What do you think?
Rate this book
The Secret of the Universe
Essays examine such topics as cold fusion, the drug war, the solar system, and iodine
- GenresScienceNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
6 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,357 books28.1k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 25, 2021
The whole book is great, although (naturally) outdated at times, the only issue is the very last essay, not sure why Asimov thought it was a good fit for this book.
February 5, 2019
Not a bad, if shallow, collection of essays.
April 25, 2021
Es un compilado de artículos publicados en los años ‘89 y ‘90 en The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Se agrupan en tres temas: el Sistema Solar, el Universo y Aquí, en casa que son misceláneos.
En estas colecciones me gusta detenerme en las introducciones porque son los único que el autor escribe exclusivamente para el libro y tiene siempre algo para decir. En este caso cuenta con humor cómo lo afectan las críticas (algo esperable por la enormidad de su ego, de la que no reniega). Elabora una justificación en la que se compara con Lamb, Montaigne y Cicerón que a mi criterio no viene mucho al caso. Es más, creo que el crítico tiene un punto: así como una novela no es un conjunto de cuentos, un libro de divulgación gana cuando se lo concibe como una totalidad porque se evitan redundancias, saltos de tema bruscos y cambios de registro, entre otros. Pero tal vez sea como pedirle novelas a Borges ya que la forma natural de Asimov son estos recorridos de pocas páginas, amenos, con la cantidad justa de datos, reflexiones y profundidad. Otra crítica podría ser que utilizar siempre la misma fórmula (¿estilo?) para todos sus libros de divulgación, aunque de nuevo es lo esperable al ser un escritor de más de quinientos libros y que jamás se detenía a corregir o reflexionar sobre mejoras en el texto.
En las primeras dos partes aparece el Asimov astronómico que puede repetir algunos datos pero siempre nos aporta algo en la maravilla de intentar comprender el Universo, pero la tercera me resultó la más interesante. Ahí tiene un par de artículos de química que son los que más disfrutados. Los continua con Negocios, como de costumbre que tiene una introducción en la que resume un abordaje al aprendizaje que me encanta y comparto: le piden que de una conferencia sobre un tema que desconoce y la acepta porque sabe que lo va a obligar a investigar y actualizarse. Es más, le escribe al organizador siendo transparente y preguntándole a qué se refería con “tarjetas inteligentes” (al final sí sabía del tema). Cierra con ¿Basta con decir, ‘¡No!''?, bastante flojo y fuera de contexto.
Más sobre esta reseña y otras en:
https://pablomariafernandez.substack....
En estas colecciones me gusta detenerme en las introducciones porque son los único que el autor escribe exclusivamente para el libro y tiene siempre algo para decir. En este caso cuenta con humor cómo lo afectan las críticas (algo esperable por la enormidad de su ego, de la que no reniega). Elabora una justificación en la que se compara con Lamb, Montaigne y Cicerón que a mi criterio no viene mucho al caso. Es más, creo que el crítico tiene un punto: así como una novela no es un conjunto de cuentos, un libro de divulgación gana cuando se lo concibe como una totalidad porque se evitan redundancias, saltos de tema bruscos y cambios de registro, entre otros. Pero tal vez sea como pedirle novelas a Borges ya que la forma natural de Asimov son estos recorridos de pocas páginas, amenos, con la cantidad justa de datos, reflexiones y profundidad. Otra crítica podría ser que utilizar siempre la misma fórmula (¿estilo?) para todos sus libros de divulgación, aunque de nuevo es lo esperable al ser un escritor de más de quinientos libros y que jamás se detenía a corregir o reflexionar sobre mejoras en el texto.
En las primeras dos partes aparece el Asimov astronómico que puede repetir algunos datos pero siempre nos aporta algo en la maravilla de intentar comprender el Universo, pero la tercera me resultó la más interesante. Ahí tiene un par de artículos de química que son los que más disfrutados. Los continua con Negocios, como de costumbre que tiene una introducción en la que resume un abordaje al aprendizaje que me encanta y comparto: le piden que de una conferencia sobre un tema que desconoce y la acepta porque sabe que lo va a obligar a investigar y actualizarse. Es más, le escribe al organizador siendo transparente y preguntándole a qué se refería con “tarjetas inteligentes” (al final sí sabía del tema). Cierra con ¿Basta con decir, ‘¡No!''?, bastante flojo y fuera de contexto.
