradbury's two (Zero Hour and Mars is Heaven) didn't make my list.
Of the 30 handpicked titles by Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov, only 6 packed some real punch, with at least 10 watered-down:
1) Thang by Martin Gardner is the shortest story, barely covering a page and half. But it appeals to most readers' sense of humor, especially those who grew up on Greek and Norse mythology.
2) Don't Look Now by Henry Kuttner is a tale of Martians and men in brown suits, and harks back to an era when most men, especially city folks, wore hats and brown suits. The ending reminds me of that classic Twilight Zone episode, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
3) The Strange Case of John Kingman I've read before, in one of the anthologies jostling for space in my SF shelves. Reading this again, I find Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth) jostling for space in my mental visual of the mysterious John Kingman.
4) In Hiding by Wilmar H. Shiras, one of only two or three women writers in this selection, is a delightful story of a precocious child--one for the books, so to speak--and another story I've had the pleasure of reading before.
5) Brooklyn Project by William Tenn is intensely archaic in its treatment of women, but significant as a parallel plot twist to Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder.
6) John D. MacDonald is a writer I never associated with any branch of SF before, and yet he has two notable stories here. But A Child is Crying veers toward the exceptional for its take on the phenomenal child of genius, one with the capacity to impact the course of world events and humanity. With an ending that packed the most punch.
Other titles still worth the read:
1) Tomorrow's Children by Poul Anderson is reflective of the world's worries of what was to come, post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among all the stories here, I think this weighed heaviest on my heart.
2) Time and Time Again by H. Beam Piper is another shot at the story of second chances, a plot that worked so lucratively for Back to the Future.
3) E for Effort by Theodore Sturgeon, which I've read before. Fantastic fare, but interesting, nevertheless.
4) With Folded Hands... by Jack Williamson is a short story which foresaw today's reliance on computers by decades, and nailed by the animated movie, Wall-E.
5) The Fires Within by Arthur C. Clarke reads like a far more superior take on Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth.
6) Thunder and Roses by Theodore Sturgeon combines old Hollywood with dystopian films of the seventies.
7) He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper unfolds in a series of letters which center on an unfortunate "alien" from an alternative dimension.
8) That Only a Mother by Judith Merril has the most predictable ending, but in no way dilutes its horrific import.
9) Ring Around the Redhead by John D. MacDonald has a palpably socially dated narrative, yet still enjoyable for its madcap foray into other dimensions.
10) Knock by Fredic Brown, one of the first writers* I've come to associate with the genre of retro SF, or as Asimov terms it, the "Golden Age of Science Fiction," tells a mildly charming tale of some of the most benign aliens in science fiction.
* The others being Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford D. Simak, and Ray Bradbury. That said, it's worth noting that Asimov's one story (Little Lost Robot) and Bradbury's two (Zero Hour and Mars is Heaven) didn't make my list.
Want to read
October 25, 201310/17/86. No library and no iBooks.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews