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Blind Alley
"Blind Alley" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Early Asimov (1972).
Although the story postulates a race of intelligent non-humans, it is set in the Foundation universe, during the era of Trantor's Galactic Empire.
Although the story postulates a race of intelligent non-humans, it is set in the Foundation universe, during the era of Trantor's Galactic Empire.
12 pages, Unknown Binding
First published March 1, 1945
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,371 books28.4k 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 9, 2026
ENGLISH: This is the first time I have read this short story by Asimov, published in 1945. It is a sort of prelude to the Foundation trilogy, published 6-8 years later. The Galactic Empire is in its height, with its capital on Trantor, and is dominated by a somewhat stifling bureaucracy, which a clever administrator can skillfully steer in the desired direction.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la primera vez que he leído este relato de Asimov, publicado en 1945. Es una especie de preludio a la trilogía de la Fundación, que se publicó 6-8 años más tarde. El Imperio Galáctico está en su apogeo, con su capital en Trantor, y está dominado por una burocracia algo asfixiante, que un administrador inteligente puede dirigir hábilmente en la dirección que le interesa.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la primera vez que he leído este relato de Asimov, publicado en 1945. Es una especie de preludio a la trilogía de la Fundación, que se publicó 6-8 años más tarde. El Imperio Galáctico está en su apogeo, con su capital en Trantor, y está dominado por una burocracia algo asfixiante, que un administrador inteligente puede dirigir hábilmente en la dirección que le interesa.
September 16, 2018
I recently completed a full re-read of the entire extended foundation series (that merge together Asimov's Robots, Empire, and Foundation series). It took many years to read my way through, and it was a bitter sweet moment to finish this reading project. As soon as I finished, I discovered that my re-read was not complete: there was a very hard to find, out of print short story set in the Empire universe. After a web search I managed to locate a PDF copy of the story (thanks Google!) and fill the gap.
The story is very interesting, and deals with themes that never appear in any of the other Foundation's stories: the encounter between a race of intelligent non humans and humans. The relations between the two have some parallels with the encounters between European and non-European in the Colonialist era.
The story is very interesting, and deals with themes that never appear in any of the other Foundation's stories: the encounter between a race of intelligent non humans and humans. The relations between the two have some parallels with the encounters between European and non-European in the Colonialist era.
May 24, 2020
Kicsit buntodatom van, amikor ilyen kis szosszeneteket is teszek a reading challengebe, de mashogy nem lehet rendesen logolni.
Egy rovid, frappans, igazi tankonyvi novella. Nagyon erdekes a premissza, hogy most kivetelesen nem az emberek talalkoznak egy egesz galaxist uralo fajjal, hanem mi vagyunk ebben a szerepben. Abszolut megertettem az idegenel allaspontjat es inditekait is.
Szuper, erdemes akar minden mas Asimovtol kulon is elolvasni.
Egy rovid, frappans, igazi tankonyvi novella. Nagyon erdekes a premissza, hogy most kivetelesen nem az emberek talalkoznak egy egesz galaxist uralo fajjal, hanem mi vagyunk ebben a szerepben. Abszolut megertettem az idegenel allaspontjat es inditekait is.
Szuper, erdemes akar minden mas Asimovtol kulon is elolvasni.
November 22, 2024
Prior to his death, Isaac Asimov linked this two most famous series along with a forgotten one. The Foundation and Robot series were linked with additional novels before his death. “Empire” is the three book and somewhat forgotten series linked in with the other two. In addition to the three books there is also the short story, Blind Alley.
Took a while to track this down Blind Alley in an Asimov anthology at the library network. It is not easy to locate.
This work fits into the Empire series but there is nothing really unique or special about “Blind Alley. If you are enough of an Asimov fan to have read the Empire series, I’d suggest that it’s worth tracking down this short story.
Be well. M
Took a while to track this down Blind Alley in an Asimov anthology at the library network. It is not easy to locate.
This work fits into the Empire series but there is nothing really unique or special about “Blind Alley. If you are enough of an Asimov fan to have read the Empire series, I’d suggest that it’s worth tracking down this short story.
Be well. M
October 9, 2018
If I had to make a guess about the point of this story, it would have to be the rarity of alien species in a galaxy filled with quadrillions of humans. Beyond that, it is rather strange to even consider this to be a part of the Galactic Empire series.
I Did find the behavior of the alien creatures to be very interesting, the rationale behind their sterilization is even more interesting, but what I found to be most intriguing is their ultimate goal after stealing those ships, was it just to get away from Humans? Maybe future books will discuss this.
I Did find the behavior of the alien creatures to be very interesting, the rationale behind their sterilization is even more interesting, but what I found to be most intriguing is their ultimate goal after stealing those ships, was it just to get away from Humans? Maybe future books will discuss this.
August 18, 2022
"Blind Alley" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Early Asimov (1972).
Although the story postulates a race of intelligent non-humans, it is set in the Foundation universe, during the era of Trantor's Galactic Empire.
Although the story postulates a race of intelligent non-humans, it is set in the Foundation universe, during the era of Trantor's Galactic Empire.
April 6, 2022
Nice little story...
January 14, 2023
Absolutely perfect
August 12, 2023
A creative and beautiful use of bureaucracy to accomplish a goal. And nobody has a bureaucracy as overarching as that of the Galactic Empire.
August 5, 2022
"callejon sin salida" gran ejemplo de que es mucho más fácil v3ncer al sis tema estando en el y utilizar sus propias herramientas para deses tabilizarlo.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews