Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

It was my lucky day when I walked into a local used-book store and found both volumes of Isaac Asimov's autobiography. You might think that reading about the life of a man who spent most of his time in a windowless room pounding a typewriter would be a tedious chore, but you would be wrong in this case. I'm a great fan of detective fiction, and I found "In Memory Yet Green" and its sequel every bit as absorbing and unputdownable as any whodunit. These volumes cover the years 1920 to 1978. Be sure to also read the 1990 memoir, "I.Asimov."

I first read this biography back in college quite a few years ago as I was a huge fan of his -believe it or not- non-fiction!! I actually didn't care for his science fiction! I would say that my interest in science and my entry into science as my major in college was largely due to reading his science essays. I just loved his style. I tell people this and they think I was crazy, but gentle reader(as Isaac would put it)this was the case, and I never cared too much for his fiction writings. In fact I liked Isaac so much I devoured his two huge autobiographies as I found him to be incredibly interesting. This biography as well as the companion book are long and filled with incredible detail. The details are incredibly boring unless you are an Asimov fan. Now like I said I loved both volumes as you really enter his world when he was a kid and you get an interesting view of Brooklyn in the early part of the 20th century. This was all based on his diaries so you can only imagine the amount of details. The book reads like a diary too. He doesn't provide alot of psychological insight into his past but just lots of facts about growing up in New York city - like a friend of his who rode the entire New York city subway system and I believe he wanted to walk every street in Brooklyn. Like I said, I totally enjoyed the work cause I totally loved Isaac's personality in his non-fiction. In fact I liked him even more because of the autobiography. I met him once at a conference (science) but couldn't get to speak with him as his wife shepherded him out of the hall as Isaac just loved to flirt with the ladies. So if you love incredible details about the early life of Isaac this is a great book. If you are not a Huge! fan then stay away from this tome and get his brief biography "I, Asimov", actually a better book too.'Nuf said.

Isaac Asimov has given us an honest insight into what made him what he was. He didn't rely on his memory, but on diaries begun as a child and religiously kept up. A child prodigy, a son of Jewish Russian immigrants, he was expected to work in his father's candy store daily, yet excel in school. The book details his early science fiction writing and the determination to succeed. Somehow, the daily activities which could be boring if not written well, held my interest throughout. This first volume only covers through age 34. Now I have to find Volume II!

This volume (along with its companion, _In Joy Still Felt_), first caught my attention by its thickness about 20 yrs go. As an 18-year-old new immigrant, practically fresh from the airport, I was checking out the local collection at the Oakridge Branch of the Vancouver Public Library for our highschool reading break. I had never heard of Isaac Asimov, but the thick volumes looked like a nice challenge. Despite the phonebook-size of the volumes, they turned out to be an engrossing and entertaining read, and taught me quite a few things about North American immigrants in the early 20th centuries, as well as about N. American culture in general. Before summer vacation even started, I was deep into Asimov's Foundation series, Robot series, and popular science writings.

I know it's usually the other way around: people check out a person's biography AFTER developing a certain interest in his works. I myself came to enjoy biographical writings more and more too, long after my thirst for fiction had waned. But in Asimov's case, it worked perfectly for me: his two-volume biography is so well written that it converted me into a fan. Highly recommended!

P.S. Now re-visiting Vancouver on vacation, I was hoping to get a hold of these volumes from the public library again, both for nostalgia and for edification from a different perspective after 20 yrs. Too bad they seem to have disappeared from the library's catalogue. So, grab them before they go out of print!

I'm a huge Isaac Asimov fan but who could argue he made any great contribution to literature? Asimov himself never made this claim, quite the reverse. He knew what he was about. He wrote quickly and plainly and took pride in that. He wrote pulp fiction of middle quality which, unlike Poe's or Jules Verne's, will probably not be read by the masses in the 2050s. And by then his science books will have been superseded, so they won't be read either.

And yet I believe that he has written one book (well, two books if you include the second part of his autobiography) that stands a good chance of being appreciated in one hundred years and it is this one.

Why? He gives us a picture of Brooklyn during his childhood and adolescence. Asimov makes it an enjoyable read; for one thing, he obviously enjoys writing about himself but as a conscientious writer he wants his readers to enjoy themselves too. He is honest, precise, and meticulous.

While blessed with an extraordinary mind, he lived a very ordinary childhood if a poor one. He was in born in Russia to a Jewish family who soon after emigrated to the United States. He grew up in Brooklyn where his family ran a candy store in which Isaac worked once he was old enough. He went to public school, he read voraciously, he learned to type, he was part of the pulp fiction scene, he went to Columbia for his B.S. and then for his Ph.D. in biochemistry. World War II came along and he worked for the military as a chemist. He got married.

We get a beautiful slice of pure New York Americana here. Much like Sam Pepys's famous diaries give us the feeling of living in 17th century England, Asimov's autobiography gives us the feeling of living in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Asimov's unadorned style works well here. He gives us a sweet hopeful portrait of an immigrant family that rose from poverty to middle class. Touching stuff.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

Note: Don't forget to order the second half: In Joy Still Felt.

Still, he manages to make even the mundane material seem
interesting.