In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 [Hardcover]

Isaac Asimov (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 732 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (February 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038513679X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385136792
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,248,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How coule someone make this interesting?, July 19, 1999

By 

John Domby (UNC Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 (Hardcover)

Undertaking merely one of the two volumes of Asimov's autobiography seems a daunting task, but as Orson Scott Card said at a signing I recently attended, "Asimov's style is so liquid. He led a boring life and yet I found myself turning the pages eagerly." This is exactly the position I found myself in reading this and the next tome of Asimov's life story: enthralled. This comes in part from a keen interest in the man, his work, and life, and also in part from the simple fact that he was such a damn good writer. I wouldn't recommend the book as light reading, but for anyone who is interested in the genius and his life, don't hesitate.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this superior work. One of his best..., March 30, 1998

By 

David Carter ([e-mail] (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 (Hardcover)

This book (Library Edition) is huge and lush with detail. The follow-up, "In Joy Still Felt", continues the tale, and is also quite worthy of obtaining. Unlike the more contemporary version (I.Asimov: A Memoir) "In Memory Yet Green" recalls the *angst* of waiting for a cheque from a publisher, the occasionally brash youthfulness, the love of his family and his meteoric rise once he got his foot in the door. The more modern one has an edge; a sense of impatience or haste, or simply an impending lack-of-time. It omits vignettes like the time his school principal called him into his office, said nothing, and took out a comb and fixed his hair before sending him out of the office. This autobiography is detailed and shows how the Russian-speaking youth moved from being an English-illiterate to the self-taught genius that we all came to know. It relates how he heard people pronounce street names, examined the street signs and figured out how to read before he began his formal education. This is the story as told when he didn't feel that he was running out of time. It has a sense of fun (cf. The Endochronic Properties of Theotimoline "practice paper" he wrote prior to taking his Ph.D examination). It ranges widely, and includes whole stories as examples. Get all three and compare them. "I.Asimov: A Memoir" gives more current information, but the first two make you *really* appreciate him.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet the man who wrote and published 500 books, May 10, 1998

By 

Michael Williams (North Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 (Hardcover)

Asimov hesitated to undertake an autobiography. He steadfastly maintained that nothing of interest ever happened to him. He determined that, if he were to write such an autobiography, he'd have to call on all his skill as a writer to disguise the fact. You'll have to decide for yourself whether his life was indeed as dull as he claimed, but you won't question his skill as a writer.

In Memory Yet Green (and its companion volume, In Joy Still Felt) makes us participants in the life of one of the greatest minds in 20th century America. You feel you know his parents and siblings. You'll feel you'd recognize his father's candy store, their apartment, his schools, his neighborhood if you saw them. You'll share in his academic successes and travails and in the loves of his life. You'll meet his friends, the list of which reads like a who's who of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

Asimov was a masterful writer and a genius at making science understandable to the average reader. But he also wrote about the Bible, about literary criticism, he wrote some of the best-loved science fiction ever, he wrote limericks, essays, and the list goes on and on. I like to joke that he could make a phone book an interesting read. He certainly makes reading about his life a delight.