Yours, Isaac Asimov [Hardcover]

Stanley Asimov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific authors of our time. When he died in 1992 at the age of seventy-two, he had published more than 470 books in nearly every category of fiction and nonfiction. Asimov was a prodigious correspondent as well as a prolific author. During his professional career he received more than one hundred thousand letters, over ninety thousand of which he answered.

For Asimov's younger brother, veteran newspaperman Stanley Asimov, the creation of Yours, Isaac Asimov was truly a labor of love. Completed before Stanley's death in August 1995, the book is made up of excerpts from one thousand never-before-published letters, each handpicked by Stanley for inclusion in this volume. Arranged by subject and accompanied by Stanley's short, insightful introductions, here are letters to statesmen and scientists, actors and authors, as well as to children, housewives, aspiring writers, and fans the world over. The letters are warm, engaging, reasoned, and occasionally impassioned. Through them all Isaac Asimov's legendary genius, wit, and charm shine through.

And so we have Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters, an intimate glimpse into the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of a great writer and thinker of the modern age. As Stanley Asimov advised, "Read the letters carefully. One of them may have been written to you."


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) wrote 470 books on every subject from robots to Shakespeare and an estimated 90,000 letters, hundreds of which are collected here by his brother, an adjunct associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. They are an unalloyed delight. Brought to this country at age three from Russia, Asimov apparently spent his entire youth with his nose in a book and forgot virtually nothing he read. As an adult, writing was his passion, and he regarded anything that kept him away from his desk, including vacations, as an annoyance. He was gregarious and a kind judge of his fellow creatures, with a few exceptions. He despised Ronald Reagan, called creationists "superstitionists" and fought foes of the ERA for many years. He was a New Deal-era liberal and, although he called himself Jewish because of his family background, he was a militant atheist. Because he would not fly, he traveled little but finally visited England, West Africa and California under pressure from his second wife. Particularly entertaining are his limericks, scattered throughout this winning book.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This engaging selection of letters from among the over 45,000 in Asimov's existing correspondence was selected and introduced by his brother, Stanley. The selections, arranged by subject, give the reader a real sense of Asimov as a person, as a writer, and as a raconteur. There is no better description of this book than a sampling of its delights: "My answer to the question, 'Why do you write' is that I write for the same reason I breathe?because if I didn't, I would die." "I am usually amazed (and pleased) at what comes out of the typewriter. Which is why I write so much. I am eager to see what I will say next." "When I was young, my family was too poor to buy books, but library cards were free. From the age of six, I have haunted the library, and the books I read educated me before the schools got their chance." "My appearance of being 'obviously conceited' is entirely a matter of carefully constructed image, like Jack Benny's cheapness. In reality, I am lovably modest and incredibly sweet." I'll bet he was, too. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Denise Johnson, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, Ill.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385476221
• ISBN-13: 978-0385476225
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,309,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A tantalizing glimpse through the editor's keyhole., October 17, 2001

By 

J. Lee (Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Life in Letters (Paperback)

I was truly excited when I saw this book. Isaac Asimov was one of the first SF authors I discovered, and one who left a lasting impression on me; so to get a glimpse behind the fiction (and nonfiction) into the mind of the man who wrote so much stimulating, intelligent prose was a rare treat indeed.

Unfortunately, a glimpse is all that is offered. These are not the complete letters of Isaac Asimov, revealing his thoughts in the full context of his correspondence; rather, they are selected paragraphs excerpted from his letters. The book contains not the mind of Isaac Asimov as he wished to reveal it to his correspondents, but only a few sparkling facets carefully chosen by the editor (Asimov's brother).

Ironically, in one of the paragraphs selected, Asimov reveals that he elected not to write for television or movies because he dreaded the inevitable rewrites and editing of his creations, a decimation of his ideas perpetrated outside of his control. I cannot help but wonder if those words even registered upon his brother's consciousness as he dropped that paragraph, ripped from its surrounding context, into that book full of similar contextual decimations of Asimov's ideas.

To get even those brief glimpses into the mind of Asimov was undeniably enjoyable. However, I cannot but hope that, some day, someone will release a book that DOES contain the letters of Isaac Asimov, rather than mere brief excerpts therefrom.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Window into the mind of Asimov, June 14, 2000

By 

Peter Dykhuis (Grandville, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Life in Letters (Paperback)

This was a wonderful book. I have read this compilation three times now and I enjoy it more each time I am lost in it. What a wonderful glimpse into one of the Great Grand Masters of Science Fiction. Isaac's brother Stanley finished compiling and editing the letters to and from Isaac, which make up this book, shortly before his own death in 1995. Stanley Asimov was a Vice President at Newsday before his retirement in I believe 1992 and you can sure tell the way his professionalism comes through. Stanley had done his brother proud and given the rest of us true treasure.

I loved and still love Isaac's science fiction work and some of his non-fiction work. Reading this book I came to the realization that I abhorred the good Doctors political views. You know what. It doesn't matter. I like Asimov more after reading this book then before. Asimov's candor, honesty and optimism surpass ideology.

This is a very similar book to Grumbles from the Grave by Heinlein. The Heinlein book was a failure for reasons outlined in a review at Amazon about the book by me. The Asimov book is great. The letters are categorized by type rather then year making it easy to read and follow. The commentary is light so as not to be distracting but very helpful and insightful when it was put there.

Thank you Stanley for a great piece of editing work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sampling of Asimov's correspondence, April 4, 2007

By 

Dick Marti (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Yours, Isaac Asimov (Hardcover)

This book was compiled by Isaac Asimov's brother Stanley from Isaac's letters deposited at Boston University. Most of the "letters" are short snippets of only a few lines in length, with some ocassional longer material included. These snippets provide a very enjoyable insight into the life of a highly prolific, and eccentric, writer. I wrote a letter to Asimov around 1985, and received a postcard from him in return. It is one of my treasures. And while it did not make the cut for this book, I did look for it, and enjoyed the book no less because it was not there.