The Asimov Chronicles: Fifty Years of Isaac Asimov, Volume Five

The Asimov Chronicles (Ace Books)

by Isaac Asimov

Volume Five Includes:
Exile to hell
Feminine intuition
A problem of numbers
Bill and I
Mirror image
Light verse
... That thou art mindful of him
Earthset and evening star
The bicentennial man
True love

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

183 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

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

[Isaak Birkland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish goodreads had a 10 point review system instead of 5, as I think this fits more as a 3.5

Some stories are like twilight zone parody levels of cheese, but some make you think. That's what ol' Isaac is best at right?

[Jack Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couple stories bit less interesting than the others, read mostly for Bicentennial Man - one of my fav short stories! :)

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of ten short pieces, and while there's the odd average story here, there's a higher overall quality than any of the volumes in this series I've read thus far, excepting perhaps volume 2. There are two excellent stories here - "That Thou Art Mindful of Him!" and "Bicentennial Man" - and if the latter is a little saccharine in places it can also be very affecting, if only one can get past just why Andrew wants to be human in the first place. The robots in the first story have no such hang-up, and are all the more realistic for it. No coincidence, I think, that the best stories in here are robot stories (and there are two more, "Feminine Intuition" and "Light Verse" that are also very good). It's nearly always the robot stories that I like best of Asimov's work, and this volume's particularly heavy on them.

[Bobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! 50 short stories over 50 years...

[Artemis Girl]

Looks like a good book...I should read!

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great one to start with.