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The Black Widowers #5
Puzzles au club des Veufs Noirs
Once a month, the seven members of the Black Widowers Club gather for dinner at their favourite restaurant. To each dinner a guest is invited, and each guest has a problem too large and complex to solve on his own. This is the fifth collection of the "Black Widowers" stories.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
11 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,336 books27.8k 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 52 reviews
January 27, 2019
If possible, Asimov's Afterwords to each story are even more delightful than the stories themselves.
June 5, 2019
ENGLISH: Fifth collection of meetings of the Black Widowers, small mysteries solved as usual by the club waiter. As curious as the previous three volumes.
ESPAÑOL: Quinta recopilación de reuniones de los Viudos Negros, pequeños misterios que siempre resuelve el camarero del club. Tan curiosos como los tres volúmenes anteriores.
ESPAÑOL: Quinta recopilación de reuniones de los Viudos Negros, pequeños misterios que siempre resuelve el camarero del club. Tan curiosos como los tres volúmenes anteriores.
January 17, 2013
This collection of 12 mysteries was a page turner.
The Black Widowers is a group that gathers for dinner every Sunday to discuss the 'meaning of existence' of a guest brought by one of the members. Usually the esteemed guest has some sort of mystery with them - either to be solved by the Black Widowers or one whose solution is known to the guest. Invariably the members are stumped and the solution comes from their waiter, Henry.
I loved the banter between the characters of Emmanuel 'Manny' Rubin and Mario Gonzalo. I especially loved the fact that Asimov slipped himself into the stories and poked fun at himself through Rubin's character.
Most of the stories had the clues slipped into them and I enjoyed trying to figure out the solutions with Henry. Sometimes I got it right, sometimes I was stumped, but the solution was always ingenious. It was always little things that pointed out the solution, for example
The most thought provoking story was, in my opinion, The Quiet Place. The mystery was not one of my favourite - it needed knowledge not present in the story - but the usage of the poem 'The Lost Chord' really well, struck a chord.
Overall, 4.5/5. I will definitely be reading more of Isaac Asimov.
The Black Widowers is a group that gathers for dinner every Sunday to discuss the 'meaning of existence' of a guest brought by one of the members. Usually the esteemed guest has some sort of mystery with them - either to be solved by the Black Widowers or one whose solution is known to the guest. Invariably the members are stumped and the solution comes from their waiter, Henry.
I loved the banter between the characters of Emmanuel 'Manny' Rubin and Mario Gonzalo. I especially loved the fact that Asimov slipped himself into the stories and poked fun at himself through Rubin's character.
Most of the stories had the clues slipped into them and I enjoyed trying to figure out the solutions with Henry. Sometimes I got it right, sometimes I was stumped, but the solution was always ingenious. It was always little things that pointed out the solution, for example
The most thought provoking story was, in my opinion, The Quiet Place. The mystery was not one of my favourite - it needed knowledge not present in the story - but the usage of the poem 'The Lost Chord' really well, struck a chord.
Overall, 4.5/5. I will definitely be reading more of Isaac Asimov.
March 6, 2011
Liked it. Pretty much what one expects from the Black Widowers stories. The stories in this volume, probably even more than the other volumes, are pretty much "puzzles" rather than "mysteries", based on curious facts or observations Asimov has picked up here and there. There are stories/puzzles that revolve around such trivial stuff as homonyms, parity (odd-and-even), and places from where one can see sunsets. Many of the solutions are groan-inducing, and a few of them you can quite easily guess the solution (especially the last story in this book). But any reader of other Black Widowers stories knows all this and enjoys them all the same, so I wouldn't say there's anything particularly wrong with this book.
December 17, 2023
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I was reading the first two stories in the "Puzzles of the Black Widowers".
They were "The Fourth Homonym" and "Unique is where you find it".
The formula for a Black Widows story involves ruling out the "not possible" explanations and then Henry gives the remaining explanation as the problems solution. BUT, if ALL the "other" solutions are NOT ruled out, then Henry is just guessing. An informed guess, but still a guess. When I read these first two stories I came up with different solutions. In fact, my solutions were even more applicable to the puzzle then that chosen by Asimov. Now of course an author can chose whichever solution for his puzzle that he likes, but when there are other solutions that have NOT been ruled out, they are worth mentioning. In previous stories, Asimov has welcomed intriguing and novel alternate solutions, so here are 2 of mine.
The Fourth Homonym: Throughout the story, it is made clear that the Lawyer is never actually sure what it is that the client whispered, just that it had "two/to/too/t??" in it. So Henry's guess must be looked at as just that...a guess. Also, the "et tu" solution means the client actually wasn't saying a "two/to/too" at all...which further illustrates that Henry is guessing. But there IS something that the client might have said which conforms to all the "rules" of that puzzle. There is ONE Roman name that starts with "B" and has "tu" in it. The "unknown 1st name of the 1st son started with a "B" so "Betucius" (beh-too-c-us), a Roman name, meets all the requirements. Starts with "B", has a firm "too" in the middle, and of a "Roman" origin. No guessing required by Henry or the lawyer, the client was pronouncing his 1st son's name. Simple, straightforward...Occam's Razor.
Unique is where you find it: This alternate solution is even more striking then the previous story's alternate solution.
Keep in mind that "Unique is where you find it" was written in 1985. At that time, there were only about 107 confirmed elements (today it's about 118). Professor Youngerlea's statement was that "he was thinking of a 'name', of a UNIQUE chemical element". And the puzzle centered around working out which element was, in some way, outstandingly unique. By that standard, there is ONE element that is even more unique then (the length of) Praseodyninium.
That element is....ARGON...as it is the ONE and the ONLY element in the entire periodic chart, that can be spelled with the letters of Youngerlea's own NAME. It fits exactly with the character of Youngerlea described in the story. What would be more "familiar" and "uppermost" in his own mind then HIS OWN NAME. (NEON does not count because there is only 1 "N" in Youngerlea.
So, at the very least, this is an alternate solution that the story itself does not disqualify.
AND, it is just as applicable with "yesterdays" 107 elements as with "todays" 118 elements.
Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert :
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You have been warned
Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert :
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Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert : Spoiler Alert :
I was reading the first two stories in the "Puzzles of the Black Widowers".
They were "The Fourth Homonym" and "Unique is where you find it".
The formula for a Black Widows story involves ruling out the "not possible" explanations and then Henry gives the remaining explanation as the problems solution. BUT, if ALL the "other" solutions are NOT ruled out, then Henry is just guessing. An informed guess, but still a guess. When I read these first two stories I came up with different solutions. In fact, my solutions were even more applicable to the puzzle then that chosen by Asimov. Now of course an author can chose whichever solution for his puzzle that he likes, but when there are other solutions that have NOT been ruled out, they are worth mentioning. In previous stories, Asimov has welcomed intriguing and novel alternate solutions, so here are 2 of mine.
The Fourth Homonym: Throughout the story, it is made clear that the Lawyer is never actually sure what it is that the client whispered, just that it had "two/to/too/t??" in it. So Henry's guess must be looked at as just that...a guess. Also, the "et tu" solution means the client actually wasn't saying a "two/to/too" at all...which further illustrates that Henry is guessing. But there IS something that the client might have said which conforms to all the "rules" of that puzzle. There is ONE Roman name that starts with "B" and has "tu" in it. The "unknown 1st name of the 1st son started with a "B" so "Betucius" (beh-too-c-us), a Roman name, meets all the requirements. Starts with "B", has a firm "too" in the middle, and of a "Roman" origin. No guessing required by Henry or the lawyer, the client was pronouncing his 1st son's name. Simple, straightforward...Occam's Razor.
Unique is where you find it: This alternate solution is even more striking then the previous story's alternate solution.
Keep in mind that "Unique is where you find it" was written in 1985. At that time, there were only about 107 confirmed elements (today it's about 118). Professor Youngerlea's statement was that "he was thinking of a 'name', of a UNIQUE chemical element". And the puzzle centered around working out which element was, in some way, outstandingly unique. By that standard, there is ONE element that is even more unique then (the length of) Praseodyninium.
That element is....ARGON...as it is the ONE and the ONLY element in the entire periodic chart, that can be spelled with the letters of Youngerlea's own NAME. It fits exactly with the character of Youngerlea described in the story. What would be more "familiar" and "uppermost" in his own mind then HIS OWN NAME. (NEON does not count because there is only 1 "N" in Youngerlea.
So, at the very least, this is an alternate solution that the story itself does not disqualify.
AND, it is just as applicable with "yesterdays" 107 elements as with "todays" 118 elements.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2023
i love the concept of the black widowers but the formula is becoming hackneyed at this point. an address written on an envelope should not have been a key plot element in two stories. the solutions were either incredibly obvious ('the lucky piece', 'the envelope') or so convoluted as to be entirely implausible (the rest of them but especially 'the four-leaf clover'. he had no better way of representing entomologist? really?). 'the recipe' was probably the best of them and that's not really saying much.
June 10, 2019
Aşırı keyifli. Dedeler toplanıp muhabbet ederken gizem çözüyor. Üçlü Şeytan favorim.
December 31, 2014
Me : Good day ladies and gentlemen, before 2014 became another memory there was space for one more set of stories. A set of stories which to all common ways of thought appear to be mere puzzles but which on a slightly deeper introspection take the shape of intellectual dilemmas which completely bowl men over who have been through them. That said, I had at an earlier point in time introduced all of you to the vociferous yet intensely cerebral group of men known as the Black Widowers. Our guest today is the most esteemed and brainy member of this group, the quintessential problem solver of them all. Please join me in welcoming Henry Jackson to the show.
Henry : Thank you sir. You flatter me with the description.
Me : Welcome to the show Henry. I don’t suppose I exaggerated. For the benefit of everyone here, please introduce yourself.
Henry : Hello all. Now that you know my name, I can summarize my life stating that I work as a waiter at the Milano restaurant in New York and also function as a honorary member of the Black Widowers club.
Me : What does the Black Widower’s club symbolize ?
Henry : The club is a group of six very well settled and academically inclined men sir. They gather once a month for dinner at the Milano and I have the fortune of serving and assisting them while they are around. While they are at this monthly dinner, each member can bring a guest with whom they will hold an after dinner conversation.
Me : This conversation you mentioned, what tone does it take ?
Henry : The guests are grilled with questions in the true sense of the word sir. It is a no holds barred conversation in which the person in question can be asked questions on anything that troubles or worries them and they need to provide all the specifics they can.
Me : So then the members find a solution to these questions ?
Henry : Solution might be too blunt a word sir. The members try to view the problem from a multitude of perspectives and try to offer plausible explanations for them.
Me : Come now Henry, I have heard that you solve almost every one of the puzzles by yourself. Isn’t that so ?
Henry : A most incorrect conclusion sir. While I do offer suggestions and explanations it is a result of listening to all that the esteemed gentlemen have to say on the matter. A mere crystallization of a wide variety of thoughts.
Me : You are being modest Henry but let me not grill you too much. Is there anything more you wish to add ?
Henry : Only one thing sir. Gentlemen of the club, thank you for making me feel honored on your account. It has been a great pleasure being with you. Thank you again !
Me : Kind words Henry. Thank you for being with us and here’s wishing you a great 2015.
Henry : The pleasure is mine sir. A wonderful year to you too.
Me : So the curtains come down on 2014 folks ! Another year and another set of books await us with promises of much grander adventures. Until 2015 ! Happy New Year to you all !
Henry : Thank you sir. You flatter me with the description.
Me : Welcome to the show Henry. I don’t suppose I exaggerated. For the benefit of everyone here, please introduce yourself.
Henry : Hello all. Now that you know my name, I can summarize my life stating that I work as a waiter at the Milano restaurant in New York and also function as a honorary member of the Black Widowers club.
Me : What does the Black Widower’s club symbolize ?
Henry : The club is a group of six very well settled and academically inclined men sir. They gather once a month for dinner at the Milano and I have the fortune of serving and assisting them while they are around. While they are at this monthly dinner, each member can bring a guest with whom they will hold an after dinner conversation.
Me : This conversation you mentioned, what tone does it take ?
Henry : The guests are grilled with questions in the true sense of the word sir. It is a no holds barred conversation in which the person in question can be asked questions on anything that troubles or worries them and they need to provide all the specifics they can.
Me : So then the members find a solution to these questions ?
Henry : Solution might be too blunt a word sir. The members try to view the problem from a multitude of perspectives and try to offer plausible explanations for them.
Me : Come now Henry, I have heard that you solve almost every one of the puzzles by yourself. Isn’t that so ?
Henry : A most incorrect conclusion sir. While I do offer suggestions and explanations it is a result of listening to all that the esteemed gentlemen have to say on the matter. A mere crystallization of a wide variety of thoughts.
Me : You are being modest Henry but let me not grill you too much. Is there anything more you wish to add ?
Henry : Only one thing sir. Gentlemen of the club, thank you for making me feel honored on your account. It has been a great pleasure being with you. Thank you again !
Me : Kind words Henry. Thank you for being with us and here’s wishing you a great 2015.
Henry : The pleasure is mine sir. A wonderful year to you too.
Me : So the curtains come down on 2014 folks ! Another year and another set of books await us with promises of much grander adventures. Until 2015 ! Happy New Year to you all !
November 12, 2020
Moved to gwern.net.
March 4, 2024
Still a good book, but not as good as the earlier ones.
Read
November 1, 2020
The Black Widowers is a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of sixty-six mystery stories that he started writing in 1971. Most of the stories were first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, though a few first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the various book collections into which the stories were eventually gathered.
Asimov wrote "there are few stories I write that I enjoy as much as I enjoy my Black Widowers."
In this book:
The Black Widowers Club, including Henry the waiter, gathers again to solve witty and unique conundrums, in a fifth collection of the Black Widowers series, which includes two never-before-published puzzles.
"The Fourth Homonym" "Unique Is Where You Find It" "The Lucky Piece" "Triple Devil" "Sunset on the Water" "Where Is He?" "The Old Purse" "The Quiet Place" "The Four-Leaf Clover" "The Envelope" "The Alibi" "The Recipe"
May 11, 2019
Asimov kept cranking out Black Widowers stories until he died, and this book collects another dozen of them or so. The formula is unchanged. The Black Widowers meet for their monthly banquet, they invite a guest who invariably has a problem or puzzle to solve, the guest is grilled, the group fumbles around for a solution, and then Henry the waiter steps in to save the day. There is almost no character development.
These particular stories are quite a mixed bag. Some of the mysteries play fair, but some of them require leaps of logic to resolve that don't necessarily seem substantiated by the evidence presented. Or, as in past volumes, they require knowledge that is not necessarily common to deduce the solution. I was able to come up with the answer on a few of the easier ones ("Sunset on the Water" and "Where is He?") while others seem designed to foil anyone without esoteric and specific knowledge (e.g "Unique is Where You Find It" or "Triple Devil") and some simply stretch credulity ("The Old Purse").
Again, this is probably a collection only for die-hard Black Widowers fan or Asimov completists.
These particular stories are quite a mixed bag. Some of the mysteries play fair, but some of them require leaps of logic to resolve that don't necessarily seem substantiated by the evidence presented. Or, as in past volumes, they require knowledge that is not necessarily common to deduce the solution. I was able to come up with the answer on a few of the easier ones ("Sunset on the Water" and "Where is He?") while others seem designed to foil anyone without esoteric and specific knowledge (e.g "Unique is Where You Find It" or "Triple Devil") and some simply stretch credulity ("The Old Purse").
Again, this is probably a collection only for die-hard Black Widowers fan or Asimov completists.
August 25, 2021
Enjoyable mysteries, made even better with the author's comments afterwards and learning that the characters are based on a fairly well known group of his friends.
Favorite quote:
“Books, gentlemen, hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.
Halsted muttered, 'These days there's movies and TV.'
Manfred heard. He said, with a smile, 'I watch television also. Sometimes I will see a movie. Just because I appreciate a meal such as the one we have just had doesn't mean that I may not eat a hot dog now and then. But I don't confuse the two. No matter how splendid movies and television may seem, they are junk food for the mind, amusement for the illiterate, a bit of diversion for those who are momentarily in the mood for nothing more.”
Favorite quote:
“Books, gentlemen, hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.
Halsted muttered, 'These days there's movies and TV.'
Manfred heard. He said, with a smile, 'I watch television also. Sometimes I will see a movie. Just because I appreciate a meal such as the one we have just had doesn't mean that I may not eat a hot dog now and then. But I don't confuse the two. No matter how splendid movies and television may seem, they are junk food for the mind, amusement for the illiterate, a bit of diversion for those who are momentarily in the mood for nothing more.”
September 21, 2022
Cuatro estrellas quizá sea demasiado para esta nueva colección de relatos de los Viudos Negros, pero me encuentro de ánimo generoso. De nuevo tenemos un invitado a la cena del club que presenta un misterio discutido por los miembros y resuelto por el camarero.
En esta ocasión hay alguna trama interesante, más de un misterio un tanto rebuscado y algún otro demasiado simplón. Sin embargo, esta lectura me hace pasar un rato agradable en el trayecto de tren a casa, así que no puedo juzgarla con severidad. Además, se nota el cariño del Asimov hacia estas historias.
En resumen, una lectura que no cambiará tu mundo, pero que presenta siempre un enigma por resolver donde lo mejor es el camino, el diálogo entre los personajes antes de llegar a la respuesta.
En esta ocasión hay alguna trama interesante, más de un misterio un tanto rebuscado y algún otro demasiado simplón. Sin embargo, esta lectura me hace pasar un rato agradable en el trayecto de tren a casa, así que no puedo juzgarla con severidad. Además, se nota el cariño del Asimov hacia estas historias.
En resumen, una lectura que no cambiará tu mundo, pero que presenta siempre un enigma por resolver donde lo mejor es el camino, el diálogo entre los personajes antes de llegar a la respuesta.
May 5, 2020
Every once in awhile I dig out an old friend to re read, and I chose PUZZLES OF THE BLACK WIDOWERS by ISAAC ASIMOV. Asimov was a legend in the genre of Sci Fi, but he also wrote a handful of mysteries. One set was the Black Widowers . A group of professional men who got together for drinks,a meal and a mystery. Each member invited a guest and the guest,at the end of the meal was asked "How do you justify your existence." Then,the person would tell a story that the Widowers would try to puzzle out. I fell in love with Asimov's mysteries and consider them some of the best short stories out there.
September 17, 2024
Individual stories Rating between 3 & 4
Overall 3.5
I did enjoy these well written stories that all have a small mystery for the reader and the members of the black widowers to solve.
Unlike some short story collections though, I would say don’t read it cover to cover even over a couple of days as I did. Definitely dip into it over a period of several days to appreciate the writing, characters and plots.
Read too close together there is a feeling of sameness or repetitiveness that threatens to spoil the reading experience.
Hence my rating of 3 (will think on the stories and may upgrade to a 4)
Overall 3.5
I did enjoy these well written stories that all have a small mystery for the reader and the members of the black widowers to solve.
Unlike some short story collections though, I would say don’t read it cover to cover even over a couple of days as I did. Definitely dip into it over a period of several days to appreciate the writing, characters and plots.
Read too close together there is a feeling of sameness or repetitiveness that threatens to spoil the reading experience.
Hence my rating of 3 (will think on the stories and may upgrade to a 4)
December 3, 2019
I am filled with baffled ire at this collection of short stories which I will not call 'mysteries' because they are at best a series of tediously intricate and highly specific riddles with solutions comprised of equal parts wet logic faith and trivia and furthermore THEY ARE A PAIN IN THE NECK. Asimov is a funny writer but reading these stories was like pushing on a bruise. I knew I wasn't going to like it, but I kept doing it again! And also in a weird way it was fun. I liked shouting about these. And the afterwords are an unmitigated delight.
April 8, 2021
Karadul Bulmacaları, Bodrum Örümcekleri isimli gerçek bir gruptan esinlenilerek Asimov tarafından kurgulanmıştır. 7 kişinin aylık mantık yürütme toplantılarını ele alan hikayeler dizisi, 1971'de başlamış ve 1980'lerin sonuna kadar sürmüştür.
Karadul Bulmacaları'ndaki öyküler şunlardır:
- 4. Sesteş
- Eşsizlik Görecelidir
- Şans Parası
- Üçlü Şeytan
- Suyun Üzerinde Günbatımı
- Adam Nerede
- Eski Çanta
- Sessiz Yer
- Dört Yapraklı Yonca
- Zarf
- Tanık
- Tarif
June 18, 2025
Es una colección de relatos cortos en torno a un misterio que se resuelve al final. He hecho una relectura y me ha decepcionado un poco, hace unos 30 años me fascinaron los relatos pero ahora me ha parecido una lectura menor para pasar el tiempo. Se me ha hecho un poco monótona la repetición en cada relato de la introducción del comensal invitado, así como el anuncio de la comida, pero una vez que el invitado narra su historia consigue engancharte hasta el final.
December 1, 2018
More of the stories felt like Azimov was pushing to find a puzzle he could contrive than in the past but still a nice book. Dated but in a nice way. My biggest complaint is I wish he hadn't depended so much on the Manny Rubin (the writer) character to the point where several of the others are barely mentioned - I liked it better when the attention traveled around the group
April 2, 2022
Otro cuentario maravilloso de Henry y los demás viudos Negros. Muy interesante pues entre las historias se han diversificado los comensales, las historias y bajo la busqueda de enigmas ese año si que se han divertido. "El bolso", "El lugar tranquilo" y "La receta" presentan dificultades poco glamorosas, pero muy cotidianas. Henry siempre tan genial.
April 23, 2024
Ultima delle raccolte di racconti pubblicata in Italia, sempre interessante e divertente tre da leggere. Alcuni racconti un po’ meno brillanti di altri ma tutti scritti in maniera impeccabile e scorrevole come sempre con Asimov!
October 26, 2025
Сборник похож на другие из данной серии. Есть хорошие рассказы, есть похуже. Примерно пополам. Наиболее мне понравились: The Fourth Homonym, Triple Devil, Sunset on the Water, The Old Purse, The Envelope, The Alibi.
November 6, 2017
Altri 12 racconti dei Vedovi Neri, ma Asimov inizia a perdere un po' di smalto
April 13, 2018
3.5 star
July 2, 2018
A collection of short mystery stories from Isaac Asimov. Frivolous fun, and nothing too deep or meaningful.
February 7, 2020
Malgré des textes assez sympathiques et plaisants, j'ai mis un temps fou à lire ce recueil.
Les petites énigmes logiques sont dans l'ensemble originales et intrigantes.
Les petites énigmes logiques sont dans l'ensemble originales et intrigantes.
February 22, 2021
Un ensemble de nouvelles rigolotes et intrigantes mais au bout d'un moment elles finissent par toutes se ressembler un peu...
May 4, 2021
I cannot believe that Asimov wrote such simple, short stories that do not make the reader either puzzled or admired. The so-called myteries are too basic and too simple, even boring. In addition, it's always the same person, Henry, who solves the so-called puzzle or mystery. For first time I got disappointed by the work of Asimov.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2022
I still love Isaac Asimov's style of writing -- there are parts that feel dated, of course -- but he writes clearly and descriptively. Mini mysteries are some of my favorite reads!
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