Más sobre esta reseña y otras en:
https://pablomariafernandez.substack....
September 27, 2024
The author's sweet spot was writing sci-fy novels about the heavens. His Foundation trilogy is long-considered a sci-fy classic. His Foundation #1 is outstanding. The 1st 2/3rds of this book is about our solar system, stars and heavenly bodies. Excellent stuff. Then he digresses - because he loves to write (436? publications), and, in his own words, "is sure of everything," and writes about microbiology, bacteria, & virus - his Ph.D. is in biology. OK, but pedestrian thinking and altogether dry writing. He ends with essays on economics, business & politics, of which he is mostly wrong in his analysis, and sorely out of his technical (it's not clear he understands just how capitalism works) and reasoning league. Einstein, an avowed socialist, did the same thing late in his life.
The moral of the story . . . take the good stuff offered by brilliant people and discard the rest.
The moral of the story . . . take the good stuff offered by brilliant people and discard the rest.
April 19, 2019
Very informative with clear facts about the history of science. It might be too factual for some readers and that could make the reading experience feels choppy. Nevertheless, after reading this book, most likely you'll have a greater understanding of the history of science.
February 12, 2018
With his innate sense of humor, wit and wisdom Dr. Asimov establishes astounding facts of this magnificent universe.
December 22, 2016
A collection of Asimov's essays originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1989-1990. I'm a long time fan of Asimov's, but despite the free-flowing style he writes in and the structurally organized nature of the essays in parts 1 and 2, I find some to be unnecessarily dense with facts and figures without furthering the narrative.
My favorite parts of the essays focused on the narrative - a storyteller regaling discoveries I am already familiar and the process by which great scientists built off each other's previous work.
My favorite parts of the essays focused on the narrative - a storyteller regaling discoveries I am already familiar and the process by which great scientists built off each other's previous work.
December 13, 2015
El secreto del universo es sin duda uno de los libros mas interesantes que he podido leer, no solo del propio autor sino de todos los libros que de ensayos tratan.
De una forma sencilla y amena asimov no solo nos aporta una cantidad indiscutible de conocimientos sino que tambien nos proporciona una serie de opiniones elaboradas que nos permite pensar por nosotros mismos, con independencia de si estamos de acuerdo con sus argumentos o no.
Los temas que se tratan en el libro son tan variados que van desde el arte del poema hasta los fractales, pasando por el origen del ser humano.
Asimov nos hace participe de sus opiniones y nos obliga, a veces con una sonrisa en la boca, a reflexionar sobre todo aquello que nos rodea.
Grande Asimov!
De una forma sencilla y amena asimov no solo nos aporta una cantidad indiscutible de conocimientos sino que tambien nos proporciona una serie de opiniones elaboradas que nos permite pensar por nosotros mismos, con independencia de si estamos de acuerdo con sus argumentos o no.
Los temas que se tratan en el libro son tan variados que van desde el arte del poema hasta los fractales, pasando por el origen del ser humano.
Asimov nos hace participe de sus opiniones y nos obliga, a veces con una sonrisa en la boca, a reflexionar sobre todo aquello que nos rodea.
Grande Asimov!
February 20, 2014
A surprising number of misspellings in this work. However, this does not become too distracting and the work itself is fascinating for its insight and the way it debunks myths about how the universe really works. Asimov's writing flows well and this book was a fairly easy read, despite the depth of the material presented.
February 18, 2011
good stuff. i really like his writing style, he clearly maps out his ideas (scientific or otherwise) and give an appropriate amount of background information.
makes me want to read some of his non-fiction.
makes me want to read some of his non-fiction.
October 20, 2008
lido em português: O Segredo do Universo
March 24, 2016
Un libro apasionante sobre algunos de los misterios de nuestro universo, con viajes hacia el pasado de nuestra historia y como la humanidad estudio el tema a lo largo de su desarrollo en el tiempo.
October 18, 2023
A collection of F &SF Essays. Which means brilliant, of course.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews