Beyond Control: Seven Stories of Science Fiction

by Isaac Asimov (Editor/Contributor), Terry Carr, Alfred Bester

Includes short stories:
Child's Play by William Tenn
Autofac by Philip Dick
Adam and No Eve by Alfred Bester
City of Yesterday by Terry Carr
The Iron Chancellor by Robert Silverberg
The Box by James Blish
The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction

219 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

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

[Victoria McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few times I’ve read a collection of short stories, especially sci-fi short stories, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Child’s Play by William Tenn, The Iron Chancellor by Robert Silverberg, and The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov stand out to me as the stories that I enjoyed more in this book. Would definitely read more volumes by Silverberg.

[Evan Wojtanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The seven stories were all entertaining and offered their own spins on the dangers of technology. I think the weak link was #6.

[Sam Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling in its prescience. I am always delighted to stumble on an Asimov short I hadn’t read yet.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of seven short stories called Beyond Control Edited by Robert Silverberg, who also wrote the introduction and contributes the tale The Iron Chancellor about a family who upgrades their house robot which puts them on a diet that starves them eventually traps them in their own home. A great technology run amok story which is basically the theme of the book.

The better stories IMO are Isaac Asimov's The Dead Past (which appears in another anthology I own) and Autofac by Philip K. Dick. Asimov's story is about the government suppression of an invention that allows the user to view events in the past similar to how we watch television today. P.K.D.'s story is about automated factories that continue to supply mankind with everything they need long after they are wanted. A group of humans must stop the factories before the use up the last of Earth's resources. It is similar to his short story Second Variety (which is not included in this book) for those of you who have read it or watched the movie Screamers, both of which I also enjoy.

[Dave Lum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. I read it twice and would read it again!