Isaac Asimov

[Paul]

http://www.lapl.org/collections-resou... Good to see Asimov still getting the recognition he deserves

[Timothy]

Nice I love asimov :)

[Jim]

Isaac Asimov has always been one of my favorite science fiction writers. Some may be surprised to know that he also wrote mysteries and fantasy novels.

My personal favorite was the "I Robot" series. Who among Mr. Asimov's fans cannot recite the Robotic Code of Conduct?

I think the fact that he was also a professor who taught biochemistry contributed to the realistic nature and credibility of his science fiction books.

[Lee]

Most people know the Robotic Code of Conduct even if they don't know where it came from. :)

[Jim]

Nienna wrote: "Most people know the Robotic Code of Conduct even if they don't know where it came from. :)"

Probably because The Robotic Code bears such a close resemblance to The Golden Rule.

[Paul]

Here's a postcard Isaac Asimov sent to me, way back in 1979

[Jim]

Paul wrote: "Here's a postcard Isaac Asimov sent to me, way back in 1979

"

Definitely a unique keepsake; whether it has any significant monetary value or not.

I never would have guessed that Mr. Asimov wrote each story of that classic series in the manner in which he confesses to you.

[Paul]

I'd never sell it, whatever it's monetary value :)

[Silvio]

Are you talking about the Three Laws of Robotics? The un-Golden-Rule-like differentiation of humans from robots always stood out to me as the important part.

[Ken]

I suspect these rules will come up in ever greater importance as we incorporate more robots into our daily lives. Eventually they will receive basic rights. I almost wrote Human rights. ;)

[Art]

Hmmm.....

[Art]

I enjoyed your piece on the Robot civil rights, but my iPod didn't want to produce much. The internet connection was quite slow, and I was frustrated. so that's the cause of my previous reaction.

[Paul]

That's ok, I'm used to reactions like that :)

[Paul]

Thanks!

[Greg]

Cool, like the typos too.

[Paul]

Greg wrote: "Cool, like the typos too."

Yeah - the postcard was typed just a year or two before word processing came along.

[L.G.]

Asimov is certainly one of the titans of science fiction. It's good to see that he hasn't been forgotten. I sometimes worry that science fiction forgets its roots. Even if we've progressed in many ways since those early days, we're building on the work of others.

[Calvin]

As a young kid, it was feat to read Asimov but I loved it. End of Eternity was one I really liked. I also loved reading his science essays.

[Paul]

The End of Eternity has always been my favorite time-travel novel - by anyone.

[Gard]

I'd make that into a shirt. Seriously. Very cool.

[Calvin]

Hi guys, I just borrowed a copy of The Gods Themselves from my brother. I wanted to read it again. I read it as a 16-year old and it completely blew me away. Looking forward to reading it after I finish a couple of other books.

[Melinda]

I like his short stories best.

[Jim]

Many are not aware that Mr. Asimov wrote mystery novels as well as science fiction and fantasy.

He also wrote serious works regarding physics, astronomy, and mathematics.

Isaac Asimov is considered among the top three science fiction writers of his time.

[Penny]

Isaac Asimov writes in the New York Times in 1964 and predicts what the world will look like in 50 years time, namely in 2014. A summary can be found here.

[L.G.]

Penny wrote: "Isaac Asimov writes in the New York Times in 1964 and predicts what the world will look like in 50 years time, namely in 2014. A summary can be found here."

Thanks for the link. It's funny how things work out.

[Paul]

As Asimov showed so well in the Foundation series, specific predictions are notoriously difficult.

[Art]

More than anything else, he certainly could write a 'rollicking good tale', as my great-uncle, a Brit naval officer, said, when he introduced me to "Pebble in the Sky", almost 60 years ago. My love of Asimov's writing stemmed from that point. (Although I don't think Uncle Bill would have considered Will Smith quite the 'proper' actor to star in 'I, Robot'.

[Melinda]

Penny wrote: "Isaac Asimov writes in the New York Times in 1964 and predicts what the world will look like in 50 years time, namely in 2014. A summary can be found here."

THANKS! I read his predictions and loved it. Scary and funny at the same time.

[Larry]

Art, I put I, Robot into the category of "Movies based on a title by ..." I'm told that originally it was not based on the Asimov story at all, but they had to buy the rights in order to use the title and decided to adapt certain story elements to the existing movie.

[Matthew]

Here is another recent nod to the classic author and scientist. It has to do with predictions he made some 40 years ago in an article written for the New York Times. And as you can see, he got a lot of things frighteningly accurate:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01...

[Silvana]

Can somebody enlighten me on what makes Foundation so interesting? I basically forced myself to finish the last few chapters (the Merchant princes). I got bored because there were just so many characters in very short chapters and I could not keep up with the world building and plot. I did enjoy his I, Robot novel, but Foundation is way different.

[Paul]

The first Foundation novel is good, but it's nothing compared to the second and third in the trilogy. If you find the complete trilogy not very interesting, then I guess we're just in two different worlds. But I'd recommend that you read the complete trilogy (after which, even the first novel will seem better).

[Stewart]

The Foundation series describes how a probable Earth-Human centered Galactic empire would eventually get its start. A lot of the confluences are by nature very complex and ephemeral but nonetheless are pertinent to the sheer synchronicity of this event occurring. Short Answer...its the Soap-Opera Principle. There are Humans involved...

[Neal]

Sadly, I just finished The Gods Themselves and thought it was pretty terrible. :( Bad/thin characters, bad dialogue, bad middle section describing the alien culture, bad narrative (almost the entire book is comprised of dialogue between two characters, with little to no descriptive narrative).

The physics was the only interesting part.

[Sinjin]

I like Asimov for many of his different works, but mainly for the three laws. As a software engineer I have worked with our shallow attempts at artificial intelligence on several pattern recognition applications. I would say that nothing that we have now is close to passing the turing test. However, some of the voice recognition software like Siri, and others like it, put us much closer. Still at some point we are going to reach that point in AI development that we will need something in place to help avoid a Terminator and Matrix like result. As the author of a book I once read said, if you are smart enough to make a machine think, you better be smart enough to know how to pull the plug. Anyway Asimov was thinking about that way back when he was writing his books, for that alone he should be considered a visionary, let alone all of the stories that he contributed to our culture.

[J.J.]

Neal wrote: "Sadly, I just finished The Gods Themselves and thought it was pretty terrible. :( Bad/thin characters, bad dialogue, bad middle section describing the alien culture, bad narrative (al..."

Neal, I love the way my daughter summed up that book at the same time that she was insulting my writing: “I once read an Isaac Asimov novel where two parallel universes created energy by trading a tungsten particle back and forth between them, and then polygons started having sex. And that still made more sense than your book!”

I'm afraid her summary makes it sound more interesting than it really is. ;)

[Anton]

Silvana wrote: "Can somebody enlighten me on what makes Foundation so interesting? I basically forced myself to finish the last few chapters (the Merchant princes). I got bored because there were just so many char..."

I'm reading it right now and I'm 90% finished with it. I agree with most of what you said, and it is a very convoluted novel and it drags. I do plan on reading the sequels now that Paul mentioned how they complete the story.

Anyhow, I respect this work dearly. What it represents is what I believe is Issac's personal religion, and this novel challenges me to think and may change the way I think about things. Mostly human history and the possibility that we evolved somewhere else. Perhaps religion is a strong word to use here, but Foundation is a alternate depiction of what may have been the result of guided panspermia here on Earth. And that is not widely recognized today...I could imagine the impact it must've had when he wrote it long ago.

[Neal]

Jenz wrote: "Neal, I love the way my daughter summed up that book at the same time that she was insulting my writing: “I once read an Isaac Asimov novel where two parallel universes created energy by trading a tungsten particle back and forth between them, and then polygons started having sex. And that still made more sense than your book!"

LOL! Ouch. But that is an apt summary your daughter provided. :)

[Cheryl]

Asimov may have come up with some brilliant ideas, but I don't like Foundation, in part because of its sexism, and I don't like the way he patronizes his wife in his biographies & short story comments. And Susan Calvin certainly wasn't plausible as a real woman. Here's more, especially for those of you who admire him as a person or as a source of wisdom: https://daily.jstor.org/asimovs-empir...

[Angela]

cant hold books that where written years ago to today's standards

[Cheryl]

Angela, the article points out the fallacy of that argument.

Asimov definitely could and should have known better. Respect for women isn't a newfangled notion. And certainly an imaginative SF writer could have predicted that women, who got the vote (in the US) the year he was born, would continue to make strides and become more productive in the professional, political, and economic spheres.

[Raucous]

Cheryl wrote: "Asimov ... Here's more, especially for those of you who admire him as a person or as a source of wisdom: https://daily.jstor.org/asimovs-empir..."

I first heard about this directly from one of the targets of his unwanted affections. I'm not sure I ever really admired him (reading Foundation was, well, boring) but this finished killing off any interest I had in him as a writer. Beyond ick.

[Mindy]

Back in the 80's and '90's, when I was writing for DC, Marvel, and what was called "the independents," I was at the ICON comic convention. Julie Schwartz, renowned editor of the Superman family of comics, said to me, "Want to meet Asimov?"

Julie got his start during the "Golden Age" of science-fiction and comics...he knew them all--Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlen, Clarke, Bester, Sturgeon, et.al....and, in fact, he became an agent and Bradbury was his first client...

Anyway, of course I said yes, and as he brought over, he said, "Just be careful, he is very free with his hands."

I just laughed...I wasn't concerned, I could handle myself.

End of story...probably because I was with Julie....he was a perfect gentlemen.

Or maybe I just wasn't his type! *smile*