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Overview edit
Isaac Asimov (/ˈaɪzək ˈæzɨməv/ EYE-zək AZ-i-məv; born Eyzik Yudovitš Asimov; c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His works have been published in all ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (although his only work in the 100s—which covers philosophy and psychology—was a foreword for The Humanist Way).
Asimov is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series; his other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson. He wrote many short stories, among them "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.
The prolific Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much non-fiction. Most of his popular science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Examples include Guide to Science, the three volume set Understanding Physics, Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, as well as works on astronomy, mathematics, the Bible, William Shakespeare's writing and chemistry.
Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, a crater on the planet Mars, a Brooklyn, New York elementary school, and one Isaac Asimov literary award are named in his honor.
Bibliography
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(2006)
The Caves of Steel / The Rest of the Robots
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(2005)
Past and Present
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(2005)
Fact and Fantasy
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(2004)
Mortelle est la Nuit - Chante-Cloche
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(2003)
Robbie and Other Stories
Personal edit
- Legal name: Isaac Asimov
- Birthdate: January 2, 1920
- Birthplace: Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia
- Nationality: American
- Gender: Male
- Official Website: http://www.asimovonline.com
- Genres: Science Fiction, Popular Science
- Date of death: April 6, 1992 (aged 72)
- Burial location: Cremated,
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A few literary facts about Isaac Asimov from his official website:
When did he start writing?
When he was eleven years old he began writing The Greenville Chums at College, which he planned to be the first book in a series. After writing only eight chapters about the adventures of boys living in a small town, he gave up after recognizing the fact that he didn't know what he was talking about. However he made a very important discovery in the process. After he wrote the first two chapters, he told the story he had written so far to a friend at school during lunchtime. When he stopped, his friend demanded that he continue. When Asimov explained that he had told him all that he had so far, the friend asked to borrow the book when he was finished reading it. Asimov was astonished to discover that his friend thought that he was retelling a story that he read. The implied compliment impressed him so much that, from that day on, Asimov took himself seriously as a writer.
Asimov's first published writing was a column he did for his high school newspaper. His first accepted piece was a humorous essay entitled Little Brothers , which appeared in The Boys High Recorder, his high school's semi-annual literary publication, in 1934, and is reprinted in Before the Golden Age. He wrote it in a creative writing class he took that year; a class which almost convinced him to give up writing.
What was his first published story?
After John Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction, rejected his short stories Cosmic Corkscrew , Stowaway and This Irrational Planet in June, July, and September of 1938, Marooned Off Vesta was accepted for publication by Amazing Stories in October and was published in the March 1939 edition on January 10, 1939.
What awards did he win for his writing?
Asimov was presented a special Hugo award in 1963 for adding science to science fiction for his essays in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
The Foundation Series was awarded the Best All-time Novel Series Hugo Award in 1966.
The Gods Themselves won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best novel in 1973.
"The Bicentennial Man was awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best novelette in 1977.
Foundation's Edge was presented with the Hugo for best novel in 1983.
In 1987, he was awarded the special lifetime Nebula Grandmaster award.
"Gold was presented with the Hugo for best novelette in 1992.
I. Asimov: A Memoir won the Hugo Award for best nonfiction in 1995.
"The Mule , the seventh Foundation story published in Astounding Science Fiction (which appeared in book form as part two of Foundation and Empire), was awarded a 1946 Retro-Hugo for Best Novel of 1945 at the 1996 WorldCon. He was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1997.
He won the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Award in 1957 for his book Building Blocks of the Universe. He was awarded the Howard W. Blakeslee Award from the American Heart Association in 1960 for his book The Living River. He received the James T. Grady Award of the American Chemical Society in 1965. He was presented with the Westinghouse Science Writing Award in 1967. He was awarded fourteen honorary doctorate degrees from various universities.
What is Asimov's last book?
Asimov's publishers have on more than one occasion published the Good Doctor's last book as a marketing ploy. The six titles most often so-described are:
All we can say for certain is that with his death, Asimov appears to have stopped writing. He has, by no means, stopped publishing. It is therefore probably meaningless to refer to Asimov's last book in absolute chronological terms.
Of his own work, what were Asimov's favorite and least favorite novels? What were his favorite and least favorite stories?
Asimov's favorite novel was The Gods Themselves, largely because of the middle section, which was both absolutely brilliant and included non-humans and sex. (Asimov had often been accused of being unable to write stories with non-humans or sex and therefore leaving them out of his work.)
His least favorite novel was The Stars Like Dust. It was scheduled for serialization in Galaxy, then edited by Horace Gold. Gold absolutely insisted on including a subplot about the characters ransacking the Galaxy for an ancient document which would utterly revolutionize their political order. In the end, it turns out that the document is gur Pbafgvghgvba bs gur Havgrq Fgngrf (rot-13 coding added as spoiler protection, as if this sub-par novel could be truly spoiled by giving away plot points).
Asimov loathed the subplot and bitterly resented being forced to add it. He offered to his editor at Doubleday, Walter Bradbury, to remove it for the hardcover publication, but Bradbury liked the subplot and insisted it be left in.
Then to add insult to injury, when the first paperback edition was published by Ace, they changed the title (for the worse) and totally gutted the novel, to the point that Asimov could hardly recognize it.
Asimov's three favorite stories were (in order): The Last Question , The Bicentennial Man , and The Ugly Little Boy (all found in The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov, among other places).
Among his least favorite stories were:
Black Friar of the Flame (found in The Early Asimov). The story was his first attempt at a future historical and was bounced around from editor to editor until it was finally published. It was revised a half-a-dozen times and rejected ten times in a two-year-period. Asimov was so bitter over the story's history that he swore never again to revise anything more than twice, and he would even fight over having to do a second revision.
(This is his least favorite story among those that most Asimov fans are likely to have ever read. He also implies in The Early Asimov that it is his least favorite story of all time, but this is clarified in In Joy Still Felt.)
His all-time least favorite story was The Portable Star (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1955). He disliked it so much, he never authorized its anthologization. He describes it as a sleazy attempt to cash in on the new interest in sex in sf started by Philip Jose Farmer's 1952 story, The Lovers."
He also published a story, A Woman's Heart in the June 1957 Satellite which he considered so trivial that he never included it in any of his collections.
His wife, Janet Asimov and nephew Eric Asimov are also writers.
Asimov's Speech - Answer For Humanity:
When did he start writing?
When he was eleven years old he began writing The Greenville Chums at College, which he planned to be the first book in a series. After writing only eight chapters about the adventures of boys living in a small town, he gave up after recognizing the fact that he didn't know what he was talking about. However he made a very important discovery in the process. After he wrote the first two chapters, he told the story he had written so far to a friend at school during lunchtime. When he stopped, his friend demanded that he continue. When Asimov explained that he had told him all that he had so far, the friend asked to borrow the book when he was finished reading it. Asimov was astonished to discover that his friend thought that he was retelling a story that he read. The implied compliment impressed him so much that, from that day on, Asimov took himself seriously as a writer.
Asimov's first published writing was a column he did for his high school newspaper. His first accepted piece was a humorous essay entitled Little Brothers , which appeared in The Boys High Recorder, his high school's semi-annual literary publication, in 1934, and is reprinted in Before the Golden Age. He wrote it in a creative writing class he took that year; a class which almost convinced him to give up writing.
What was his first published story?
After John Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction, rejected his short stories Cosmic Corkscrew , Stowaway and This Irrational Planet in June, July, and September of 1938, Marooned Off Vesta was accepted for publication by Amazing Stories in October and was published in the March 1939 edition on January 10, 1939.
What awards did he win for his writing?
Asimov was presented a special Hugo award in 1963 for adding science to science fiction for his essays in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
The Foundation Series was awarded the Best All-time Novel Series Hugo Award in 1966.
The Gods Themselves won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best novel in 1973.
"The Bicentennial Man was awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best novelette in 1977.
