"He believed it to be his duty and purpose in life to defeat ignorance whenever he saw it and with whatever weapons lay at his disposal".
That's how Michael White puts it in his biography of Isaac Asimov. And contrary to what some of the Amazon reviews are saying, the book is quite good. I am OK with a few factual (and minor, in my humble opinion) errors. I haven't read much of Asimov. Plus I knew almost nothing about Asimov the person. The book provides a good overview of his life alongwith a useful overview of his work (with chapters alternating between his life and work) and with a few interesting anecdotes put in for good measure. So we get to know that the original 'Foundation Trilogy' was written as a collection of stories and that the last paragraph of 'Nightfall' is not actually Asimov's work. And Asimov the person is just as fascinating as his stories, but that doesn't mean he was all perfect and the book sheds some light on his shortcomings too. His name has become a synonym for science fiction, but his non-fiction work is just as prolific. So he wrote about religion, literature, popular science, and even a few joke books, with total going over two hundred, not even counting articles etc. Even reading those many books will be a feat ;-). And you might as well find something in his life you can relate to (I did).
That's how Michael White puts it in his biography of Isaac Asimov. And contrary to what some of the Amazon reviews are saying, the book is quite good. I am OK with a few factual (and minor, in my humble opinion) errors. I haven't read much of Asimov. Plus I knew almost nothing about Asimov the person. The book provides a good overview of his life alongwith a useful overview of his work (with chapters alternating between his life and work) and with a few interesting anecdotes put in for good measure. So we get to know that the original 'Foundation Trilogy' was written as a collection of stories and that the last paragraph of 'Nightfall' is not actually Asimov's work. And Asimov the person is just as fascinating as his stories, but that doesn't mean he was all perfect and the book sheds some light on his shortcomings too. His name has become a synonym for science fiction, but his non-fiction work is just as prolific. So he wrote about religion, literature, popular science, and even a few joke books, with total going over two hundred, not even counting articles etc. Even reading those many books will be a feat ;-). And you might as well find something in his life you can relate to (I did).
2 comments:
What was it?
you'll come to know if you read the book..
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