The Norby Chronicles
by Janet Asimov, Isaac Asimov
Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 1-2)
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When unscrupulous scientists try to kidnap Norby in order to learn the secret of the robot's anti-gravitational capabilities, he and Jeff discover on the dragon-inhabited planet Jamya the key to an even more precious secret.Tags
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Years and years and years ago, I was in Boy Scouts. When you’re in Boy Scouts, you get a free subscription to Boys’ Life magazine. The magazine had a serialized comic of Isaac Asimov’s Norby the Robot. I never found out how it ended.
Isaac Asimov is famous for forming our collective idea of robots. The not-using-contractions, super-smart-but-unable-to-understand-social-cues kind. This book adds a little comedy/levity to those grim I, Robot stories. Our star is a young man in a space force academy. I guess Earth is fairly militant now, but in a good way? This young man buys a sassy robot from a junk shop. Said sassy robot turns out to have all kinds of powers, like flying, teleportation, and time travel. But no one knows how he does show more it. And then there’s dinosaurs.
Isaac Asimov did not write this book. His name is on the cover, but it’s obvious his wife Janet did all the work and it only got published because her husband’s name could be on the cover. I’m not even that much of an Asimov-phile and I can tell this has none of his insight or innovation. This is a children’s book for children of the fifties. The ones who were into Buck Rogers and Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang. The writing is like that too. The bad guy is a Ming the Merciless cult leader with as much relationship to the protagonist as the Care Bears had to Darkheart. There’s no character development. No one has a past or secrets or wants or needs. It’s just meaningless adventures in space with pirates and dragons and other things boys like. show less
Isaac Asimov is famous for forming our collective idea of robots. The not-using-contractions, super-smart-but-unable-to-understand-social-cues kind. This book adds a little comedy/levity to those grim I, Robot stories. Our star is a young man in a space force academy. I guess Earth is fairly militant now, but in a good way? This young man buys a sassy robot from a junk shop. Said sassy robot turns out to have all kinds of powers, like flying, teleportation, and time travel. But no one knows how he does show more it. And then there’s dinosaurs.
Isaac Asimov did not write this book. His name is on the cover, but it’s obvious his wife Janet did all the work and it only got published because her husband’s name could be on the cover. I’m not even that much of an Asimov-phile and I can tell this has none of his insight or innovation. This is a children’s book for children of the fifties. The ones who were into Buck Rogers and Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang. The writing is like that too. The bad guy is a Ming the Merciless cult leader with as much relationship to the protagonist as the Care Bears had to Darkheart. There’s no character development. No one has a past or secrets or wants or needs. It’s just meaningless adventures in space with pirates and dragons and other things boys like. show less
#448 in our old book database. Not rated.
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Author Information
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Janet Opal Jeppson Asimov was born on August 6, 1926. She received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a medical degree from New York University Medical School. After completing a residency in psychiatry, she continued her education at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychoanalysis, where she accepted a job upon graduating. She show more was an author, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. She wrote fiction and nonfiction books including The Second Experiment, The Last Immortal, Mind Transfer, and The Mysterious Cure and Other Stories of Pshrinks Anonymous. She and her husband Isaac Asimov wrote the Norby Chronicles series. She edited a selection of her husband's letters entitled It's Been a Good Life: Isaac Asimov. She also wrote books under the pen name J. O. Jeppson. After her husband's death, she took over writing his science column for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. She died on February 25, 2019 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
2,417+ Works 292,425 Members
Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russia, on January 2, 1920. His family emigrated to the United States in 1923 and settled in Brooklyn, New York, where they owned and operated a candy store. Asimov became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of eight. As a youngster he discovered his talent for writing, producing his first original fiction at show more the age of eleven. He went on to become one of the world's most prolific writers, publishing nearly 500 books in his lifetime. Asimov was not only a writer; he also was a biochemist and an educator. He studied chemistry at Columbia University, earning a B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. In 1951, Asimov accepted a position as an instructor of biochemistry at Boston University's School of Medicine even though he had no practical experience in the field. His exceptional intelligence enabled him to master new systems rapidly, and he soon became a successful and distinguished professor at Columbia and even co-authored a biochemistry textbook within a few years. Asimov won numerous awards and honors for his books and stories, and he is considered to be a leading writer of the Golden Age of science fiction. While he did not invent science fiction, he helped to legitimize it by adding the narrative structure that had been missing from the traditional science fiction books of the period. He also introduced several innovative concepts, including the thematic concern for technological progress and its impact on humanity. Asimov is probably best known for his Foundation series, which includes Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. In 1966, this trilogy won the Hugo award for best all-time science fiction series. In 1983, Asimov wrote an additional Foundation novel, Foundation's Edge, which won the Hugo for best novel of that year. Asimov also wrote a series of robot books that included I, Robot, and eventually he tied the two series together. He won three additional Hugos, including one awarded posthumously for the best non-fiction book of 1995, I. Asimov. "Nightfall" was chosen the best science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1979, Asimov wrote his autobiography, In Memory Yet Green. He continued writing until just a few years before his death from heart and kidney failure on April 6, 1992. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Norby Chronicles
- Original publication date
- 1986-11-15 (Omnibus) (Omnibus); 1983 (Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot) Novel (Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot); 1984 (Norby's Other Secret) Novel (Norby's Other Secret)
- People/Characters
- Norby; Jeff Wells
- Dedication
- To all who like our robot stories, especially to H. Read Evans and Robert E. Warnick
- First words
- "Trouble?" asked Jeff, a little shakily.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Norby," said Jeff. "You're my friend, too, and I want you just the way you are, forever mixed up."
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Collects Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot and Norby's Other Secret.
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Statistics
- Members
- 538
- Popularity
- 55,121
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
