As chosen by the SF grand master himself
said the book's cover. So it was sort of irresistible for me, after having read The Robots of Dawn. Once again, i set the goal of reading 40 pages a day. Noticed some interesting statistics from the book's record in Deshaposhini Public Library, Kuthiravattam, where i lent it from. Between 1988 and 1999, 30 people lent the book. Between 99 and 2022, only one person (me) lent it. I deduced that the total number of readers of Asimov or science fiction has dwindled and also that the total number of library goers has dwindled. I think the latter would be the more plausible explanation. I myself, was venturing out to a public library after a hiatus of over ten years.
I enjoyed most of the stories, though i think i prefer his long fiction. Novels. I am yet to read his non-fiction. What i loved the most about this collection is the author's brief note before each story explaining why he decided to include it in the collection. They are all witty and notable for its lack of modesty - both characteristics i love in artists.
Multivac is a recurring entity in a lot of stories. I love multivac and it is amazing how, all those years ago, he thought of this super computer. As far as i know, such a thing doesn't exist even today but it also does, in various forms. There are computers which collect our data and give intelligent predictions. We have Aadhaar now. We have states with biometric information of each and every adult citizen of a nation. If India has it, the US has the most advanced form of it. We have intelligent advertisements flooding us in every single site we use. We have google. Facebook.
I really liked the story in which multivac is repeatedly sending out commands to kill itself. Some day, i wish to make it into a film. It might have already been made. I don't watch enough films. Anyway, i would like to make one of my own, in Malayalam.
I also liked the one about Doors. We have the same concept in other literature called portals but i liked Doors better. The process reminded me of Dr. Manhattan. There is a psychiatrist who wonders what might happen if the Door got stuck in between the process of transporting one person to another place. I felt it would end up in entities such as Dr. Manhattan, which came in SF later, anyway.
I will quote the brief introductions by the author that i really loved and made me laugh and smile. That's what this makes this collection so valuable. We get a glimpse of Asimov's projection as a SF writer.
He likes teasing the reader in all of his wordplay stories. In A Loint of Paw, he says, in the introduction,
If, on the other hand, you like wordplay, the way to play the game is to cover the last line or two in the story and when you get there (assuming you haven't already read the story) see if you c an guess what I am going to say before I say it. I'll be terribly disappointed if you do.
In The Dead Past, he lets us in to his writing process. I find it very similar to my own and it gave me confidence.
I don't labor over the details of a story in advance. Once I have a vague notion of the idea behind it, and a clear notion of the ending, I just begin and make it up as I go along. Occasionally, I throw something in with no particular idea of having it contribute to the working out of the plot. I may put it in just because it is an interesting sidelight or because it gives an air of verisimilitude to the social background.
The wit in this one really got me. In the introduction to Dreaming Is a Private Thing, he says,
I suppose that every story someone writes is a bit autobiographical. There has to be a personal tinge in it somewhere. After all you can only think with your own brain, you can only remember your own memories, you can only be influenced deeply and subliminally by the events in your own life.
Sherman Hillary, the Dreamer in this story, is reminiscent of me in a way. I was vaguely aware of it but I foolishly thought no one would notice. I was quite wrong. No sooner did the story appear than I got letters quite clear they knew what I was doing.
Heinlein said I was coining money out of my neurosis. Well, whose neurosis should I coin money out of?
I have the same question to the world. Whose neurosis? Your dad's? Why, so you can sue the shit out of me?
I found comfort in this fact about the author that he shared in the introduction to It's Such a Beautiful Day.
... For instance, I'm an indoors person. I'm not afraid of the outdoors and I penetrate it easily and cheerfully. However, I must admit I like Central Park better than the wilderness, and I like the canyons of Manhattan better than Central Park, and I like the interior of my apartment better than the canyons of Manhattan, and I like my two rooms better with the shades down at all times than with the shades up. I'm not an agoraphobe at all, but I am a claustrophile, if you see the distinction.
There is a comment on Eastern philosophy in The Last Answer to which, i said, in annotations, 'Hey! Not all Eastern Philosophy!'.
Murray said, "That sounds like a bit of Eastern philosophy - something that sounds profound precisely because it has no meaning."
I don't know anything about Eastern philosophy but i don't like the West always calling us spiritual and crap especially when we have an ancient tradition of rationalism in India.
I liked the introduction to the last story in the collection, Unto the Fourth Generation the best because i am a hopeless romantic and it is the only one in which Asimov talks about his love life.
When I sat at the same table with Janet Jeppson (who is now my dear wife) for the first time-it was at the annual banquet of the Mystery Writers of America in 1959-this story had just been published. Janet had read it and she pointed out a literary flaw in it. (Here i smiled to myself and said, typical!) I saw her point and introduced the necessary correction, and that's another reason it means so much to me.
Just look at them, the love birds! She was so beautiful! Another author i need to read.
By Jay Kay Klein - Original publication: 1994Immediate source: From the illustration pages in I. Asimov: A Memoir (Bantam Books, 1995) between pages 292-293 (originally published by Doubleday, 1994)., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60533618
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