09-18-2012, 01:20 PM | #31 | |
eReader
Posts: 2,750
Karma: 4968470
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: Note 5; PW3; Nook HD+; ChuWi Hi12; iPad
|
Quote:
What one has to remember, though, is that when he was writing his science fiction he was deliberately trying to write unmemorable prose. In fact, he is on record as saying that whenever he wrote what he thought was a particularly good sentence he struck it out. Isaac Asimov did not want anyone to pay attention to his writing. His belief was that if the reader is paying attention to how a writer is saying something they are not paying that attention to what they are saying. He did not want his writing to draw attention away from his ideas. He knew exactly what he was doing. |
|
09-18-2012, 01:22 PM | #32 |
Addict
Posts: 313
Karma: 1701842
Join Date: Mar 2010
Device: Kindle Oasis 3
|
A tiny addition: As to Asimov and major female characters, remember Susan Calvin (I, Robot).
|
09-18-2012, 01:41 PM | #33 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,358
Karma: 5766642
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: Nook
|
|
09-18-2012, 01:43 PM | #34 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,358
Karma: 5766642
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: Nook
|
|
09-18-2012, 01:50 PM | #35 | |||
Evangelist
Posts: 439
Karma: 2248782
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Austria
Device: Inkbook Prime; Icarus Illumina;ImcoV6l;EB600;Kobo
|
I think I can agree with this. He didn't write great literature, but fun stories, IMO.
(I think he said about himself that he continually failed to write "great" text, but at the same time he rarely writes "bad" text.) However, I think he was great at conveying ideas - which, to me, is one of the main purposes of a book. Quote:
I could name a few, but perhaps mainly because they're the heroes of the stories. Quote:
If comparing writing to food, I'd consider his writing to be oatmeal - it's uniformly bland but you know what you're getting and there aren't any bad surprises. (Unless of course you can't stand it in the first place. I only once tried it. Yuck.) Also, it might be worth mentioning that he himself said he never could really escape his growing up with "pulp fiction" magazines. From what I gather, those were often really bad writing. (Apparently written words on paper not bound as books were new back then. Everything was bought and published.) Quote:
(Not in terms of body, but mind. Just as well one might argue that she wasn't really human either.) |
|||
09-18-2012, 01:52 PM | #36 | ||
Guru
Posts: 722
Karma: 2084955
Join Date: Dec 2010
Device: iPhone
|
Quote:
Quote:
I believe that because Asimov's futurist idiom focused on gadgets, alternative timelines, and theoretical political structures at the expense of developed characters and human stories, they feel frozen in time: a snap-shot of his thinking but nothing more enduring. In that way he's very similar to Jules Verne, who has not aged terribly well either. |
||
09-18-2012, 01:52 PM | #37 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,145
Karma: 11174187
Join Date: Jan 2011
Device: Sony 350, K3-3G, K4SO, KPW
|
After I first read Foundation, I wanted to be a psychohistorian when I grew up. That (and the Peter Wimsey books) really shaped the kinds of courses I took in high school and college (alas, i have no head for languages, and so let Lord Peter down).
|
09-18-2012, 02:11 PM | #38 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,987
Karma: 18343081
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada
Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633
|
As someone who studied reactor engineering, I have to say that Asimov's walnut-sized nuclear power units are still almost as far-fetched today as hyperspace travel. We just don't have the technology to convert nuclear power to a more useable form on such a small physical scale. So, it's about as futuristic as you can get, and I don't see what the beef is with the idea. Were the units supposed to be siphoning energy from a hidden dimension via mini-blackholes or something?
|
09-18-2012, 02:26 PM | #39 |
Banned
Posts: 1,118
Karma: 3111746
Join Date: Oct 2011
Device: Kindle & little green monster
|
|
09-18-2012, 02:35 PM | #40 |
Groupie
Posts: 153
Karma: 1011234
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: Kindle Kobo Touch
|
|
09-18-2012, 02:44 PM | #41 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,358
Karma: 5766642
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: Nook
|
Quote:
Breeding is nothing special, after all. Every living thing does it. |
|
09-18-2012, 02:53 PM | #42 |
Banned
Posts: 1,118
Karma: 3111746
Join Date: Oct 2011
Device: Kindle & little green monster
|
|
09-18-2012, 03:26 PM | #43 |
Philosopher
Posts: 2,034
Karma: 18736532
Join Date: Jan 2012
Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2 gen, Kindle Fire 1st Gen, Kindle Touch
|
If a book is still read 70 years later, that's an indication that it is a good book. That doesn't mean everyone is going to like it, of course.
|
09-18-2012, 03:36 PM | #44 |
GUNDAM PILOT
Posts: 227
Karma: 1110244
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: NEW York, NEW York
Device: Kindle Fire
|
As a visual person for me its all about the writing and Visualizing the scenes and characters in the storyline
to be honest the parts of Foundation where Harry Seldon was still Alive were intriguing somehow but I quickly lost interest after that This notion that some great "vision" can be communicated in the absence of well thought out descriptive writing just does not pass for me personally its like trying to excuse to an untrained singing voice and bad song writing because the subject matter of the songs are so important or "visionary." I had such high hopes for the Foundation series....perhaps too high But reading it was like reading a Junior high school book report about what might have been a great science fiction novel series. Contrast this to the "Dune universe" of Frank Herbert where his (and yes even his sons writing) ,made me care about the Characters" even about the fate of that universe, I have a clear image in my Mind of what Vladamir Harkonnen or liet kynes looks like. because of Frank's Descriptive writing and "God Emperor of Dune" is IMHO one greatest novels ever written in any genre. |
09-18-2012, 03:38 PM | #45 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
Quote:
I'm sorry the O.P. found it so horrible, it remains in my top few best SF novels ever written. Tastes vary. To each his own. C'est la vie. |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Today is the birthday of Isaac Asimov | kennyc | Reading Recommendations | 11 | 01-11-2013 04:48 PM |
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series Help | pakiyabhai | Reading Recommendations | 31 | 11-26-2010 12:39 AM |
Science Fiction Asimov, Isaac: Youth, v1, 11 March 2010. | Patricia | BBeB/LRF Books (offline) | 2 | 03-30-2010 07:11 PM |
Science Fiction Asimov, Isaac: Youth, v1, 11 March 2010. | Patricia | IMP Books (offline) | 0 | 03-10-2010 10:33 PM |
Discuss: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov | astrodad | Reading Recommendations | 8 | 06-02-2008 03:41 PM |