Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, And Writing [Hardcover]

Janet Asimov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006

This charming book is a series of entertaining and thought-provoking musings, mainly about the imagination, the sense of identity, the compulsion to write, and Isaac Asimov - who, as Janet Asimov says, was good at all of them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although a psychiatrist by profession, fiction writer Asimov resists the temptation to over-analyze her relationship with husband Isaac Asimov, the prolific science fiction writer, in this lively nonfiction narrative. Keeping her recollections light and warm, with occasional interjections like, "I stopped listening and kissed him," Asimov focuses on the vitality of her subject. Apart from an occasionally grating know-it-all narrative voice, Asimov's memoir is a readable testament to a happy, productive union between two intelligent and creative individuals. Asimov celebrates the fame of Isaac's career, but also documents smaller successes, prioritizing the colorful-and nearly frivolous-tidbits that characterize their daily life ("I hope no reader of this book minds that I'm including what Isaac called maunderings and potterings. I hope the readers will also see his meaning"). She also takes time to describe her own formative years, her career, and her intense grief following Isaac's death. Readers familiar with Isaac Asimov the writer will enjoy his wife's take on Isaac Asimov the man, from his tireless sense of humor to his extraordinary intellectual capabilities, as well as his unusual role as leading man in a touching love story.
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From Booklist

It goes without saying that Janet Asimov's career has been overshadowed by that of her late husband, sf grand master Isaac Asimov, whose life she recently surveyed in a one-volume abridgment of his tripartite autobiography. Although her primary livelihood is that of a respected New York psychiatrist, her essays and stories in this collection reveal a literary intelligence every bit as sharp as that of her famous spouse. In a score of rambling yet engaging essays, she casts a capacious net over such diverse themes as the importance of imagination in living and writing, her experiences as a psychoanalyst, and the heavyweight topics of religion, philosophy, and sex. Isaac's fans will be pleased by the abundance of amusing anecdotes she tells about him, including reminiscences of the many train rides they took because of his aversion to flying. If the handful of fiction that rounds out the volume mostly echoes motifs of her husband's work, such as robotics and puns, she impresses with her knack for entertaining while informing. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1St Edition edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591024056
• ISBN-13: 978-1591024057
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very personal, fine memoir., September 23, 2006

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, And Writing (Hardcover)

NOTES FOR A MEMOIR ON ISAAC ASIMOV, LIFE, AND WRITING is both a autobiography of Janet's life with her famous husband, scientist and writer Isaac, and survey of IsaacAsimov's ideals and values. Plenty of books have been written on Asimov's contributions and science, but few offer the personal and witty insights of NOTES FOR A MEMOIR, which details the life they had together. There's plenty of new information you won't find elsewhere, along with excerpts from his letters to her and family photos, making it a 'must' for any Asimov fan. A selection of Janet's short stories concludes a very personal, fine memoir.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Book, An Enjoyable Read, June 25, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, And Writing (Hardcover)

Not a deep and heavy duty book, but amusing, entertaining and an overall delight. For instance in a story about Alaska in the winter being told by her brother he said, 'if you took off your glove and your hand froze to something metal, the air force advice was to urinate on said hand because urine would probably be the only source of warm water you'd have with you.'

Isaac's comment, 'think of what could happen if a woman's hand gets frozen onto metal. The solution is for women never to go anywhere without the company of some obliging male.'

That's kind of the tone of the book. It's a loving rememberance of their life together. Janet and Isaac were married almost twenty years, and it appears to have been a happy marriage based on mutual respect, mutual admiration and love. The book is the same. Janet's happy marriage is just an indication of her happy life. It's a delightful book, well worth your time.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting background, June 12, 2006

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, And Writing (Hardcover)

This is not a biography of Isaac Asimov, though it is of course mostly about him. It is a grab-bag of chapters about various aspects of their lives together, and of her background. The latter can be of interest to those who read Isaac's works, and want some knowledge of his wife.

Some sections complement what Isaac already wrote. For example, in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, he reported on his experiences in going to dinner with Mikhail Gorbachev at the White House. But Janet fills in some missing details. Like how he was severely ill at the time. (It was shortly before his death.) And how she could not attend the actual dinner, but wangled her way into the White House, since she was a doctor and Isaac needed his medications.

The book also gives more details about Isaac's trenchant atheism, and his lifelong campaign against religious obscurantism.