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The Best of Isaac Asimov
Doubleday, 1974, hardcover. First published in Britain the previous year. STORIES: Marooned Off Vesta (1939); Nightfall (1941); The C-Chute (1951); The Martian Way (1952); The Deep (1952); The Fun They Had (1951); The Last Question (1956); The Dead Past (1956); The Dying Night (1956); Anniversary (1959); The Billiard Ball (1967); Mirror Image (1972).
294 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1973
46 people are currently reading
1287 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,348 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 - 30 of 99 reviews
July 12, 2023
This is collection of a dozen pieces of Asimov's short fiction. Anytime I see something that's titled "The Best Of" my first inclination is to disagree with the contents, whether it's fiction or music or whatever, and here of course I grumbled at the lack of robots and Foundation, but it does have Nightfall, The Martian Way, and The Last Question, so it's worth the price. It's also worth noting that the book appeared in 1973, so the last twenty years of his career aren't represented. The Bicentennial Man, for example.) There's a very amusing introduction by Asimov in which he points out that if the book were called "The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of Isaac Asimov" it would be more honest and accurate, but sales would suffer. Good, classic stuff.
November 30, 2015
«Credevamo che sei stelle in un universo fossero tante.»
In genere sono poco fiduciosa verso le raccolte dai titoli sule genere di questo, Il meglio di Asimov. In primis perché, persino ed anzi in special modo per l'autore stesso, è davvero difficile selezionare i testi, per così dire, migliori (ricordo che Asimov è autore di centinaia di racconti), e poi perché, com'è naturale, i gusti dei lettori sono ampiamente vari. Tizio in una storia preferisce che si lasci spazio all'introspezione dei personaggi, Caio vuole più azione, Sempronio vorrebbe l'obiettivo puntato sui particolari prettamente scientifici. Un colpo di scena può essere sensazionale per Cip, disgustosamente banale per Ciop. Quindi, come dicevo, non mi fido troppo.
Ma, insomma, ormai si sa. Asimov è Asimov. Un'antologia come questa andrebbe comprata già solo perché contenente racconti come Notturno o L'ultima domanda o Cronoscopio. In genere, sono tutti degni di nota, quale per un motivo e quale per un altro, ma i tre citati sono i migliori, a mio parere.
Il primo, Notturno, possiede una trama assolutamente unica, come lo stesso autore precisa nell'introduzione, proprio quello che ci vuole per lasciare il lettore a bocca aperta, anche senza avvalersi di troppi colpi di scena. E' proprio questo, a pensarci bene, ciò che mi ha così sconcertata di Notturno: alla fin fine, di davvero stupefacente non accade nulla. Il racconto, però, ha un fascino così arcano, così misterioso... non si può dimenticare.
Per quanto riguarda L'ultima domanda, bé, non potevo non parlarne un po' più approfonditamente quando Asimov stesso lo annovera tra i testi di sua produzione preferiti. E' un racconto che si rivela del tutto solo alle battute finali. Nello svolgimento, potrebbe sembrare monotono (credetemi, non lo è) o fine a se stesso (nulla di più errato), ma nel finale il lettore più sconsiderato si ricrederà. Mi fa venire voglia di parafrasare Douglas Adams, e dire: L'ultima domanda è la vera risposta alla vita, l'Universo e tutto quanto.
Per quanto riguarda Cronoscopio, ad essere sinceri non mi è piaciuto più di quanto me siano piaciute altre storia di questa raccolta, vedi La palla da biliardo o Profondità, ma ho voluto citare prima questo perché è quello che sul momento mi ha impressionata di più. Uno sviluppo lento per una conclusione inaspettata... proprio da Asimov.
Cos'ho da ridire su questa antologia? Solo una cosa: avrei voluto più robot. Compaiono solo in un racconto, Immagine speculare, e come si fa a dire che questo è il meglio di Asimov quando i suoi robot compaiono poco e niente? Del resto, posso benissimo accontentarmi così. Per colmare questa lacuna, ho sempre sottomano Tutti i miei robot.
In genere sono poco fiduciosa verso le raccolte dai titoli sule genere di questo, Il meglio di Asimov. In primis perché, persino ed anzi in special modo per l'autore stesso, è davvero difficile selezionare i testi, per così dire, migliori (ricordo che Asimov è autore di centinaia di racconti), e poi perché, com'è naturale, i gusti dei lettori sono ampiamente vari. Tizio in una storia preferisce che si lasci spazio all'introspezione dei personaggi, Caio vuole più azione, Sempronio vorrebbe l'obiettivo puntato sui particolari prettamente scientifici. Un colpo di scena può essere sensazionale per Cip, disgustosamente banale per Ciop. Quindi, come dicevo, non mi fido troppo.
Ma, insomma, ormai si sa. Asimov è Asimov. Un'antologia come questa andrebbe comprata già solo perché contenente racconti come Notturno o L'ultima domanda o Cronoscopio. In genere, sono tutti degni di nota, quale per un motivo e quale per un altro, ma i tre citati sono i migliori, a mio parere.
Il primo, Notturno, possiede una trama assolutamente unica, come lo stesso autore precisa nell'introduzione, proprio quello che ci vuole per lasciare il lettore a bocca aperta, anche senza avvalersi di troppi colpi di scena. E' proprio questo, a pensarci bene, ciò che mi ha così sconcertata di Notturno: alla fin fine, di davvero stupefacente non accade nulla. Il racconto, però, ha un fascino così arcano, così misterioso... non si può dimenticare.
Per quanto riguarda L'ultima domanda, bé, non potevo non parlarne un po' più approfonditamente quando Asimov stesso lo annovera tra i testi di sua produzione preferiti. E' un racconto che si rivela del tutto solo alle battute finali. Nello svolgimento, potrebbe sembrare monotono (credetemi, non lo è) o fine a se stesso (nulla di più errato), ma nel finale il lettore più sconsiderato si ricrederà. Mi fa venire voglia di parafrasare Douglas Adams, e dire: L'ultima domanda è la vera risposta alla vita, l'Universo e tutto quanto.
Per quanto riguarda Cronoscopio, ad essere sinceri non mi è piaciuto più di quanto me siano piaciute altre storia di questa raccolta, vedi La palla da biliardo o Profondità, ma ho voluto citare prima questo perché è quello che sul momento mi ha impressionata di più. Uno sviluppo lento per una conclusione inaspettata... proprio da Asimov.
Cos'ho da ridire su questa antologia? Solo una cosa: avrei voluto più robot. Compaiono solo in un racconto, Immagine speculare, e come si fa a dire che questo è il meglio di Asimov quando i suoi robot compaiono poco e niente? Del resto, posso benissimo accontentarmi così. Per colmare questa lacuna, ho sempre sottomano Tutti i miei robot.
November 8, 2022
Non so se questo è il meglio dei racconti di Asimov, ma è sicuramente un ottimo punto di partenza. Questi racconti infatti offrono bei spunti di riflessione. Per esempio, in Notturno ci si imbatte in una società dove la notte non esiste e ci ricorda che anche se diamo il nostro modo di vivere per scontato, possono esistere luoghi dove le prospettive sono completamente diverse. Oppure ne Il cronoscopio dove la ricerca scientifica è strettamente regolamentata, si vede di conseguenza una forte limitazione della libertà di pensiero.
Se da un lato la scrittura di Asimov può risentire dello scorrere del tempo, si leggono comunque piccoli gioielli come La palla da biliardo, dove viene fuori tutto l'amore di Asimov per i gialli.
Se da un lato la scrittura di Asimov può risentire dello scorrere del tempo, si leggono comunque piccoli gioielli come La palla da biliardo, dove viene fuori tutto l'amore di Asimov per i gialli.
December 12, 2011
"Cosa accadrebbe se gli uomini potessero vedere le stelle una sola volta ogni mille anni?"
"Impazzirebbero".
Qualcuno potrebbe storcere il naso, pieno di scetticismo, di fronte ad un'antologia eufemisticamente intitolata Il Meglio di Asimov. Eppure, si tratta di un'opera preziosa, il migliore punto di partenza per avventurarsi nel mondo fantascientifico di Asimov. L'edizione è ben curata, aperta da una prefazione scritta dallo stesso autore nel quale illustra i singoli racconti e le motivazioni che lo hanno portato a sceglierli. E' stato Asimov in persona a scegliere questi racconti, e ha scelto davvero bene: sono tutti ottimi racconti, tutti ben rappresentetativi dell'opera omnia dello scrittore, sapientemente scelti per periodo di pubblicazione e per argomento.
Tra inediti e successi strapubblicati, racconti di tre pagine ed altri molto più lunghi, trovano posto in questa raccolta delle perle di una rara bellezza. Notturno, celeberrimo racconto di Asimov, ha in sé qualcosa di Romantico, lo Sturm und Drang, il sublime e terrificante stupore che l'essere umano prova dinanzi alla magnificenza tremenda della Natura: la stessa meraviglia catastrofica che provano i personaggi del racconto, che si apprestano per la prima volta ad osservare il buio del cosmo e le stelle. Notturno è davvero l'emblema del potere della fantascienza: cambiare una virgola, un piccolo dettaglio, per capovolgere clamorosamente la realtà stessa.
Altrettanto celebre e altrettanto osannato è L'ultima domanda, del quale si trova un'eco parodica nei romanzi di Douglas Adams: in un Universo in crescita e che lentamente, ma inevitabilmente, si espande fino ad incontrare la morte, si ripete la domanda fondamentale posta ad un supercomputer, che impiegherà l'intera vita dell'Universo a formulare la risposta. Che non sarà 42!
Molto interessante anche Profondità, che pure Asimov stesso definisce come storia sonnacchiosa: la tematica, che ricorre nel celebre romanzo Neanche gli dèi, è la definizione di un'intelligenza aliena, diversa da quella umana, con un'altrettanto aliena moralità.
