Asimov on Astronomy
by Isaac Asimov
Science essays for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (10), Essay Collections
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A collection of seventeen of Isaac Asimov's essays on astronomy, selected from his out of print science essay books.Tags
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Surprising enjoyable and informative read.
This is a collection of 16 essays that were individually published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction between 1959 and '66. Which is an odd source for them as they are all non-fiction. This book was first published in '74 and has a few corrections to the initial essays in the light of new discoveries. It is surprising how little else has needed to be corrected since then - the biggest issues being the number of satellites of the main planets and the demotion of Pluto from planet status.
Each essay covers a few of the details of astronomy. More than just star gazing, this is why the night sky looks like it does with reference to how it could look if things were different. The show more invitable maths is kept very simple, though the reader should have a grasp of the basic principles involved. There are no complexities to follow, though one hopes somewhere that Asimov's sums were checked as he claims one or two unique data points.
Fascinating. show less
This is a collection of 16 essays that were individually published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction between 1959 and '66. Which is an odd source for them as they are all non-fiction. This book was first published in '74 and has a few corrections to the initial essays in the light of new discoveries. It is surprising how little else has needed to be corrected since then - the biggest issues being the number of satellites of the main planets and the demotion of Pluto from planet status.
Each essay covers a few of the details of astronomy. More than just star gazing, this is why the night sky looks like it does with reference to how it could look if things were different. The show more invitable maths is kept very simple, though the reader should have a grasp of the basic principles involved. There are no complexities to follow, though one hopes somewhere that Asimov's sums were checked as he claims one or two unique data points.
Fascinating. show less
A collection of astronomy essays written by Asimov in the 1960s. Although quite dated, he uses footnotes to make corrections, which is nice. It gets a little bit mathematical at times, but Asimov makes it easy to understand and writes in a way to keep you interested.
Asimov had the most wonderful faculty for making the difficult accessible to the masses. In days before the great swamping of the marketplace by series of "X for Dummies" or "Complete Idiot's Guide to Y", Asimov had the charm and facility to explain the difficult in terms that laymen could understand. Even Rocket Science was not too much for him.
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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
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