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Isaac Asimov Presents Tales of the Occult
Given the choice between a cold truth and a desirable lie, which would any person choose who is not totally wedded to rational “reality.” [sic] So writes Isaac Asimov in the Introduction to Tales of the Occult. Although he is one of the world’s greatest proponents of rationalism, Asimov admits that all those who are willing to suspend disbelief will be captivated by this collection of the best of the occult genre.
Included in this volume are the most unnerving work of H. G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edith Wharton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, and many others. Ranging from the curious to the macabre, the stories explore such topics as clairvoyance, precognition, devil worship, séances, exorcism, and the “evil eye.” Isaac Asimov has added an Afterword to each story, tracing its connection to a deep-rooted occult belief that sill pervades our culture.
Edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, Tales of the Occult also provides a reading list of other stories about each of the twenty-two subjects presented.
Included in this volume are the most unnerving work of H. G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edith Wharton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, and many others. Ranging from the curious to the macabre, the stories explore such topics as clairvoyance, precognition, devil worship, séances, exorcism, and the “evil eye.” Isaac Asimov has added an Afterword to each story, tracing its connection to a deep-rooted occult belief that sill pervades our culture.
Edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, Tales of the Occult also provides a reading list of other stories about each of the twenty-two subjects presented.
- GenresHorror
354 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1989
5 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,354 books28k 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 18, 2022
*La señorita Esperson - August Derleth 4 estrellas / 17-04-2020
*Bajo el bistrí- H. G. Wells 1 estrella /26-10-2020
*Los hijos del zodiaco - Ruyard Kipling 3 estrellas / 09-02-2022
*La Banshee emigrante - Gertrude Henderson / 3.5 estrellas / 23-02-2022
*El joven Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne / 3 estrellas /marzo 2022
*A través del cristal, a oscuras - Helen McCloy / 4.5 estrellas / marzo 2022
*La cena Boba - Kris Neville - 5 estrellas / marzo 2022
*El corazón delator - Edgar Allan Poe 4 estrellas / marzo 2022
*La mano del muerto- Manly Wade Wellman 4 estrellas / abril 2022
*Bajo el bistrí- H. G. Wells 1 estrella /26-10-2020
*Los hijos del zodiaco - Ruyard Kipling 3 estrellas / 09-02-2022
*La Banshee emigrante - Gertrude Henderson / 3.5 estrellas / 23-02-2022
*El joven Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne / 3 estrellas /marzo 2022
*A través del cristal, a oscuras - Helen McCloy / 4.5 estrellas / marzo 2022
*La cena Boba - Kris Neville - 5 estrellas / marzo 2022
*El corazón delator - Edgar Allan Poe 4 estrellas / marzo 2022
*La mano del muerto- Manly Wade Wellman 4 estrellas / abril 2022
June 10, 2023
El comienzo es algo lento, varios consagrados no lograron entusiasmarme y solo el desconocido Henry Slesar me sacó una sonrisa. No obstante al llegar al cuento de Poe, me cambió el animo en la lectura, y no es primera vez que me pasa, se nota la diferencia, esta vez con "El corazón delator". Se me había olvidado lo bueno que era, la soberbia locura obsesiva del horrendo ojo cristalino, terrible. De ahí me entusiasmé con otro que tenía más olvidado aún, "La casa y el cerebro" de Edward Bulwer-Lytton, una casa embrujada realmente de temer, donde descubrí tengo una versión extendida del mismo en una antología de Labor, que ya guardo para algún futuro tenebroso. Siguiendo con conocidos, volví a gozar con "La guadaña" de Ray Bradbury, uno de los platos fuertes de "El país de octubre", relato paradigmático del sino inexorable de la muerte. Luego Conan Doyle me entretuvo con "El gran experimento de Keinplatz", para luego pasar al relato que más me gustó de toda la antología: "Calor de agosto" de W.F.Harvey, increíble historia de destinos cruzados, en pocas páginas deja estupefacto. De ahí pasé a leer a Avram Davidson, "La mujer que pensó que sabía leer" un relato ameno de final terrible, hace rato me parece un autor diferente. Luego volví a caer en la abulia, donde ni el relato pulp de Catherine Moore me logró rescatar.
Los comentarios de Asimov algo pedantes, mucho mejor las referencias literarias del tema tratado, donde hay varios datos que abren el apetito.
Los comentarios de Asimov algo pedantes, mucho mejor las referencias literarias del tema tratado, donde hay varios datos que abren el apetito.
November 20, 2017
This book includes 22 short stories that fall into the following categories: after death experiences, clairvoyance, doppelgangers, evil eye, exorcism, possession, séances, telepathy, etc. Amongst the authors are such famous ones as Wells, Kipling, Hawthorne, Poe, Doyle and more modern ones such as August Derleth, C.L. Moore, Judith Merril, Cornell Woolrich and Fritz Leiber as well as Ray Bradbury. These stories were written between 1835 (Young Goodman Browne) and 1974 (Leiber’s)
There is a brief introduction by Asimov and each individual short story includes an afterword of ending commentary by Asimov. Many of the stories are rather old-fashioned with lengthy descriptive passages and are often about obtuse, esoteric, or obscure subject matter so may not be of interest to modern readers.
There is a brief introduction by Asimov and each individual short story includes an afterword of ending commentary by Asimov. Many of the stories are rather old-fashioned with lengthy descriptive passages and are often about obtuse, esoteric, or obscure subject matter so may not be of interest to modern readers.
January 9, 2014
Honestly, I was expected a bit more from this book, considering the authors which stories selected Isaac Asimov to put together in this book. Well, some of the stories where fine, and even entretaining, and I can't deny that curiosity was the reason why I read this book. Phantoms and other very atractive subjects did catch my attention.
If it was possible I would have give this book two and a half stars, but I decided to give it three because of the stories I really enjoyed... Curiosity kill the cat, and also some of my time... Sorry, I know already that Asimov has a lot of fan, but I was hoping something better... Is a personal opinion, others might think this book is genius, after all it put together the work of many well known authors... The reader will be the judge in each case.
Read my blog http://librosdejulieta.blogspot.com.a...
If it was possible I would have give this book two and a half stars, but I decided to give it three because of the stories I really enjoyed... Curiosity kill the cat, and also some of my time... Sorry, I know already that Asimov has a lot of fan, but I was hoping something better... Is a personal opinion, others might think this book is genius, after all it put together the work of many well known authors... The reader will be the judge in each case.
Read my blog http://librosdejulieta.blogspot.com.a...
liz-waiting-books
March 10, 2013Grandioso :)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews