Science Fiction Books > Isaac Asimov Science Fiction Books > by Title (First Letter)

Advantages: A truly mind blowing and humbling experience
Disadvantages: It ends.

Previous to this book I had never encountered Isaac Asimov before, I had heard that he was a giant in the SF genre and as such my expectations were very high. High expectations lead to highly critical evaluations and so it is clear that something is very special if it can meet those high expectations, even exceed them. This book is one of those very special things. A special mention should go to the artwork on the front of my edition, it is simply ...
...place and gave me incentive to buy it. I have to say that the first few chapters didn't seem to live up to the hype. To begin with the periods discussed in the story are separated over vast periods of time. Just as you feel that you are becoming familiar with a character or group, really getting a feel for them, the story jumps another hundred years into the future. It leaves the reader feeling no real connection with the story, however as the overall ... Read review

Advantages: Typical Asimov strengths...
Disadvantages: ... typical Asimov weaknesses!

Foundation and Empire continues the saga started in Foundation. In that book one man, Hari Seldon, foresaw the beginning of the end of the great, all-encompassing Galactic Empire long before anyone else. He also foresaw, through the mathematical science of Psychohistory, which he himself developed, that the fall of the empire would lead to thirty millennia of barbarism. The decline and fall of the empire was impossible to halt, however he devised ...
...planet of Terminus. The first Foundation was entirely the subject of the first book, and faced several Seldon Crises, which were successfully overcome. The first Foundation remains the focus in Foundation and Empire, and the book includes that Foundation's first (and last) real encounter with the remains of the first galactic empire. However, a freak of nature (I will give you no more clue than that), which could not possibly have been accounted ... Read review

Advantages: A very entertaining award winning story
Disadvantages: Not to everybodys taste

This is a work from the mind of the master. I well remember the day that I got this book. Asimov had not been writing very much Science Fiction recently and I was haunting my favourite shop for any new works that I could fine by any favourite author. I stopped to talk with the owner who was a friend. I had been buying from him for years and this was his Third shop. A trade representative happened to be with him, showing him this advanced copy, and ...
...also a bit downcast as the official release date was not for a long time. All three of us got to talking and the rep gave his copy to my bookkeeper friend. This copy was clearly written on "Not for sale". Smiling he turned away to look at other books on display. My friend gave me the book, and as he was not selling and I was not buying, I made him a gift of forty pence. Would you believe the approximate price of a new book? This copy went into my ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent compilation of all things robot
Disadvantages: Contains stories already in previous compilations

...10 stories involving Susan Calvin the worlds best (and only) robopsychologist. Many of the stories are very clever, if you are a fan of Asimovs work you will know the 3 rules, many of the stories revolve around these rules and include clever interpretations of these rules. Some of the rules involve good robots, others involve special robots with interesting quirks. Some of the stories are just short little stories with hardly a mention of robots, ...
...bit boring but have a nice moral to the story. If you have other compilations you may well have read some of these, but there are new stories for people who have read all the other compilations. Go out and buy it if you enjoy robots, short stories or Asimov. ... Read review

Advantages: well written, links in well with the rest of the series
Disadvantages: none

An excellent book, meant as a prequel to his best selling 'Foundation' series, which you will need to have read if you want to get the best from this book. The story is well written and fills in many plot-holes from the foundation series. Now, for the story: The Galactic Empire has endured for tens of thousands of years, and has reached its maximum extent. But now it is failing, and the structure of government and commerce slowly collapses. Of course, ...
...inventor of psychohistory, a science which can predict the future. In a hundred years, the empire will be gone forever, so Seldon contrives a plan to set up two scientific foundations, which will preserve all human knowledge, and build a new empire within a single millenium. However, political opposition from First Ministers, Emperors and the sinister Comission for Public Safety mean that you'll have to read the book to find out what happens. Unlike ... Read review