isaac_asimov – Page 4 – Made by Mikal

Foundation

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 11, 2008
Post category:Book

Foundation is an interesting book, as its quite old and was originally written as a series of short stories (as much early science fiction was). Because I am reading the books of the extended Foundation series in the order that Asimov recommended towards the end of his life, I have read the two prequels to Foundation (Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation) before Foundation itself. This means that the time line is a little inconsistent, specifically about how the Foundation project ends up on Terminus (Was it lobbying or exile? Did Hari go or not?). That's not too bad though, and the book is very good. [isbn: 0586010807]

Forward the Foundation

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 9, 2008
Post category:Book

This is a Foundation prequel, coming after Prelude to Foundation and before Foundation. The book is almost a series of short stories or novelettes -- there are several year gaps between these stories. That was a shame in a sense, because each of these separate stories has its won startup cost -- the time it takes me to get into what is happening. For some reason I don't find that as much of a problem with collections of short stories, possibly because I'm expecting it more. This technique meant Asimov could cover a lot of ground, but I found it jarring over all. I guess I'd say this book was ok, but not one of Asimov's best. [isbn: 0553565079]

Robot Visions

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 4, 2008
Post category:Book

This was a pretty short read -- in fact I read it on the bus into work this morning. That's mainly because there are only three short stories in this book which aren't covered in one of Asimov's other robot short story collections. The three stories were good, but I am not sure they were worth owning the entire book for. [isbn: 0451450647]

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 18, 2008
Post category:Book

I'm getting really into reading second hand science fiction from the 1950s onward. I read a few (but nowhere near all) of the Foundation series as a child, and I remember liking them a lot. Stolen from Wikipedia as well as other online sources, here is a list of the books in The Foundation series in Asimov's suggested reading order... The Robot Short Stories Recommendations: read The Complete Robot end to end, and then read the new stories only found in Robot Dreams and Robot Visions. Year Title Notes 1992 The Positronic Man Robot novel based on Asimov's short story The Bicentennial Man, co-written by Robert Silverberg. 1954 The Caves of Steel Robot novel. 1957 The Naked Sun Robot novel. 1983 The Robots of Dawn Robot novel. 1985 Robots and Empire Robot novel. 1993 Isaac Asimov's Caliban Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. These three books were quite hard to get, as they're no longer for sale. 1994 Isaac Asimov's Inferno Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. These three books were quite hard to get, as they're no longer for sale. 1996 Isaac Asimov's Utopia Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. These three books were quite hard to get, as they're no…

Robot Dreams

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 18, 2008
Post category:Book

Robot Dreams is another of the robot short story books from Asimov. It is a bit deceptive though and frankly quite annoying because only one of the stories in the book is a robot story, and its not very long.I am of course ignoring the robot stories that already appear in I, Robot and The Complete Robot. The rest are unrelated short stories by Asimov that aren't about robots, and aren't even consistent with the universe that the Foundation books exist in. That's what makes it so annoying for Asimov to recommend that you read the book as part of the extended Foundation series. Grumble. Don't get me wrong, the other stories are fine, its just that they're not the robot stories that I was led to believe they would be. Wikipedia is a little more clear on the situation than I was: Robot Dreams (1986) is a collection of Isaac Asimov's short stories, intended largely to show a series of Asimov robot-inspired drawings by Ralph McQuarrie. All the stories except the title one, written specifically for the volume, can be found in various other Asimov collections. The companion book, which also showcases McQuarrie's drawings (and includes Asimov essays in…

The Complete Robot

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 12, 2008
Post category:Book

This is another of Asimov's robot short story collections, and many of the stories appear in earlier works. In fact, I would recommend getting I, Robot and this book, and avoiding The Rest of the Robots if you're not interested in owning a complete collection of books, but do want to have all of the stories. I say you should get a copy of I, Robot mainly because it has linking matter between the stories that this book lacks. The Complete Robot is as good as Asimov's other short story books I have read, which means I thought it was fantastic. [isbn: 0586057242]

Isaac Asimov’s Utopia

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 12, 2008
Post category:Book

Utopia is the third and final Asimov universe book from Allen. It centers around an attempt to accellerate the terraforming of a planet by drastic measures which drive third law robots wild... The measures are so drastic that they endanger humans, whilst protecting a large number of humans. Unfortunately three law robots have trouble seeing the difference between the two. I don't think this book is as well written as the earlier two Allen books (Caliban and Inferno) and therefore not as good as the Asimov books set in the universe. It was however reasonably engaging and I'm not offended that I spent time and money on it. An ok book, but nothing special basically.

Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall Short Stories

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 9, 2008
Post category:Book

Asimov published two books named Nightfall 1 and Nightfall 2 which are collections of short stories. I have both of these books in a single volume named "Nightfall', which is not to be confused with the novel of the same name by Asimov and Silverberg. I was getting quite confused about which robot short stories I had already read already (many appear in more than one collection), so I built this table to help: Nightfall1969 The Complete Robot1982 Robot Dreams1986 Robot Visions1990 Nightfall Green Patches Hostess Breeds There a Man C-Chute In a Good Cause What If - Sally Flies Nobody Here But - It's Such a Beautiful Day Strikebreaker Insert Knob A in Hole B The Up-to-date Sorcerer Unto the Fourth Generation What is this Thing Called Love? The Machine That Won the War My Son, the…

The Rest of the Robots

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 7, 2008
Post category:Book

This is an Asimov short story collection about robots, where the stories are entirely contained in The Complete Robot, although in a different order. These stories are similar in vein to those in I, Robot, although it is odd that not all of the hyperspace development stories are present (perhaps some weren't written yet?). This is a good book, I liked it. [isbn: 0586025944]

Prelude To Foundation

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 30, 2008
Post category:Book

Written well after the original Foundation novels, Prelude to Foundation is one of two prequels. The book ties in nicely with Robots and Empire, as well as the other robot novels. Its a good book too, with its 460ish pages only taking a few days to read (I think I knocked it over in about four days). The story is sufficiently engaging that I kept looking up and discovering that I had read another 100 pages. There are also a couple of twists in the book (I count three in fact), only two of which I had figured out before the characters. A good book. Probably better than Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire, and definitely better than Allen's Caliban trilogy (Caliban, Inferno, and Utopia. [isbn: 0586071113;0553278398]