Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction: 36 Stories and Novellas

Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction #1

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

First Series: 36 stories and novella by various authors from 1939-1940. Previously published as two separate works entitled Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1 (1939) and Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 2 (1940)

Authors include:
Eando Binder
Robert Bloch
Nelson Bond
L. Sprague De Camp
Lester Del Rey
H. L. Gold
Robert A. Heinlein
Joseph E. Kelleam
Henry Kuttner
Milton A. Rothman
Theodore Sturgeon
John Taine
William F. Temple
Jack Williamson
Robert Arthur
Isaac Asimov
Henry Bates
Oscar J. Friend
Willard Hawkins
Fritz Leiber
P. Schuyler Miller
Ross Rocklynne
A. E. Van Vogt

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

782 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1983

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

[Jim Syler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just what it says: an anthology of the outstanding science fiction short stories from 1939 and 1940, chosen by Martin Greenberg and Isaac Asimov. Actually that’s not quite right; it includes some fantasy stories as well, which I think is a mistake; not only is it in contradiction with the title, the fantasy stories conflict with the tone of the book.

Regardless, there are some great stories in here. Not all are excellent, but they are still worth reading if you’re interested in the history of science fiction (in English, anyway).

I read this as a kind of sequel to Before the Golden Age, and I miss the autobiographical aspect Asimov brought to that book, with little personal vignettes before and after each story. But that stuff is covered in The Early Asimov for this period anyway, so I shouldn’t complain. Both Greenberg and Asimov preface every story (except those by Asimov, which are prefaced by Asimov alone) with interesting tidbits, and each volume (of the two included in this book) is preceded by a little historical background regarding what was going on both in and outside of the world of science fiction at the time. It’s nice to get a little of the feel of what it might have been like to read these when they were published, but I would have liked more of the same. In particular, since John Campbell was such an instrumental figure in the Golden Age—indeed the instrumental figure by all accounts—I would have liked more discussion of his practices and how these stories differed from those published previously.

So if you’re interested in getting a feel for the kinds of stories that were being published in the early days of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, this is an essential read. If you only want to read the true “classics” of the era, perhaps another anthology would serve you better—there are timeless classics here, but they are interspersed among more forgettable stories. And if you’re looking for information on why the Golden Age was the Golden Age, I’d advise you look elsewhere (and if you find such a book, let me know); information on that topic is sparse in this work.

A couple of administrative notes:
  First, this volume is a combination of two previous works: Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) and Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940). It is the first volume in its own series, Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction. The second book in the series is Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction, Second Series, covering 1941 and 1942. I mention this because I was confused, and thought others might be as well. This book contains Volume 1 and Volume 2, and further books are labeled with “Series.” I wasn’t sure if the next book was Series Three, or what, especially when I couldn’t seem to find Series Two. But no, the next book is Series Two, and this is Series One, even though not labeled as such.
  Second, the Forward to the combined volume is signed “JHR.” Does anyone have an idea of who that might be?

I was going to include a short description and review/discussion of every included story, as well as some random thoughts I had while reading, as much for my reference as it is for the benefit of prospective readers of this book (I wish there was a Goodreads for short stories!). But I ran out of space, so I posted them under the individual volumes: Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) and Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940).

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of science fiction focuses on stories that were written during the cold war era and reflect the fears of nuclear escalation that were so present during that time.

[Mike S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the old scifi. There are some really, really good stories in this, as well as some just okay stories. I recommend this to anyone who likes scifi.