Foundation's Edge was presented with the Hugo for best novel in 1983.
In 1987, he was awarded the special lifetime Nebula Grandmaster award.
"Gold was presented with the Hugo for best novelette in 1992.
I. Asimov: A Memoir won the Hugo Award for best nonfiction in 1995.
"The Mule , the seventh Foundation story published in Astounding Science Fiction (which appeared in book form as part two of Foundation and Empire), was awarded a 1946 Retro-Hugo for Best Novel of 1945 at the 1996 WorldCon. He was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1997.
He won the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Award in 1957 for his book Building Blocks of the Universe. He was awarded the Howard W. Blakeslee Award from the American Heart Association in 1960 for his book The Living River. He received the James T. Grady Award of the American Chemical Society in 1965. He was presented with the Westinghouse Science Writing Award in 1967. He was awarded fourteen honorary doctorate degrees from various universities.
What is Asimov's last book?
Asimov's publishers have on more than one occasion published the Good Doctor's last book as a marketing ploy. The six titles most often so-described are:
- Asimov Laughs Again (the last book he saw published before his death, published in 1992)
- Forward the Foundation (his last Foundation novel, published in 1993)
- Frontiers II (his last -- to date -- essay collection, published in 1993)
- I. Asimov: A Memoir (his last autobiographical volume, published in 1994)
- Gold (his last -- to date -- anthology of science fiction stories, published in 1995)
- Magic (his last -- to date -- anthology of fantasy stories, published in 1996)
All we can say for certain is that with his death, Asimov appears to have stopped writing. He has, by no means, stopped publishing. It is therefore probably meaningless to refer to Asimov's last book in absolute chronological terms.
Of his own work, what were Asimov's favorite and least favorite novels? What were his favorite and least favorite stories?
Asimov's favorite novel was The Gods Themselves, largely because of the middle section, which was both absolutely brilliant and included non-humans and sex. (Asimov had often been accused of being unable to write stories with non-humans or sex and therefore leaving them out of his work.)
His least favorite novel was The Stars Like Dust. It was scheduled for serialization in Galaxy, then edited by Horace Gold. Gold absolutely insisted on including a subplot about the characters ransacking the Galaxy for an ancient document which would utterly revolutionize their political order. In the end, it turns out that the document is gur Pbafgvghgvba bs gur Havgrq Fgngrf (rot-13 coding added as spoiler protection, as if this sub-par novel could be truly spoiled by giving away plot points).
Asimov loathed the subplot and bitterly resented being forced to add it. He offered to his editor at Doubleday, Walter Bradbury, to remove it for the hardcover publication, but Bradbury liked the subplot and insisted it be left in.
Then to add insult to injury, when the first paperback edition was published by Ace, they changed the title (for the worse) and totally gutted the novel, to the point that Asimov could hardly recognize it.
Asimov's three favorite stories were (in order): The Last Question , The Bicentennial Man , and The Ugly Little Boy (all found in The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov, among other places).
Among his least favorite stories were:
Black Friar of the Flame (found in The Early Asimov). The story was his first attempt at a future historical and was bounced around from editor to editor until it was finally published. It was revised a half-a-dozen times and rejected ten times in a two-year-period. Asimov was so bitter over the story's history that he swore never again to revise anything more than twice, and he would even fight over having to do a second revision.
(This is his least favorite story among those that most Asimov fans are likely to have ever read. He also implies in The Early Asimov that it is his least favorite story of all time, but this is clarified in In Joy Still Felt.)
His all-time least favorite story was The Portable Star (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1955). He disliked it so much, he never authorized its anthologization. He describes it as a sleazy attempt to cash in on the new interest in sex in sf started by Philip Jose Farmer's 1952 story, The Lovers."
He also published a story, A Woman's Heart in the June 1957 Satellite which he considered so trivial that he never included it in any of his collections.
His wife, Janet Asimov and nephew Eric Asimov are also writers.
Asimov's Speech - Answer For Humanity:
