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The Planet That Wasn't
Isaac Asimov. The Planet That Wasn't.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976.
206 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
14 people are currently reading
377 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,475 books27.4k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 18, 2019
No importa que los datos científicos estén desfasados cuarenta, casi cincuenta años. Asimov nos invita a razonar con él y su lógica se desarrolla de forma amena incluso en los hipotéticos más dispares. No hay temas vedados para este autor, que nos cuenta con la cordialidad de un viejo amigo sus descubrimientos sobre cualquier tema que cautive su interés.
Consumiendo tan rápido como me es posible la extensa obra de ciencia ficción de Isaac Asimov, llegué a pensar que en un momento demasiado cercano tendría que decirle adiós, o releer todo desde el principio. Me equivocaba. Leer los ensayos de Asimov es tan grato como devorar sus novelas, y permite reconocer lo mucho de él mismo que hay en toda su obra, sea ficción o no. Nos seguiremos encontrando por muchos años, buen doctor.
Consumiendo tan rápido como me es posible la extensa obra de ciencia ficción de Isaac Asimov, llegué a pensar que en un momento demasiado cercano tendría que decirle adiós, o releer todo desde el principio. Me equivocaba. Leer los ensayos de Asimov es tan grato como devorar sus novelas, y permite reconocer lo mucho de él mismo que hay en toda su obra, sea ficción o no. Nos seguiremos encontrando por muchos años, buen doctor.
September 23, 2020
Дойде и моят ред да бъда очарована от писането на Айзък Азимов. Предполагах, че тази книга ще представи отново научно-фантастични приключения, но не! Всички глави са относно реални сфери от живота. Мога да кажа, че с всяка следваща тема, желанието ми за знания непрекъснато нарастваше! Толкова интересно и достъпно обяснява теми като образуване на озоновия слой, лов на вещици или комбиниране и откриване на нови биологични съединения. Просто съжалих на няколко пъти, че съм се родила в епохата работно време 8-17, и не бих имала време да изчета всичката информация, допълнително по някоя от темите в книгата. Много приятно и лесно четиво, интересна научна гледна точка на автора, теми за всеки.
October 28, 2015
I've not read many Isaac Asimov collections or books - a few articles here and there up to this point. I was pleased by the diversity of topics in this book, despite being a person who tends to prefer a novel to short stories or articles.
A few things that struck me - the discussion on chlorofluorocarbons was one of the clearest I've ever read, and since this book was published in 1976, action has actually been taken to limit the further release of CFCs into the atmosphere, primarily in changing the composition of coolants used in automotive air conditioning and residential and commercial refrigeration, just off the top of my head, even those these actions weren't taken until the early 1990's if I recall correctly.
I also enjoyed the discussion of liver and gall function, not having ever really paid much attention to the biochem aspects of nutrition. He hints at the cholesterol problem in the modern diet, and indeed, much has gone into that since then, however I think Asimov would be horrified by the number of drugs prescribed for cholesterol these days as a gimmick and over-reaction that doesn't address the root cause of the problem - diet.
I appreciate that Asimov has the bibliographical depth to name scientists and dates with their discoveries as much as he does, and indeed, how he did that without wikipedia -- it must have been incredibly tedious to locate all those facts in 1976 and earlier. He's thorough, and that makes him more trustworthy than most other science writers of his time, and perhaps of today as well.
The articles in this collection were concise, varied, well-argued when promoting a certain point, and from a chemistry perspective, having not had chemistry since high school, was very easy to follow. From isotopes to double bonds to noble gases, all these concepts came right back to me with his straightforward description, despite the fact that I took chemistry in 1991.
As a result, I just picked up Gold, and it's mostly sci-fi so far, which I enjoy, but so far I believe I appreciate his non-fiction writing better. I'm not sure what took me so long to give him a shot - probably that he is so prolific and if I like a writer I tend to reach for everything he ever wrote, and with Asimov, that would be years, many years, of reading. I won't avoid him anymore, but I'm not falling into that trap either.
A few things that struck me - the discussion on chlorofluorocarbons was one of the clearest I've ever read, and since this book was published in 1976, action has actually been taken to limit the further release of CFCs into the atmosphere, primarily in changing the composition of coolants used in automotive air conditioning and residential and commercial refrigeration, just off the top of my head, even those these actions weren't taken until the early 1990's if I recall correctly.
I also enjoyed the discussion of liver and gall function, not having ever really paid much attention to the biochem aspects of nutrition. He hints at the cholesterol problem in the modern diet, and indeed, much has gone into that since then, however I think Asimov would be horrified by the number of drugs prescribed for cholesterol these days as a gimmick and over-reaction that doesn't address the root cause of the problem - diet.
I appreciate that Asimov has the bibliographical depth to name scientists and dates with their discoveries as much as he does, and indeed, how he did that without wikipedia -- it must have been incredibly tedious to locate all those facts in 1976 and earlier. He's thorough, and that makes him more trustworthy than most other science writers of his time, and perhaps of today as well.
The articles in this collection were concise, varied, well-argued when promoting a certain point, and from a chemistry perspective, having not had chemistry since high school, was very easy to follow. From isotopes to double bonds to noble gases, all these concepts came right back to me with his straightforward description, despite the fact that I took chemistry in 1991.
As a result, I just picked up Gold, and it's mostly sci-fi so far, which I enjoy, but so far I believe I appreciate his non-fiction writing better. I'm not sure what took me so long to give him a shot - probably that he is so prolific and if I like a writer I tend to reach for everything he ever wrote, and with Asimov, that would be years, many years, of reading. I won't avoid him anymore, but I'm not falling into that trap either.
February 1, 2019
Wonderful stuff. Especially Thinking about thinking and the essays on Ozone.
Read
April 17, 2020My first Asimov! I've dabbled in the sci-fi genre with things like Philip K Dick and random anthologies but I've never read Mr Asimov, thinking he's way too smart and dense for my inarticulate ass (in the science realm) to understand.
But I've been curious so I found this and I got it. Let me be clear, I thought this was a collection of short stories and he just happened to call them essays cuz he's a man of culture.
NOPE
These are legitimate essays based on whatever science-y thing he was had a title for at the time.
Which means I understood only about the first half of this book, as they get progressively smarter (or as he says "controversial"). So I won't be giving a rating or anything of the like. I can't, it wouldn't be fair.
However I do think this was a rather enjoyable start giving how fucking charming and funny and seemingly self aware of himself and his notoriety. So I did enjoy the style in which he wrote, I enjoyed all that I could understand. Just I couldn't understand it all, and as such I can't say whether I agreed or of they held up with time or not.
Rest assured this is not the end of Asimov for me
But I've been curious so I found this and I got it. Let me be clear, I thought this was a collection of short stories and he just happened to call them essays cuz he's a man of culture.
NOPE
These are legitimate essays based on whatever science-y thing he was had a title for at the time.
Which means I understood only about the first half of this book, as they get progressively smarter (or as he says "controversial"). So I won't be giving a rating or anything of the like. I can't, it wouldn't be fair.
However I do think this was a rather enjoyable start giving how fucking charming and funny and seemingly self aware of himself and his notoriety. So I did enjoy the style in which he wrote, I enjoyed all that I could understand. Just I couldn't understand it all, and as such I can't say whether I agreed or of they held up with time or not.
Rest assured this is not the end of Asimov for me
October 25, 2022
While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it does not live up to what the title promises. Asimov very briefly touches on the subject of Vulcan, which I found quite disappointing. Naturally, much of the information is outdated as it was published in the 70s, so take everything with a large grain of salt if you plan on reading this. I found the jumping around of subjects somewhat dizzying and hard to keep track of. It felt as if I was reading the personal journal of a researcher rather than a published series of articles. Asimov is a strong writer with thought-provoking ideas, but if you are looking for a concise coverage of the theorized planet Vulcan, look elsewhere.
July 25, 2022
Asimov starts off with saying that the essays in this book will move from the least controversial, to the most controversial; He was definitely correct in that assessment. I found the most enjoyable essays to read to be right in the middle, when he is discussing what he knows best: chemistry.
June 25, 2017
F&SF science fact columns from '74 - '76. Enjoyable.
August 29, 2018
Todo un placer leer este compendio de artículos de lo más variado de Asimov. Ensayos para pensar y aprender; no historias de ciencia ficción.
December 31, 2018
A lot of the essays hold a lot of relevance in this today's scenario.
January 22, 2021
There's a lot of beautiful ideas in here, philosphical and scientific! Really well written
December 24, 2021
-Gregory Kerkman
April 21, 2023
Brilliant collection of essays, I just struggled to get through the chemistry ones.
July 6, 2007
Please see my review of X Stands for Unknown ([http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98...]) for general comments on Isaac Asimov's science essays.
The Planet That Wasn't, a collection of essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction spanning December 1974 through April 1976, is on the whole, surprisingly mediocre, given the high proportion of skeptical essays criticizing, and occasionally lampooning, pseudoscience and religious enforcement of ignorance. Three notable essays stand out, and in all three Asimov highlights the beginnings of currently well-established environmental concerns. "All Gall" relates the history and properties of cholesterol, with a footnote including what little was known about the effects of dietary lipid intake on atherosclerosis. In "The Smell of Electricity," the topic is ozone—a highly toxic yet useful substance. Asimov then seems to change subjects with "Change of Air," describing the history and properties of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), but then connects them with ozone in reporting some preliminary findings that CFCs may degrade the ozone layer high in the atmosphere (at the time, this effect was little more than speculation), thereby increasing our exposure to nasty UV rays sleeting down from the Sun.
