Asimov, Isaac 1920-1992
ASIMOV, Isaac 1920-1992
(Dr. A, George E. Dale, Paul French)
PERSONAL: Born January 2, 1920, in Petrovichi, USSR; immigrated to United States, 1923, naturalized citizen, 1928; died of complications related to AIDS, April 6, 1992, in New York, NY; son of Judah (a candy store owner) and Anna Rachel (Berman) Asimov; married Gertrude Blugerman, July 26, 1942 (divorced, November 16, 1973); married Janet Opal Jeppson (a psychiatrist), November 30, 1973; children: David, Robyn Joan. Education: Columbia University, B.S., 1939, M.A., 1941, Ph.D., 1948.
CAREER: Writer. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, instructor, 1949-51, assistant professor, 1951-55, associate professor, 1955-79, professor of biochemistry, 1979-92. Worked as a civilian chemist at U.S. Navy Air Experimental Station, Philadelphia, PA, 1942-45. Military service: U.S. Army, 1945-46.
MEMBER: Authors League of America, Science Fiction Writers of America, National Association of Science Writers, American Chemical Society, Zero Population Growth, Population Institute, National Organization of Non-Parents, Sigma Xi, Mensa.
AWARDS, HONORS: Guest of honor, Thirteenth World Science Fiction Convention, 1955; Edison Foundation National Mass Media Award, 1958; Blakeslee Award for nonfiction, 1960; special Hugo Award for distinguished contributions to the field, 1963; special Hugo Award for best all-time science-fiction series, 1966, for Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation; James T. Grady Award, American Chemical Society, 1965; American Association for the Advancement of Science-Westinghouse award for science writing, 1967; Nebula Award, Science Fiction Writers of America, and Hugo Award for best novel, both 1973, both for The Gods Themselves; Nebula Award, and Hugo Award for best short story, both 1977, both for "The Bicentennial Man"; Glenn Seabord Award, International Platform Association, 1979; Hugo Award for best novel, 1983, for Foundation's Edge; Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award, 1986; Hugo Award for best nonfiction book, 1995, for I. Asimov; inducted into Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, 1997.
WRITINGS:
SCIENCE FICTION
Pebble in the Sky (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1950, reprinted, R. Bentley, 1982.
I, Robot (short stories), Gnome Press, 1950, reprinted, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1970.
The Stars, Like Dust (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1951, published as The Rebellious Stars with An Earth Gone Mad by R. D. Aycock, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1954, reprinted under original title, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1972.
Foundation (also see below), Gnome Press, 1951, published as The 1,000 Year Plan with No World of Their Own by Poul Anderson, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1955, reprinted under original title, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1983.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) David Starr, Space Ranger (juvenile; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1952, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov, Twayne Publishers (Boston, MA), 1978.
Foundation and Empire (also see below), Gnome Press, 1952, reprinted, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1983.
The Currents of Space (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1952, reprinted, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1971.
Second Foundation (also see below), Gnome Press, 1953, reprinted, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1983.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids (juvenile; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1953, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov, Twayne Publishers (Boston, MA), 1978.
The Caves of Steel (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1954, reprinted, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1972.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus (juvenile), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1954, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov, Twayne Publishers (Boston, MA), 1978.
The Martian Way and Other Stories (also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1955, reprinted, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1985.
The End of Eternity (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1955, reprinted, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1971.
(Contributor) Groff Conklin, editor, Science Fiction Terror Tales by Isaac Asimov and Others, Gnome Press, 1955.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury (juvenile), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1956, published under name Isaac Asimov as The Big Sun of Mercury, New English Library, 1974, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov under original title, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1978.
The Naked Sun (novel; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1957, reprinted, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1972.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter (juvenile), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1957, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1978.
Earth Is Room Enough: Science Fiction Tales of Our Own Planet (also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1957.
The Robot Novels (contains The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun; also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1957.
(Under pseudonym Paul French) Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn (juvenile), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1958, reprinted under name Isaac Asimov, Twayne Publishers (Boston, MA), 1978.
Nine Tomorrows: Tales of the Near Future, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1959.
Triangle: "The Currents of Space," "Pebble In the Sky," and "The Stars, Like Dust," Doubleday (New York, NY), 1961, published as An Isaac Asimov Second Omnibus, Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1969.
The Foundation Trilogy: Three Classics of Science Fiction (contains Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1963, published as An Isaac Asimov Omnibus, Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1966, reprinted, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.
The Rest of the Robots (short stories and novels; includes The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1964, published as Eight Stories from the Rest of the Robots, Pyramid Books, 1966.
Fantastic Voyage (novelization of screenplay by Harry Kleiner), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1966.
Through a Glass Clearly, New English Library, 1967.
Asimov's Mysteries (short stories), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1968.
Nightfall and Other Stories, Doubleday, 1969, published in two volumes, Panther Books (London, England), 1969, published as Nightfall: Twenty SF Stories, Rapp Whiting, 1971.
The Best New Thing (juvenile), World Publishing (New York, NY), 1971.
The Gods Themselves (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
The Early Asimov; or, Eleven Years of Trying (short stories), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
(Contributor) Groff Conklin, editor, Possible Tomorrows by Isaac Asimov and Others, Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1972.
An Isaac Asimov Double: "Space Ranger" and "Pirates of the Asteroids," New English Library (London, England), 1972.
A Second Isaac Asimov Double: "The Big Sun of Mercury" and "The Oceans of Venus," New English Library (London, England), 1973.
The Third Isaac Asimov Double, Times Mirror (New York, NY), 1973.
