Comments on: Isaac, Part 5 in our continuing series

By: book publishers

book publishers — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:13:47 +0000

Isaac Asimov will be remembered for his fine position and intensely bright genius. His work is really worth reading more than once.

By: Tina Black

Tina Black — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:00:17 +0000

When we went to see I Robot at the theatre, most of the KC SF Society was seated in three rows. I stood up and called up to a film geek seated above me: “D**, repeat after me: ‘This film has nothing to do with Isaac Asimov.’”
“What?”
“Repeat after me: ‘This film has nothing to do with Isaac Asimov.’” [snickers start]
“‘The title is only a coincidence’ — repeat it D**!” [laughs]
“It is completely unrelated.”
“It is — hey wait a minute! What about Susan Calvin?”
“A coincidence, D**, a coincidence!”

My work there was done. He even enjoyed the movie for what it was, instead of crying about it for what it was not.

By: Tom Galloway

Tom Galloway — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:58:06 +0000

Just to be clear, getting a Ph.D. does not automatically result in getting tenure. Once one gets a Ph.D. and a job as a tenure-track professor (which increasingly is less and less the case), it\’s usually around 5-7 years before one comes up for tenure. Which, depending on the school, can easily be as scary a process as the Ph.D. exam. There are some schools and departments, particularly at places like Harvard and Yale, that almost never give their junior faculty tenure, preferring to recruit already tenured at other schools\’ faculty for their tenured positions. If I\’m recalling correctly from his autobiography, Asimov was not an automatic shoo-in for tenure at BU due to a combination of relatively weak research results and personality clashes with some of the administration, although of course he did get it.

By: Erica Ginter

Erica Ginter — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:55:56 +0000

The memory of thiotimoline is alive and well. One of our cats is named Thiotimoline because he purrs before you pet him. My husband’s parents are both chemists, and the puzzled looks on their faces when we told them our new cat’s name were priceless. It was a chemical, obviously, but one they had never heard of! They much appreciated the joke when it was explained.

By: Watson Ladd

Watson Ladd — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:02:29 +0000

I think Isaac Asimov remembered his defense a bit differently. In his memoirs he says the question was “what are the thermodynamic properties of resublimated thiotimoline?”. It’s still a wonderful story either way and it is always fun reading about these tales behind the tales.

By: Johnny Pez

Johnny Pez — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:06:11 +0000

Yup, the first book was Pebble in the Sky. The Stars, Like Dust was the second Doubleday novel.