Un'altra tematica che ricorre nel fortunato romanzo è il conflitto tra i terrestri e i pionieri dello spazio, che si tratti di uomini abituati a vivere nello spazio, in assenza di gravità, o su pianeti diversi da quello d'origine. Altrettanto ricorrente è la questione dello sviluppo scientifico, con annesse tutte le implicazioni etiche: ne sono grandi esempi Cronoscopio e La palla da biliardo.
Non mancano infine racconti rappresentativi delle altre passioni di Asimov: dal giallo Conclusione errata al racconto che chiude la raccolta, l'unico a presentare i robot (ai quali sono dedicate ben altre antologie), e che altro non è che uno squisito gioco di logica.
Presentati i racconti, non resta che formulare un giudizio: da Dickiano convinto confesso che Asimov resta ancora, inevitabilmente, insuperato. Neil Gaiman, nella prefazione ad un romanzo di Silverberg, dice che alla fantascienza che vuole sopravvivere ed evolversi spetta la prova del tempo: e quando la fantascienza risulta ancora attuale essa è arte e verità.
"Impazzirebbero".
Qualcuno potrebbe storcere il naso, pieno di scetticismo, di fronte ad un'antologia eufemisticamente intitolata Il Meglio di Asimov. Eppure, si tratta di un'opera preziosa, il migliore punto di partenza per avventurarsi nel mondo fantascientifico di Asimov. L'edizione è ben curata, aperta da una prefazione scritta dallo stesso autore nel quale illustra i singoli racconti e le motivazioni che lo hanno portato a sceglierli. E' stato Asimov in persona a scegliere questi racconti, e ha scelto davvero bene: sono tutti ottimi racconti, tutti ben rappresentetativi dell'opera omnia dello scrittore, sapientemente scelti per periodo di pubblicazione e per argomento.
Tra inediti e successi strapubblicati, racconti di tre pagine ed altri molto più lunghi, trovano posto in questa raccolta delle perle di una rara bellezza. Notturno, celeberrimo racconto di Asimov, ha in sé qualcosa di Romantico, lo Sturm und Drang, il sublime e terrificante stupore che l'essere umano prova dinanzi alla magnificenza tremenda della Natura: la stessa meraviglia catastrofica che provano i personaggi del racconto, che si apprestano per la prima volta ad osservare il buio del cosmo e le stelle. Notturno è davvero l'emblema del potere della fantascienza: cambiare una virgola, un piccolo dettaglio, per capovolgere clamorosamente la realtà stessa.
Altrettanto celebre e altrettanto osannato è L'ultima domanda, del quale si trova un'eco parodica nei romanzi di Douglas Adams: in un Universo in crescita e che lentamente, ma inevitabilmente, si espande fino ad incontrare la morte, si ripete la domanda fondamentale posta ad un supercomputer, che impiegherà l'intera vita dell'Universo a formulare la risposta. Che non sarà 42!
Molto interessante anche Profondità, che pure Asimov stesso definisce come storia sonnacchiosa: la tematica, che ricorre nel celebre romanzo Neanche gli dèi, è la definizione di un'intelligenza aliena, diversa da quella umana, con un'altrettanto aliena moralità.
Un'altra tematica che ricorre nel fortunato romanzo è il conflitto tra i terrestri e i pionieri dello spazio, che si tratti di uomini abituati a vivere nello spazio, in assenza di gravità, o su pianeti diversi da quello d'origine. Altrettanto ricorrente è la questione dello sviluppo scientifico, con annesse tutte le implicazioni etiche: ne sono grandi esempi Cronoscopio e La palla da biliardo.
Non mancano infine racconti rappresentativi delle altre passioni di Asimov: dal giallo Conclusione errata al racconto che chiude la raccolta, l'unico a presentare i robot (ai quali sono dedicate ben altre antologie), e che altro non è che uno squisito gioco di logica.
Presentati i racconti, non resta che formulare un giudizio: da Dickiano convinto confesso che Asimov resta ancora, inevitabilmente, insuperato. Neil Gaiman, nella prefazione ad un romanzo di Silverberg, dice che alla fantascienza che vuole sopravvivere ed evolversi spetta la prova del tempo: e quando la fantascienza risulta ancora attuale essa è arte e verità.
August 7, 2007
I'm fairly certain this is the volume I read, but without a cover shot I cannot be sure. It contains most of the stories I recall in the collection I picked up. If you are curious, the stories contained in this volume are:
Marooned Off Vesta (1939)
Nightfall (1941)
C-Chute (1951)
The Martian Way (1952)
The Deep (1952)
The Fun They Had (1954)
The Last Question (1956)
The Dead Past (1956)
The Dying Night (1956)
Anniversary (1959)
The Billiard Ball (1967)
Mirror Image (1972)
This collection represents the best and worst of Isaac Asimov. For instance, The Last Question may be his best story, following a computer with a centuries-long devotion to reversing entropy. It certainly has Asimov's most profound ending. But this only contains The Billiard Ball, a painfully overwrought murder plot using anti-gravity and the most unapologetically self-congratulatory writing in all of science fiction. It also contains Nightfall, about the psychological terror of a world in perpetual light that experiences a single night, later adapted into a far inferior and agonizingly drawn-out novel. Pick this book up instead of that one; the brevity seriously helps the stories. This collection helps one appreciate one of the inspirations of Asimov's prolific legacy: if he ever heard scientific concept, he'd write a story about it. Arthur Clarke and Michael Crichton tried to do this, but no one was as effective as Asimov at educating about impractically technical matters through fiction. Even in his own day Asimov was a clunky writer, which will make forays into his work annoying to many contemporary readers, but his importance is in science fiction is undeniable, and these short stories are a great start to understanding him.
Marooned Off Vesta (1939)
Nightfall (1941)
C-Chute (1951)
The Martian Way (1952)
The Deep (1952)
The Fun They Had (1954)
The Last Question (1956)
The Dead Past (1956)
The Dying Night (1956)
Anniversary (1959)
The Billiard Ball (1967)
Mirror Image (1972)
This collection represents the best and worst of Isaac Asimov. For instance, The Last Question may be his best story, following a computer with a centuries-long devotion to reversing entropy. It certainly has Asimov's most profound ending. But this only contains The Billiard Ball, a painfully overwrought murder plot using anti-gravity and the most unapologetically self-congratulatory writing in all of science fiction. It also contains Nightfall, about the psychological terror of a world in perpetual light that experiences a single night, later adapted into a far inferior and agonizingly drawn-out novel. Pick this book up instead of that one; the brevity seriously helps the stories. This collection helps one appreciate one of the inspirations of Asimov's prolific legacy: if he ever heard scientific concept, he'd write a story about it. Arthur Clarke and Michael Crichton tried to do this, but no one was as effective as Asimov at educating about impractically technical matters through fiction. Even in his own day Asimov was a clunky writer, which will make forays into his work annoying to many contemporary readers, but his importance is in science fiction is undeniable, and these short stories are a great start to understanding him.
May 27, 2010
I'd never read Asimov before and am very impressed. The mix of real and/or incredibly well-thought-out science with character-driven thought-provoking stories is incredible. Maybe mind-blowing.
September 10, 2018
Asimov at his best. I've always enjoyed his short stories tremendously, and this group shows a really nice span of topics and dates.
January 13, 2024
I really enjoyed this "best of" by Isaac Asimov. Being a huge sci-fi fan, I don't know why it took me so long to go back and read some classics of this awesome genre (I'm in my mid 30's and have been avidly reading sci-fi since middle school).
Since this is an anthology, I want to write a brief summary and review for each story. Also, I recommend reading Asimov's intro, which I found to be quite witty, especially concerning this anthology's title: "I suppose we ought really call the book, ‘The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of Isaac Asimov’, but who would then buy it? So ‘best’ it is."
Marooned Off Vesta (1939); 5/5
An asteroid collides with a starship, leaving it powerless. Will the three survivors be able to find a way to get from the wreckage to nearby Vesta? | A great way to start the anthology and I really enjoyed this opening story.
Nightfall (1941); 5/5
On a world with several suns, it is perpetually daytime. But once in every-so-many thousand years, it aligns such that night falls upon the planet. Can the citizens survive the madness of lack of light? | The momentum climbed all throughout the story until the suspenseful climax. I really enjoyed this one, too!
The C-Chute (1951); 5/5
A civilian ship is commandeered by an alien race, with whom Earth is currently at war. How will the Earthmen defeat the aliens and take back their ship? | This was also a cool one, especially the description of the alien race, both appearance and culture.
The Martian Way (1952); 5/5
Earth supplies Mars with the vital water which it needs to survive. Earth politicians use the water issue to exert influence over Mars. But can the Martians become water-independent and thus mitigate the oppressive influence of Earth? | I love that this story had a political component. It was an exciting and intriguing story.
The Deep (1952); 2/5
Aliens on a faraway planet whose sun is dying need to transfer their civilization to another star system. They scout out Earth and experience some serious culture shock concerning our family structure. | For me, this story was the dud of the anthology. I found it a bit hard to follow, and while a fascinating premise, was not developed in a way that would have allowed me to enjoy it.
The Fun They Had (1951); 4/5
Students in the future learn how students of the past used to study and are shocked to learn about those ancient schools and teachers. | This was the shortest story in the collection and it was cute and amusing.
The Last Question (1956); 3/5
This is an all-time spanning story that tries to answer the question, "When will the universe die out?". Man spreads across the galaxy, then the universe and keeps building progressively more powerful computers. Can the latest, most powerful one answer that one final, last question? | This concept was also fascinating. I enjoyed this story, but not as much as the earliest works.
