Opus 100

by Isaac Asimov

Book Overview

A sci-fi classic from the master of space fiction. Iaac Asimov put together a book of his favorite short stories. If you are a sci-fi fan, you must own this book! This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395073510
• ISBN13: 9780395073513
• Release Date: June 1969
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader

This is a collection of excerpts, extracts, stories and essays taken from Asimov's first 100 books. Apparently he liked to keep count, like a score, as to how many he had published. The majority is non-fiction, and he does point out he was mostly a non-fiction writer, given the rather astonishing range of subjects he wrote books on for kids to adults, from astronomy to religion. One amusing magazine anecdote, after Esquire refused a story he sent them, basically saying their readers were too uneducated to understand it: "I didn't care. I sent it to Fred Pohl, and he took it for his magazine, If. At least, he took it after a little hesitation. He wrote and said that he would like to cut it in half. (He must have had som eobscure reason for that, but who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of editors.) I wrote back, rather humbly, and said I didn't want to sound like Harlan Ellison (a tremendously talented science-fiction writer who is known throughout the field for his trigger-temper and his refusal to take any lip from any editor), but the story ha dto be publihsed in toto for two reasons: (1) It was a satire on The Double Hleix and the satirical point would be killed if it were cut, and (2) it was the only story I had ever written in which I wrote as ribaldly as I talk, and I might never do it again, so I didn't want to lose one precious paragraph. Consequently, said I, if he felt he had to cut it, would he return the manuscript instead? Whereupon Fred answered and said he would print it in full and I did, too, sound like Harlan Ellison. Which was a terrible thing to say." Opus 100 : from The Callistan Menace - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from The Martian Way - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Strange Playfellow - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Liar! - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Runaround - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from I Robot - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : The Last Question - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : The Feeling of Power - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from Supernutron - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : Thiotimoline and the Space Age - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : from The Dead Hand - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : Dreamworld - Isaac Asimov Opus 100 : The Holmes-Ginsbook Device - Isaac Asimov Jupiter keeps pulling me back in. 3 out of 5 Ganymede eclipse. 3 out of 5 Big jellyfish. 3 out of 5 Water inspiration. 3 out of 5 Made to be good at it. 3 out of 5 Robot dilemma. 3 out of 5 Laws enunciated. 3 out of 5 The Three Laws. 3.5 out of 5 Immortal humans breed too fast for the universe. 4 out of 5 Computer people consequences. 3 out of 5 Old school atomics. 3 out of 5 Chemistry before it happens. 3 out of 5 Sick of sick. 3 out of 5 Food of the godawful puns. 3.5 out of 5 Smoking breakthrough. 3 out of 5 3.5 out of 5

Engaging summary of Isaac Asimov's first 99 books

Certainly there is no one who can match the breadth of Asimov's writings, although there are a few who can match the volume. The man truly can be described as "the human writing machine." This is a book about books, being a summary of the first 99 that he wrote. To be more precise, it is a collection of excerpts from several of those books interspersed with Asimov's personal commentary concerning his writing and how he came to write about that particular topic. I found the commentary to be more interesting than the excerpts. He writes in a very personal style that seems to be directed to you as you read it. His tactics and even occasional humility, a rare thing for Asimov and something he readily admits, gives you a great deal of insight into how he could be so prolific and broad. He sums up his career very well when he admits that the only thing that he is expert at is in sounding like an expert. I confess that I learned more science from reading Asimov's books than I did in satisfying the requirements for two majors in areas of science. He writes very well, making the complex understandable. If you are unfamiliar with his work, then this book is a good place to begin. If you have read nearly all of his over 300 books, then you can still read this for pleasure, something I just did for the third time.

Compulsory reading for anyone interested in Sci or Fi

In this book Mr. Asimov reviews his first 100 books. He presents a chapter from each one with some comments about the way the book was written, the characters (if it's a fiction story) or the research if it's a Science book. Compulsory reading for anyone interested in Science and/or Fiction.