Other essays in the compilation focus on Mercury's noticeably relativistic orbit, how features of the Martian surface acquired their names, the sizes of satellites in the Solar System and the features of their orbits, the optics of rainbows, the only (discovered) element besides bromine and mercury that is liquid at room temperature, the evolution of our atmosphere (which is covered in greater detail elsewhere), the misogyny of witch persecution, the population explosion (in which the author makes a spectacularly wrong prediction that the world's population will have stabilized by 2000 if humankind is to survive that long), UFOs, how science can solve problems that religion cannot, the nature of intelligence, the "Star in the East" cited in the New Testament, and silly arguments for the existence of God.
The Planet That Wasn't, a collection of essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction spanning December 1974 through April 1976, is on the whole, surprisingly mediocre, given the high proportion of skeptical essays criticizing, and occasionally lampooning, pseudoscience and religious enforcement of ignorance. Three notable essays stand out, and in all three Asimov highlights the beginnings of currently well-established environmental concerns. "All Gall" relates the history and properties of cholesterol, with a footnote including what little was known about the effects of dietary lipid intake on atherosclerosis. In "The Smell of Electricity," the topic is ozone—a highly toxic yet useful substance. Asimov then seems to change subjects with "Change of Air," describing the history and properties of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), but then connects them with ozone in reporting some preliminary findings that CFCs may degrade the ozone layer high in the atmosphere (at the time, this effect was little more than speculation), thereby increasing our exposure to nasty UV rays sleeting down from the Sun.
Other essays in the compilation focus on Mercury's noticeably relativistic orbit, how features of the Martian surface acquired their names, the sizes of satellites in the Solar System and the features of their orbits, the optics of rainbows, the only (discovered) element besides bromine and mercury that is liquid at room temperature, the evolution of our atmosphere (which is covered in greater detail elsewhere), the misogyny of witch persecution, the population explosion (in which the author makes a spectacularly wrong prediction that the world's population will have stabilized by 2000 if humankind is to survive that long), UFOs, how science can solve problems that religion cannot, the nature of intelligence, the "Star in the East" cited in the New Testament, and silly arguments for the existence of God.
Read
July 24, 2011All right, any of Asimov's non-fiction collections are great. Pure genius. The man could teach/explain just about anything. Reading these books again revealed to me where much of my teaching style at work came from.
Essays range from physics to chemistry to biology, sociology, religion and more. Each essay holds some nugget of insight and I laughed out loud more than once. Yeah, that makes me a geek as I was laughing at humour found within essay's re: math and physics.
Glad I decided to dive back into these books.
Essays range from physics to chemistry to biology, sociology, religion and more. Each essay holds some nugget of insight and I laughed out loud more than once. Yeah, that makes me a geek as I was laughing at humour found within essay's re: math and physics.
Glad I decided to dive back into these books.
April 8, 2015
Brillante! Luego de haber repasado tres decenas de libros del buen doctor hace casi una década es un placer encontrar algún libro de ensayo que había pasado por alto y reencontrarse con su prosa limpia, clara e iluminadora, lo que siempre un placer. Esta colección de ensayos, a diferencia de muchos otros, planea algunas opiniones sobre religión, ciencia y pseudo-ciencia que vale la pena leerlos. Y los ensayos científicos, aunque fueron escritos en 1974, aun son tan frescos como cuando fueron publicados.
June 28, 2022
A good collection of Asimov essays. I love his sarcastic style. He warns right in the intro that they’re organized in order of increasing controversiality…and BOY was he correct.
July 26, 2010
One of my favorite books. Complex and interesting concepts from astronomy and gravitational pulls to molecules and the ozone layer, explained in clear yet dramatic prose.
Read
March 1, 2011No grade. Essays.
September 15, 2011
Es imposible aburrirse de un libro que toca tantos temas.
August 27, 2016
Another excellent collection of science essays from Asimov's contributions to F&SF magazine. Highly recommended.
Read
April 23, 2018Isaac Asimov es —junto con Carl Sagan— el más popular de los autores de divulgación científica, temática que —presuntamente árida— adquiere en sus manos el toque mágico necesario para llegar a apasionarnos.La totalidad de los ensayos incluidos en este volumen fueron publicados originalmente en el Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, una de las publicaciones más importantes en el campo de la ciencia-ficción. El elemento unificador de los mismos es, en palabras del autor, la polémica. Y sino veamos: los platillos volantes (¿existen?), la religión (¿hay un Dios?), las brujas (¿quiénes fueron?), los coeficientes de inteligencia (¿sirven para algo?), la colonización del espacio (¿es rentable?), y muchos otros temas de interés.«El hecho es que disfruto mucho con los temas polémicos —dice Asimov— y estoy encantado con la posibilidad de decir lo que pienso».De modo que si usted tiene ganas de discutir un poco, y pasar un buen rato, éste es el libro ideal, un libro de «controversia creciente» que le permitirá estar o no de acuerdo con el «Buen Doctor».
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews