Nightfall and Other Stories

The Complete Stories

by Isaac Asimov

A collection of twenty classic short stories by Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation series, featuring the definitive and only in-print version of "Nightfall"

From one of history's most influential writers of science fiction comes this collection of twenty short works of fiction, arranged in order of publication from 1941 to 1967. Compiled by Asimov himself, who prefaced each story with an introduction, it begins with "Nightfall," the tale of a world with eternal sun that is suddenly plunged into total darkness and utter madness. "Nightfall," published when the author was only twenty-one, was arguably his breakout work, making such an impression that, almost thirty years later, the Science Fiction Writers of America voted it the best science-fiction short story ever written

The other stories in the collection span far and wide: A dedicated scientist who whips up his own love potion. Machines that learn to think for themselves--and direct their thoughts to overturning the establishment. The discovery that Earthlings are being destroyed by a mysterious kind of psychological virus. A day when walking outdoors becomes a sign of psychosis. And many more.

Contents:
• Nightfall (1941)
• Green Patches (1950)
• Hostess (1951)
• Breeds There A Man… ? (1951)
• C-Chute (1951)
• ‘In a Good Cause – ’ (1951)
• What If – (1952)
• Sally (1953)
• Flies (1953)
• ‘Nobody Here But – ’ (1953)
• It’s Such a Beautiful Day (1954)
• Strikebreaker (1957)
• Insert Knob A in Hole B (1957)
• The Up-to-Date Sorceror (1958)
• Unto the Fourth Generation (1959)
• What is this Thing Called Love? (1961)
• The Machine That Won the War (1961)
• My Son, the Physicist (1962)
• Eyes Do More Than See (1965)
• Segregationist (1967)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Luffy Sempai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of gem like stories, each crafted, seemingly, with loving care, but was probably written for a magazine with a deadline, is the best that American SCI FI literature can offer us.

I do consider Nightfall the best short story collection I've ever read. The second is The Complete Short Stories of Hercule Poirot and the 3rd is the Jungle Books by Kipling.

Isaac Asimov never bettered this collection of short stories. Most of his books are unreadable. He was prolific but his work ethic and his upbringing in a nascent Cold War with Russia blunted his longevity in most cases. But not here. This is science fiction at its finest.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hefty collection of twenty short fictions by Asimov, complete with his insightful and amusing introductions for each story. Nightfall itself is an undisputed classic of the field. It was published in Astounding in 1941 and is the oldest story in the volume by a good margin. It was made into a not-very-good film and expanded into a not-so-good novel long after Asimov's death, but its original version is still chilling and terrific. It's a little amazing that it didn't appear in any of Asimov's own books until almost three decades after it first appeared, but Asimov notes that it was included in so many different anthologies from so many editors that it was always in print and available. Most of the other nineteen stories appeared in digest format science fiction magazines such as Galaxy and F&SF in the 1950s and '60s. None of the others are as iconic as the title story, but I found them all to be interesting, occasionally amusing, and always entertaining. My other favorites (as best I recall; it's been a -long- time!) were Green Patches from Galaxy, It's Such a Beautiful Day from Star, and Breeds There a Man...?, also from ASF. It's a good, classic volume.

[Wastrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isaac Asimov's 1969 anthology bundles together three types of story: substantial works of the early 1950s that had for whatever reason escaped his earlier anthologies; a few small, often whimsical works, often written on commission, from the late 1950s and the 1960s, after he had re-oriented his main career toward popular science writing and wrote fiction only occasionally; and "Nightfall", his 1941 masterpiece, that he had previously kept out of anthologies, probably out of resentment. [He didn't like constantly told that the best thing he'd ever written was something he wrote when he was 21...]

This unusual mixture is a recipe for unusual Asimov - most of these stories are in some way uncharacteristic of his usual style or themes. It is not, however, necessarily a recipe for his best writing.

There are twenty stories here (although the first five provide half the pagecount). They are (blurbs my own...):


Nightfall (1941 – Astounding)
If the stars should emerge one night in a thousand years…


Green Patches (1950 – Galaxy)
The second expedition to Saybrook’s Planet hopes to avoid the fate of the first. To that end, its human crew is entirely male, and its holds are filled with female animals, monitored night and day. But why are humans so warped, so damaged, to want to avoid the best of all possible fates?


Hostess (1951 – Galaxy)
As an academic biochemist, Rose Smollett is a career woman in a man’s world. And she has some questions to consider. Why, for example, is a hay-eating alien medical researcher visiting Earth all alone? Why does he want to stay at her house? Why does he want to visit the Missing Persons Bureau? Why is her husband being so boorish about it all? And why DID he marry her, anyway?


Breeds There A Man… ? (1951 – Astounding)
Elwood Ralson, noted atomic engineer, does not want to kill himself. But he may not have a choice – because there are some truths in the universe that man was never meant to know…


C-Chute (1951 – Galaxy)
Five men remain on a captured starship, waiting for imprisonment on the alien homeworld. Each has their own desperate reason to escape and to return home to Earth – but can any reason be powerful enough when only an act of heroism can save the day?


‘In a Good Cause – ’ (1951, New Tales of Space and Time)
In a good cause, there are no failures; imprisonment, even execution, are only forms of delayed success. Human planets are engulfed in continual internecine conflict, while the hay-eating Diaboli construct a vast, homogenous, empire; one man stands up to unify mankind.


What If – (1952 – Fantastic)
A man and his wife meet a very peculiar stranger on a train, and consider an unusual question: what if their own meeting on public transport years before had not gone as it did? Would their lives be different?


Sally (1953 – Fantastic)
When an intelligent car is past its prime, some owners don’t want to send it to the scrapheap. Instead, they send it to live on a farm upstate. There, a custodian looks after them, repairs them, upgrades them, admires them. Most beautiful of them all is Sally…


Flies (1953 – F&SF)
Three men meet again at a college reunion: a priest in search of meaning, a jaded expert on animal communication, and a bitter insecticide researcher plagued perpetually by flies. Perhaps there are some things man was never meant to know…


‘Nobody Here But – ’ (1953 – Star Science Fiction Stories)
Bill Billings is a handsome, intelligent electrical engineer with a problem: he just can’t pluck up the courage to propose to the feisty Mary Ann! Also, less importantly, he’s just called his friend Cliff at their computer lab and had a conversation with him… even though Cliff was on the way to Bill’s house at the time… *DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNN*


It’s Such a Beautiful Day (1954 – Star Science Fiction Stories)
One morning, Mrs Hanshaw’s teleporter develops a fault. This has a terrible psychological impact on her son.


Strikebreaker (1957 – The Original Science Fiction Stories)
On the asteroid-world of Elsevere, the society is happy. But to what extent can the happiness, indeed the very safety, of society be permitted to rely on the unhappiness of even one man?


Insert Knob A in Hole B (1957 – F&SF)
If only there were some way around the limitations of flat-pack, self-assembled space infrastucture. Some way that could be narrated in 350 words or fewer…


The Up-to-Date Sorceror (1958 – F&SF)
What if Gilbert and Sullivan’s first full-length operetta had a slightly different ending? A professor invents a love potion.


Unto the Fourth Generation (1959 – F&SF)
Somebody keeps seeing variations on the same surname one day. Jewish things happen.


What is this Thing Called Love? (1961 – Amazing)
Hapless aliens abduct two humans and attempt to observe their mating rituals – their knowledge of which derives entirely from 1930s erotic science fiction stories about aliens abducting humans and observing their mating rituals


The Machine That Won the War (1961 – F&SF)
The great computing machine, Multivac, has finally won the war against the evil Denebians. Which is surprising, because, as the Chief Programer and Chief Interpreter of the machine discuss with the Executive Director of the Solar Federation, the process has a number of small flaws…


My Son, the Physicist (1962 – Scientific American)
I’m not going to dignify this one with a tease…


Eyes Do More Than See (1965 – F&SF)
A model of a head; parts are labelled


Segregationist (1967 – Abbottempo)
A surgeon has some reservations about the operation they are to perform



And how good are these stories? Well, they vary. "Nightfall", nearly 80 years after its first publication, remains more or less timeless and a gem of the genre - if not perhaps necessarily the greatest SF story of all time, as it used to be considered. "My Son, the Physicist", on the other hand, is just awful. My pick of the non-Nightfall stories would be the unsettling "Sally". Most of the longer stories are solid, second-tier stories, while the shorter ones tend to be disposable - although are couple are entertainingly so.

Overall? The good and the bad sort of cancel out. Let's call it... "Not Bad". Asimov's talent as a storyteller shines through - indeed, due to the oddity of many of the stories, the breadth of his talent is more visible here than in most of his anthologies, I think. However, he was also an author with limitations - limitations he can transcend in his best stories, but that drag down the rest. For better or worse, Asimov wrote in an era of volume - the economics of the pulps, and his own obsessive nature, lead him to put every idea on the page, even those that didn't really merit it. This anthology gives us the whole range, from a masterpiece like "Nightfall", through a range of flawed but still powerful stories, into a realm of disposable but adequate page-fillers, all the way down to a couple of clunking failures. There are half a dozen or more stories that should interest the genre fan here... but other than "Nightfall", nothing to make this particular anthology a must-read.

But if you want a more detailed impression of the stories, you can find one on my blog.

[Tammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is for the story Nightfall. What if you lived on a planet with six suns and never knew what it was like to be in the dark? On the planet Lagash there hasn't ever been darkness, at least not in anyone's lifetime, but that's about to change. The one remaining sun is about to be eclipsed.

I went into this thinking the story sounded very interesting. What would it be like to never have experienced darkness? Unfortunately for me, up until the end, the story was all about the scientists discussing what they thought was going to happen to the people and how they would react, instead of what actually happened once the darkness came. Their theories about how people would react to the darkness seemed really exaggerated to me and kind of ridiculous. So it was an interesting idea, but ultimately I found the story disappointing and I thought it ended right as it started to become interesting.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite of the dozens of Asimov short story anthologies out there. While the man was no great stylist, I've no doubt at all that he was a master of the intriguing short story. His shorts usually entail a sort of puzzle, and a great deal of fun is trying to stay a step ahead of the characters (if you can) or see how Asimov will get his people out of a jam, or not, as is sometimes the case. While it's been a long time since I read this, I do remember finding a good number of the stories to be immensely potent. "Nightfall", which begins the book, is certainly one of Asimov's most well-regarded pieces, but I'm not even sure it is the best in here, as engrossing as it is. "Hostess" clipped along like a good murder mystery, "C-Chute" was good pulpy adventure fun, and "It's a Beautiful Day", another often anthologised piece, does a fantastic job of getting inside the mind of a small child experiencing a justifiable phobia in the face of technological advancement. As usual, Asimov provides little introductions to each piece, describing its genesis and publication in chatty detail. I find his little explanatory notes to be rather engaging, which is often not the case with other writers, who tend to yammer a bit when describing their own work or leave too little up to the imagination, or else to reveal some unfortunate trait about themselves that I would rather not know. Asimov's assessments about the industry and his own work seem mostly right "on the money" to me, at least, and he was certainly right about "Green Patches", a great story to which John Campbell assigned the worthless title "Misbegotten Missionary".

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I'm afraid my old eyes simply cannot deal with the small print in this book.

This is the problem with ordering used books online. If I had seen this in an actual store i would not have bought it. I know my limits. lol

I will have to mark it a DNF for now but I will try to get back to it someday when I get stronger glasses.

Or a magnifying glass. Or Something.

DNF after about 30 pages due to headache. Rating based on only those pages, and subject to change if I should ever be able to read the entire book.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to return to something I enjoyed decades ago . . .early sf stories by Isaac Asimov. Nightfall, his most famous story, was as good as I remembered it.

I also remembered 2 other stories in the collection (which were my runner up favorites in this collection): "It's A Beautiful Day" and "What Is This Thing Called Love".

So for those 3 stories, definite 5 ratings but it's a very uneven collection, some of the others were pretty bad, others were dated. "The Up-to-Date Sorcerer" and "My Son, the Physicist" are barely 1s for me.

Asimov wrote introductions for each story in the anthology & that's enjoyable, too, giving some background about publishing and his career back in the 1940s and 1950s.

[Michael Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been told that "Nightfall" is considered by many to be the best science fiction short story of all time. I had never heard of it, so I got it and gave it a read. It was good, but once again, I am not sure what makes a short story great. I can say that unlike so many highly praised literary short stories, "Nightfall" did have a beginning, middle, and clear end. So that was nice.

One of the clear challenges in science fiction is to write something that is both imaginative yet not something that can become dated. Hard to do when you're making things up and then real science catches up with the author's imagination.

I suppose one of the great things about "Nightfall" is that it succeeds here. Asimov has created a world, given them customs and technology and a basis of understanding the science of their world that even today, 60+ years later, is still fresh.

Nice show, Old Boy.

[Reyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I resisted the temptation to base a story slavishly on the present until I could think of a way to do so without making myself a minion of the headlines and of topicality. I wanted to write a story that would deal with the things of tomorrow without becoming outdated the day after tomorrow.

Based on his famous novel I, Robot , I was convinced that science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence. However, most stories in the collection Nightfall and Other Stories focus more on biology or psychology than on technology. Asimov explores various life forms, behaviour analysis, and endocrinology (the study of hormones) to reflect on humanity from fresh perspectives. While I didn’t enjoy every story, I am in awe of Asimov’s cleverness and creativity in crafting stories that remain relevant more than half a century later.

The highlight of the collection is undoubtedly the title story, where a group of scientists on the planet Lagash, where the suns never set, brace themselves for the end of civilisation brought about by an eclipse that will plunge the planet into temporary darkness – a phenomenon for which the planet is woefully unprepared. After reading it, I now understand why the author served as an inspiration for Cixin Liu ( Death's End ). The collection features other intriguing stories, such as:
・ Hostess: extraterrestrial visitor causes tension between a biologist and her husband;
・ In a Good Cause: two old friends take opposing paths regarding their views on the intergalactic future;
・ Strikebreaker: set on a planet where all waste, including corpses, is recycled, one individual bears the burden of society by handling its excrement, making him an ‘untouchable’; and
・ The Up-to-date Sorcerer: a professor uses a ‘love potion’ at the students’ end-of-year ball.

Asimov raises interesting questions about seemingly basic physical, chemical and biological concepts. From a literary perspective, however, I had some reservations. The stories are not always convincing or even coherent, and some are difficult to get through. While Asimov is a master at envisioning the future, the zeitgeist of the 1940s and 1950s is never far away, particularly in The Up-to-date Sorcerer, where the cultural institution of marriage supersedes the biological merits of hormones.

After so many short stories, I am happy to continue my yearly ‘SF Summer Streak’ with a longer novel, The Martian by Andy Weir.

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think about why I've started this little book, I would probably be hard-pressed for reasons. So far I've read two books of one of science-fiction's most popular writers, Isaac Asimov. I liked his first novel, Pebble in the Sky, as well as the massive classic Foundation , but neither blew me away. I've read a couple of science-fiction short story collections, but with the exception of Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Others, nothing really stuck with me. And Asimov was known for rather inappropriately touchy behavior, right? Maybe it was just that I saw the book on the shelf and started reading.

Coming from this vantage point, the stories collected here - which form the second half of what was originally published as Nightfall - were much more exciting than what I expected. The media often talks about Asimov's brilliant ideas, and there really is at least one very strong idea to all of the stories. As a new perspective on things is one of the main reasons for why I read science-fiction, I really got something out of reading this.

"Breeds there a Man?" (1951)
Some popular scientists and mathematics are known to have been fighting with their own personal demons. Kurt Gödel, for instance, lived under constant fear of being poisoned and would only eat the meals prepared by his wife; when she wasn't able to care for him anymore, he starved to death. John Nash is another tragic example. "Breeds there a Man?" is about a similar personality, even though it leaves open the possibility that the delusional theories of the brilliant man may actually be based in fact.

As Asimov explains in the introduction, the story was written as a response to the catastrophe of Hiroshima, with the intention of giving the topic a more interesting spin than (according to its writer) it received in most of the science-fiction of his time. Elwood Ralson is a nuclear scientist whose brilliant contributions are praised by many of his peers. He is mentally very unstable, though, and he is struggling to keep afloat as suicidal thoughts more and more push him towards the edge. He is very much needed, though, as the invention of a protective screen against nuclear attacks from the East is imminent. If only he would recover and lend them his insight, others are convinced they would gain the upper hand in no time.

There is much more to Ralson's mental illness. He developed a conspiracy theory of cosmic proportions that would account for humankind's global death drive, the rise and fall of powerful civilizations, and the role of the human race in the cosmic order. According to his favorite analogy, we are to an alien intelligence what bacteria strains are to researches in the field of nuclear biology. All our strive, our talents, human progress, it's all part of an elaborate experiment of which we are unaware. If individuals are getting too good at what they do or may even begin to grasp the bigger picture, there are mechanisms that lead them to their death.

After a bit of a rough start, with a man who calls on the police to save him from committing suicide, the pacing of the story was great and for me it got increasingly more exciting as it progressed towards its ending. The mysteries about the content of Ralson's ideas and why the government has such a strong interest in him were quite intriguing, and the resolution mostly satisfying. The tragedy added some emotional touch and I liked that the story never reveals whether his ideas really are nothing more than delusions (the parallel to John Nash's case are striking). So, maybe most of the science-fiction here wasn't really real.


"C-Chute" (1951)
I have to admit, I think I'm prone to prejudice. When I learn about someone's occupation, if someone looks a certain way or wears certain clothes, I often jump to conclusions as to who these people really are. I presume many people do, and I even suspect that often we are right. Within the setting of a dangerous space adventure, "C-Chute" holds up a mirror to us not only in that we may be wrong (that's obvious). It may be that we have exactly the negative traits we narrow-mindedly attribute to others.

Human kind is fighting its first interstellar war, against an intelligent race called the Kloros. The reasons behind the war are not easy to understand, as they are a chlorine-breathing species, so their planets are for us as deadly as oxygen-based worlds are for them. They tend to treat even their prisoners with dignity and good will, so that six human civilians - who find themselves captured as prisoners of war when their ship is seized by alien attackers - are able to freely move and speak within their quarters and are not threatened with violence.

The story is mainly about courage. Naturally, the prisoners want to escape, but it soon shows that they are not ready to seize an opportunity presented to them. There is the so-called C-Chute, short for "casualty chute" and normally used to send dead bodies into space, but a brave individual could use it to go outside of the ship and walk his way to the bridge to kill the two Kloros on board. Of course, most are very hesitant to be this brave individual. Ironically, only a man called Mullen, who is perceived by others as very boring and too cold and calculating, mainly because of his job as bookkeeper and his very short stature, is willing to do it.

The story is not primarily about the action, though there are some cool parts even in this respect (like when the presumed dead Kloros suddenly wakes up again). It's not about the world-building, either, although I liked the descriptions of the Kloros as being more humane than many humans. It's about the misperception with which the others looked at Mullen and who is now doing what he can to save them all. It's made the more interesting even by Mullen openly admitting that his motives were much more prosaic than heroism and the fact that his actions would save the others too are more of a side-effect. Still, the others are ashamed by their own cowardice and his behavior sparks something in them. Inspiring in many ways.


In a good Cause... (1951)
"In a good Cause..." is massive in scope and probably my favorite in the collection. The plot is incredibly twisted and not easy to wrap your head around. As its epigram, it begins with the words: "In a good cause, there are no failures. There are only delayed successes", written on the statue of a man still celebrated centuries later. The man is Richard "Dick" Altmayer. Even though he is not a good man believing strongly in the end justifying the means, and even though his direct intentions never really come to fruition, in the end he was the cause for a better future. Or for a state of the world he and his successors take to be the better future.

After the prelude, the story is told in three parts, delineating the events that lead to the three prison sentences he served in his lifetime. As even the law acknowledges (think of the failure to render assistance), not doing something may have consequences too (and ones whose occurrence you may aim at). There is a war of Earth against another of humankind's colonies. Altmayer protests against being conscripted to participate in this war, and he hopes to be one among many who do the same. His dream is to unite the human peoples in an interplanetary federation. His youthful ideals come to nothing and he is send to prison for his civil disobedience.

Things get only more complicated later on. As becomes clear, humankind is not the only intelligent species in the universe. They are approached by the Diaboli (named so for their devilish outer appearance). After his release, Altmayer formed a party that still champions his idea of universal peace among all humans, but he is increasingly wary towards the Diaboli. He plans to cause a war by assassinating high-ranking diplomats, scheming that in this way humankind would be united against a common enemy. His attempts fail and he again ends up in prison.

In the final episode, Altmayer found out that the Diaboli are planning to transform an oxygen planet into a sulfuric planet to increase their sphere of influence. He wants to transmit the information via an interstellar broadcasting to all human listeners, again to make them aware of the common threat. But again the government knows all about his plans. In fact, they want the information to be leaked.

The Earth government can then dispute the fact as vehemently as the Diaboli, and the other human races will be lead to think Earth and the Diaboli are working together. But there won't be a war, as non-Earth colonies would have no chance against a united Earth and Diaboli alliance. In case of a war Earth against Diaboli the other human colonies would remain neutral. When in fact such a war ensues, war gains motivate other colonies to join Earth in battle. Ironically, this leads to the United Worlds Altmayer always wanted.

I thought with all the political scheming, the twisted morality, and the deception, the story was very thrillingly construed. When I was talking to friends about the story, everyone was going: "Wait, this all happens in just one short story?!", and I felt exactly the same way when reading it. Science-fiction in a nutshell done completely right.


What If... (1952)
When modern-day philosophers are thinking about the multiverse, they are often concerned with necessity and possibility. For instance, they explain the vaguely understood idea of necessity (or so-called de re necessity) by asking what would be the case in all possible worlds. Or more precisely, what state of affairs about individuals would obtain in all possible worlds, given that the individuals in question exist in that world at all. They are rarely concerned, however, with the connections of events in different possible scenarios (conditional actualization, so to speak). To put the point more romantically, how many changes to the actual events can the love of two people survive?

A couple is in the train and on their way to New York to celebrate their five year marriage anniversary. They talk about how they met - in a train where Livvy fell in future husband Norman's lap on a sudden turn. They also reflect how things might have been different, for instance, if he had missed the train or if she didn't fell. She doesn't like the idea that there are still two empty seats in front of them (oh, I know that feeling), and alas, a strange man comes and sits himself in front of them! He has a case on which "What If" is written and the husband correctly assumes that this must be the name of the completely silent man. As you may have guessed, he opens the case and gets out a device that vividly shows them what could have been.

There are some intriguing thoughts here. For instance, in one scene the husband expresses an interesting idea: "The crucial thing is that we cannot be held responsible in the real world for the things we might have done!" Maybe you could say that one thing that could remain the same in the contrafactual situations are our character dispositions (the personality that makes us us). Dispositions are essentially described in the modal vocabulary of "if this-and-this happened, then that-and-that would happen", so I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to reject his plea for excuse. For instance, I guess a husband could be rebuked for his willingness to betray his wife with another sexual partner (if you could somehow know about his ambitions), even if he was never presented with the opportunity.

As the ending of the story proves, maybe the two were meant for each other. Even if their lives had taken very different turns, eventually they still would have become husband and wife. I thought this happy-ending was kind of sweet. Very different from the big blockbuster escapades that currently explore the idea of a multiverse.


Segregationist (1967)
"Segregationist" is a very unusual story, as it is very short and was written for an audience of doctors. There was still a very interesting twist to it, though. In fact, the twist was almost mind-blowing. Did you ever look at C-3PO and wondered, what if he was made of organic parts, would we even perceive him as substantially different from human beings?

You could say that there already are cyborgs among us, human beings who have machine parts. For instance, we are using artificial hearts and limbs. We are very close to new ways of interacting with the internet. So, even in the real world the line between humans and robots is being blurred (albeit we are only at the very beginning of this process). On the other hand, machines are getting increasingly smarter, more believably simulating human intelligence. Maybe there will be a future in which they are not just simulating; they do fully realize intelligence.

"Segregationist" realizes these possibilities. For all intents and purposes, robots are as mentally capable as humans are. So it's only natural that they were granted the status of equal citizenship. One thing has not changed, though: human are still made of organic flesh while robots are still made from metal. In the story, they are at the point in history where this is about to change. This transition is dramatized by means of a medical decision: Does the (human) patient want the hitherto used metallic heart, or does he want one of the more organic new developments (as recommended by his doctor)?

It poses the crucial question (made popular by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, for instance), when artificial creations are indistinguishable from human beings in their intelligence, what is it that still makes us human? One answer could be that we are born human and made from different material (so to speak). But what if we could create robots from biological materials similar to our own make-up? And is it really impossible to think that they could be able to breed naturally ( Blade Runner 2049 makes us think differently)?

There were two aspects to the ending of "Segregationist" that made the story even more exciting. Most humans consciously choose the metallic parts (they seem to think that metal symbolizes longevity and strength). I loved the final twist that the vehement advocate of organic body parts for humans turns out to be an intelligent robot. Apparently, even the robots have developed ideas of separation of intelligent species.

Rating: 4/5

[HornheaDD · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've only read Nightfall from this compilation, and maybe it's just me but I didn't really enjoy it. People have claimed Nightfall is the greatest sci-fi short story ever written, and I was just bored with it. It felt like a business meeting, it didn't feel like it was sci-fi other than mentioning other stars and whatnot.

But again, that's just me.

[Wombat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nightfall:
Interesting idea, but I was constantly brought out of the story by what felt like little breaks - if these aliens had never seen stars or darkness, then how did they know about how to "simulate" stars?

The technology level seemed to be all over the shop as well... But other than that it seemed like an interesting idea.


Green Patches:
Another interesting idea. I actually liked this one better than Nightfall. The idea of biologic organisms all in symbiosis - and being able to bring in other organisms into that symbiosis.

[H. P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightfall and Other Stories is a collection of 20 pieces of short fiction by Isaac Asimov, including, of course, the novelette “Nightfall,” one of his most famous works. “Nightfall” was Asimov’s 32nd work but in many ways his first breakout work. The collection is curated by Asimov himself and includes an intro to each story by the author. The stories are arranged in order of publication, starting with “Nightfall” and stretching from 1941 to 1967.

Believe it or not, I had never read any Asimov before picking up this collection. It seemed appropriate, though, to finally do so after reading Alec Nevala-Lee’s history of Astounding that name drops Asimov in the subtitle. Nevala-Lee speaks very highly of “Nightfall” in that book, so I decided that was a good place to start.

Overall, I walked away impressed, if not surprised. The knock on Asimov, as I understand it, is his ability to write dialogue and characterization. It may be that he benefits from a shorter format, although I generally liked the longer pieces in this collection better than the shorter pieces. They are what you would want out of science fiction short fiction, emphasis on the science: idea-driven stories with at least enough plot to provide a skeleton for the story.

Asimov wrote the introduction to each story himself. He writes with a charming, casual voice, and I can see why his nonfiction was so popular. There is an Asimov quote on his Wikipedia page—“There is a perennial question among readers as to whether the views contained in a story reflect the views of the author. The answer is, ‘Not necessarily—’ And yet one ought to add another short phrase ‘—but usually.’” That quote is from the introduction in this collection to “In a Good Cause—”. The introductions are fascinating, but more than once they hurt my enjoyment of the story, as you will see below.

Nightfall
How would man react if the stars only appeared once in several thousand years? Hard science fiction man that he is, Asimov provides a rather elaborate explanation: a planet in a system with multiple suns. The stars only appear when only one sun is in the sky and there is a solar eclipse (cause by a moon that is otherwise not visible). The entire story takes place in an observatory, with the only non-scientist characters a journalist and a cultist who intrude. In a world where it is never dark, darkness is tied indelibly to claustrophobia (you would think that man would have realized the benefits of sleeping in the dark shortly after realizing the benefits of four walls and a roof). It is taken for granted that darkness will drive men mad; the stars themselves are known, but only as a word, a myth. The story leaves us hanging, but it works for short fiction. This one is as good as advertised and probably the best story of the bunch.

Green Patches
Not that Asimov doesn’t serve up another excellent story second. Humans depart a distant planet under strict quarantine conditions—the life on that planet could assimilate all life on Earth in a short time if it managed to hitch a ride. I’m not sure if Asimov invented it, but this trope has been used fruitfully in science fiction ever since. The end is a bit of a deus ex machina, but it works.

Hostess
“Hostess” is another very good story with a great premise, but it is also the first story in the collection that doesn’t age well. Not because of the technology but because of the gender roles. The 1950s of upper middle class white people was more anomalous than we give it credit for. Still, how often do you see a story built around hosting an alien for dinner and playing it entirely straight?

Breeds There A Man . . . ?
A classic post-atom bomb story with another very good science fiction premise. It’s a good story, but it doesn’t quite live up to the first three. The quality is going to get a lot more uneven from here on out.

C-Chute
“C-Chute” is the first story to suffer from its introduction. Asimov references the Korean War in a way that shows he was under the misapprehension that the Cold War wasn’t a fight against “an absolute evil . . . quite beyond the usual defame-the-enemy routine.” History would be pretty clear on the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and North Korea, but even 1951 Asimov should have known better. Human passengers on a merchantman are captured by the aliens against whom humans are locked in a bitter war. Maybe I wouldn’t have minded a character droning on and on about how morally superior the aliens were but for the introduction, although I suspect he would have been annoying regardless. The plot is muddled, but the elements for a great story are there, and it has a killer last line.

In a Good Cause—
An ambitious story that can’t quite meet its ambitions.

What If—
The usual knock on Asimov is that he can’t write good characters or human interaction, but “What If—” is an excellent little SF romance.

Sally
A nice little science fiction story, but the impressive thing is that Asimov, writing in 1953, not only predicts self-driving cars and Uber, but gets the timing pretty much right as well.

Flies
A lame story about a college reunion.

Nobody Here But—
“Nobody Here But—” is a story that suffers for the intro, which naturally encourages the reader to bring the author into things. Asimov, whose first marriage ended in divorce and who was infamous for groping female fans at cons, has no business denigrating lugs and galoots as being “particularly impervious to even sub-human understanding of feminine psychology.” Asimov claims in his intro to “What If—” that it’s the only straight-up romance that he wrote, but “Nobody Here But—” qualifies as well. He may have discounted it because of the humor, and it does have a heck of a punchline.

It’s Such a Beautiful Day
A nifty little story about people who never go outside due to cheap and easy teleportation. There is a dig at newfangled psychotherapy that is maybe aimed at John W. Campbell in part.

Strikebreaker
The inestimable Hugo Awards Book Club mentioned Asimov’s anti-labor union views to me. The introduction to “Strikebreaker” makes clear just what Asimov thinks of the inconveniences of a strike. A story that would otherwise be a neat hypothetical showing the limitations of utilitarian thinking is sullied by the sense that Asimov’s sympathies are firmly with the utilitarians.

Insert Knob A in Hole B
Flash fiction that is disappointingly not about hot robot on robot sex.

The Up-to-Date Sorcerer
A bad story and a bad attempt at humor. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I was more familiar with the story Asimov is riffing on, but I doubt it.

Unto the Fourth Generation
A harmless story that didn’t work for me.

What Is This Thing Called Love?
This satire, on the other hand, is quite effective. It gets a whole lot of mileage out of the premise “aliens who don’t know what gender is try to figure out sex.”

The Machine That Won the War
I’m still not sure whether this story is too clever by half or just clever enough.

My Son, the Physicist
The way Asimov uses gender roles grates, but this story is notable for two reasons: communication via text message and instant messenger happen just as Asimov describes in the story (albeit in a different context), and the story was originally run as an advertisement. I wish more marketing departments blew their ad budget commissioning short fiction.

Eyes Do More Than See
Posits a long-, long-term future for humanity that, again, Asimov may or may not have invented, but that science fiction has fruitfully mined ever since.

Segregationist
The intro here is perhaps my favorite in the collection because of Asimov’s rationale for writing the story: it was easier to write it than to write a letter declining the request to submit a story. Metaphors for racism would get beaten into the dirt by 90s fantasy, but as Asimov was writing in 1967 the story the approach was fresh, and political in the best way. It continues to hold a compelling science fiction angle beyond mere allegory, although the central conceit is ironic given where medical devices stand today.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Asimov is brilliant, and the little introductions are intriguing, though they left me wanting more. Time to go read some Asimov nonfiction! (If I can find it)

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In what is often considered the best science fiction short story of all time, Isaac Asimov demonstrates how science fiction done well can enrapture our attention and simultaneously offer constructive social criticism. Asimov throws his readers into the midst of preparation for an apocalyptic doomsday forecasted by the scientists of Saro University, who are accompanied by a provocative journalist (Theremon) skeptical of such fantastical notions as the end of the world. The renown author builds his narrative like a complex puzzle, with scattered hints that help his readers soon realize that the astronomers (1) fail to understand or comprehend darkness, which the citizens of their world and its six suns have never experienced and (2) the fabled Stars that the Cultists predict will appear are, in fact, no different than the ones we often see in the sky. In addition, Asimov flawlessly builds suspense, with occasional references to the doomsday countdown and the slow but ominous approach of the mob from Saro City that believes salvation from the supernatural disaster can be earned from the destruction of the scientists’ observatory. Notably, Asimov does not make it obvious how darkness will impact his characters. While we know it should not harm them, the characters quite nearly persuade us that it may actually make them mad. We therefore become almost frustrated with the irrationality that the characters consistently demonstrate, terrified as they are of what pitch-blackness may do to their feeble minds. Nevertheless, Asimov continues to remind us that, on a planet with six suns, darkness is unfathomable. How would we react to such an incomprehensible event? After all, Sheerin 501, the prickly psychologist utterly confident in his predictions on how darkness will impact people’s sanity, compares darkness to infinity and eternity, inconceivable to us, too.

Ironically, the near-inexplicable fear of the dark shared by the scientists eerily reflects what they perceive are the naïve and simple-minded beliefs of the Cultists. Asimov masterfully paints the well-educated elites of the Observatory, steadfast in their scientific assertions and confident of their own theories, as comically oblivious to very simple truths of astronomy that he knows all his readers understand. What is more, Asimov uses the ostensibly mysterious event of a solar eclipse, which has for centuries held mystical connotations, as the apocalyptic crux of his short story. While the scientists jeer at the fact that the Cultists interpret this event in supernatural terms outlined in their pitifully primitive Book of Revelations (aptly named, of course), their cowardice and fear in the face of darkness, which we all know poses no real threat, makes them seem terribly primitive. In fact, the smoke that emanates from the fires lit in their Observatory does far more harm than their perceived claustrophobia, which they erroneously claim must be the cause of their shortness of breath. Would that the scientists ditch their foolish premises about darkness and the stars. How blinded they are by their beliefs! Ultimately, Asimov uses these ironic similarities between the Cultists and the scientists to provocatively comment on the state of spirituality and faith in modern, secular life. First, we may–perhaps–learn from spiritual beliefs, as the scientists learn from the Cultists that, if not a cave, another planetary body exists that will block out the sun. Second, qualitative scientific beliefs rooted in evidentiary truth may not always lead to sound conclusions. That is not to say that Asimov is at all anti-science. He was, in fact, a self-identified atheist and once president of the American Humanist Association. Nevertheless, Nightfall is, at the very least, an anti-pseudoscience invective and, at most, a cautious admonition about provocative conclusions derived from questionable scientific inquiry. One should always ask questions, not because science is somehow untrustworthy or to be discarded, but because factual evidence is not always so clear as to offer self-evident conclusions.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've belonged to the Science Fiction Book Club off and on over the years, buying the cheapest available hardcovers which promised to be interesting, reading them voraciously during semester breaks. Having read a lot of Asimov as a child, this collection was a natural and safe (in the sense of predictable) choice.

Of its contents, I only really remember "Nightfall", his 1941 short story about, among other things, enlightened scientists versus the ignorant masses on a distant planet. The reason I recall this story, however, is not its excellence per se but the coincidence that a summer later I heard Asimov himself read it aloud.

The occasion was the community occupation of the Morningside Heights Public Library in Manhattan. The city of New York had scheduled the library extension for closure in order to save some money and the people in the neighborhood had taken the place over. I was working at the time as a chaplain at St. Luke's Hospital Center on 110th and would go over to the ongoing occupation after work. Occasionally an author would entertain the crowd by reading to us.

By chance I arrived one afternoon just before Asimov arrived to read to us and, so, heard the whole thing. I'd never seen the guy before, didn't even know he lived in the area, but was impressed that such a famous writer would give of his time to such a humble cause.

Generally, I think Asimov to be a pedestrian writer, an impressive polymath, but a mediocre stylist and rather conventional science fiction hack. Hearing him read his own material in such circumstances, however, raises him a notch--at least for "Nightfall".

[Aude · Rating 2 out of 5]

IMPORTANT EDIT: my book says at the beginning that the anthology was called "Nightfall and other stories" in English, but the story Nightfall does not actually appear in the book I read, so I have no idea if it was published in the same form in English.

I don't get the fuss about Asimov. I'm going to keep trying because there must be a reason why he's considered a classic, but I found half of the stories boring, if not awkward.
For instance, in the preface to the Strikebreaker, Asimov says he doesn't understand why the story wasn't popular. Why, possibly because the protagonist supports the unfair oppression of part of the population?
In Asimov's defense, I read the French translation, which in parts was horrible. In one instance the word pants was used in the plural form, while pants is singular in French. It read like the man described was wearing one pair of pants over another.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time for something a little different for me so I pulled this book out of one of my shelves. I seldom read sci fi but one can't go wrong with Asimov. This is a collection of twenty short stories which include his masterpiece Nightfall. It is recognized as one of the greatest sci fi stories of all time and I might just agree with that rating. There are a few stories in this collection that are a little weak but overall, it is well worth reading.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Asimov and his short stories are some of my absolute favorites. This collection had some that I have read before but also a couple that were new to me. I REALLY enjoyed the little introductions before each story from Asimov...that was an interesting touch for each of these stories...a fun little insight into each of them. If you like Asimov....definitely check this out. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know Asimov is supposed to be king, but I find him very long-winded and boring. His ideas are great but the telling is poor. Sorry, got to be honest.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adding reviews of the stories as I go.

One of the great things about Issac Asimov is his prolific body of work. This means there will probably be no shortage of material for #VintageSciFiMonth featuring Asimov in my lifetime. I’ve read Asimov since my teens and it looks like I won’t soon run out of new (to me) stuff to read.

And while I’ve read a good portion of his longer works, I’ve not sampled as many of his short stories as I should or could. So, this year for #VintageSciFiMonth, I decided to dip into his prolific short story output with the collection Nightfall and Other Stories. Over the course of the next month, I will be offering up my thoughts on the stories from the collection as I read through.

Nightfall: Five stars

Asimov prefaces this story by saying that many consider it to be his best story and that while it was anthologized elsewhere he had never included it in one of his collections. Fifty-plus years later, “Nightfall” is the selling point of this collection and it’s interesting that Asimov puts it upfront instead of making us wait until the end to read it.

The planet Lagesh has multiple suns, meaning that people of this world are rarely without light. Once every two thousand or so years, the suns all set, sending the society of that work into chaos and ruin since the mere concept of a sky without at least one sun in it sends much of the population into madness. As the story opens, it’s a few hours from the last sun setting and civilization as we know it ending.

In many ways, this feels like Asimov trying on some of the concepts he will later explore in his Foundation novels. There’s a society on the brink of chaos, facing a coming dark age with a group of learned scientists who attempt to preserve some of the civilization and its learning in a secret location. “Nightfall” shows us the beginning of the fall of the Lagesh civilization and the madness that comes when people who have never missed light are deprived of it.

As with a lot of Asimov, this story features a lot of characters sitting around and having deep conversations about what’s unfolding. And yet, there is still a bit of action as the sun slowly sets and people dread the coming of the mysterious objects known as stars. The world-building for a short story is nothing short of remarkable and the growing sense of dread is palpable.

It’s easy to see why many consider this one of, if not the, best Asimov short stories.

The story was expanded to a novel with the help of Robert Silverburg in 1990. I’ve read that book but don’t recall much about it. I may have to dip into it again this year.

“Green Patches”: Four stars

The second expedition to Saybrook’s Planet wants to determine why the initial expedition destroyed itself after sending back one final message. Turns out the planet’s life is all part of one organism with a unified consciousness. This consciousness wants to help organize the chaos is that is humanity and Earth.

Everything lives in balance with the plans producing enough food for consumption and being allowed to thrive. Biological lifeforms that have been fertilized by the planet are known by the green patches in the place of eyes.

The story is a bit of a race against time to keep a rogue lifeform from getting to Earth and taking over the planet. But the concept of a world where everything is in perfect balance is one that intrigues me. Reading this, I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the Borg on Star Trek and Mary Doria Russell’s superb The Sparrow.

While this one isn’t as strong as “Nightfall,” it’s still pretty solid and one I really enjoyed.

Hostess: Five Stars
You'd think Asimov couldn't top "Nightfall" in his Nightfall and Other Stories collection, but he has.

This is a fascinating, compelling little story that is one part mystery, one part science-fiction, and one part mind-blowing concept. Rose married late in life to a police officer, something her friends and colleagues didn't understand. Rose is a biologist, but there's something about Drake that has forged a connection between the two.

Now, Rose has the honor of hosting an alien dignitary in their home Drake isn't overly thrilled, but Rose is delighted to learn more about the alien world and culture -- beyond what they allow the people of Earth to know.

I've just skimmed the surface of this story because it's one of those delights that it's best you don't know much if anything about it before embarking on it. As with "Nightfall," there are echoes of future, longer works by Asimov here -- the police officer who is skeptical of a new form of life and intelligence, the debate over hosting such a being in one's home, etc. But this one has a bit more sinister thread running through it than the Bailey novels.

If you haven't read this one, you should. If you've read it, it might be time to read it again. A marvel.

Breeds There a Man? (4.5 Stars)

“Breeds There a Man?” shows a different side of Issac Asimov and it’s one I found fascinating.

Elwood Ralson is a brilliant physicist who can apparently look at a problem and come up with a solution. As humanity lives under the threat of nuclear war, Ralson may be the only hope for one side to create a defense against nuclear attack. The only issue is that Ralson is suicidal and psychologically unstable.

Ralson operates under the theory that humanity is little more than an experiment in a test tube for higher intelligence and that anytime humankind gets to a certain level, the experiment is wiped out and everything starts over again.

The concept is a compelling, fascinating one and Asimov explores it well in the course of this story. It’s interesting to note how early on, Asimov shows an inclination to exploring why there are highs and lows in the history of humanity and how his characters attempt to combat them.

C-Chute (5 Stars)

Asimov’s work is typically filled with robots rather than aliens. So a short story that presents an alien race is intriguing for him.

“C-Chute” is a bit of space opera with loftier ideals and well-drawn characters. In the near future, humanity is at war with an alien race. Our freighter is caught in the middle and its various passengers and crew are taken as prisoners of war. The group goes from being at each other’s throats to trying to find a way to escape and rescue themselves before being held on the aliens’ home world.

A compelling, taut story that was adapted for X-Minus One. I will definitely be listening to it at some point. This is one of my favorite stories from this collection to this point.

In a Good Cause— (2.5 Stars)

In the preface, Asimov notes that this is a story where he disagrees with his main characters’ viewpoint. And I suppose, that could be interesting if the story were a bit stronger.

Two friends come into repeated conflict over whether or not Earth should become part of a central, unified government (think the Federation in Star Trek). The story unfolds on three days when one of them was arrested for his beliefs and explores why the two are on opposite sides.

It’s good, but I can’t help but think this one should have been stronger. The idea of one man being right at the wrong time is intriguing. I did have a hard time not seeing this as a potential stepping stone for Gene Roddenberry in creating Starfleet, though it feels more like the Starfleet of TNG and beyond than it does TOS.

Sally (4 Stars)
One of the hallmarks of Asimov was his contributions to the fictional world of positronic intelligence. “Sally” feels like an interesting precursor to his robots in a lot of ways, concerning a time in which cars are given artificial intelligence. Originally published in 1953, the story is set in 2015 and indicates another one of those odd coincidences in which Asimov came close to predicting the date when his sci-fi would become reality.

Overall, this is an intriguing story. The idea of a farm to which the AI cars retire and the greedy man who wants to strip them of their AI with little regard for the impact it will have on the cars is a good one and sets up an interesting conflict. Honestly, I think this one would serve as a great basis for a movie (indeed, it feels like a shorter version of Stephen King’s Christine) since you have intelligent cars defending themselves.

Flies (1.5 Stars)
The first swing and a miss for this collection, “Flies” looks at a group of scientists, gathering for their twenty-year reunion and looking at their legacy and current work. All of them have gone into the field of studying flies, based on the fact that one of the group’s body chemistry seems to attract the flies.
There are some good ideas in here, but overall, this one didn’t quite connect with me as some of the other stories in this collection have.

Nobody Here But — (3 Stars)
Asimov attempts to write a rom-com with a sci-fi twist in “Nobody Here But –” It’s the story of two scientists who have invented an AI (a common theme for Asimov) and how the AI starts to become self-aware. Of course, this all comes to a head on the night of the narrator’s big date with his girlfriend and the question arises as to whether his colleague suggested he ask the girl to marry him or the computer did to survive or distract the two.

Nothing necessarily “wrong” about this story but it felt a bit forced at times. And Asimov is accused of not writing well for his female characters — and that certainly isn’t helped here.

It’s Such A Beautiful Day (4 Stars)
This one feels oddly prescient today, even if we don’t necessarily have technology that allows us to instantly move from one point to another. The doors system is a technology that allows people to travel instantly from one place to the other (it feels like the transporter on Star Trek). When the door breaks down at one family’s home, their young son takes the scenic route and walks to school instead. He finds he likes it and much to the chagrin of his teachers and others, he begins to walk instead of beaming from place to place.

The question of just because technology makes life easier does it necessarily make it better looms large over this one. The horror of various people that the boy wants to get wet and muddy is well-realized and it keeps this story feeling relevant to today as we all become increasingly dependent on technology that supposedly makes our lives better.

[Sivasothi N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this collection of twenty short stories in the early to mid-1980.s when first introduced to Asimov by my army buddy, Jaswant Singh. The stories were written by the prolific Asimov between the 1940s to the 1960s, and are each accompanied by an interesting introduction, shedding insight to the world of short story writers for magazines.

The stories were quite impactful the first time our and I was struck by “In a Good Cause” in particular, which told of Michavellian orchestrations, so the most political of all the stories. Interestingly, Asimov confesses it rubbed him the wrong way. It was this story I searched for and finding it, ended up reading the collection once again.

There are references to science fiction proper of course with self-driven cars, robots, super-computers, personal computers and life in space, which we can see gradually come to pass to some degree. There are the hints of his early ideas which would turn into the longer collections and novels, culminating Robot, near Earth and Foundation books.

Always sociological, he writes of prejudices between species and about adjustments to greater automation. All of these were written in very simple and accessible manner and he shares the critics opinion that he has “no style”. So this pop science fiction for the masses got ordinary folk to imagine and consider possibilities of life in future and possibly, bred a resilience for the fast changing world brought on by tech. Which is the role of science fiction if you need a reason, beyond enjoyment.

This time around, forty years later, reading the collection was reminiscent, and surprised me that the lessons of many of these stories and their introductions had stayed with me. Perhaps similar in effectiveness to Aesop’s fables! I’d readily recommend this to children in their early teens; get them thinking.

A pdf read on Apple Books.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightfall and Other Stories is a candidate for the best science fiction short story collection of them all, Starting with the classic Nightfall, and followed by some of Asimov's best short stories, it made Asimov's name, and shaped generations of science fiction authors. There are some criticisms due to its age, principally that it portrays a male dominated world, reflecting the real culture of 1950s America - but that was not something which was unique to Asimov, of course, and was certainly not as blatant as some of his contemporaries.

It was one of the very first science fiction books I ever read, back when I was 12, and, with some Heinlein juveniles, hooked me on science fiction for the next 45 years and counting.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up just because Nightfall was THAT good. If anything, just read Nightfall, it's so good.

I'm finding that I'm having a hard time completely enjoying short story collections lately. Nightfall, the main story in this, is amazing. Five stars; and then only two other short stories that I gave 5 stars. A lot of these were just average for me; 3.5 stars or less. I also thought that Asimov's introductions to each of these stories and what inspired them or what went into them was so interesting. I initially picked this up to test out his writing before I dove into a series by him, like Foundation.

[Elena Hebson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many good stories in here! Asimov is funny, and I loved his writing style here even more than in End of Eternity, which I read earlier this year. Short stories are sometimes hard to pull off because of the fact that they are short XD, but these were done so well. Several of them managed to be quite thought provoking as well, and some had surprise endings that caught me off guard. I think my favorites have to be Nightfall, Flies, It's Such a Beautiful Day, and The Up-to-Date Sorcerer.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nightfall 5/5
Green Patches 3/5
Hostess 3/5
Breeds There A Man… ? 4/5
C-Chute 2/5
‘In a Good Cause – ’ 3/5
What If 2/5
Sally 3/5
Flies 2/5
‘Nobody Here But – ’ 2/5
It’s Such a Beautiful Day 3/5
Strikebreaker 4/5
Insert Knob A in Hole B 1/5
The Up-to-Date Sorceror 1/5
Unto the Fourth Generation 2/5
What is this Thing Called Love? 3/5
The Machine That Won the War 2/5
My Son, the Physicist 2/5
Eyes Do More Than See 2/5
Segregationist 2/5

[Bekah Mims · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated this with 3 stars because while I did enjoy quite a few of the short stories, I have never been the biggest Sci-Fi fan. I enjoy a few select tales, but it usually takes awhile for my mind to fully understand what is occurring and the logic behind it all. If you absolutely love Science Fiction, these short stories will be gold for you.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of Asimov's short stories. I liked a lot of them, but several of them just weren't particularly interesting to me. Asimov is still an amazing writer though, and I do encourage people to pick up his works and read them if they're interested. I just don't think all of these shorts were very interesting for me to read.

[Caleb Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a short story collection and I found it so fun! It’s very satisfying getting a nice feeling of completion every 50 or so pages. It really helped give me the motivation to power through this book.

Asimov explores lots of interesting ideas throughout the various stories that really keep you guessing and get your mind thinking. Some of the stories were amazing, some were just okay. Overall, 4⭐️.

[Cheryl]

I have no interest in the novelist expansion w/ Silverberg. Mainly I just want the title story. I know that I have read it but for some reason it never sticks.