The Best of Isaac Asimov

A fine paperback collection of Asimov's best science fiction short stories, selected by Asimov himself in 1973. A decent bibliography of Asimov tacked on at the end, too. I got the book for his 1956 story "The Dead Past" which involves historians trying to use a chronoscope (or chronovisor) to view the past. The dream of every historian, I think. "Nightfall" and "The Last Question" are great stories, and well worth the few bucks I paid for the book (I had to go to several Half Price Books stores in the Metroplex before I found it). "C-Chute" was decent, so too "The Billiard Ball." "Mirror Image," a late piece from 1972, shows off Asimov's Holmesian pastichery.

3.5 stars overall
3 ⭐ Marooned off Vesta
But not for long...but that inching across the sides of the broken spaceship was scary. I felt some vertigo while reading it.
2 ⭐ Nightfall
This is about a planet with 6 suns. All of the suns have set but one, and that one is about to be covered by an eclipse. The planet has a history of its civilization expanding until, every 2K years, this happens again, then the whole planet goes mad at the sight of millions of stars in their sky, and their civilization falls again.
I can only guess at the purpose of the story: to make fun of humans and their dangerous ignorance?
2 ⭐ C Chute
A ship on its way back to Earth from Arcturus is attacked by a Kloros ship and captured. The crew is killed and a group show more of passengers is held prisoner. They all hate each other, but eventually pull together when one of them volunteers to go out the "C Chute" (where corpses are buried at space) in order to attempt to re-enter the ship from the steam chutes. The best part is the description of what it's like to walk on the outer skin of the ship.
2 ⭐ The Martian Way
The humans living on Mars are dependent on earth for their water and food. Space ships use water for their propulsion. Riled up by a politician, taxpayers on Earth are angry about the amount of water given up to Mars and its spaceships. They want to cut them off, but first earth places a limit on the amount of water that Mars can take. So one young Martian comes up with a way to get their own water.

3 ⭐ The Deep
On a planet where it's sun is dying, the residents have been living beneath the surface. but now the planet itself is dying and the cold is setting in. They must find another place to live. This species has telepathy. They developed a manner to reach across the vast distances and connect minds. With a special receiver that they have constructed, this receiver will allow the minds of all the species remaining to transfer to the new planet, once initial contact is made.
The first contact is with the mind of an infant, traveling on an airplane, with its mother. the man projecting his mind into the infant is astonished to find that his host species have no connection of their minds. Moreover, this species knows who its mother and father is. he relates this to his Superior upon return.
" 'well,' said Gan, 'without mental contact, they probably have no real conception of society and subrelationships may build up. Or was this one pathological?'
'no, no. It's universal. The female in charge was the infant's mother.'
'impossible. It's own mother?'
'of necessity. The infant had passed the first part of its existence inside its mother. Physically inside. The creature's eggs remain within the body. They are inseminated within the body. They grow within the body and emerge alive.'
'great caverns,' Gan said weakly. Distaste was strong within him. 'each creature would know the identity of its own child. Each child would have a particular father - ' " show less

A selection of Asimov's short stories, by Asimov himself. What else can be said? This version has notes by the author that further explain the context in which the stories were written. I highly recommend first reading one story and then reading that story's notes to better understand Asimov's ideas and context when writing.

Of course, it includes "The Last Question" which is by and large a favourite among sci-fi fans around the world. Read it and figure out why, you won't be disappointed.

A good Asimov collection, but not one of my favorites.

some of the all-time classics are in this collection