What do you think?
Rate this book
Hallucination
"Hallucination" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in Boys' Life in 1985,[1] and was collected in Gold. Its storyline is similar to that of his novel Nemesis.
Hallucination takes place at a time in the future although the exact date or era is not specific. The action takes place on Energy Planet, a rocky earth-like planet orbiting a neutron star in the Milky Way.
Part of the Multivac series.
Hallucination takes place at a time in the future although the exact date or era is not specific. The action takes place on Energy Planet, a rocky earth-like planet orbiting a neutron star in the Milky Way.
Part of the Multivac series.
20 pages, Unknown Binding
Published March 1, 1985
5 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,353 books28k 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...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 28, 2020
First Asimov for me.
This man was way ahead of his time.
Enjoyed thoroughly.
This man was way ahead of his time.
Enjoyed thoroughly.
April 10, 2023
Enjoyed this short story. It is classic Asimov, and I especially liked the main character. I can't reveal the main reason why I liked it without getting into spoiler territory, so I'll avoid it.
This story seems to have been the template for one plot point in his novel Nemesis, which also had a good main character.
This story seems to have been the template for one plot point in his novel Nemesis, which also had a good main character.
May 23, 2019
I listened to an audio version of this story. I found this story a little bland, but still classic Asimov, asking the big questions. In this instance, the perception of reality. A good quick read, and as always, makes you think.
January 31, 2021
My first story by Asimov and - oh no - I can feel in my bones that my indoctrination to the genre of sci-fi has started :D Such a pleasant writing style. And no evil aliens. Plus some ecological sentiment <3
I have to admit I am excited to check out other stories by Asimov.
I have to admit I am excited to check out other stories by Asimov.
September 2, 2018
So this is like most of Asimov's short stories. This story starts out ok is decent enough and then there is a twist. I still enjoyed the story and the moral although it was a little forced. I would still recommend this for most, it was certainly fun.
August 18, 2019
« I’m afraid i wouldn’t have that much faith in that machine. But they say faith can move mountains, and i guess it did in this case. »
It’s my first time reading a science-fiction story, and it is beyond words, to such a great degree that made me directly write a review about it.
Briefly, Hallucination is a science-fiction short story by the American-Russian author Isaac Asimov. It takes place on the Energy Planet ; An earth-like environment. The main character is Sam Chase, a fifteen-year old genius who wants to study neurophysiology, but the Central computer had assigned him to a field of education in which he was not interested ; the astrophysics. There, on the energy planet, Sam will receive a training in gravitational engineering. He met Dr. Donald Gentry who told him that people have experienced hallucinations under the Dome ( where they grow vegetables and keep the small animals ). Sam had always one conviction : There is an intelligent life- form on that planet. He believes also that the Central Computer couldn’t have sent him there just to do energy physics As an apprentice, Sam had the right to leave the dome for three hours. He met the insects and conversed with them, he met « an other Sam » and there was a sort of telepathy between the two of them. The first Chase came back, he asked the gentry for permission to meet the commander and he convinced him to respect the insectoids.
Thanks to Sam’s demonstration, they will start working on a double project : Neutron-star energy and neurophysiology. ***
I was amazed by the demonstration of Sam Chase : The insects fit together when they want to, like little jigsaw peices. And when they do, their nervous systems fit together too and build up. A lot of them together are intelligent ( which explains how they started to form the other Sam ) = the conviction of the intelligent-life form. ***
Once you start reading this story, you won’t be able to put it down. I recommend this book to everyone and i am undoubtedly giving it 5 stars !
It’s my first time reading a science-fiction story, and it is beyond words, to such a great degree that made me directly write a review about it.
Briefly, Hallucination is a science-fiction short story by the American-Russian author Isaac Asimov. It takes place on the Energy Planet ; An earth-like environment. The main character is Sam Chase, a fifteen-year old genius who wants to study neurophysiology, but the Central computer had assigned him to a field of education in which he was not interested ; the astrophysics. There, on the energy planet, Sam will receive a training in gravitational engineering. He met Dr. Donald Gentry who told him that people have experienced hallucinations under the Dome ( where they grow vegetables and keep the small animals ). Sam had always one conviction : There is an intelligent life- form on that planet. He believes also that the Central Computer couldn’t have sent him there just to do energy physics As an apprentice, Sam had the right to leave the dome for three hours. He met the insects and conversed with them, he met « an other Sam » and there was a sort of telepathy between the two of them. The first Chase came back, he asked the gentry for permission to meet the commander and he convinced him to respect the insectoids.
Thanks to Sam’s demonstration, they will start working on a double project : Neutron-star energy and neurophysiology. ***
I was amazed by the demonstration of Sam Chase : The insects fit together when they want to, like little jigsaw peices. And when they do, their nervous systems fit together too and build up. A lot of them together are intelligent ( which explains how they started to form the other Sam ) = the conviction of the intelligent-life form. ***
Once you start reading this story, you won’t be able to put it down. I recommend this book to everyone and i am undoubtedly giving it 5 stars !
October 9, 2020
A science fiction story geared to the juvenile market of 1985, it is perhaps interesting because it contains some of the themes that would appear in 'Nemesis' only four years later although these are themes that appear throughout his work in some form or another, notably the all-knowing machine intelligence central to the story.
In both, young scientific 'space cadets' find themselves allocated (Hallucination)/allocate themselves (Nemesis) to a planet where a nearby star is asset for (H)/threat to (N) humanity. The humans live in a dome despite the outside apparently being safe. Institutional politics stand against intellectual and personal integrity in both.
Asimov is certainly fixated on omniscience and collective intelligence. Here we have both machine intelligence and collective planetary intelligence with the implication that the first has chosen a young human to intermediate with the second in order to work towards a project that may collectivise human intelligence.
Asimov's 'utopianism' is generally based on humans striving to become the agents of continual expansion not only into the furthest reaches of space but also into the furthest reaches of knowledge. There is a constant implication that humanity's destiny must be to know all things and that benign collective intelligence must provide the model.
There are threats of madness and both story and novel have the youngsters 'cracking' a problem of collective alien intelligence that has eluded the adults. In both cases, the youngster becomes prime interpreter of a situation involving what amounts to respect for an alien ecology. Not a masterpiece but one for Asimov completists.
April 11, 2024
FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...
This story was written back in 1985, but it carries the ideas related to the present which a lots of work of Isaac Asimov does.
This story is of course about space travel and it involves all the parts which a science fiction movie / book have now on days. So be warned about that. However it doesn’t fail to ask us the big questions about space travel and being a multi planetary species which we will be one day in the future.
This story have the perception of reality which it needs to get points for. Because a lots of science fiction books and movies now are far from having this. And most people like to have stuff explained not just give us the “thats just how it is, accept it”.
This story is in the end a quick and enjoyable read, which most science fiction fans will enjoy. There are some parts in this story which seems a little bit forced but it doesn’t take away the fun from this story.
The ending have a twist to it as we all can expect from a science fiction book.
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...
This story was written back in 1985, but it carries the ideas related to the present which a lots of work of Isaac Asimov does.
This story is of course about space travel and it involves all the parts which a science fiction movie / book have now on days. So be warned about that. However it doesn’t fail to ask us the big questions about space travel and being a multi planetary species which we will be one day in the future.
This story have the perception of reality which it needs to get points for. Because a lots of science fiction books and movies now are far from having this. And most people like to have stuff explained not just give us the “thats just how it is, accept it”.
This story is in the end a quick and enjoyable read, which most science fiction fans will enjoy. There are some parts in this story which seems a little bit forced but it doesn’t take away the fun from this story.
The ending have a twist to it as we all can expect from a science fiction book.
January 6, 2021
It’s actually about a faith the protagonist had on central computer that the author portrays as the governing body of our future selves.
A project in this planet was at holt because project head was attached by the planet original inhabitants. The protagonist discovered all this by a belief that the future government central computer can do no wrong. So he talked to the inhabitants and communicates with them and salves the problem.
It’s January 2021. Pandemic is on. As much as fifty percent of businesses are lost in some areas. US presidential election fraud is proven but nothing is being done. Monetary system is thought to be under an attack and digital currency is thought to take over.
This might be a beginning of that central computer Asimov was talking about.
A project in this planet was at holt because project head was attached by the planet original inhabitants. The protagonist discovered all this by a belief that the future government central computer can do no wrong. So he talked to the inhabitants and communicates with them and salves the problem.
It’s January 2021. Pandemic is on. As much as fifty percent of businesses are lost in some areas. US presidential election fraud is proven but nothing is being done. Monetary system is thought to be under an attack and digital currency is thought to take over.
This might be a beginning of that central computer Asimov was talking about.
June 1, 2022
This is listed as part of the multivac series, and there are some background computer things. It's an alright story, but I'd say it is mildly skippable if you're going to do the full run through Foundation.
The actual use of the multivac is incredibly minimal. I suppose somewhat important as you see it put the right person in the right place at the right time while barely mentioned. It's as if humanity at this point has accepted that there is a type of determination/fate that is set by the computers, so they don't think about it.
The actual use of the multivac is incredibly minimal. I suppose somewhat important as you see it put the right person in the right place at the right time while barely mentioned. It's as if humanity at this point has accepted that there is a type of determination/fate that is set by the computers, so they don't think about it.
May 22, 2020
The central computer sent a puzzled Sam Chase to an earth like planet, with grass but no large animals or any seemingly intelligent life forms, just plants and insects. Sam was puzzled because his interest was neuro-physiology not in astrophysics. The early astronauts had experienced hallucinations but apart from the base commander were unharmed. It is a while since I last read any Asimov, I read a lot in my mid-teens, when I went through a science fiction phase, he has a fertile imagination and a skilled way of telling a story. I should maybe read some more.
August 7, 2020
I loved this short story. I think I enjoyed it especially because I listened to it. This story is a good example of Asimov's most enjoyable works for me. Mind-bending, fast built concept that takes your mind on a spinning journey. I always marvel in front of Asimov's compelling and provoking sci-fi ideas. In a way simple, but genius, I think. And the genius of Asimov is getting through these deep and complex ideas in the most graspable way.
November 7, 2023
it’s ok. Couple of cool ideas like how the hallucination works, using a neutron star for energy, and the central climate change metaphor. But there’s not really a sense of intrigue or mystery like other Asimov stories. Characters are OK but not memorable. Think a lot more could have been done with the premise.
August 23, 2020
This was an interesting tale about a fifteen-year-old boy who, while training with a military group on a planet, first sees, then meets with an alien species, and helps promote interactions with the alien species and those in higher command.
June 17, 2019
Great short story, this is the first time I have read a book by Isaac Asimov and I have to say I enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading more of his books, fantastic imagination and well written 👏👍
March 10, 2020
The story details the root cause of hallucinations by a scientist on an alien planet. It is good story about interplanetary species interactions.
March 23, 2020
Love & kindness, communication is key! The story was entertaining & interesting
April 22, 2020
The hallucination is that the ending is possible.
July 9, 2020
I've seen adaptations of his work on film and it felt so familiar. I'd recommend and reread. Its worth it.
August 6, 2020
Very interesting. Solid 3.5 stars.
December 21, 2020
Short and mysterious.
July 25, 2021
This book is definitely not a hallucination
March 6, 2022
explicit scenes: 0/5
violence: 0/5
language: 0/5
alcohol/drugs/smoking: 0/5
intense scenes: 0/5
age rating: 11-12+
violence: 0/5
language: 0/5
alcohol/drugs/smoking: 0/5
intense scenes: 0/5
age rating: 11-12+
November 13, 2022
Muy buen libro que nos muestra como se puede aprender de otras formas de vida o inteligencias.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2023
Not that great. Idea's fun and fine, but not much deep material is built upon it and the moral is a bit too blown up to the surface, less symbolic of a story.
December 20, 2025
Wonderful story. Great example for describing Artificial Intelligence from a human who was ahead of his times.
June 30, 2020
Asimov stories are transporting devices from word one to last.
April 21, 2019
The short story "Hallucination" by Isaac Asimov belongs to a genre of science fiction and, like other stories of Asimov, it carries the ideas related to the present.
According to the plot, the fifteen-year-old boy, Sam Chase arrived on Energy Planet. He graduated from the school on the Earth and was sent to this place for no apparent reasons. The boy wasn't interested in astrophysics.
Neurophysiology was an area which challenged him. Sam believed that, "Even today, the human brain continues to be a mystery. We know more about neutron stars than we do about the brain, as we found out when this project first began.”
It was known that the project of exploring the planet is temporarily delayed. The Commander was sick. There were rumors that people who lived there were affected by hallucinations. Just after arriving, Sam was warned that it was better to stay inside the Dome (large building). However, he went outside and witnessed something which other people considered a hallucination.
Sam didn't believe the common opinion about the origin of this phenomenon: that it was a hallucination. As a result, a new form of life was discovered. It happened because he wasn't close-minded, and that made the whole difference. Besides the first project about neutron-star energy, new project was started- neurophysiology and Sam found his future.
This is the link to the story:
https://www.gearyschools.org/vimages/...
According to the plot, the fifteen-year-old boy, Sam Chase arrived on Energy Planet. He graduated from the school on the Earth and was sent to this place for no apparent reasons. The boy wasn't interested in astrophysics.
Neurophysiology was an area which challenged him. Sam believed that, "Even today, the human brain continues to be a mystery. We know more about neutron stars than we do about the brain, as we found out when this project first began.”
It was known that the project of exploring the planet is temporarily delayed. The Commander was sick. There were rumors that people who lived there were affected by hallucinations. Just after arriving, Sam was warned that it was better to stay inside the Dome (large building). However, he went outside and witnessed something which other people considered a hallucination.
Sam didn't believe the common opinion about the origin of this phenomenon: that it was a hallucination. As a result, a new form of life was discovered. It happened because he wasn't close-minded, and that made the whole difference. Besides the first project about neutron-star energy, new project was started- neurophysiology and Sam found his future.
This is the link to the story:
https://www.gearyschools.org/vimages/...
August 13, 2018
Beautiful short story about hallucination in space. This science fiction protagonist is a young and adventurous Sam Chase who goes to a space program and tries talking to a creature to understand more about hallucinations.
Its well said that “faith can move mountains”.
Its well said that “faith can move mountains”.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews