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Life and Time
Twenty-six essays probe the phenomena of the universe that have shaped and will shape the future of man from the development of multicellular life to twenty possible ways the world could end.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
273 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
3 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,348 books27.9k 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 24, 2021
Creo que es un gran libro para los curiosos de la ciencia, de la historia y del futuro de la humanidad. Soy muy ignorante de esos temas así que el.nivel que maneja es muy básico o yo lo sospecho por lo que lo pude disfrutar mucho. Fue escrito en 1978 así que no sé si mucho de lo que describe ya ha sido confirmado, negado o modificado a la fecha también es algo tierno ver como vislumbra el mundo en el futuro. Algunas cosas le atina y en otras su pesimismo me hace preocupar de mi presente.
October 12, 2015
QUÉ LIBRO MÁS MARAVILLOSO, qué autor más maravilloso, todos debieran leerlo.
Este, aunque es largo (pero los hay más largos) simplemente se escurre de entre los dedos (u ojos) porque de pronto, zap, ya se ha acabado. Es interesante y hace que uno vuele con él. La ciencia, es tan amable, abre tantas puertas, y es descrita con tanto amor y claridad por parte de Asimov, uno lo lee con una literal sonrisa. La humanidad... no lo es tanto, y el autor tiene un montón de ideas para hacer a nuestro futuro más llevadero, pero tiene dudas sobre la longevidad de éste y no tiene reparos en decirlo. Y eso angustia, porque, claro, no deja de tener su punto. ¿Viviremos un millón de años más? Es improbable, pero aún si lo hiciéramos, es imposible que viviéramos para siempre, porque el universo NO lo hará.
Es inevitable, a la hora de mirar al mundo como un gran laboratorio, y estudiarlo, estudiarse también a sí mismo... pero Asimov lo hace con elegancia. Yo todavía tengo ciertos sentimientos personales. Me cuesta verlo con distancia (¡yo sí quiero vivir para siempre, me da lo mismo qué pase con el universo!, grita mi corazón irracional, jajaja).
Agregaré que no todo lo que toca tiene que ver con lo macro, sino que también con lo micro. Por ejemplo, hay un capítulo donde habla del porte del cerebro, y de cómo el de la mujer es más chico que el del hombre, pero en proporción, más grande, y luego "que cada quien lo interprete como quiera". Jajaja. Qué señor genial. Es de los que tira la bomba y después esconde la mano, sembrando controversia de lo lindo.
Yo recomiendo este libro completamente, sobre todo para echar abajo mitos prejuiciosos sobre la ciencia. La ciencia no es una cosa odiosa que da estutos y cifras ciegas, sino que ayuda a otorgar identidad y sentido a lo visto. La ciencia no se sienta allí a juzgar, sino que ayuda a entender, y con ello a ordenar y crear.... La ciencia no le quita el espíritu a las cosas al explicar y desmenuzar, sino que les da renovada hermosura. Uno solo quiere conocer más de lo que ama.
Hay hartos ensayos y de harta variedad, así que si el lector es exigente o tiene miedo de adentrarse mucho... bueno, puede meter un solo dedito en el agua, a ver qué pasa, en el sector de su preferencia.
Este, aunque es largo (pero los hay más largos) simplemente se escurre de entre los dedos (u ojos) porque de pronto, zap, ya se ha acabado. Es interesante y hace que uno vuele con él. La ciencia, es tan amable, abre tantas puertas, y es descrita con tanto amor y claridad por parte de Asimov, uno lo lee con una literal sonrisa. La humanidad... no lo es tanto, y el autor tiene un montón de ideas para hacer a nuestro futuro más llevadero, pero tiene dudas sobre la longevidad de éste y no tiene reparos en decirlo. Y eso angustia, porque, claro, no deja de tener su punto. ¿Viviremos un millón de años más? Es improbable, pero aún si lo hiciéramos, es imposible que viviéramos para siempre, porque el universo NO lo hará.
Es inevitable, a la hora de mirar al mundo como un gran laboratorio, y estudiarlo, estudiarse también a sí mismo... pero Asimov lo hace con elegancia. Yo todavía tengo ciertos sentimientos personales. Me cuesta verlo con distancia (¡yo sí quiero vivir para siempre, me da lo mismo qué pase con el universo!, grita mi corazón irracional, jajaja).
Agregaré que no todo lo que toca tiene que ver con lo macro, sino que también con lo micro. Por ejemplo, hay un capítulo donde habla del porte del cerebro, y de cómo el de la mujer es más chico que el del hombre, pero en proporción, más grande, y luego "que cada quien lo interprete como quiera". Jajaja. Qué señor genial. Es de los que tira la bomba y después esconde la mano, sembrando controversia de lo lindo.
Yo recomiendo este libro completamente, sobre todo para echar abajo mitos prejuiciosos sobre la ciencia. La ciencia no es una cosa odiosa que da estutos y cifras ciegas, sino que ayuda a otorgar identidad y sentido a lo visto. La ciencia no se sienta allí a juzgar, sino que ayuda a entender, y con ello a ordenar y crear.... La ciencia no le quita el espíritu a las cosas al explicar y desmenuzar, sino que les da renovada hermosura. Uno solo quiere conocer más de lo que ama.