Spoiler alert; there is an awesome twist at the end of this story, so brace yourself!
The Dead Past (1956); 5/5
In a research-driven world, the government restricts and directs the direction of all research. One researcher is not pleased with the restrictions and is obsessed with his research-interest of looking into the far past. What secret discovery will his obsession lead him to? | I loved both the historical and academic touch to this story. It was thrilling, especially the revelation at the end. Some aspects were very 1984-esque and I loved it.
The Dying Night (1956); 5/5
Three astronauts return to Earth after a 10-year stint in space. They reunite at an academic conference and run into their classmate who had been injured and was thus stuck on Earth during that time. He has a big discovery to revel at the conference in two days, but is murdered in the night. But, who dunnit? Arguments and counter-arguments go out about who, how and why could have done it. | This was intellectual dessert for me. I loved reading and then analyzing each of the arguments, trying to guess for myself who the guilty party was.
Anniversary (1959); 5/5
The three survivors from "Marooned on Vesta" are back for a 20-year survivors' reunion. But, the plot thickens! Was there an ultra-valuable scientific breakthrough on that ship? If so, what was it and where is it now? Our three astronauts put their heads together and try to crack this 20-year old mystery. | Awesome! I loved it. The detective element that Asimov has introduced (in the previous story, too) works so well and this one was a joy to read! Also, it was nice to find out how the protagonists have been over all that time.
The Billiard Ball (1967); 5/5
Two scientists are involved in anti-gravitational field research. One comes up with a breakthrough and organizes a public demonstration. The demonstration goes well, or does it? | The story had me second-guessing until the last sentence. This one is marked for re-reading!
Mirror Image (1972). 5/5
Two scientists accuse each other of intellectual property theft. They had identical stories about what happened, just the names are switched. A detective questions them and their robots to find out who the liar is. | Brilliant! I loved reading about robots and the Three Laws of Robots. This was an excellent piece of writing.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. I definitely preferred Asimov's earlier and later work to his middle work. His later work added that "detective aspect", which I found to make his stories more complex, interesting and enjoyable.
Since this is an anthology, I want to write a brief summary and review for each story. Also, I recommend reading Asimov's intro, which I found to be quite witty, especially concerning this anthology's title: "I suppose we ought really call the book, ‘The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of Isaac Asimov’, but who would then buy it? So ‘best’ it is."
Marooned Off Vesta (1939); 5/5
An asteroid collides with a starship, leaving it powerless. Will the three survivors be able to find a way to get from the wreckage to nearby Vesta? | A great way to start the anthology and I really enjoyed this opening story.
Nightfall (1941); 5/5
On a world with several suns, it is perpetually daytime. But once in every-so-many thousand years, it aligns such that night falls upon the planet. Can the citizens survive the madness of lack of light? | The momentum climbed all throughout the story until the suspenseful climax. I really enjoyed this one, too!
The C-Chute (1951); 5/5
A civilian ship is commandeered by an alien race, with whom Earth is currently at war. How will the Earthmen defeat the aliens and take back their ship? | This was also a cool one, especially the description of the alien race, both appearance and culture.
The Martian Way (1952); 5/5
Earth supplies Mars with the vital water which it needs to survive. Earth politicians use the water issue to exert influence over Mars. But can the Martians become water-independent and thus mitigate the oppressive influence of Earth? | I love that this story had a political component. It was an exciting and intriguing story.
The Deep (1952); 2/5
Aliens on a faraway planet whose sun is dying need to transfer their civilization to another star system. They scout out Earth and experience some serious culture shock concerning our family structure. | For me, this story was the dud of the anthology. I found it a bit hard to follow, and while a fascinating premise, was not developed in a way that would have allowed me to enjoy it.
The Fun They Had (1951); 4/5
Students in the future learn how students of the past used to study and are shocked to learn about those ancient schools and teachers. | This was the shortest story in the collection and it was cute and amusing.
The Last Question (1956); 3/5
This is an all-time spanning story that tries to answer the question, "When will the universe die out?". Man spreads across the galaxy, then the universe and keeps building progressively more powerful computers. Can the latest, most powerful one answer that one final, last question? | This concept was also fascinating. I enjoyed this story, but not as much as the earliest works.
Spoiler alert; there is an awesome twist at the end of this story, so brace yourself!
The Dead Past (1956); 5/5
In a research-driven world, the government restricts and directs the direction of all research. One researcher is not pleased with the restrictions and is obsessed with his research-interest of looking into the far past. What secret discovery will his obsession lead him to? | I loved both the historical and academic touch to this story. It was thrilling, especially the revelation at the end. Some aspects were very 1984-esque and I loved it.
The Dying Night (1956); 5/5
Three astronauts return to Earth after a 10-year stint in space. They reunite at an academic conference and run into their classmate who had been injured and was thus stuck on Earth during that time. He has a big discovery to revel at the conference in two days, but is murdered in the night. But, who dunnit? Arguments and counter-arguments go out about who, how and why could have done it. | This was intellectual dessert for me. I loved reading and then analyzing each of the arguments, trying to guess for myself who the guilty party was.
Anniversary (1959); 5/5
The three survivors from "Marooned on Vesta" are back for a 20-year survivors' reunion. But, the plot thickens! Was there an ultra-valuable scientific breakthrough on that ship? If so, what was it and where is it now? Our three astronauts put their heads together and try to crack this 20-year old mystery. | Awesome! I loved it. The detective element that Asimov has introduced (in the previous story, too) works so well and this one was a joy to read! Also, it was nice to find out how the protagonists have been over all that time.
The Billiard Ball (1967); 5/5
Two scientists are involved in anti-gravitational field research. One comes up with a breakthrough and organizes a public demonstration. The demonstration goes well, or does it? | The story had me second-guessing until the last sentence. This one is marked for re-reading!
Mirror Image (1972). 5/5
Two scientists accuse each other of intellectual property theft. They had identical stories about what happened, just the names are switched. A detective questions them and their robots to find out who the liar is. | Brilliant! I loved reading about robots and the Three Laws of Robots. This was an excellent piece of writing.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. I definitely preferred Asimov's earlier and later work to his middle work. His later work added that "detective aspect", which I found to make his stories more complex, interesting and enjoyable.
December 16, 2025
Forse non è "il meglio" di Asimov ma è una raccolta rappresentativa dei suoi racconti.
Naufragio è il primo racconto pubblicato da Asimov, giovanissimo. E' abbastanza brillante ma non ancora all'altezza dei migliori. Anniversario è stato scritto vent'anni dopo con gli stessi personaggi del precedente. Si tratta di una celebrazione anche dei vent'anni della rivista: uno scritto d'occasione di livello non superiore all'altro (ma è piacevole avere un seguito).
Notturno (presente anche in Antologia personale) se non è il migliore dei racconti di Asimov è senz'altro uno dei vertici della sua produzione. Parla di un mondo nel quale sei soli si alternano ad illuminarne la superficie e il buio si verifica ogni due millenni, provocando il panico. Meccanismo narrativo perfetto: in seguito è diventato addirittura il soggetto sufficiente per un romanzo, compilato però da Robert Silverbrg.
Condotto C è una sorta di thriller psicologico spaziale. Non all'altezza di Notturno ma molto buono.
Il destino di Marte è una sorta di parabola sul maccartismo. Interessante.
Chissà come si divertivano è un curioso apologo sulla scuola. Pare abbia avuto un grande successo ma a me sembra deboluccio.
L'ultima domanda è il racconto preferito di Asimov tra i propri ed è comprensibile: è una specie di tema con variazioni con finale a sorpresa di ampio respiro. Quasi mistico, direi.
Il cronoscopio nasce, pare, dall'insofferenza di Asimov verso gli obblighi della ricerca accademica e riflette questo punto di partenza ma ha una struttura perfetta; è un altro dei migliori della raccolta.
Conclusione errata è un giallo spaziale ben costruito.
La palla da biliardo è un po'artificioso.
Immagine speculare è l'unico rappresentante del genere robotico nella raccolta. Vede protagonista la coppia Baley-Olivaw, già protagonista di Abissi d'acciaio, Il sole nudo e (in seguito, però) di I robot dell'alba. Un'interessante curiosità per gli amanti del ciclo.
Naufragio è il primo racconto pubblicato da Asimov, giovanissimo. E' abbastanza brillante ma non ancora all'altezza dei migliori. Anniversario è stato scritto vent'anni dopo con gli stessi personaggi del precedente. Si tratta di una celebrazione anche dei vent'anni della rivista: uno scritto d'occasione di livello non superiore all'altro (ma è piacevole avere un seguito).
Notturno (presente anche in Antologia personale) se non è il migliore dei racconti di Asimov è senz'altro uno dei vertici della sua produzione. Parla di un mondo nel quale sei soli si alternano ad illuminarne la superficie e il buio si verifica ogni due millenni, provocando il panico. Meccanismo narrativo perfetto: in seguito è diventato addirittura il soggetto sufficiente per un romanzo, compilato però da Robert Silverbrg.
Condotto C è una sorta di thriller psicologico spaziale. Non all'altezza di Notturno ma molto buono.
Il destino di Marte è una sorta di parabola sul maccartismo. Interessante.
Chissà come si divertivano è un curioso apologo sulla scuola. Pare abbia avuto un grande successo ma a me sembra deboluccio.
L'ultima domanda è il racconto preferito di Asimov tra i propri ed è comprensibile: è una specie di tema con variazioni con finale a sorpresa di ampio respiro. Quasi mistico, direi.
Il cronoscopio nasce, pare, dall'insofferenza di Asimov verso gli obblighi della ricerca accademica e riflette questo punto di partenza ma ha una struttura perfetta; è un altro dei migliori della raccolta.
Conclusione errata è un giallo spaziale ben costruito.
La palla da biliardo è un po'artificioso.
Immagine speculare è l'unico rappresentante del genere robotico nella raccolta. Vede protagonista la coppia Baley-Olivaw, già protagonista di Abissi d'acciaio, Il sole nudo e (in seguito, però) di I robot dell'alba. Un'interessante curiosità per gli amanti del ciclo.
April 4, 2018
My favourite is, 'The Martian Way'. The best of the rest are; 'The Deep', 'The Billiard Ball', 'The Dying Night', 'Marooned Off Vesta' & 'Anniversary'. 'C-Shute' offers a more radical Alien. 'Nightfall' eschews a "real" alien, instead embiggening that sensation.
April 26, 2022
His reputation precedes him, and I'm glad I got to read the last story which included the three laws of robotics.
But, in another sense, it was at times boring. His imagination, scientific knowledge was so good that at times he was just describing boring realities today (e.g. the internet).
The futuristic parts were also too far away in the future.
I still think ender's Game series is better, as it has at the centre the human experience, which is much more relatable, whatever millenium it's set in.
But, in another sense, it was at times boring. His imagination, scientific knowledge was so good that at times he was just describing boring realities today (e.g. the internet).
The futuristic parts were also too far away in the future.
I still think ender's Game series is better, as it has at the centre the human experience, which is much more relatable, whatever millenium it's set in.
October 27, 2018
A very enjoyable collection. Plenty of material not new to me, but I hadn't come across the Billiard Ball before, which I really enjoyed, and this time The Deep resonated. Of course the Last Question and Nightfall are seminal, and ending on Mirror Image was a refreshing reminder.
May 19, 2020
Antologia imperdibile per gli amanti di questo autore e non solo.
Cronoscopio Notturno e L'ultima Domanda sono tra i racconti più belli di fantascienza che abbia mai letto.
Cronoscopio Notturno e L'ultima Domanda sono tra i racconti più belli di fantascienza che abbia mai letto.
July 31, 2020
Good representative sampling of Asimov's short form science fiction from the 1940s through the 1970s. "The Deep" is the dud of the collection, but the remaining eleven tales all have something to recommend them.
April 21, 2012
It’s Asimov and is therefore good. But it has aged sadly. Some stories are unsurprisingly timeless, such as “Nightfall”, but others suffer. In “Anniversary”—twenty years after the routine passenger flight to the asteroid belt featured in “Marooned off Vesta”—it’s worth remarking that one character has internet access: a typewriter for input and a feed for paper output. (One of the other characters is truly awed; he has never even seen an access terminal.) In “Mirror image”, set in a future so remote that humans on innumerable planets now expect lives of three hundred years or so, a section of wall has to be cleared to be able to set up a two-dimensional video conference. Most striking is that in all twelve stories there are essentially only three females: a schoolgirl (in “The fun they had”; only three pages long); the mother of a four-month-old (“The Deep”, where her personality is non-existent and she’s only significant as providing the combination of love, protectiveness, and possessiveness typical of human mothers); and a dithering housewife obsessed with her dead daughter (“The dead past”). Reading these stories in the ’60s the developments in science were still anyone’s guess; and as for females—well, that’s what women did, right? Become wives and mothers. It’s not as if they were going to do space exploration, or become world-famous physicists or mathematicians…
June 16, 2008
The introduction to this 1974 collection of short stories perfectly encapsulates the writing contained in this book and they way in which they are told, being neatly and precisely written, intelligent, imaginative, fundamentally decent, self-assured, and self-aware. Asimov humorously suggest that the book should really be called "The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of Isaac Asimov," and relays a wealth of information on why each story was chosen for the collection and what he likes or finds interesting about it.
While several stories, as most predicative fiction does, show their age and odd failures of imagination (e.g., a robot teacher that only accept homework on punch-cards in "The Fun They Had"), there are stories, such as "The Last Question," that are as fresh today as they were fifty years ago. Asimov has his flaws- for all his interplanetary exploits and adventurers, females are only represented as landlocked, unimaginative, nagging childbearers, and the language can be awkward and stilted. However, there are more than enough enough well-constructed plots ("Mirror Image"), brilliant conceits ("The Billiard Ball"), and enjoyable flights of imagination ("The Martian Way") to make reading this collection well worthwhile.
While several stories, as most predicative fiction does, show their age and odd failures of imagination (e.g., a robot teacher that only accept homework on punch-cards in "The Fun They Had"), there are stories, such as "The Last Question," that are as fresh today as they were fifty years ago. Asimov has his flaws- for all his interplanetary exploits and adventurers, females are only represented as landlocked, unimaginative, nagging childbearers, and the language can be awkward and stilted. However, there are more than enough enough well-constructed plots ("Mirror Image"), brilliant conceits ("The Billiard Ball"), and enjoyable flights of imagination ("The Martian Way") to make reading this collection well worthwhile.
February 6, 2012
What a thrilling book. I wish I'd read this growing up. It's a series of facinating thought experiments which make you wonder how different life could've been. Because the characters are all chip-in-the-shoulder humans, what you have is an utterly believable account of panicked people in a fantastic situation. I can't wait to get back to it tonight :)
October 28, 2008
be nazaram baiad esme in ketabo mizashtan"badtarin haye asimov" oonam ba badtarin tarjomeye momken!
August 31, 2016
An incredibly insightful author. Great display of the development of his style including some of the most famous stories.
November 22, 2016
A real corker. 12 short stories that just keep giving. Mac you will want to get in on this
February 3, 2021
3.5 stars overall
3 ⭐ Marooned off Vesta
But not for long...but that inching across the sides of the broken spaceship was scary. I felt some vertigo while reading it.
2 ⭐ Nightfall
This is about a planet with 6 suns. All of the suns have set but one, and that one is about to be covered by an eclipse. The planet has a history of its civilization expanding until, every 2K years, this happens again, then the whole planet goes mad at the sight of millions of stars in their sky, and their civilization falls again.
I can only guess at the purpose of the story: to make fun of humans and their dangerous ignorance?
2 ⭐ C Chute
A ship on its way back to Earth from Arcturus is attacked by a Kloros ship and captured. The crew is killed and a group of passengers is held prisoner. They all hate each other, but eventually pull together when one of them volunteers to go out the "C Chute" (where corpses are buried at space) in order to attempt to re-enter the ship from the steam chutes. The best part is the description of what it's like to walk on the outer skin of the ship.
2 ⭐ The Martian Way
The humans living on Mars are dependent on earth for their water and food. Space ships use water for their propulsion. Riled up by a politician, taxpayers on Earth are angry about the amount of water given up to Mars and its spaceships. They want to cut them off, but first earth places a limit on the amount of water that Mars can take. So one young Martian comes up with a way to get their own water.
3 ⭐ The Deep
On a planet where it's sun is dying, the residents have been living beneath the surface. but now the planet itself is dying and the cold is setting in. They must find another place to live. This species has telepathy. They developed a manner to reach across the vast distances and connect minds. With a special receiver that they have constructed, this receiver will allow the minds of all the species remaining to transfer to the new planet, once initial contact is made.
The first contact is with the mind of an infant, traveling on an airplane, with its mother. the man projecting his mind into the infant is astonished to find that his host species have no connection of their minds. Moreover, this species knows who its mother and father is. he relates this to his Superior upon return.
" 'well,' said Gan, 'without mental contact, they probably have no real conception of society and subrelationships may build up. Or was this one pathological?'
'no, no. It's universal. The female in charge was the infant's mother.'
'impossible. It's own mother?'
'of necessity. The infant had passed the first part of its existence inside its mother. Physically inside. The creature's eggs remain within the body. They are inseminated within the body. They grow within the body and emerge alive.'
'great caverns,' Gan said weakly. Distaste was strong within him. 'each creature would know the identity of its own child. Each child would have a particular father - ' " 🤣
2 ⭐ The Fun They Had
A little boy in the year 2157 has found an ancient "book" in his house's attic. He shares it with his little neighbor girl.
The book is about what school was like in the old days. he tells the little girl what school was like then, according to the book, and as her mother calls Margie into her house to begin her own lessons with her mechanical teacher, she reminisces about what fun the children must have had going to school together, with a real, live teacher.
4 ⭐ The Last Question
I liked this because it's something like what I think happened way back when, and will happen again far, far into the future. The only difference is, humans and other fauna will not last much past the 21st century, in real life.
It is always interesting to see how sci-fi authors from the past imagine technology in the future. Gigantic computers that did minimum work existed in asimov's heydey. Here's a couple of excerpts from his version of microchips in computers:
"it WAS a nice feeling to have a microvac of your own and Jarodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors, had come molecular valves so that even the largest planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship." [AC stands for analog computer]
"mq-17j paused to wonder if someday in his immortal Life he would get to see the galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite its sub-etheric workings, the galactic AC was known to be a full thousand ft across."
4 ⭐ The Dead Past
When you think of a kind of machine that can look into the past, what kind of a past would you use it for? Would you use it to look up your dead mom and dad, to relive the happy moments when they were alive? Would you use it to look up your youth, when you were beautiful, and thought you had the world by The Roots? Or would you look use it to look up history? Perhaps what happened during the fall of rome? This novelka by Asimov tackles this theme.
Asimov was a PhD, a scientist, author, probably many other things. Being a professor, he was well acquainted with the system of University research, how scientists specialize, how grants work, how publishing in journals works.
A history professor who is interested in Carthage, has gone to the head of the chronoscopy department, trying to get them to let him use the chronoscope to view ancient Carthage. He's obsessed with it, but he can make no headway. They merely put him off.
He speaks with a young physics instructor, newly hired by the university, and tries to get him interested in the construction of a small, personal chronoscope. At first, Dr Foster (the physicist) declines, and tells Dr Potterly that he's stepping out of line.
But he has caught the bug; now he begins to mull over the idea of how to make a chronoscope, and he involves his uncle, a science writer, in finding resources for him.
His uncle finds the original film by the inventor of the chronoscope that the government keeps under lock and key. Never mind that it's 30 years old, and tattered, in fiction you can make anything work.
You will have to read the story to find out what happens, but I'll tell you this: we never get a look at ancient Carthage.
3 ⭐ The Dying Night
Four former classmates come to a hotel for a convention. Three of them are astronomers: one on Mercury, one on the moon, and one on Ceres. The fourth one had a serious heart condition, rheumatic fever, that would not allow him to leave the Earth, and was embittered by it. The fourth one was also the most brilliant by far, and he had realized how to achieve Mass transference. He meets up with them in one of their hotel rooms, and lets them know that he will present his paper. They protest, saying that he does not appear on the program. He says he has kept it a secret until now.
That night the inventor has a heart attack and dies; the sole copy of his paper is stolen.
Whodunnit?
Asimov is good at his detective/science fiction. I greatly enjoyed his "caves of steel trilogy."
2 ⭐ Anniversary
This story is a sequel to the first story in this book called "Marooned off Vesta." The three men who were able to escape with their lives when a spaceship collided with an asteroid in the orbit of the planet Vesta, get together every year to commemorate that date. Various details in the story are suspiciously coincidental.
Asimov anticipated "Google search" with his "Multivac" computer in this story. One of the characters, more, had an outlet to Multivac in his house. It was in the form of a typewriter, and what you did was to type out a question that you wanted Multivac to answer, and the typewriter would type back out the answer from Multivac and send it out of a slot.
4 ⭐ The Billiard Ball
I gave this four stars, when I really think it should be worth three stars. The reason for the extra star is, first, because I like the explanation of the universe and masses of energy that are affected by gravity in it, given by Dr Priss. Secondly, because it reminded me, when it spoke of Dr Priss, and the way he responded ever so slowly to questions, of somebody I volunteered with at the San Jose animal Shelter.
" 'We can picture it,' he said, 'by imagining the universe to be a flat, thin, super flexible sheet of untearable rubber. if we picture mass as being associated with weight, as it is on the surface of the earth, then we would expect a mass, resting upon the rubber sheet, to make an indentation. The greater the mass, the deeper the indentation.
'in the actual universe,' he went on, 'all sorts of masses exist, and so our rubber sheet must be pictured as riddled with indentations. Any object rolling along the sheet would dip into and out of the indentations it passed, veering and changing direction as it did so. It is this Veer and change of direction that we interpret as demonstrating the existence of a force of gravity. If the moving object comes close enough to the center of the indentation and is moving slowly enough, it gets trapped and whirls round and round that indentation. In the absence of friction, it keeps up that whirl forever. In other words, what Isaac Newton interpreted as a force, Albert Einstein interpreted as geometrical distortion.' "
Now to the second part of the extra star: when I volunteered at the San Jose animal Care center, another volunteer that had worked there much longer than I had, had the utterly annoying personality trait that if you spoke to her, she would take up to two or three minutes to answer you back. The first time I spoke with her, I wondered if she had not heard me, or she had not known that I was speaking to her. I almost re asked her the question, but I didn't. Eventually her answer came. It wasn't anything brilliant that would have needed so much time to sort out in her mind. I think it was just a contrived manner of hers, that she hoped would make people think she had such careful and brilliant thought processes. Whatever she meant to do with that, it gives me a clue as to why Mr Bloom was so incensed against Dr Priss, and so motivated to show him up. Mr Bloom was a mover, Dr Priss was a sloooow thinker.
4 ⭐ Mirror Image
Personal connection accounts for the additional star, not necessarily the greatness of talent applied to the originality or author technique.
The characters in the story are R.Daneel and Elijah Baley, the Same characters from the trilogy"The Caves of Steel," and I loved those stories.
R. Daneel comes to Earth to consult with Lije Baley about a problem between two famous mathematicians on their way to a conference on a spaceship. One has created a new mathematical concept and shared it with the other. Preparing the paperwork on it and sending it ahead to the planet where it can be added to the lineup for the conference, the author finds that the other mathematician has done the same thing, only claiming the work as his. Both have personal robots who heard the original telling of the innovation to the other, and both claim their masters as the author of the innovation.
Ship's captain, uncertain of how to ascertain who is lying, and responsible for justice on his ship, consults R.Daneel, known to have worked in collaboration with an Earth detective. R.Daneel, in turn, consults his old colleague Elijah Baley, as they were, so to speak, in the neighborhood of Earth.
This is a good one.
3 ⭐ Marooned off Vesta
But not for long...but that inching across the sides of the broken spaceship was scary. I felt some vertigo while reading it.
2 ⭐ Nightfall
This is about a planet with 6 suns. All of the suns have set but one, and that one is about to be covered by an eclipse. The planet has a history of its civilization expanding until, every 2K years, this happens again, then the whole planet goes mad at the sight of millions of stars in their sky, and their civilization falls again.
I can only guess at the purpose of the story: to make fun of humans and their dangerous ignorance?
2 ⭐ C Chute
A ship on its way back to Earth from Arcturus is attacked by a Kloros ship and captured. The crew is killed and a group of passengers is held prisoner. They all hate each other, but eventually pull together when one of them volunteers to go out the "C Chute" (where corpses are buried at space) in order to attempt to re-enter the ship from the steam chutes. The best part is the description of what it's like to walk on the outer skin of the ship.
2 ⭐ The Martian Way
The humans living on Mars are dependent on earth for their water and food. Space ships use water for their propulsion. Riled up by a politician, taxpayers on Earth are angry about the amount of water given up to Mars and its spaceships. They want to cut them off, but first earth places a limit on the amount of water that Mars can take. So one young Martian comes up with a way to get their own water.
3 ⭐ The Deep
On a planet where it's sun is dying, the residents have been living beneath the surface. but now the planet itself is dying and the cold is setting in. They must find another place to live. This species has telepathy. They developed a manner to reach across the vast distances and connect minds. With a special receiver that they have constructed, this receiver will allow the minds of all the species remaining to transfer to the new planet, once initial contact is made.
The first contact is with the mind of an infant, traveling on an airplane, with its mother. the man projecting his mind into the infant is astonished to find that his host species have no connection of their minds. Moreover, this species knows who its mother and father is. he relates this to his Superior upon return.
" 'well,' said Gan, 'without mental contact, they probably have no real conception of society and subrelationships may build up. Or was this one pathological?'
'no, no. It's universal. The female in charge was the infant's mother.'
'impossible. It's own mother?'
'of necessity. The infant had passed the first part of its existence inside its mother. Physically inside. The creature's eggs remain within the body. They are inseminated within the body. They grow within the body and emerge alive.'
'great caverns,' Gan said weakly. Distaste was strong within him. 'each creature would know the identity of its own child. Each child would have a particular father - ' " 🤣
2 ⭐ The Fun They Had
A little boy in the year 2157 has found an ancient "book" in his house's attic. He shares it with his little neighbor girl.
The book is about what school was like in the old days. he tells the little girl what school was like then, according to the book, and as her mother calls Margie into her house to begin her own lessons with her mechanical teacher, she reminisces about what fun the children must have had going to school together, with a real, live teacher.
4 ⭐ The Last Question
I liked this because it's something like what I think happened way back when, and will happen again far, far into the future. The only difference is, humans and other fauna will not last much past the 21st century, in real life.
It is always interesting to see how sci-fi authors from the past imagine technology in the future. Gigantic computers that did minimum work existed in asimov's heydey. Here's a couple of excerpts from his version of microchips in computers:
"it WAS a nice feeling to have a microvac of your own and Jarodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors, had come molecular valves so that even the largest planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship." [AC stands for analog computer]
"mq-17j paused to wonder if someday in his immortal Life he would get to see the galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite its sub-etheric workings, the galactic AC was known to be a full thousand ft across."
4 ⭐ The Dead Past
When you think of a kind of machine that can look into the past, what kind of a past would you use it for? Would you use it to look up your dead mom and dad, to relive the happy moments when they were alive? Would you use it to look up your youth, when you were beautiful, and thought you had the world by The Roots? Or would you look use it to look up history? Perhaps what happened during the fall of rome? This novelka by Asimov tackles this theme.
Asimov was a PhD, a scientist, author, probably many other things. Being a professor, he was well acquainted with the system of University research, how scientists specialize, how grants work, how publishing in journals works.
A history professor who is interested in Carthage, has gone to the head of the chronoscopy department, trying to get them to let him use the chronoscope to view ancient Carthage. He's obsessed with it, but he can make no headway. They merely put him off.
He speaks with a young physics instructor, newly hired by the university, and tries to get him interested in the construction of a small, personal chronoscope. At first, Dr Foster (the physicist) declines, and tells Dr Potterly that he's stepping out of line.
But he has caught the bug; now he begins to mull over the idea of how to make a chronoscope, and he involves his uncle, a science writer, in finding resources for him.
His uncle finds the original film by the inventor of the chronoscope that the government keeps under lock and key. Never mind that it's 30 years old, and tattered, in fiction you can make anything work.
You will have to read the story to find out what happens, but I'll tell you this: we never get a look at ancient Carthage.
3 ⭐ The Dying Night
Four former classmates come to a hotel for a convention. Three of them are astronomers: one on Mercury, one on the moon, and one on Ceres. The fourth one had a serious heart condition, rheumatic fever, that would not allow him to leave the Earth, and was embittered by it. The fourth one was also the most brilliant by far, and he had realized how to achieve Mass transference. He meets up with them in one of their hotel rooms, and lets them know that he will present his paper. They protest, saying that he does not appear on the program. He says he has kept it a secret until now.
That night the inventor has a heart attack and dies; the sole copy of his paper is stolen.
Whodunnit?
Asimov is good at his detective/science fiction. I greatly enjoyed his "caves of steel trilogy."
2 ⭐ Anniversary
This story is a sequel to the first story in this book called "Marooned off Vesta." The three men who were able to escape with their lives when a spaceship collided with an asteroid in the orbit of the planet Vesta, get together every year to commemorate that date. Various details in the story are suspiciously coincidental.
Asimov anticipated "Google search" with his "Multivac" computer in this story. One of the characters, more, had an outlet to Multivac in his house. It was in the form of a typewriter, and what you did was to type out a question that you wanted Multivac to answer, and the typewriter would type back out the answer from Multivac and send it out of a slot.
4 ⭐ The Billiard Ball
I gave this four stars, when I really think it should be worth three stars. The reason for the extra star is, first, because I like the explanation of the universe and masses of energy that are affected by gravity in it, given by Dr Priss. Secondly, because it reminded me, when it spoke of Dr Priss, and the way he responded ever so slowly to questions, of somebody I volunteered with at the San Jose animal Shelter.
" 'We can picture it,' he said, 'by imagining the universe to be a flat, thin, super flexible sheet of untearable rubber. if we picture mass as being associated with weight, as it is on the surface of the earth, then we would expect a mass, resting upon the rubber sheet, to make an indentation. The greater the mass, the deeper the indentation.
'in the actual universe,' he went on, 'all sorts of masses exist, and so our rubber sheet must be pictured as riddled with indentations. Any object rolling along the sheet would dip into and out of the indentations it passed, veering and changing direction as it did so. It is this Veer and change of direction that we interpret as demonstrating the existence of a force of gravity. If the moving object comes close enough to the center of the indentation and is moving slowly enough, it gets trapped and whirls round and round that indentation. In the absence of friction, it keeps up that whirl forever. In other words, what Isaac Newton interpreted as a force, Albert Einstein interpreted as geometrical distortion.' "
Now to the second part of the extra star: when I volunteered at the San Jose animal Care center, another volunteer that had worked there much longer than I had, had the utterly annoying personality trait that if you spoke to her, she would take up to two or three minutes to answer you back. The first time I spoke with her, I wondered if she had not heard me, or she had not known that I was speaking to her. I almost re asked her the question, but I didn't. Eventually her answer came. It wasn't anything brilliant that would have needed so much time to sort out in her mind. I think it was just a contrived manner of hers, that she hoped would make people think she had such careful and brilliant thought processes. Whatever she meant to do with that, it gives me a clue as to why Mr Bloom was so incensed against Dr Priss, and so motivated to show him up. Mr Bloom was a mover, Dr Priss was a sloooow thinker.
4 ⭐ Mirror Image
Personal connection accounts for the additional star, not necessarily the greatness of talent applied to the originality or author technique.
The characters in the story are R.Daneel and Elijah Baley, the Same characters from the trilogy"The Caves of Steel," and I loved those stories.
R. Daneel comes to Earth to consult with Lije Baley about a problem between two famous mathematicians on their way to a conference on a spaceship. One has created a new mathematical concept and shared it with the other. Preparing the paperwork on it and sending it ahead to the planet where it can be added to the lineup for the conference, the author finds that the other mathematician has done the same thing, only claiming the work as his. Both have personal robots who heard the original telling of the innovation to the other, and both claim their masters as the author of the innovation.
Ship's captain, uncertain of how to ascertain who is lying, and responsible for justice on his ship, consults R.Daneel, known to have worked in collaboration with an Earth detective. R.Daneel, in turn, consults his old colleague Elijah Baley, as they were, so to speak, in the neighborhood of Earth.
This is a good one.
October 3, 2025
My father-in-law found this at a library book sale, and brought it to me because he knew I would like it. What a treasure! I hardly ever find anything worth keeping at those book sales.
“I suppose we ought to really call the book ‘The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of
Isaac Asimov’, but who would then buy it? So ‘Best’ it is.”
Asimov is a master builder of science fiction worlds. He is a prophet and a comic, and humble about both. I enjoyed these stories very much.
-Marooned off Vespa-
Some mining astronauts survived an accident that destroyed most of their ship. They are in orbit
around Vespa, have three days of air, and little hope of survival. One of the three survivors is an
optimist and tries to create a solution.
It’s a fine story. 3 stars
-Nightfall-
What if there was a world that had six suns and never experienced night? What if that world’s
inhabitants then experienced an eclipse and saw stars and experienced darkness for the first time?
This story had to have inspired “The Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu. Asimov has hit his stride by
now. Very good, 4 stars.
-C-Chute-
Aliens take over a freight ship and there are human passengers on-board with colorful personalities.
I love the description of the aliens, strange insect-like creatures with their brains in their abdomens
and breathe chlorine. Starting to tire of the inclusion of characters whose whole purpose is to raise
tension by freaking out or being annoying. 3 stars.
-The Martian Way-
Mars is reliant on earth for water, and politics are not in their favor. The Martian way is ingenuity,
resilience, and grit. Characters were not annoying in this one. I actually felt rather inspired. 4 stars.
-The Deep-
An alien society in a dying world where there are no familial relationships, no maternal bonding,
unless you’re intellectually deficient. They need to save the species by moving to another world.
This story also made me think of Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem. Perhaps he wasn’t so inspired by
Asimov, but his books made such an impression on me that I see his ideas in all the other SF that I
read? 3.5 stars.
“He was very handsome in her eyes as he walked away. His grasping limbs were straight and strong,
his prehensile, manipulative vibrissae were numerous and delicate and his optic patches were more
beautifully opalescent than any she had ever seen.”
-The Fun They Had-
Prophetic little vignette about digital school and how much kids will hate it (written 1954). 3 stars.
“I won’t buy success at the price of self-consciousness. I don’t have the temperament for it. I’ll
write as I please and let the critics do the analyzing.”
-The Last Question-
Asimov’s personal favorite from this collection. What on earth did I just read? An AI that solves
problems and doesn’t kill us because we destroy everything we touch? What a utopian vision of the
future! Asimov apparently saw nobility in asking AI questions, most notably, “can entropy ever be
reversed?” Very much enjoyed. 4 stars.
-The Dead Past-
120 years into the future (from 1956) mankind has progressed in its science of manipulating gravity
and neutrinos. Neutrinos pass through time and normal matter alike, so they can be used to see
into the past. mayhem ensues.
It was fun to see his take on campus politics and views on basic research. The unbelievable part is
that the government might have the public’s best interest at heart. 4 stars.
-The Dying Night-
A little mystery story involving old friends reconvening on Earth after years away doing research on
other celestial bodies in the solar system. Not his best work, but I did enjoy his afterward getting
mad at astronomers not getting everything right the first time. 2.5 stars.
-Anniversary-
Sequel (20 years later) to “Marooned Off Vesta” also coincidentally in the same universe as “The
Last Question” and “The Dead Past” as all feature, or mention, the giant AI called Multivac. It’s fun
to connect the dots. 3 stars.
-Billiard Ball-
Theoretical physics vs applied physics, to the death! I always thought this conflict of egos was a
silly one, yet it exists and they belittle each other even now. This is a fun story about that conflict
taken to the extreme. The climax is great fun, told through the eyes of a reporter who witnessed the
event. 4 stars.
-Mirror Image-
Two mathematicians claim to have a revolutionary idea and that the other stole it. The three laws of
robotics and their robotic servants will help us solve the logic puzzle. But really, any conclusion you
come to could be interpreted the other way, too. Justice by humans can never really be sure. 3
stars.
“I suppose we ought to really call the book ‘The Pretty Good and Pretty Representative Stories of
Isaac Asimov’, but who would then buy it? So ‘Best’ it is.”
Asimov is a master builder of science fiction worlds. He is a prophet and a comic, and humble about both. I enjoyed these stories very much.
-Marooned off Vespa-
Some mining astronauts survived an accident that destroyed most of their ship. They are in orbit
around Vespa, have three days of air, and little hope of survival. One of the three survivors is an
optimist and tries to create a solution.
It’s a fine story. 3 stars
-Nightfall-
What if there was a world that had six suns and never experienced night? What if that world’s
inhabitants then experienced an eclipse and saw stars and experienced darkness for the first time?
This story had to have inspired “The Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu. Asimov has hit his stride by
now. Very good, 4 stars.
-C-Chute-
Aliens take over a freight ship and there are human passengers on-board with colorful personalities.
I love the description of the aliens, strange insect-like creatures with their brains in their abdomens
and breathe chlorine. Starting to tire of the inclusion of characters whose whole purpose is to raise
tension by freaking out or being annoying. 3 stars.
-The Martian Way-
Mars is reliant on earth for water, and politics are not in their favor. The Martian way is ingenuity,
resilience, and grit. Characters were not annoying in this one. I actually felt rather inspired. 4 stars.
-The Deep-
An alien society in a dying world where there are no familial relationships, no maternal bonding,
unless you’re intellectually deficient. They need to save the species by moving to another world.
This story also made me think of Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem. Perhaps he wasn’t so inspired by
Asimov, but his books made such an impression on me that I see his ideas in all the other SF that I
read? 3.5 stars.
“He was very handsome in her eyes as he walked away. His grasping limbs were straight and strong,
his prehensile, manipulative vibrissae were numerous and delicate and his optic patches were more
beautifully opalescent than any she had ever seen.”
-The Fun They Had-
Prophetic little vignette about digital school and how much kids will hate it (written 1954). 3 stars.
“I won’t buy success at the price of self-consciousness. I don’t have the temperament for it. I’ll
write as I please and let the critics do the analyzing.”
-The Last Question-
Asimov’s personal favorite from this collection. What on earth did I just read? An AI that solves
problems and doesn’t kill us because we destroy everything we touch? What a utopian vision of the
future! Asimov apparently saw nobility in asking AI questions, most notably, “can entropy ever be
reversed?” Very much enjoyed. 4 stars.
-The Dead Past-
120 years into the future (from 1956) mankind has progressed in its science of manipulating gravity
and neutrinos. Neutrinos pass through time and normal matter alike, so they can be used to see
into the past. mayhem ensues.
It was fun to see his take on campus politics and views on basic research. The unbelievable part is
that the government might have the public’s best interest at heart. 4 stars.
-The Dying Night-
A little mystery story involving old friends reconvening on Earth after years away doing research on
other celestial bodies in the solar system. Not his best work, but I did enjoy his afterward getting
mad at astronomers not getting everything right the first time. 2.5 stars.
-Anniversary-
Sequel (20 years later) to “Marooned Off Vesta” also coincidentally in the same universe as “The
Last Question” and “The Dead Past” as all feature, or mention, the giant AI called Multivac. It’s fun
to connect the dots. 3 stars.
-Billiard Ball-
Theoretical physics vs applied physics, to the death! I always thought this conflict of egos was a
silly one, yet it exists and they belittle each other even now. This is a fun story about that conflict
taken to the extreme. The climax is great fun, told through the eyes of a reporter who witnessed the
event. 4 stars.
-Mirror Image-
Two mathematicians claim to have a revolutionary idea and that the other stole it. The three laws of
robotics and their robotic servants will help us solve the logic puzzle. But really, any conclusion you
come to could be interpreted the other way, too. Justice by humans can never really be sure. 3
stars.
August 28, 2023
Most people know him from the film based on I, Robot, but this was my first experience reading his short stories. It's a great sampling of work and a great way to see his writing style change (or lack of change) over time. While he said in his intro that critics have given him three distinct eras of writing, I personally didn't see any distinction between decades, except for maybe an increase in dialogue.
PRO: Asimov's style felt modern, snappy, and very smart. Stories move quickly and you are thrust immediately into the universes he thinks up on the fly. That can really hook you at the start. This start-on-action style is attractive and ahead of its time for stories published way back in the 30s.
CON: However, reading these stories back to back makes his style wear thin on your attention span. It is dialogue heavy, with the last two stories from 60s-70s having pages sometimes taken up entirely by dialogue. While this makes the stories quick it also sometimes makes them shallow; it comes off as Asimov rambling to himself about science jargon, not attempts at engaging stories. But maybe that was what early science fiction and speculative writing was? Maybe that isn't just him? I'm not sure.
PRO: Asimov loves coming up with spatterings of interesting characters from unique professions and ethnicities. Computer technicians, professors, business men, scrap chasers, accountants, washed up military personal, mothers in grief. There are a lot of people talking through his stories.
CON: Asimov wrote what he knew; educated men in fields of science and delicate, over emotional women obsessed with children, shopping, and appearances. Every man is someone remarkable with something remarkable to tell the world or argue about with his equally remarkable colleagues. Sure, maybe every man has his own name and profession, maybe one has a temper and one is collected, but they are all essentially the same man at their core. Reading these stories back to back makes them blend together; the only character I know by name is Multivac.
PRO: Asimov was passionate about science and himself was a chemist with many interests. When he writes he knows what he is talking about, and can often explain scientific concepts in ways that even lay audiences could grasp, even if a bit wordy. I imagine his story on entropy may have been the first introduction to that concept for many readers. He probably came up with, or borrowed from his peers, other scientific concepts we take for granted in modern sci-fi today. Laser beam weapons, anti-gravity, humanoid robots, transporter technology, generative AIs like chatGPT, search engines, video calls, small cell phones, etc.
CON: One of the most boring parts of his stories are when characters go on long tangents explaining scientific concepts to other characters. It's as if all characters either fall into the category of professor or student. It is boring. You don't read sci-fi expecting to find content out of a text book, you read it to be entertained. Asimov's professor's brain didn't help him in that regard.
PRO: The Last Question. When Asimov said it was his favorite I think he picked correctly. The Last Question is NOTHING like any of the other stories in this book. I'm not sure if any of his other many many stories are similar, but this one is so drastically different. It's plot spans billions of years, there are only two central characters (Multivac and collectively humanity), it is not dialogue heavy or jargon heavy. Additionally, unlike his other works in this book, it is emotionally gripping, the ending hits you over the head in a way none of the others do. If you will read any of the stories in this book let it be The Last Question. It's probably one of my favorite short stories of all time now.
CON: There are only two types of conversation throughout these stories. Men arguing ("I want to eat bread!" "What's wrong with you, sicko? We can't do that!" "Bro, you're just chicken." "WHAT! No I'm not, dude! I'll eat bread right now! After I brood...") and men reading from text books ("You see, Reported Xenon 32, if I bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish it will break the 69th law of thermodynamics." "Gee, John Smith, won't that be dangerous? What about adjusting it for 4.20 g?" "Yes, Very Smart Reporter, that's why precisely why we will create a 4.20 g neutrino field inside a can of peas. There's a good chap. Hand me my pipe.")
If I can rate each story individually, all stories would be four stars except for The Last Question which is a solid 5.
PRO: Asimov's style felt modern, snappy, and very smart. Stories move quickly and you are thrust immediately into the universes he thinks up on the fly. That can really hook you at the start. This start-on-action style is attractive and ahead of its time for stories published way back in the 30s.
CON: However, reading these stories back to back makes his style wear thin on your attention span. It is dialogue heavy, with the last two stories from 60s-70s having pages sometimes taken up entirely by dialogue. While this makes the stories quick it also sometimes makes them shallow; it comes off as Asimov rambling to himself about science jargon, not attempts at engaging stories. But maybe that was what early science fiction and speculative writing was? Maybe that isn't just him? I'm not sure.
PRO: Asimov loves coming up with spatterings of interesting characters from unique professions and ethnicities. Computer technicians, professors, business men, scrap chasers, accountants, washed up military personal, mothers in grief. There are a lot of people talking through his stories.
CON: Asimov wrote what he knew; educated men in fields of science and delicate, over emotional women obsessed with children, shopping, and appearances. Every man is someone remarkable with something remarkable to tell the world or argue about with his equally remarkable colleagues. Sure, maybe every man has his own name and profession, maybe one has a temper and one is collected, but they are all essentially the same man at their core. Reading these stories back to back makes them blend together; the only character I know by name is Multivac.
PRO: Asimov was passionate about science and himself was a chemist with many interests. When he writes he knows what he is talking about, and can often explain scientific concepts in ways that even lay audiences could grasp, even if a bit wordy. I imagine his story on entropy may have been the first introduction to that concept for many readers. He probably came up with, or borrowed from his peers, other scientific concepts we take for granted in modern sci-fi today. Laser beam weapons, anti-gravity, humanoid robots, transporter technology, generative AIs like chatGPT, search engines, video calls, small cell phones, etc.
CON: One of the most boring parts of his stories are when characters go on long tangents explaining scientific concepts to other characters. It's as if all characters either fall into the category of professor or student. It is boring. You don't read sci-fi expecting to find content out of a text book, you read it to be entertained. Asimov's professor's brain didn't help him in that regard.
PRO: The Last Question. When Asimov said it was his favorite I think he picked correctly. The Last Question is NOTHING like any of the other stories in this book. I'm not sure if any of his other many many stories are similar, but this one is so drastically different. It's plot spans billions of years, there are only two central characters (Multivac and collectively humanity), it is not dialogue heavy or jargon heavy. Additionally, unlike his other works in this book, it is emotionally gripping, the ending hits you over the head in a way none of the others do. If you will read any of the stories in this book let it be The Last Question. It's probably one of my favorite short stories of all time now.
CON: There are only two types of conversation throughout these stories. Men arguing ("I want to eat bread!" "What's wrong with you, sicko? We can't do that!" "Bro, you're just chicken." "WHAT! No I'm not, dude! I'll eat bread right now! After I brood...") and men reading from text books ("You see, Reported Xenon 32, if I bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish it will break the 69th law of thermodynamics." "Gee, John Smith, won't that be dangerous? What about adjusting it for 4.20 g?" "Yes, Very Smart Reporter, that's why precisely why we will create a 4.20 g neutrino field inside a can of peas. There's a good chap. Hand me my pipe.")
If I can rate each story individually, all stories would be four stars except for The Last Question which is a solid 5.
March 1, 2024
At first I was skeptical if these scifi short stories really are the *best* of Asimov but I agree these are very good representations of his versatility in storytelling and ominously prophetic scifi messages, as well as his writing flaws, warts and all:
Marooned Off Vesta: a stranded space crew has an unconventional use for man's most valuable resource to save themselves; anticlimactic and abrupt
Nightfall: a civilization goes collectively nuts when their round-the-clock sunlight (6 suns revolving around their planet) drastically changes; reminiscent of H.G. Wells' "The Star"
C-Chute: there are several motivations for acts of heroism, and they can either be rational or irrational; anticlimactic and abrupt
The Martian Way: scarcity and hardship are what drives the Martians to gain the upper hand; lots of hard scifi
The Deep: 'advanced' beings (sentient microbes?) living closer to the Earth's core explore humans on the planet's surface; precursor to Cixin Liu's "Mountain" from the Wandering Earth (?)
The Fun They Had: very prescient about online schools and the social isolation that technology brings
The Last Question: no matter how advanced humanity becomes, our dependence on machines to think for us would only exacerbate our problems
The Dead Past: at first it seems like a predictable pseudo time travel scifi short story but it went in a totally different direction; "There isn't one advance at any time in history that mankind hasn't had the ingenuity to pervert. Mankind must also have the ingenuity to prevent."
The Dying Night: ironically outdated for a scifi noir murder mystery
Anniversary: sequel to "Marooned Off Vesta" about an invention
The Billiard Ball: the more 'indented' universe, the more gravity/mass; the less indented, the more electromagnetic force ...so infinitely more EMF becomes anti-grav? (instant PHD in theoretical physics 🤓); plot twist
Mirror Image: human-robot detective duo Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw are at it again with their bromancing (endearing)
Marooned Off Vesta: a stranded space crew has an unconventional use for man's most valuable resource to save themselves; anticlimactic and abrupt
Nightfall: a civilization goes collectively nuts when their round-the-clock sunlight (6 suns revolving around their planet) drastically changes; reminiscent of H.G. Wells' "The Star"
C-Chute: there are several motivations for acts of heroism, and they can either be rational or irrational; anticlimactic and abrupt
The Martian Way: scarcity and hardship are what drives the Martians to gain the upper hand; lots of hard scifi
The Deep: 'advanced' beings (sentient microbes?) living closer to the Earth's core explore humans on the planet's surface; precursor to Cixin Liu's "Mountain" from the Wandering Earth (?)
The Fun They Had: very prescient about online schools and the social isolation that technology brings
The Last Question: no matter how advanced humanity becomes, our dependence on machines to think for us would only exacerbate our problems
The Dead Past: at first it seems like a predictable pseudo time travel scifi short story but it went in a totally different direction; "There isn't one advance at any time in history that mankind hasn't had the ingenuity to pervert. Mankind must also have the ingenuity to prevent."
The Dying Night: ironically outdated for a scifi noir murder mystery
Anniversary: sequel to "Marooned Off Vesta" about an invention
The Billiard Ball: the more 'indented' universe, the more gravity/mass; the less indented, the more electromagnetic force ...so infinitely more EMF becomes anti-grav? (instant PHD in theoretical physics 🤓); plot twist
Mirror Image: human-robot detective duo Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw are at it again with their bromancing (endearing)
May 4, 2021
What an introduction to Isaac Asimov albeit 50+ years after the fact! And in some of the stories, it shows greater than others. However, at their core, these are solidly told Sci-Fi tales.
Highly enjoyed the thought provoking - The Last Question (1956) (5/5).
And these were the more favored readings:
- The Martian Way (1952) (4/5) was intriguing as an evolutionary tale.
- The Deep (1952) (4/5) and the - The Dead Past (1956) (4/5) felt like they belong with the Black Mirror franchise.
- The Fun They Had (1951) (4/5) was a straightforward short story about days gone by.
- Marooned off Vesta (1939) (3/5) & Anniversary (1959) (4/5) if only for the forethought and timeline to revisit an older story, only to add another layer (and story to it).
Detective Fiction:
- Mirror Image (1972) 3/5 should have been greater due to the 3 laws of robotics, along with - The Dying Night (1956) (3/5) and - The Billiard Ball (1967) 3/5, which were early attempts at basic mysteries of the human kind.
Underwhelming for me:
- Nightfall (1941) (2/5) I though would be better since it has larger tellings in stand alone books.
- C-Chute (1951) (3/5) was very similar to Marooned, yet still interesting.
I highly recommend this collection to any reader from any genre, as they will find something among the selections, surely.
Thanks for reading.
Highly enjoyed the thought provoking - The Last Question (1956) (5/5).
And these were the more favored readings:
- The Martian Way (1952) (4/5) was intriguing as an evolutionary tale.
- The Deep (1952) (4/5) and the - The Dead Past (1956) (4/5) felt like they belong with the Black Mirror franchise.
- The Fun They Had (1951) (4/5) was a straightforward short story about days gone by.
- Marooned off Vesta (1939) (3/5) & Anniversary (1959) (4/5) if only for the forethought and timeline to revisit an older story, only to add another layer (and story to it).
Detective Fiction:
- Mirror Image (1972) 3/5 should have been greater due to the 3 laws of robotics, along with - The Dying Night (1956) (3/5) and - The Billiard Ball (1967) 3/5, which were early attempts at basic mysteries of the human kind.
Underwhelming for me:
- Nightfall (1941) (2/5) I though would be better since it has larger tellings in stand alone books.
- C-Chute (1951) (3/5) was very similar to Marooned, yet still interesting.
I highly recommend this collection to any reader from any genre, as they will find something among the selections, surely.
Thanks for reading.
January 9, 2026
Somewhat disappointing. Some of the stories were reasonably good, but most were not worth reading. Most of the book did not have particularly good prose, intriguing ideas, nor compelling characters. The stories often revolve around setting up the plot so that some particular piece of scientific trivia becomes relevant and is used to tie up the story, unless it is done very cleverly I am not a fan of this general approach to science fiction. Science fiction should generally either (a) use the futuristic setting as a lens to really focus on contemporary or timeless issues, or (b) present a compelling picture of how a different world might function in new and interesting ways, I don't think most stories succeed at either.
The short stories I liked were: Nightfall (very cool interesting premise, drama works well, a great example of (b) listed above), The Dead Past (I think the best written story, and very good example of using scifi elements to achieve result (a)) , and Mirror Image (a bit stilted but short and fun). I would recommend reading these 3 and skipping the rest.
The short stories I liked were: Nightfall (very cool interesting premise, drama works well, a great example of (b) listed above), The Dead Past (I think the best written story, and very good example of using scifi elements to achieve result (a)) , and Mirror Image (a bit stilted but short and fun). I would recommend reading these 3 and skipping the rest.
August 16, 2018
A collection of Asimov's short stories, with a brief introduction in the beginning by Asimov himself detailing some autobiographical notes.
Asimov of course is a seminal figure in science fiction, and his impact on the field continues to impact how we conceive of the genre today. That said, most of the stories, in my opinion, did not age well. Black Mirror and other contemporary sci-fi works, though morbidly dystopian compared to the optimistic Asimov, are much more gripping and thought-provoking. I'm also not a fan of stories that start in media res.
I found "Dying Past", one of the stories particularly gripping though, as it raised implications about the governance of research, censorship, and whether the pursuit of truth and science is always and inevitably a good thing.
Asimov of course is a seminal figure in science fiction, and his impact on the field continues to impact how we conceive of the genre today. That said, most of the stories, in my opinion, did not age well. Black Mirror and other contemporary sci-fi works, though morbidly dystopian compared to the optimistic Asimov, are much more gripping and thought-provoking. I'm also not a fan of stories that start in media res.
I found "Dying Past", one of the stories particularly gripping though, as it raised implications about the governance of research, censorship, and whether the pursuit of truth and science is always and inevitably a good thing.
April 1, 2025
“It was very horrible to go mad and know that you were going mad—to know that in a little minute you would be here physically and yet all the real essence would be dead and drowned in the black madness.”
A great collection of classic sci-fi by one of the best to ever do it. It was, perhaps, held back somewhat by the (understandable) lack of stories from I, Robot, but these made for a great collection, regardless. Asimov’s introduction provided just enough additional information to make reading each of these stories—even the ones that I already knew—a real treat.
I don’t have time to give my thoughts on each story individually, but I will say that “Nightfall,” basic pick though it is, was probably my favorite. “The Billiard Ball” comes in at a close second, though.
A great collection of classic sci-fi by one of the best to ever do it. It was, perhaps, held back somewhat by the (understandable) lack of stories from I, Robot, but these made for a great collection, regardless. Asimov’s introduction provided just enough additional information to make reading each of these stories—even the ones that I already knew—a real treat.
I don’t have time to give my thoughts on each story individually, but I will say that “Nightfall,” basic pick though it is, was probably my favorite. “The Billiard Ball” comes in at a close second, though.
December 29, 2022
Certamente una delle migliori raccolte di Asimov, in cui traspare il suo percorso stilistico, formativo e interiore come autore e come persona del suo tempo. Alcuno racconti sono rivoluzionari, altri memorabili, altri ancora passano senza essere ricordati; ma hanno tutti l’inconfondibile stile e firma di uno dei piú grandi autori di sempre.
Consigliato ai neofiti, per un primo approccio a Asimov, ma soprattutto a chi già ne è cultore, e vuole avere una panoramica della sua evoluzione e poter apprezzare in un solo libro alcuni tra i suoi racconti piú memorabili.
Consigliato ai neofiti, per un primo approccio a Asimov, ma soprattutto a chi già ne è cultore, e vuole avere una panoramica della sua evoluzione e poter apprezzare in un solo libro alcuni tra i suoi racconti piú memorabili.
August 5, 2017
The Best of Isaac Asimov (_/5)
Rated (_/5)
• Marooned off Vesta (1939) (3/5)
• Nightfall (1941) -
• C-Chute (1951) (3/5)
• The Martian Way (1952) (3/5)
• The Deep (1952) (2/5)
• The Fun They Had (1951) (4/5)
• The Last Question (1956) (4/5)
• The Dead Past (1956) (3/5)
• The Dying Night (1956)
• Anniversary (1959) (3/5)
• The Billiard Ball (1967) -
• Mirror Image (1972) (2/5)
( - ) previously read, skipped in this collection.
A good representation of Asimov's over a 30 year period.
Rated (_/5)
• Marooned off Vesta (1939) (3/5)
• Nightfall (1941) -
• C-Chute (1951) (3/5)
• The Martian Way (1952) (3/5)
• The Deep (1952) (2/5)
• The Fun They Had (1951) (4/5)
• The Last Question (1956) (4/5)
• The Dead Past (1956) (3/5)
• The Dying Night (1956)
• Anniversary (1959) (3/5)
• The Billiard Ball (1967) -
• Mirror Image (1972) (2/5)
( - ) previously read, skipped in this collection.
A good representation of Asimov's over a 30 year period.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews