Opus 100 [Hardcover]

Isaac Asimov (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co; First Edition edition (June 1969)
• ISBN-10: 0395073510
• ISBN-13: 978-0395073513
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,527,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsory reading for anyone interested in Sci or Fi, January 7, 2001

By 

"fourstringmagic" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opus 100 (Hardcover)

In this book Mr. Asimov reviews his first 100 books. He presents a chapter from each one with some comments about the way the book was written, the characters (if it's a fiction story) or the research if it's a Science book. Compulsory reading for anyone interested in Science and/or Fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging summary of Isaac Asimov's first 99 books, December 9, 2001

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Opus 100 (Hardcover)

Certainly there is no one who can match the breadth of Asimov's writings, although there are a few who can match the volume. The man truly can be described as "the human writing machine." This is a book about books, being a summary of the first 99 that he wrote. To be more precise, it is a collection of excerpts from several of those books interspersed with Asimov's personal commentary concerning his writing and how he came to write about that particular topic.
I found the commentary to be more interesting than the excerpts. He writes in a very personal style that seems to be directed to you as you read it. His tactics and even occasional humility, a rare thing for Asimov and something he readily admits, gives you a great deal of insight into how he could be so prolific and broad. He sums up his career very well when he admits that the only thing that he is expert at is in sounding like an expert.
I confess that I learned more science from reading Asimov's books than I did in satisfying the requirements for two majors in areas of science. He writes very well, making the complex understandable. If you are unfamiliar with his work, then this book is a good place to begin. If you have read nearly all of his over 300 books, then you can still read this for pleasure, something I just did for the third time.