The Best of Isaac Asimov (short stories), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Have You Seen These?, NESFA Press, 1974.
Buy Jupiter and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.
The Heavenly Host (juvenile), Walker (New York, NY), 1975.
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.
The Collected Fiction of Isaac Asimov, Volume 1: The Far Ends of Time and Earth (contains Pebble in the Sky, Earth Is Room Enough, and The End of Eternity), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979, Volume 2: Prisoners of the Stars (contains The Stars, Like Dust, The Martian Way and Other Stories, and The Currents of Space), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.
Three by Asimov, Targ Editions, 1981.
The Complete Robot (also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.
Foundation's Edge (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.
The Winds of Change and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.
(With wife, Janet Asimov) Norby, the Mixed-up Robot (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1983.
The Robots of Dawn (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.
The Robot Collection (contains The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Complete Robot), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby's Other Secret (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1984.
Isaac Asimov's Magical World's of Fantasy, Crown (New York, NY), 1985.
Robots and Empire (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1985.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and the Invaders (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1985.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and the Lost Princess (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1985.
The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1986.
The Alternative Asimovs (contains The End of Eternity), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1986.
(With Janet Asimov) The Norby Chronicles (contains Norby, the Mixed-up Robot and Norby's Other Secret), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1986.
Foundation and Earth (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1986.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and the Queen's Necklace (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1986.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby: Robot for Hire (contains Norby and the Lost Princess and Norby and the Invaders), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1987.
Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby Finds a Villain (juvenile; also see below), Walker (New York, NY), 1987.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby through Time and Space (contains Norby and the Queen's Necklace and Norby Finds a Villain), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1988.
Azazel, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1988.
Nemesis, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1988.
Prelude to Foundation, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1988.
(With Theodore Sturgeon) The Ugly Little Boy/The Widget, the Wadget, and Boff, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1989.
Franchise (juvenile), Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1989.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby down to Earth (juvenile), Walker (New York, NY), 1989.
All the Troubles of the World (juvenile), Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1989.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and Yobo's Great Adventure (juvenile), Walker (New York, NY), 1989.
Sally (juvenile), Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1989.
Robbie (juvenile), Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1989.
(Editor, with Martin Greenberg) Visions of Fantasy: Tales from the Masters, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.
The Asimov Chronicles, three volumes, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1990.
Invasions, New American Library (New York, NY), 1990.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and the Oldest Dragon (juvenile), Walker (New York, NY), 1990.
Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.
Robot Visions, New American Library (New York, NY), 1991.
(With Janet Asimov) Norby and the Court Jester (juvenile), Walker (New York, NY), 1991.
(With Robert Silverberg) The Positronic Man, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1993.
Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection, Harper-Prism (New York, NY), 1995.
Isaac Asimov's I-Bots: History of I-Botics: An Illustrated Novel, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1997.
Also editor or coeditor of numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies.
MYSTERY NOVELS
The Death Dealers, Avon Publications (New York, NY), 1958, published as A Whiff of Death, Walker (New York, NY), 1968.
Tales of the Black Widowers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Murder at the ABA: A Puzzle in Four Days and Sixty Scenes, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976, published as Authorised Murder: A Puzzle in Four Days and Sixty Scenes, Gollancz (London, England), 1976.
More Tales of the Black Widowers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.
The Key Word and Other Mysteries, Walker (New York, NY), 1977.
Casebook of the Black Widowers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.
The Union Club Mysteries, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.
Computer Crimes and Capers, Academy Chicago Publishers (Chicago, IL), 1983.
Banquets of the Black Widowers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1984.
The Disappearing Man and Other Mysteries, Walker (New York, NY), 1985.
The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1986.
Puzzles of the Black Widowers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.
(With Martin H. Greenburg, Martin Harry, and Charles Waugh) Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Crime Stories of the Nineteenth Century, Barricade (New York, NY), 1995.
Also editor, with others, of numerous mystery anthologies.
ADULT NONFICTION
(With William C. Boyd and Burnham S. Walker) Bio-chemistry and Human Metabolism, Williams Wilkins, 1952, 3rd edition, 1957.
The Chemicals of Life: Enzymes, Vitamins, Hormones, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1954.
(With William C. Boyd) Races and People, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1955.
(With Burnham S. Walker and Mary K. Nicholas) Chemistry and Human Health, McGraw (New York, NY), 1956.
Inside the Atom, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1956, revised and updated edition, 1966.
Only a Trillion (essays), Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1958, published as Marvels of Science: Essays of Fact and Fancy on Life, Its Environment, Its Possibilities, Collier Books (New York, NY), 1962, reprinted under original title, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1976.
The World of Carbon, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1958, revised edition, Collier Books (New York, NY), 1962.
The World of Nitrogen, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1958, revised edition, Collier Books (New York, NY), 1962.
The Clock We Live On, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1959, revised edition, 1965.
Words of Science and the History behind Them, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1959, revised edition, Harrap (London, England), 1974.
Realm of Numbers, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1959.
The Living River, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1959, published as The Bloodstream: River of Life, Collier Books (New York, NY), 1961.
The Kingdom of the Sun, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1960, revised edition, 1963.
Realm of Measure, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1960.
The Wellsprings of Life, Abelard-Schuman, (London, England), 1960, New American Library (New York, NY), 1961.
The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science, two volumes, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1960, Volume 1 published separately as The Intelligent Man's Guide to the Physical Sciences, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1964, Volume 2 published separately as The Intelligent Man's Guide to the Biological Sciences, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1964, revised edition published as The New Intelligent Man's Guide to Science, 1965, published as Asimov's Guide to Science, 1972, revised edition published as Asimov's New Guide to Science, 1984.
The Double Planet, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1960, revised edition, 1967.
Realm of Algebra, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1961.
Life and Energy, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1962.
Fact and Fancy (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1962.
The Search for the Elements, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1962.
The Genetic Code, Orion Press (New York, NY), 1963.
The Human Body: Its Structure and Operation (also see below), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1963.
View from a Height, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1963.
The Human Brain: Its Capacities and Functions (also see below), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1964, revised and expanded edition, Penguin (New York, NY), 1994.
A Short History of Biology, Natural History Press for the American Museum of Natural History, 1964, reprinted, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1980.
Quick and Easy Math, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1964.
Adding a Dimension: Seventeen Essays on the History of Science, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1964.
(With Stephen H. Dole) Planets for Man, Random House (New York, NY), 1964.
Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1964, 2nd revised edition, 1982.
A Short History of Chemistry, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1965.
Of Time and Space and Other Things (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1965.
An Easy Introduction to the Slide Rule, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1965.
The Noble Gasses, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1966.
The Neutrino: Ghost Particle of the Atom, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966.
Understanding Physics, three volumes, Walker (New York, NY), 1966.
The Genetic Effects of Radiation, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Washington, DC), 1966.
The Universe: From Flat Earth to Quasar, Walker (New York, NY), 1966, 3rd edition published as The Universe: From Flat Earth to Black Holes—and Beyond, 1980.
From Earth to Heaven (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966.
Environments out There, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1967.
Is Anyone There? (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1967.
Science, Numbers and I (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1968.
Photosynthesis, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1968.
Twentieth-Century Discovery (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969, revised edition, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1976.
The Solar System and Back (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.
The Stars in Their Courses (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1971, revised edition, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1976.
The Left Hand of the Electron (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
Electricity and Man, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Washington, DC), 1972.
Worlds within Worlds: The Story of Nuclear Energy, three volumes, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Washington, DC), 1972.
A Short History of Chemistry, Heinemann (London, England), 1972.
Today and Tomorrow and . . . , Doubleday (New York, NY), 1973.
The Tragedy of the Moon, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1973.
Asimov on Astronomy (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Our World in Space, foreword by Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., New York Graphic Society (New York, NY), 1974.
Asimov on Chemistry (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Of Matters Great and Small, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.
Science Past, Science Future, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.
Eyes on the Universe: A History of the Telescope, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1975.
The Ends of the Earth: The Polar Regions of the World, Weybright Talley, 1975.
Asimov on Physics (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.
The Planet That Wasn't (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.
The Collapsing Universe, Walker (New York, NY), 1977.
Asimov on Numbers (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.
The Beginning and the End (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.
Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.
Life and Time, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.
The Road to Infinity (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.
A Choice of Catastrophes: The Disasters That Threaten Our World, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1979.
The Shaping of England, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.
Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1970.
The Land of Canaan, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1970.
Visions of the Universe, preface by Carl Sagan, Cosmos Store, 1981.
The Sun Shines Bright (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981.
Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos: The Growth and Future of Human Knowledge, Crown (New York, NY), 1982.
Counting the Eons, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.
The Roving Mind, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1983, revised edition, 1997.
The Measure of the Universe, Harper (New York, NY), 1983.
X Stands for Unknown, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1984.
The History of Physics, Walker (New York, NY), 1984.
Isaac Asimov on the Human Body and the Human Brain (contains The Human Body: Its Structure and Operation and The Human Brain: Its Capacities and Functions), Bonanza Books (New York, NY), 1984.
The Exploding Suns: The Secrets of the Supernovas, Dutton (New York, NY), 1985, updated edition, Plume (New York, NY), 1996.
Asimov's Guide to Halley's Comet, Walker (New York, NY), 1985.
The Subatomic Monster, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1985.
(With Karen Frenkel) Robots: Machines in Man's Image, Robot Institute of America, 1985.
Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worldwide Science Bazaar: Seventy-two Up-to-Date Reports on the State of Everything from Inside the Atom to Outside the Universe, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1986.
The Dangers of Intelligence and Other Science Essays, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1986.
Far As Human Eye Could See (essays), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987.
The Relativity of Wrong: Essays on the Solar System and Beyond, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1988.
Asimov on Science: A Thirty-Year Retrospective, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.
Asimov's Chronology of Science and Technology: How Science Has Shaped the World and How the World Has Affected Science from 4,000,000 B.C. to the Present, Harper (New York, NY), 1989, updated and illustrated edition, 1994.
The Secret of the Universe, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.
The Tyrannosaurus Prescription and One Hundred Other Essays, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1989.
Out of the Everywhere, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.
Atom: Journey across the Subatomic Cosmos, New American Library (New York, NY), 1991.
Frontiers: New Discoveries about Man and His Planet, Outer Space, and the Universe, New American Library (New York, NY), 1991.
Asimov's Chronology of the World, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991.
Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space, Random House (New York, NY), 1991.
(With Frederick Pohl) Our Angry Earth, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1991.
Frontiers II: More Recent Discoveries about Life, Earth, Space, and the Universe, Truman Valley Books/Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.
Aliens and Extraterrestrials: Are We Alone? (revised and updated edition of Is There Life on Other Planets?), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
JUVENILE NONFICTION
Building Blocks of the Universe, Abelard-Schuman (London, England), 1957, revised and updated edition, 1974.
Breakthroughs in Science, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1960.
Satellites in Outer Space, Random House (New York, NY), 1960, revised edition, 1973.
Words from the Myths, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1961.
Words in Genesis, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1962.
Words on the Map, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1962.
Words from Exodus, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1963.
The Kite That Won the Revolution (juvenile), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1963, revised edition, 1973.
The Greeks: A Great Adventure, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1965.
The Roman Republic, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1966.
The Moon, Follett (New York, NY), 1966.
To the Ends of the Universe, Walker (New York, NY), 1967, revised edition, 1976.
Mars, Follett (New York, NY), 1967.
The Roman Empire, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1967.
The Egyptians, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1967.
The Near East: Ten Thousand Years of History, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1968.
Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Doubleday (New York, NY), Volume 1: The Old Testament, 1968, Volume 2: The New Testament, 1969.
The Dark Ages, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1968.
Words from History, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1968.
Stars, Follett (New York, NY), 1968.
Galaxies, Follett (New York, NY), 1968.
ABC's of Space, Walker (New York, NY), 1969, published as Space Dictionary, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1970.
Great Ideas of Science, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.
ABC's of the Ocean, Walker (New York, NY), 1970.
Light, Follett (New York, NY), 1970.
What Makes the Sun Shine?, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1971.
ABC's of the Earth, Walker (New York, NY), 1971.
ABC's of Ecology, Walker (New York, NY), 1972.
Ginn Science Program, Ginn (New York, NY), intermediate levels A, B, and C, 1972, advanced levels A and B, 1973.
Comets and Meteors, Follett (New York, NY), 1972.
The Sun, Follett (New York, NY), 1972.
More Words of Science, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1972.
The Story of Ruth, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
The Shaping of France, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1972.
The Shaping of North America from Earliest Times to 1763, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1973.
Jupiter, the Largest Planet, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1973, revised edition, 1976.
Please Explain, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1973.
Earth: Our Crowded Spaceship, John Day (New York, NY), 1974.
The Birth of the United States, 1763-1816, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1974.
Our Federal Union: The United States from 1816 to 1865, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1975.
The Solar System, Follett (New York, NY), 1975.
Alpha Centauri, the Nearest Star, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1976.
Mars, the Red Planet, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1977.
The Golden Door: The United States from 1865 to 1918, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1977.
Animals of the Bible, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.
Saturn and Beyond, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1979.
Extraterrestrial Civilizations (speculative nonfiction), Crown (New York, NY), 1979.
Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts, Grosset (New York, NY), 1979.
Venus: Near Neighbor of the Sun, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1981.
In the Beginning: Science Faces God in the Book of Genesis, Crown (New York, NY), 1981.
The Edge of Tomorrow, T. Doherty (New York, NY), 1985.
(With James Burke and Jules Bergman) The Impact of Science on Society, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1985.
Futuredays: A Nineteenth-Century Vision of the Year 2000, Holt (New York, NY), 1986.
Beginnings: The Story of Origins—Of Mankind, Life, the Earth, the Universe, Walker (New York, NY), 1987.
Franchise, Creative Education (Mankato, IL), 1988.
All the Troubles of World, Creative Education (Mankato, IL, 1988.
(With Frank White) Think about Space: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?, Walker (New York, NY), 1989.
Little Treasury of Dinosaurs, Crown (New York, NY), 1989.
Unidentified Flying Objects, Dell (New York, NY), 1990.
(With Frank White) The March of the Millennia: A Key to Looking at History, Walker (New York, NY), 1990.
Ancient Astronomy, Dell (New York, NY), 1991.
Also author of volumes in the "How Did We Find Out" series, Walker (New York, NY), beginning 1972.
"NEW LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSE" SERIES
Ferdinand Magellan: Opening the Door to World Exploration, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1991.
Henry Hudson: Arctic Explorer and North American Adventurer, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1991.
A Distant Puzzle: The Planet Uranus (revised edition of Uranus, the Sideways Planet), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
Cosmic Debris: The Asteroids (revised edition of The Asteroids), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
Death from Space: What Killed the Dinosaurs? (revised and updated edition of Did Comets Kill the Dinosaurs?), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) The Moon (revised edition of Earth's Moon), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Francis Reddy) The Red Planet: Mars (revised edition of Mars), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Francis Reddy) Mysteries of Deep Space: Black Holes, Pulsars, and Quasars (revised edition of Quasars, Pulsars, and Black Holes), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Our Planetary System (revised edition of Our Solar System), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Francis Reddy) The Sun and Its Secrets (revised edition of Sun), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1994.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) UFOs: True Mysteries or Hoaxes? (revised edition of Unidentified Flying Objects), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
Astronomy in Ancient Times (revised and updated), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
The Birth of Our Universe (revised and updated edition of How Was the Universe Born?), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
Discovering Comets and Meteors (revised edition of Comets and Meteors), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Our Vast Home: The Milky Way and Other Galaxies (revised edition of Our Milky Way and Other Galaxies), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) Exploring Outer Space: Rockets, Probes, and Satellites (revised edition of Rockets, Probes, and Satellites, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Science Fiction: Visions of Tommorow? (revised edition of Science Fiction, Science Fact), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Pollution in Space (revised edition of Space Garbage), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Space Colonies (revised edition of Colonizing the Planets and Stars), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) Space Explorers (revised edition of Piloted Space Flights), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) Star Cycles: The Life and Death of Stars (revised edition of Birth and Death of Stars), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) A Stargazer's Guide (revised edition of Space Spotter's Guide), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) Our Planet Earth (revised edition), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995, revised by Richard Hantula as Earth, 2002.
(With Francis Reddy) The Ringed Planet: Saturn (revised edition of Saturn), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Planet of Extremes—Jupiter (revised edition of Jupiter), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
(With Francis Reddy) Nearest Sun: The Planet Mercury (revised edition of Mercury), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1995.
A Distant Giant: The Planet Neptune (revised edition of Neptune), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) A Double Planet?: Pluto and Charon (revised edition of Pluto), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996, revised by Richard Hantula, 2002.
(With Francis Reddy) Earth's Twin: The Planet Venus (revised edition of Venus), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Francis Reddy) Global Space Programs (revised edition of The World's Space Programs), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Francis Reddy) Folklore and Legend of the Universe (revised edition of Mythology and the Universe), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) The Twenty-first Century in Space (revised edition of The Future in Space), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Modern Astronomy (revised edition of Astronomy Today), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
(With Greg Walz-Chojnacki) Astronomy Projects (revised edition of Projects in Astronomy), Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
Isaac Asimov's New Library of the Universe Index, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1996.
OTHER
Opus 100 (selections from author's first one hundred books), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, two volumes, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970, published in one volume, Avenel Books, 1981.
Unseen World (teleplay), American Broadcasting Co. (ABC-TV), 1970.
(Under pseudonym Dr. A) The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, Walker (New York, NY), 1971.
Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor: A Lifetime Collection of Favorite Jokes, Anecdotes, and Limericks with Copious Notes on How to Tell Them and Why, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1971.
(With James Gunn) The History of Science Fiction from 1938 to the Present (filmscript), Extramural Independent Study Center, University of Kansas, 1971.
Asimov's Annotated "Don Juan," Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
Asimov's Annotated "Paradise Lost," Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Lecherous Limericks, Walker (New York, NY), 1975.
"The Dream," "Benjamin's Dream," and "Benjamin's Bicentennial Blast": Three Short Stories, Printing Week in New York (New York, NY), 1976.
More Lecherous Limericks, Walker (New York, NY), 1976.
Familiar Poems Annotated, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.
Still More Lecherous Limericks, Walker (New York, NY), 1977.
Asimov's Sherlockian Limericks, New Mysterious Press, 1978.
(With John Ciardi) Limericks Too Gross, Norton (New York, NY), 1978.
Opus 200 (selections from the author's second hundred books), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1979.
In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.
In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1978, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.
The Annotated "Gulliver's Travels," C. N. Potter, 1980.
Asimov on Science Fiction, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981.
Change!: Seventy-one Glimpses of the Future (forecasts), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1981.
(With John Ciardi) A Grossery of Limericks, Norton (New York, NY), 1981.
Would You Believe?, Grosset (New York, NY), 1981.
(With Ken Fisher) Isaac Asimov Presents Superquiz, Dembner, 1982.
More—Would You Believe?, Grosset (New York, NY), 1982.
(Editor, with George R. Martin) The Science Fiction Weight-Loss Book, Crown (New York, NY), 1983.
(Editor, with Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh) Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Horror and Supernatural of the Nineteenth Century, Beaufort Books, 1983.
(Editor) Thirteen Horrors of Halloween, Avon (New York, NY), 1983.
(Editor, with Martin H. Greenberg and George Zebrowski, and author of introduction) Creations: The Quest for Origins in Story and Science, Crown (New York, NY), 1983.
(With Ken Fisher) Isaac Asimov Presents Superquiz 2, Dembner, 1983.
Opus 300 (selections from the author's third hundred books), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1984.
Isaac Asimov's Limericks for Children, Caedmon, 1984.
(Editor) Living in the Future (forecasts), Beaufort Books, 1985.
Isaac Asimov, Octopus Books, 1986.
(Editor) Sherlock Holmes through Time and Space, Bluejay Books, 1986.
The Alternate Asimovs, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1986.
Other Worlds of Isaac Asimov, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Avenel, 1986.
Past, Present, and Future, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1987.
Robot Dreams, edited by Byron Preiss, Berkley (New York, NY), 1987.
(With Janet Asimov) How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort, Walker (New York, NY), 1987.
Asimov's Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1988.
(Editor, with Jason A. Schulman) Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1988.
Asimov's Galaxy: Reflections on Science Fiction, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.
Foundation's Friends: Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Tom Doherty (New York, NY), 1989.
(Compiler, with Martin H. Greenberg) Cosmic Critiques: How and Why Ten Science Fiction Stories Work, Writer's Digest, 1990.
(Contributor) The John W. Campbell Letters with Isaac Asimov and A. E. van Vogt, A. C. Projects, 1991.
Isaac Asimov Laughs Again, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991.
I. Asimov: A Memoir, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1994.
I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, Warner (New York, NY), 1994.
Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1995.
Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1996.
The Best of Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz, Barricade (New York, NY), 1996.
Isaac Asimov's I-Bots: History of I-Botics: An Illustrated Novel, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1997.
Isaac Asimov's Christmas, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1997.
Isaac Asimov's Solar System, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1999.
Isaac Asimov's Father's Day, Ace Books (New York, NY), 2001.
Isaac Asimov's Halloween, Ace Books (New York, NY), 2001.
Isaac Asimov Collected Short Stories, Peterson Publishing (North Mankato, MN), 2001.
It's Been a Good Life, edited by Janet Jeppson Asimov, Prometheus (Amherst, NY), 2002.
Also author of The Adventures of Science Fiction, Ameron Ltd. Author of "Science" column in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958-92. Contributor of stories to numerous science-fiction anthologies, and to many science-fiction magazines, including Astounding Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, Science Fiction, and Future Fiction; contributor of short story under pseudonym George E. Dale to Astounding Science Fiction. Contributor of articles to science journals and periodicals. Editorial director, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
ADAPTATIONS: A sound recording of William Shatner reading the first eight chapters of Foundation was produced as Foundation: The Psychohistorians, Caedmon, 1976, and of Asimov reading from the same novel was produced as The Mayors, Caedmon, 1977; the film The Ugly Little Boy was adapted from Asimov's short story of the same title, Learning Corporation of America, 1977.
SIDELIGHTS: Isaac Asimov was "the world's most prolific science writer," according to David N. Samuelson in Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers, and he "has written some of the best-known science fiction ever published." Considered one of the three greatest writers of science fiction in the 1940s—along with Robert Heinlein and A. E. van Vogt—Asimov remained throughout his life a potent force in the genre. Stories such as "Nightfall" and "The Bicentennial Man," and novels such as The Gods Themselves and Foundation's Edge have received numerous honors and are recognized as among the best science fiction ever written. As one of the world's leading writers on science, explaining everything from nuclear fusion to the theory of numbers, Asimov illuminated for many the mysteries of science and technology. He was a skilled raconteur as well, who enlivened his writing with incidents from his own life. "In his autobiographical writings and comments," stated James Gunn in Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, "Asimov continually invites the reader to share his triumphs, to laugh at his blunders and lack of sophistication, and to wonder, with him, at the rise to prominence of a bright Jewish boy brought to this country from Russia at the age of three and raised in a collection of Brooklyn candy stores."
Asimov's interest in science fiction began when he first noticed several of the early science-fiction magazines for sale on the newsstand of his family's candy store. Although as a boy he read and enjoyed numerous volumes of nonfiction as well as many of the literary "classics," Asimov recalled in his first autobiography, In Memory Yet Green, that he still longed to explore the intriguing magazines with their glossy covers. But his father refused, maintaining that fiction magazines are "junk! . . . Not fit to read. The only people who read magazines like that are bums." And bums represented "the dregs of society, apprentice gangsters."
In August of 1929, a new magazine appeared on the scene called Science Wonder Stories. Asimov knew that as long as science-fiction magazines had titles like Amazing Stories, he would have little chance of convincing his father of their worth. However, the new periodical had the word "science" in its title, and he said, "I had read enough about science to know that it was a mentally nourishing and spiritually wholesome study. What's more, I knew that my father thought so from our occasional talks about my schoolwork." When confronted with this argument, the elder Asimov consented. Soon Isaac began collecting even those periodicals that didn't have "science" in the title. He noted: "I planned to maintain with all the strength at my disposal the legal position that permission for one such magazine implied permission for all the others, regardless of title. No fight was needed, however; my harassed father conceded everything." Asimov rapidly developed into an avid fan.
Asimov first tried writing stories when he was eleven years old. He had for some time been reading stories and then retelling them to his schoolmates, and had also started a book like some of the popular boys' series volumes of the 1920s: "The Rover Boys," "The Bobbsey Twins," and "Pee Wee Wilson." Asimov's story was called "The Greenville Chums at College," patterned after The Darewell Chums at College, and it grew to eight chapters before he abandoned it. Asimov, in In Memory Yet Green, described the flaw in his initial literary venture: "I was trying to imitate the series books without knowing anything but what I read there. Their characters were small-town boys, so mine were, for I imagined Greenville to be a town in upstate New York. Their characters went to college, so mine did. Unfortunately, a junior high school youngster living in a shabby neighborhood in Brooklyn knows very little about small-town life and even less about college. Even I, myself, was forced eventually to recognize the fact that I didn't know what I was talking about."
Despite initial discouragements, Asimov continued to write. His first published piece appeared in his high school's literary semiannual and was accepted, he once admitted, because it was the only funny piece anyone wrote, and the editors needed something funny. In the summer of 1934 Asimov had a letter published in Astounding Stories in which he commented on several stories that had appeared in the magazine. His continuing activities as a fan prompted him to attempt a science fiction piece of his own; in 1937, at the age of seventeen, he began a story titled "Cosmic Corkscrew." The procedure Asimov used to formulate the plot was, he later said, "typical of my science fiction. I usually thought of some scientific gimmick and built a story about that."
By the time he finished the story on June 19, 1938, Astounding Stories had become Astounding Science Fiction. Its editor was John W. Campbell, who was to influence the work of some of the most prominent authors of modern science fiction, including Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, L. Sprague de Camp, and Theodore Sturgeon. Since Campbell was also one of the best-known science fiction writers of the thirties and Astounding one of the most prestigious publications in its field at the time, Asimov was shocked by his father's suggestion that he submit "Cosmic Corkscrew" to the editor in person: mailing the story would cost twelve cents while subway fare, round trip, was only ten cents. In the interest of economy, therefore, Asimov agreed to make the trip to the magazine's office, fully expecting to leave the manuscript with a secretary.
It was Campbell's habit to invite many young writers to discuss their work with him, and when Asimov arrived he was shown into the editor's office. Campbell talked with him for over an hour and agreed to read the story; two days later Asimov received the manuscript back in the mail. It had been rejected, but Campbell offered extensive suggestions for improvement and encouraged the young man to keep trying. This began a pattern that was to continue for several years, with Campbell guiding Asimov through his formative beginnings as a science-fiction writer.
Asimov's association with the field of science fiction was a long and distinguished one. He has been credited with the introduction of several innovative concepts into the genre, including the formulation of the "Three Laws of Robotics." Asimov maintained that the idea for the laws was given to him by Campbell; Campbell, on the other hand, said that he had merely picked them out of Asimov's early robot stories. In any case, it was Asimov who first formally stated the three laws: "1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws." Asimov said that he used these precepts as the basis for "over two dozen short stories and three novels . . . about robots," and he felt that he was "probably more famous for them than for anything else I have written, and they are quoted even outside the science-fiction world. The very word 'robotics' was coined by me." The three laws gained general acceptance among readers and among other science-fiction writers; Asimov, in his autobiography, wrote that they "revolutionized" science fiction and that "no writer could write a stupid robot story if he used the Three Laws. The story might be bad on other counts, but it wouldn't be stupid." The laws became so popular, and seemed so logical, that many people believed real robots would eventually be designed according to Asimov's basic principles.
Also notable among Asimov's science-fiction works is the "Foundation" series. This group of short stories, published in magazines in the 1940s and then collected into a trilogy in the early 1950s, was inspired by Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It was written as a "future history," a story being told in a society of the distant future which relates events of that society's history. The concept was not invented by Asimov, but there can be little doubt that he became a master of the technique. Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation have achieved special standing among science-fiction enthusiasts. In 1966 the World Science Fiction Convention honored them with a special Hugo Award as the best all-time science-fiction series. Decades after its original publication Asimov's future-history series remained popular, and in the 1980s Asimov added a new volume, Foundation's Edge, and eventually linked the "Foundation" stories with his robot novels in The Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire, Foundation and Earth, and Prelude to Foundation.
Asimov's first stories written specifically for a younger audience were his "Lucky Starr" novels. In 1951, at the suggestion of his Doubleday editor, he began working on a series of science-fiction stories that could easily be adapted for television. "Television was here; that was clear," he wrote in In Memory Yet Green. "Why not take advantage of it, then? Radio had its successful long-running series, 'The Lone Ranger,' so why not a 'Space Ranger' modeled very closely upon that?" David Starr: Space Ranger, published under the pseudonym Paul French, introduced David 'Lucky' Starr, agent of the interplanetary law enforcement agency the Council of Science. Accompanying Lucky on his adventures is sidekick John Bigman Jones, a short, tough man born and raised on the great agricultural farms of Mars. Together the two of them confront and outwit space pirates, poisoners, mad scientists, and interstellar spies—humans from the Sirian star system, who have become the Earth's worst enemies.
Although the "Lucky Starr" series ran to six volumes, the television deal Asimov and his editor envisioned never materialized. "None of us dreamed that for some reason . . . television series would very rarely last more than two or three years," Asimov wrote. "We also didn't know that a juvenile television series to be called Rocky Jones: Space Ranger was already in the works." Another problem the series faced was in the scientific background of the stories. "Unfortunately," stated Jean Fiedler and Jim Mele in Isaac Asimov, "Asimov had the bad luck to be writing these stories on the threshold of an unprecedented exploration of our solar system's planets, an exploration which has immensely increased our astronomical knowledge. Many of his scientific premises, sound in 1952, were later found to be inaccurate." In subsequent editions of the books Asimov included forewords explaining the situation to new readers.
Asimov's first nonfiction book—the beginning of what would number several hundred works for adults and younger readers—was a medical text titled Biochemistry and Human Metabolism, begun in 1950 and written in collaboration with William Boyd and Burnham Walker, two of his colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine. He had recognized his ability as an explainer early in life, and he enjoyed clarifying scientific principles for his family and friends. He also discovered that he was a most able and entertaining lecturer who delighted in his work as a teacher. He once told New York Times interviewer Israel Shenker that his talent lay in the fact that he could "read a dozen dull books and make one interesting book out of them." The result was that Asimov was phenomenally successful as a writer of science books for the general public. Asimov later added: "I'm on fire to explain, and happiest when it's something reasonably intricate which I can make clear step by step. It's the easiest way I can clarify things in my own mind."
Toward the end of his career particularly, Asimov was concerned with a variety of subjects that went far beyond the scientific, and wrote on such diverse topics as the Bible, mythology, William Shakespeare, ecology, and American history. Asimov additionally wrote several volumes of autobiography, beginning with In Memory Yet Green in 1979 and culminating in I. Asimov: A Memoir, a 1994 work composed of 166 short chapters that discuss key elements which shaped the author's life. Michael Swanwick characterized the work as "quintessential Asimov," and Michael White commented that Asimov "was our era's great artist of explanation, a master of the declarative sentence and the lockstep paragraph, and both his fiction and his nonfiction conspire to convince you that the world makes more sense than you thought it did." In 1995 Stanley Asimov presented a significant contribution to the literary biography of his brother by publishing Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters. Organized thematically, the volume presents excerpts from thousands of letters and notes written by Isaac Asimov over the course of his life.
The years immediately preceding and following the author's death witnessed the publication of anthologies and collections of Asimov's fictional and prose writings. In 1990, for example, a collection titled RobotVisions appeared, encompassing all of Asimov's short stories and essays concerning robots. In 1995 the posthumous collection Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection was published, collecting numerous pieces for the first time. Many of the short stories in the anthology feature the comic adventures of George and the feckless supernatural being Azazel; and the volume additionally contains Asimov's critical writings on such noted fantasy writers as J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and L. Sprague de Camp.
When Asimov died in 1992 he received numerous tributes highlighting the breadth of his curiosity and acknowledging his profound impact in enlarging the possibilities of the science fiction genre. Over the following decade, Asimov's second wife, Janet Jeppson Asimov, condensed her husband's autobiographies—numbering some 2,000 pages—into a single 300-page volume titled It's Been a Good Life, which was published in 2002. Arranged topically rather than chronologically, the work is divided into chapters that treat such topics as education, war, religion, family, writing, sexism, and his own illnesses. In addition to Asimov's words, Jepson Asimov includes excerpts from her correspondence with her husband, an account of his final days alive, and an epilogue in which she explains that he had contracted the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion during an 1983 triple-bypass operation, a fact he kept secret. Among the work's enthusiasts was Booklist's Roland Green, who dubbed it a "good introduction" to Asimov's career, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who predicted that this "readable and idiosyncratic self-portrait" would likely attract new readers to Asimov's works.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
Asimov, Isaac, The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.
Asimov, Isaac, In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.
Asimov, Isaac, In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1979, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.
Boerst, William J., Isaac Asimov: Writer of the Future, Morgan Reynolds, 1998.
Children's Literature Review, Volume 12, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1987.
Clareson, Thomas D., editor, Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science-Fiction Writers, Popular Press, 1976.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1973, Volume 3, 1975, Volume 9, 1978, Volume 19, 1981, Volume 26, 1983.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 8: Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction Writers, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1981.
Fiedler, Jean, and Jim Mele, Isaac Asimov, Ungar, 1982.
Greenberg, Martin H., and Joseph D. Olander, editors, Isaac Asimov, Taplinger, 1977.
Gunn, James, Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1982.
Isaac Asimov: An Annotated Bibliography of the Asimov Collection at Boston University, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1995.
Judson, Karen, Isaac Asimov: Master of Science Fiction, Enslow Publishers, 1998.
Miller, Marjorie Mithoff, Isaac Asimov: A Checklist of Works Published in the United States, Kent State University Press (Kent, OH), 1972.
Patrouch, Joseph F., Jr., The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.
Platt, Charles, Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction, Berkley (New York, NY), 1980.
Schweitzer, Darrell, Science Fiction Voices 5, Borgo Press (San Bernardino, CA), 1981, pp. 7-14.
Slusser, George E., Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of His Science Fiction, Borgo Press (San Bernardino, CA), 1979.
Touponce, William F., Isaac Asimov, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1991).
Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1986.
Wollheim, Donald A., The Universe Makers, Harper (New York, NY), 1971.
PERIODICALS
Analog: Science Fiction/Science Fact, December 15, 1994, p. 167; May, 1998, review of Isaac Asimov's I-Bots, p. 144; September, 1998, Tom Easton, review of The Roving Mind, p. 133.
Booklist, July, 1993; January 1, 2000, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of Asimov's Chronology of Science and Technology, p. 966; May 1, 2000, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Caves of Steel, p. 1608; February 15, 2002, Roland Green, review of It's Been a Good Life, p. 984.
Books and Bookmen, July, 1968; February, 1969; July, 1973.
Chicago Tribune Book World, March 4, 1979; January 19, 1986.
Chicago Tribune Magazine, April 30, 1978.
Facts on File World News Digest, May 2, 2002, p. 327.
Fantasy Newsletter, April, 1983.
Fantasy Review, September, 1985.
Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), August 10, 1985.
Hastings Center Report, March, 1998, review of The Roving Mind, p. 45.
Isis, March, 2003, Errol Vieth, review of It's Been a Good Life, pp. 183-185.
Library Journal, March 1, 2002, Robert L. Kelly, review of It's Been a Good Life, p. 98.
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October, 1966; September, 1980; July, 1991; February, 1992.
Nation, March 5, 1983.
New Scientist, March 2, 2002, review of It's Been a Good Life, p. 46.
New York Review of Books, September 12, 1977; October 24, 1985.
New York Times, October 18, 1969; January 1, 1980; December 17, 1984; February 26, 1985.
New York Times Book Review, November 17, 1968; January 28, 1973; January 12, 1975; May 30, 1976; June 25, 1978; February 25, 1979; December 16, 1979; December 19, 1982; October 20, 1985; May 8, 1994, p. 25.
Publishers Weekly, April 17, 1972; September 2, 1983; March 7, 1994; September 11, 1995, p. 67; January 28, 2002, review of It's Been a Good Life, p. 279.
School Library Journal, February, 1992.
Science Books and Films, special edition, 1998, review of The Caves of Steel, p. 18.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review, December, 1982; June, 1983; November, 1983; May 8, 1994.
Science Fiction Chronicle, July, 1998, review of Isaac Asimov's I-Bots, p. 41.
Science Fiction Review, winter, 1982; spring, 1984; winter, 1985.
Time, February 26, 1979; November 15, 1982.
Times Literary Supplement, October 5, 1967; December 28, 1967.
Washington Post, April 4, 1979.
Washington Post Book World, April 1, 1979; May 25, 1980; September 26, 1982; September 27, 1983; August 25, 1985.
ONLINE
Issac Asimov Home Page,http://www.asimovonline.com/ (April 15, 2003).
OTHER
Isaac Asimov Talks: An Interview (sound recording), Writer's Voice, 1974.
OBITUARIES:
PERIODICALS
Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1992, sec. 1, p. 13.
Detroit Free Press, April 7, 1992, p. 1B.
Los Angeles Tribune, April 7, 1992, p. 1A.
New York Times, April 7, 1992, p. B7.
Times (London, England), April 7, 1992, p. 19.
Washington Post, April 7, 1992.*