Isaac Asimov may well have been the greatest science-fiction author of all time. He was born January 2nd, 1920 in Russia and immigrated to the United States when he was a toddler. In 72 years of life he authored hundreds of books including the immensely popular Robots series and Foundation series of novels.
Asimov wrote true science fiction rather than science fantasy. The distinction is that science fiction, such as the film Blade Runner, deals with things like high tech futures, robots, supercomputers and the like. Science Fantasy, such as George Lucas’ Star Wars films are science fantasy which are often sword-and-sorcery tales with high tech gadgets.
Asimov was a genuine scientist. He understood the material about which he wrote to a degree most authors of his genre did not. This allowed him to spin wondrous tales with a firm base in reality letting the reader become immersed in the story with less suspension of disbelief required by science fantasy authors.
Much of Asimov’s work dealt with human psychological issues from employment to sexual ethics. He was able to write about sensitive topics by using robots as surrogates for human characters. Many of his stories were psychological examinations of these issues that simply had a wonderfully constructed science-fiction setting. His book I, Robot was a collection of short stories that almost entirely followed that pattern and set the tone for the rest of the series. It was in this series that Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics, their ingrained code of behavior and a set of rules widely accepted as required for safety to be programmed into any artificial intelligence.
Asimov’s other landmark work, the Foundation series, dealt with societal issues in the macro sense in much the same way that the Robot series dealt with individual human behavior in the micro sense. It revolves around the idea that while a single person’s behavior is unpredictable that there are certain truths that render it much simpler to understand the actions of large masses of people.
He died April 6th, 1992 from complications arising from AIDS infection. He contracted the disease from tainted blood he received during a surgical procedure in 1983. Asimov’s knowledge, style, and ability to convey complex scientific ideas in ways even a layperson can understand made him one of the most talented writers in the genre. We may never see his like again.
Also from Andrew
Read a review of the latest Dresden Files book
..