Recommend Asimov fiction?

In article <1g9ok2c.1ruio161dofb28N%paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.NOSPAMcom>, Paul Tang <paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.nospamcom> wrote:

: But I'd like to start reading his fiction collection. Can anyone
: recommend where I should start? I know people will probably say his
: Foundation or Robot series, but I've enjoyed his 'Black Widowers' books
: so perhaps I should start with his short stories? I suppose anything
: that is thought-provoking and not too boring.

I personally prefer his short stories to his novels. You might like
the collection _Asimov's Mysteries_. The robot stories are indeed worth
reading. Many of them are thought-provoking, and I would say that
_The Bicentennial Man_ is one of his finest stories. I am also partial
to his collections _Earth is Room Enough_ (which has "The Dead Past," one
of my personal favorites among his short stories) and _Nightfall and
Other Stories_ (I agree with Asimov that "Nightfall" is overrated, but
there are some other interesting stories in that collection). The short
story "The Last Question" is of course a must-read, but I can't remember
off the top of my head in which collection it appears. These short story
collections are all, as far as I know, out of print, but they can be
picked up cheaply from any number of on-line used book dealers.

Have fun.

-----
Richard Schultz schultr.TakeThisOut@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Any computer containing the equivalent of 256 or 512 K ('kilobytes') of
RAM . . . should provide reasonable performance for most word-processing
applications." -- Ebel, Bliefert, and Russey, _The Art of Scientific Writing_
 >> Stay informed about: Recommend Asimov fiction? 

"Richard Schultz" wrote in
 >
Paul Tang wrote:
 >
 > : But I'd like to start reading his fiction collection. Can anyone
 > : recommend where I should start? I know people will probably say his
 > : Foundation or Robot series, but I've enjoyed his 'Black Widowers' books
 > : so perhaps I should start with his short stories? I suppose anything
 > : that is thought-provoking and not too boring.
 >
 > I am also partial to his collections _Earth is Room Enough_
(which has "The Dead Past,"

 >The short story "The Last Question" is of course a must-read,
 > but I can't remember off the top of my head in which collection
 > it appears.

The Dead Past and The Last Question can be found in _The Complete Stories_
Vol 1 which is available in the UK (certainly from Amazon.co.uk). Volume 2
has some of my favourites, The Ugly Little Boy, Hostess, It's Such a
Beautiful Day.

Steve<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Recommend Asimov fiction? 

Me, I've got rather lengthy recommendations which can be seen at my
Asimov review site,
<http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/Asimov/Asimov.html>.
 >> Stay informed about: Recommend Asimov fiction? 

Paul Tang <paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.NOSPAMcom> wrote:

 > Hi All
 >
 > I've been a big fan and collector of The Great Doctor's non-fiction work
 > (his Guides to Science, Bible, Shakespeare, and many others), that I
 > think I am finally happy that I have collected all that I would want.
 >
 > But I'd like to start reading his fiction collection. Can anyone
 > recommend where I should start? I know people will probably say his
 > Foundation or Robot series, but I've enjoyed his 'Black Widowers' books
 > so perhaps I should start with his short stories? I suppose anything
 > that is thought-provoking and not too boring.
 >
 > thanks in advance
 >
 >
 > paul<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Recommend Asimov fiction? 

paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.NOSPAMcom (Paul Tang) wrote in message news:<1g9qbtp.2eetzb651sgeN%paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.NOSPAMcom>...
 > Paul Tang <paul.tang@#dsl.pipex.NOSPAMcom> wrote:
 >
  > > Hi All
  > >
  > > I've been a big fan and collector of The Great Doctor's non-fiction work
  > > (his Guides to Science, Bible, Shakespeare, and many others), that I
  > > think I am finally happy that I have collected all that I would want.
  > >
  > > But I'd like to start reading his fiction collection. Can anyone
  > > recommend where I should start? I know people will probably say his
  > > Foundation or Robot series, but I've enjoyed his 'Black Widowers' books
  > > so perhaps I should start with his short stories? I suppose anything
  > > that is thought-provoking and not too boring.
  > >
  > > thanks in advance
  > >
  > >
  > > paul

Paul,

If you can get a copy of the End of Eternity then do so. It is not
related in any way to the other Asimov series (Robots, Empire,etc). It
is about time-travel with a twist at the end. Very nice story.
Although I read in some past posts that it is quite similar to Poul
Anderson's The Time Patrol. Have not had the chance to read that one
though...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Recommend Asimov fiction? 

GIS Manager <gis_phil DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
   >> > But I'd like to start reading his fiction collection. Can anyone
   >> > recommend where I should start? I know people will probably say his
 >
 > If you can get a copy of the End of Eternity then do so. It is not
 > related in any way to the other Asimov series (Robots, Empire,etc). It
 > is about time-travel with a twist at the end. Very nice story.

I second you on that recommendation, and I would like to add:
The Gods Themselves
another "complete onto itself" novel, which is one of the few times Asimov
took to portraying aliens in his work.
--
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