Isaac Asimov Books

Isaac Asimov was an author of science fiction, one of the most prolific to come out of the twentieth century. While he dabbled in a number of genres, his fans will always remember him for his contribution to science fiction.

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Isaac comes from Petrovichi in Russia. The author was born in 1920. His parents, Anna Rachel Berman and Judah Ozimov, eventually moved to the United States, finding a home Brooklyn.

Isaac Asimov was a very intelligent child, teaching himself how to read and quickly beginning to master the basics of Yiddish by the time he was five. By fifteen, Isaac was on his way to Columbia University from where he eventually earned a Science Degree, not to mention a Masters and a Ph.D.

With his science degree, there was little surprise when Isaac joined the Boston University School of Medicine as a Biochemistry Associate professor. Isaac Asimov had a passion for learning and understanding the science of things. He also yearned to pass what he knew on to the next generation.

Of course, that scholarly desire was secondary in comparison to his love for writing. Isaac Asimov was a storyteller before anything else, and he enjoyed writing stories for the general reader.

While his first short story (Marooned Off Vesta) came out in Amazing Stories as early as 1938, it wasn’t until 1950 that the author’s first full Science fiction novel (Pebble in the Sky) was finally published.

Though it wasn’t until I, Robot came into being that Isaac Asimov finally found his stride. The collection of short stories explored the relationship that might exist between humans and machines and it gave birth to Isaac’s famous Laws of Robotics.

Isaac was beginning to see the impact his work could have as a foreteller of the future of mankind, and readers seemed to appreciate him for this, which is why they devoured Foundation, his next work of fiction published in 1951, not to mention all the books that came after.

Sometimes it is difficult to pin Isaac Asimov’s interests down. The author wrote on every topic, from biology to astronomy to religion. Before his death in 1992 at the age of 72, the author had penned nearly five hundred books within which he experimented with many genres.

The author’s death was believed to have resulted from bypass surgery years earlier during which a blood transfusion had given him AIDs. By the time of his death, the author was dealing with heart and kidney failure.

Isaac Asimov’s ideas have continued to live on beyond his death.

Isaac Asimov Awards

Isaac was the recipient of quite the intimidating number of awards, this including a Westinghouse Science Writing award, a Thomas Alva Edison Foundation award, a Klumpke-Roberts Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards, Locus Awards and a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award to mention but a few.

Isaac Asimov Books into Movies/TV

Isaac introduced concepts in his literary work that have continued to make appearances in movies and television shows even after his death. The author’s books have also come to life as big screen adaptations.

The most prominent would be I, Robot, a 2004 release starring Will Smith which used three of the various short stories in Isaac’s original collection to explore human/machine relationships.

Just as prominent is Bicentennial Man, a 1999 American film starring Robin Williams which adapted a 1992 Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg novel called The Positronic Man. The movie follows a Robot that is purchased by a family and then undertakes an adventure as it seeks a form of humanity.

Lesser known adaptations include Nightfall, Formula of Death, The Ugly Little Boy and Konets vechnosti.

Best Isaac Asimov Books

Isaac Asimov was an author like no other, taking the world by storm with his imaginative ideas, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:

Foundation: After 12,000 years, the Galactic Empire is finally at an end. And with the science of Psychohistory, Hari Seldon can see that a future of barbarism and warfare waits ahead, one that will last tens of thousands of years.

To preserve all the knowledge that humanity has attained, Hari creates sanctuary called the Foundation on a bleak planet far away. But the Foundation soon faces the threat of Warlords determined to seize power in the wake of a dying empire.

This book is somewhat confusing, devoid of proper plotting or character development but instead attempting to unveil a potentially compelling tale about humanity’s future.

Foundation and Empire: The Foundation has survived the greed and thirst for conflict of its neighbors, yet even Hari Seldon doesn’t know if the sanctuary can survive the ambitions of a General that is determined to restore the glory of the Galactic Empire. Their only hope-and potential destruction- might be a mutant of unrivaled power and intelligence.

This book feels less like a cohesive story and more like different episodes of a story taking place in the same universe.

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