Customer Reviews

Nightfall and Other Stories (Crest Science Fiction, P1969)

5 star:		(4)
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3 star:		(1)
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What an incredible book. Filled to the brim with terrific short stories, Asimov completely engrosses you in the lives and situations of the characters in these stories in only 30 pages. Some have twist endings that truly surprise and thrill. Others are good looks at technology and the like in a nutshell, developed too far.
I would absolutely recommend Nightfall & Other stories- Nightfall is the classic about a world who never sees darkness- surrounded by numerous suns, and how it affects its inhabitants. A must read for any science fiction fan- Asimov doesn't disappoint!

Nightfall sent my jaw dropping to the floor by the tales end. It was an amazing piece of work that blew me completely away.
That being said, I am a huge fan of Asimov but this collection is indeed a mixed bag. There are some great stories and his ideas are grand but the writing style is mixed so don't feel bad if the stories feel a bit mixed in quality. Despite that fact read all the intros by Asimov, as they are quite candid and, in many ways, more entertaining than some of the stories themselves

Normally I'm not much of one for reading forwards or author introductions; I figure a story should stand on its own, no need to explain. But in this case, the introductions to each short story were as entertaining as the story itself and because the book is much older it's also an interesting history lesson (ever wonder what authors were paid way back when?). Well worth reading in addition to the very well-written and imaginative short stories.

While I won't go so far as to say I loved all of the stories, even the worst wasn't all that bad. And that's pretty high praise for a collection of miscellaneous short stories. And even though `Nightfall' is often lauded as his best story ever, it is not my favorite story in the collection. I'd say it'd fall somewhere in the middle if I were to individually rank them.

This collection is a mix of true sci-fi, a little bit of fantasy, some mystery and even a touch of romance. None of it feels forced or unnatural, the stories flow and come alive, and I am reaffirmed in my belief that Asimov, if not the best writer of all time, is certainly in the top ten.

I originally came across this book when it was used as a source for a research paper I was writing and loved the writing style in it, also I am an avid Isaac Asimov reader so this was a must to add to my collection. As for a favorite from this collection I really cannot choose because I love each one of the stories for a different reason.

Once again, Isaac Asimov has proved to me that he is amazing. His stories have everything that I want from science fiction: intriguing plotlines, philosophical relevance, interesting ideas, believability - even humour. I read this book quickly; most of the stories are incredible although there are a few which didn't quite hit the mark with me. I got this book secondhand for the title story, Nightfall, which is quite well known. The only problem is that this book is out-of-print; however, I would recommend any Asimov you can get your hands on.

There are twenty stories in the book in all. I found "Nightfall" itself a bit overrated. After hearing so much about how mindblowing it was, I found it rather predictable, although compared to most other science-fiction fairly decent (the story is also based on a quote from Emerson, whom I am completely in love with). I loved almost all of the stories; although I have some comments to make about some of them. In particularly, I loved "Hostess", "In A Good Cause-" (although I disagreed with the political implications), and "What is This Thing Called Love?" (nothing is funnier than making fun of Playboy). But really, they are all great. Isaac Asimov makes my day. Several times over.