Customer Reviews

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

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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

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.

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.

I am a huge Asimov fan, so I wanted to like this book. But the truth is, Jeppson doesn't write like Isaac Asimov, and her prose isn't nearly as engaging. Also, the parts about Asimov are recycled in large part from other bios of him I have read, and the parts about Jeppson and her philosophies, life, and feelings simply held no interest for me.

This book is not a memoir, but rather a collection of musings on various subjects that sprang from the mind of Isaac Asimov to whom the author was married. While there is some interesting material here, it really is not worth the hefty price tag. You are better off reading Isaac Asimov's autobiographies. If you insist on reading this work, wait for it to show up at the local public library or get it on interlibrary loan instead.