Hay hartos ensayos y de harta variedad, así que si el lector es exigente o tiene miedo de adentrarse mucho... bueno, puede meter un solo dedito en el agua, a ver qué pasa, en el sector de su preferencia.
August 31, 2015
Qué fenomenos cósmicos tuvieron lugar en el pasado para que surgiera vida en tierra; como sera la vida en el futuro, cuando la humanidad emprenda la conquista del universo.
February 20, 2018
This one gets a ten mainly for the essays on Phylla. Brilliant.
Read
January 28, 2020Excelente
January 8, 2017
I couldn't zip through this book as fast as usual. It was not bad, but the reading was tedious and very technical. I felt as if I was wading through the words and needed processing time. I really enjoyed the essays, though, and there are excellent descriptions of different phyla and possibilities of multi-organismic societies in the future. The introductions are very entertaining and there were some really great parts. Asimov can make anything interesting! Some of my favorite quotes:
"It is not so much being wrong that does the damage, as clinging to man's error by calling it God's truth. If there is an unforgivable blasphemy, surely that is it." --intro to "Before Bacteria"
"You would think that man would be intelligent enough not to outbreed so vital a resource and certainly not to foul the resource as he is in the process of outbreeding it. Well, if you thought that, you would be wrong."--intro to "Water"
He did go on about population quite a bit. It is a good point, but repeated over and over in this book.
"It is not so much being wrong that does the damage, as clinging to man's error by calling it God's truth. If there is an unforgivable blasphemy, surely that is it." --intro to "Before Bacteria"
"You would think that man would be intelligent enough not to outbreed so vital a resource and certainly not to foul the resource as he is in the process of outbreeding it. Well, if you thought that, you would be wrong."--intro to "Water"
He did go on about population quite a bit. It is a good point, but repeated over and over in this book.
Read
August 3, 2011A very sober view of Earth's history and current troubles. Asimov was among the first writing for a popular audience to comprehend that our environmental ills connect directly with Earth's overpopulation. To his credit, once he picks up that theme, he never lets it go. This book has essays written in the late 1960's through the mid-1970's and Asimov predicts many things in this book which came to pass. He even envisioned a computer network that would tailor itself to any interest - so he imagined Wikipedia and Facebook long before their creators did...
August 9, 2012
An amazing collection of essays from a Science Master. Especially relevant were his predictions of the internet and what his expectations were of it. As I texted a friend, "Brilliant points and predictions, his optimism not withstanding. Makes me question if we are truly utilizing or mature enough to appreciate and actualize the potential of the internet and technology.".
Also amazing was his discourse on the education system and its stifling of creativity and its self imposed limits.
Also amazing was his discourse on the education system and its stifling of creativity and its self imposed limits.
January 31, 2013
Typically impressive Asimovian essays, including one incredibly prescient piece on the future of communications. There is a lot of emphasis on the looming population boom near the end of the book which gets a little bit shrill, but otherwise, top-notch.
August 10, 2012
Actual title "Life and Time," rather than "Life and Times." A collection of Asimov's essays from publications other than his series for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
April 22, 2017
This book is a collection of essays by Isaac Asimov that had previously been published elsewhere (except for one, which makes its debut in this book), organized into a solid book, with new commentary by Asimov preceding each essay. The essays are organized into three sections: Life Past, Life Present, and Life Future.
The first two-thirds of the book - Life Past and Life Present - were boring and tedious, not to mention outdated. The information wasn't necessarily wrong, unless some scientific concepts have been proved wrong since the book's writing, but there might be new advancements that are missing. To say it again, the information is old news, but not necessarily wrong.
(Addendum: The first two sections weren't completely boring. Among the retelling of many of the mundane facts about life we all know and take for granted, essays focused entirely on the statistics of water or salt, there were some truly novel ideas about life.)
However, it was all worth reading to get to the final third of the book - Life Future. This section was so noticeably outdated and quaint, but for that reason all the more interesting to read! It is so awesome to gain a perspective in the past of the future, and not through Isaac's science fiction but from real science. Along that vein, fans of his Robot series will find some of the real-world inspiration for his fiction; he talks about his fear of flying, for example.
All in all, this is an interesting book to read, despite being outdated.
The first two-thirds of the book - Life Past and Life Present - were boring and tedious, not to mention outdated. The information wasn't necessarily wrong, unless some scientific concepts have been proved wrong since the book's writing, but there might be new advancements that are missing. To say it again, the information is old news, but not necessarily wrong.
(Addendum: The first two sections weren't completely boring. Among the retelling of many of the mundane facts about life we all know and take for granted, essays focused entirely on the statistics of water or salt, there were some truly novel ideas about life.)
However, it was all worth reading to get to the final third of the book - Life Future. This section was so noticeably outdated and quaint, but for that reason all the more interesting to read! It is so awesome to gain a perspective in the past of the future, and not through Isaac's science fiction but from real science. Along that vein, fans of his Robot series will find some of the real-world inspiration for his fiction; he talks about his fear of flying, for example.
All in all, this is an interesting book to read, despite being outdated.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews