/r/asimov

Photograph via snooOG

A subreddit about Isaac Asimov and his works - including the Foundation series, but also all his other works.

Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.

Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. He is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime.

/r/asimov

19,971 Subscribers

17

Hi, I read a few Asimov novels (SLD, I Robot) but I am not very well versed in all of his works. Today one of my friends said "If you take out the whole force and jedi thing in original Star Wars (A New Hope), it very much feels like an Asimov novel." How accurate do you think this statement is?

23 Comments
2024/10/31
16:00 UTC

6

Where can I find texts or videos of Asimov talking about his books?

I'm having trouble finding Asimov material, like interviews or things he said, for example I was looking for what year "The Foundation" takes place in (with our calendar) and I only found it on one page, so I'm not sure.

I would just like to know if there is a text or something by Asimov that talks about his books, thank you all.

5 Comments
2024/10/31
01:07 UTC

29

I finished Foundation and Earth

As the title says. Wow. I read up until Foundation's Edge, then read all the Robot books, and continued with F&E. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and the sense of what the fuck happened to Earth was a page turner for me (even tho, in Robots and Empire already explains it). And the end really freaked me out. My first thought was: is Fallom from another galaxy? Then I went straight up to the internet and for whay I've seen it is general knowledge that it's not the case, but the Solarians are the real threat. Still, sadly we'll never know for sure, for if one thing is obvious, this was just the beginning of the end, foreshadowing a conflict with Solaria and maybe the posibility of intergallactic species.

But hey, it was one hell of a ride. Now I'll read the prequels. Damn, Asimov, what a story you've created!

6 Comments
2024/10/28
21:55 UTC

9

Where's the best place to buy Empire Series?

I want to buy a full collection of Robots, Empire, and Foundation series. I found in this site Robot and Foundation series but I haven't found any collections of Empire series

For me country doesn't matter because there's a big change I'll use proxy services to deliver the books

4 Comments
2024/10/27
13:34 UTC

10

"The Ugly Little Boy"

I just stumbled across this short story in Robot Dreams, and I must say that I am blown away. It may have become my favorite of his short stories.

Wikipedia

7 Comments
2024/10/26
20:16 UTC

7

Foundation Trilogy 2.0

What do Asimov fans generally think of the Foundation the books written by Gregory Benfold, Greg Bear and David Brin?

17 Comments
2024/10/26
18:12 UTC

7

Where do I start with robot, empire, foundation?

I’ve found so many different reading orders just wondering what I should actually read and what books to find the stories in?

16 Comments
2024/10/26
11:59 UTC

3

Nightfall and Other Stories - 1984 vs. 2021

Hello,

Currently collecting Asimov books and going for the vintage sci-fi copies from Del Rey and Bantam Spectra from the 80's and 90's when possible. However, when looking at the title "Nightfall and Other Stories," I saw the 2021 version from Del Rey which has a really neat cover. So now I'm torn between the 1984 version of the book or the new release. My question is this - the new version says it contains a "collection of twenty short works of fiction." Can anyone confirm that both the 1984 and 2021 versions contain the same stories? Just wondering if there are any that were added in the new release almost 40 years later or if the collection is the same and simply a modern reprint.

Thanks for any help!

4 Comments
2024/10/23
21:23 UTC

0

Are there any Asimov stories that aren’t optimistic? His stories are amazing, but even today, we seem to be living in a more dystopian reality compared to the worlds Asimov envisioned. I expect the future to get even darker. I think his only flaw is that optimism

33 Comments
2024/10/21
22:29 UTC

17

What Asimov book to read to next?

I've read the Foundation, Robot and Galatic Empire books, Nightfall, End of Eternity, Nemesis, Fantastic Vogayes, The Gods Themselves, and I Robot. Short Story collections - Complete Robot, Gold, and parts of Robot Dreams and Robot Visions.

What next? Are the Foundation books by other authors good?

33 Comments
2024/10/21
12:03 UTC

9

Nightfall configuration question

I am in the middle of reading Nightfall, the novel. I had the question that when Dovim is eclipsed by Kalgash Two, where the other five stars would be and was not able to visualise the arrangement. Does any body have an idea about this?

Is only half the planet in the eclipse shadow at a time and how is the other half during it?
Thank you

4 Comments
2024/10/19
10:42 UTC

7

Title of short story?

Please help ID an Isaac Asimov short story I read as a teen in the mid 70’s.

It’s about the horrors of future warfare, where human foot soldiers share the battlefield with robots. I distinctly remember a soldier’s skull being zapped by an “eighty thread beam.”

That part stuck with me 16-year-old me. I want to read it again.

6 Comments
2024/10/18
14:45 UTC

9

Trying to get people to translate The Foundation Manga

8 Comments
2024/10/18
00:02 UTC

22

About the authors who continue the history of the Foundation

Hi, I finished the Foundation books and I know there are books by other authors that continue the story but I don't know which ones to read and which one to start with.

Are their books good?

I would like to read your comments.

27 Comments
2024/10/16
14:53 UTC

19

55th anniversary of 'Opus 100'

55 years ago, on 16th October 1969, Isaac Asimov published his 100th book. To mark the occasion, he decided to publish a sampling of his previous 99 books. Hence Opus 100, Asimov’s 100th book.

His first published book had been Pebble in the Sky, back in 1950. In the subsequent 19 years, he’d achieved the milestone of publishing 100 books. And, as his career progressed, his writing domain expanded. While he started out writing science fiction, he branched out into science fact in 1957. This was followed by more books on science, some mystery fiction, and also books about history, language – even a pair of tomes about the Bible.

Opus 100 samples a few of these books, across all his genres:

• Astronomy

• Robots

• Mathematics

• Physics

• Chemistry

• Biology

• Words

• History

• The Bible

• Short-shorts

• Humour

It’s a sampler of everything Asimov wrote about, in all his styles.

As a side note: It took Asimov 19 years to publish his first 100 books. It took him only 10 years (half the time) to publish his second 100 books. His pace just kept increasing over his life.

1 Comment
2024/10/15
05:23 UTC

24

What of Asimov's books should I read first?

I have seen many ways to start the works of Asimov and am unsure of what to pick. I am desiding between

  1. I, Robot

  2. Foundation

  3. Prelude to Foundation

What are the insites of reddit?

71 Comments
2024/10/14
23:41 UTC

11

Double dark bottom of Asimov's books

(further reasoning applies only to the main universe of Robot - Foundation, to which I also include the End of Eternity [I know this is a controversial point in our community])

I see two dark zones in Isaac Asimov's work - themes that are science fiction clichés, but in Isaac's hands they are seen as creepy, exactly because of the rules his world is subject to.

They are “machine uprising” and “alien civilizations.” What do you think of these?

When these themes are touched on by other sci-fi authors they seem trivial, but when the hints (and they are always hints) of it are found at the end of “Robot Dreams” or “Sally”, it gives these themes back the creepiness they would have been in the real world.

5 Comments
2024/10/14
11:18 UTC

10

What is the best order to read asimov's books? Also should I exclude the robot prequel series?

34 Comments
2024/10/14
01:33 UTC

33

About "the gods themselfes", especially Dua

Im really fascinated by the story about Dua, Odeen and Tritt. For 4 month now, i come back to it again and again. Something about it really strikes me as very intimate...

What are your thoughts?

Also, do you know any similar stories?

22 Comments
2024/10/11
17:45 UTC

10

Inconsistencies between "Escape!" and "Risk" (both dealing with hyperspace, in case the titles don't ring a bell)

I just finished reading "Risk", in "The Rest of the Robots", and while I'm almost completely sure that no one at Hyper Base claims to have INVENTED hyperspace travel, no one hearkens back to how US Robots invented it. More importantly, I remember that Powell and Donovan, despite experiencing a LOT of visions back when they made the jump in "Escape!", which were attributed to The Brain's coping mechanism, instead of actual delusions (correct me if I'm wrong), returned safe and sound, without even a hint of insanity.

So...what happened? Why are mice and chimpanzees going insane, and why does Black fear losing his mind when even the first instance of a hyperspace jump was remarkably safe (in most respects)? The preface to the story says that it's obviously intended as a sequel to "Escape!", so I don't know if Asimov completely FORGOT that Powell and Donovan returned safely, or what...

Does anyone have ideas?

11 Comments
2024/10/10
11:09 UTC

9

Question about Asimov’s The Stars, Like Dust

I just finished the first book of the Empire series, and it was a pretty thrilling book all throughout. I just have this one thing that I’m curious about, a little detail about events that unfolded towards the end of the book.

When Byron and his companions are captured by Erataph on the barren world, Jaunty threatens to disclose the location of the rebellion world. He eventually does so, but the star system which he reveals to the commissioner ends up being a dead. Jaunty was dead set in getting revenge against Byron for all that he has done by destroying any hopes of overthrowing the Tyranni, but it seems confusing that he does so in a way that would bring no obvious consequences to him or anyone else.

So my question is that is there a reason that Jaunty chose to not disclose the true location of the rebellion world in order to get his revenge on Byron?

6 Comments
2024/10/09
18:39 UTC

23

Book order

I’ve seen a lot about reading order for Asimov and I’m a bit confused. I’ve read I, Robot, The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. What should I read next?

16 Comments
2024/10/09
05:33 UTC

32

A short doc about the woman who started the Del Rey Imprint that published a ton of Asimov.

There's a fun story in there about her giving him feedback on Bicentennial Man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO9oSyR-5UM

6 Comments
2024/10/07
16:46 UTC

23

I wasn't sure whether to bring this here, but here goes- Foundation: Galactic Frontier has soft-launched in some countries. A mobile game set in the time of Bel Riose, with elements from both the books and the TV series.

Okaaay... so some of us aren't going to like a Foundation game which includes some combat elements, because the stories set in these brutal times kept the action off-page. So if you don't want to know about this, feel free to move on to the next post.

It has been 83 years since the first Foundation story was published, and in that time there has never been a board game, or pen-and-paper RPG, or trading card game set in the Foundation universe. The first computer game set in the Foundation universe came out only a few months ago, Journey to Foundation, which most people can't play thanks to requiring a VR setup. It was based purely on the books.

So Foundation: Galactic Frontier is only the second computer game, and the first one which is likely to be widely available to a large audience. It is set during probably the best era for a computer game- the Trader era of Hober Mallow and General Bel Riose. Yup, both those figures are living at the same time in this particular telling. The Foundation is already (just) a major power. The Empire is still (just) a major power. And there are lots of tiny kingdoms in-between, with the player character soon ending up in Korell Province.

Little concepts from other stories are in the background, too. Player champion Klara is strongly implied to be a Robot. Your ward Gray appears to be a mentalic, but it is possible she may be revealed to be a Solarian.

Quite early on you get hold of a Prime Radiant, and encounter a Hari Seldon who resembles Jared Harris. However, he makes reference to some events which only happened in the books (and couldn't have happened in the universe of the TV series), so it is clear the makers of this game have the rights to both sets of stories.

The player character is a Trader, briefly working for Bel Riose, but quickly parting ways and working in the shattered kingdoms between the Foundation and the Empire. Many of the "dialogue missions" make reference to the fact the Empire pulled out less than a century previously, leaving people with unusable technology and much more limited resources.

There is also (many will be shocked to discover) combat in this game. The character vs character combat is particularly well-implemented, requiring skill by the player to avoid being swamped and to keep your characters healed. The space combat doesn't feel ready yet- there are very few real choices and you just watch the ships shoot at each other. I imagine by the proper launch they will have sorted this out.

You eventually build up to three fleets, exploring Korell province and doing up your main flagship. This has base-building elements to it. You can also set your fleets on automated trading missions- this is good for when you will be offline for a bit, the trading mission will have completed when you return. Part of the game is also discovering all the menus and submenus to give you bonus resources.

There are no in-game ads for other games or anything else, a common scourge of mobile games. But you can, of course, buy packs of in-game goodies. As of yet, I've not actually spent any money and am still enjoying the game.

.

Now, not everyone here is going to like this- in order to make it work as a game certain liberties had to be taken. But for those who might be interested, I thought I'd bring it to your attention.

23 Comments
2024/10/01
23:10 UTC

9

Laser concept but for sound

Hi. I'm seeking help for finding a short story that is a faint memory for me. Did Asimov ever write a story that involved the concept of the laser but for sound? He might have coined a term for it, like "saser" or something. Please. Anybody?

12 Comments
2024/09/30
13:52 UTC

2

Asimove Ape/Monkey Company

So this is a really vague question.

I am pretty sure that there is a fictional company in Asimovs work that specializes in Apes or Monkeys. Am I misremembering this or do anyone know what I'm remembering. I think they transported apes to scientists, but I have very little more to go on...!

10 Comments
2024/09/30
08:57 UTC

8

What do you think happened to Lenny?

Hi all! Major spoilers below, so beware!

Just listened to the robot short story "Lenny" which ended implying Susan Calvin had developed feelings for the robot with baby brain. She had taught it to call her "Mommy" and was eagerly bringing him, his metallic toy.

What do you imagine happened after the story? Did the robot stay with her, where she continued to try to go beyond its presumed limit of 5-year old child brain development, or she gave it back to the company to be dismantled or even ended it herself, like the robot who dreamed in "Robot dreams"?

5 Comments
2024/09/25
08:03 UTC

28

I've just finished Robots and Empire

I'm following the Machete order. A few months ago, I made a post here explaining that I was having trouble finishing The Complete Robot, but I decided to read on - and I'm glad I did!

I loved the robot cycle, I loved the story of Bailey, Daneel and Giskard. I particularly liked the almost biblical aspect of the whole saga, as if I had the chance to observe events considered mythical and legendary thousands of years later as they really happened. The three factions (Terrans, Spatians, Colonians), the different planets and their customs, everything was striking.

These books, particularly the last one, convinced me that life is not necessarily biological. If mankind were to create robots and the question of their existence other than in material form were to arise, I would defend robots. I don't know if that's what Asimov wanted, but that's what I felt when I read his books.

Especially thanks to the relationship between Daneel and Giskard, which is the most beautiful friendship between two characters that I've seen in a very long time. These two characters, in addition to the almost divine figure of Bailey, will stay with me for a long time.

Next up is Earth and Foundation. The problem is that I've forgotten almost everything about the various Foundations, because several months have passed since I read Foundation's Edge. So this gives me a chance to give my theory: I remember that the characters were looking for Earth, and they find a planet called Gaia. I don't remember the details, but is it possible that this is the haven of peace that Daneel and Giskard want? Maybe Daneel is still alive, but I doubt it. I also conceive the possibility that this is the planet where the Solarians took refuge, and that Daneel used his powers to make it a perfect world.

Please don't invalidate my theories or give any clues, however slight. I want to remain free of spoilers.

So I raise this question: what's the best way for me to remember the events of the first Foundations without having to reread them? Thank you very much.

11 Comments
2024/09/24
14:17 UTC

15

Robots and Foundation

Just two questions.

I have all foundations books, I'm currently reading Foundation's Edge, and I'm at chapter 13-46. As I don't have any of the Robots books, I had planned to read all Foundation books, trilogy, sequels and prequel (then The Empire Trilogy, given I have that one as well), and then try and get all the Robot books. I knew before hand about the link of the Robots (Robots of Dawn) and Foundation's Edge, but just that (not plot, just that the connection is in those books). So I wanted to know how "spoilery" FE is, and found out that almost everybody recommends reading the robot novels before F&E and the prequels.

So, in your opinion, should I stop after Foundation's Edge and wait till I have the Robots books, or keep on reading all I have, and then eventually read Robots?

The second one is: I know there are many works from Asimov that are consider (in more or less degree), canon to the Foundation universe. If I'm not mistaken (and all I know), those are End of Eternity and Nemesis. Are any other works like this? And should I read them?

Thanks and sorry for the long text. Cheers from Uruguay

13 Comments
2024/09/23
13:45 UTC

22

How does Foundation end?

Does the Second Empire form? What is Galaxia? What is R Daneel Olivaw's goal, and why does he want to merge every living thing into one single organism?

42 Comments
2024/09/23
04:54 UTC

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