Quasar, quasar, burning bright

Isaac Asimov

Doubleday, 1978 - Nature - 240 pages

Seventeen essays deal with ice ages, undiscovered elements, Antarctic waters, a tenth planet, quasars, and other subjects of current scientific interest

What people are saying

QUASAR, QUASAR, BURNING BRIGHT

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

Another Asimov Anthology, this one of pieces that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. (Fact pieces are the cachet of some of the more distinguished sci fi mags.) Several essays ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Nanoscale2 - LibraryThing

A collection of essays by Isaac Asimov. He is the all time master of sci fi according to many and that is probably a fair comment on his work. His stuff is good, in many cases, this one is just ok if ...

Contents

• Introduction: 11
• Surprise Surprise: 17
• The Magic Isle: 31

About the author

Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russia, on January 2, 1920. His family immigrated to the United States in 1923 and settled in Brooklyn, New York, where they owned and operated a candy store. Asimov became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of eight. As a youngster he discovered his talent for writing, producing his first original fiction at the age of eleven. He went on to become one of the world's most prolific writers, publishing nearly 500 books in his lifetime. Asimov was not only a writer; he also was a biochemist and an educator. He studied chemistry at Columbia University, earning a B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. In 1951, Asimov accepted a position as an instructor of biochemistry at Boston University's School of Medicine even though he had no practical experience in the field. His exceptional intelligence enabled him to master new systems rapidly, and he soon became a successful and distinguished professor at Columbia and even co-authored a biochemistry textbook within a few years. Asimov won numerous awards and honors for his books and stories, and he is considered to be a leading writer of the Golden Age of science fiction. While he did not invent science fiction, he helped to legitimize it by adding the narrative structure that had been missing from the traditional science fiction books of the period. He also introduced several innovative concepts, including the thematic concern for technological progress and its impact on humanity. Asimov is probably best known for his Foundation series, which includes Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. In 1966, this trilogy won the Hugo award for best all-time science fiction series. In 1983, Asimov wrote an additional Foundation novel, Foundation's Edge, which won the Hugo for best novel of that year. Asimov also wrote a series of robot books that included I, Robot, and eventually he tied the two series together. He won three additional Hugos, including one awarded posthumously for the best non-fiction book of 1995, I. Asimov. "Nightfall" was chosen the best science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1979, Asimov wrote his autobiography, In Memory Yet Green. He continued writing until just a few years before his death from heart and kidney failure on April 6, 1992.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Quasar, quasar, burning bright; Essay collection on science by Isaac Asimov
• Author: Isaac Asimov
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Doubleday, 1978
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: Mar 11, 2008
• ISBN: 0385134649, 9780385134644
• Length: 240 pages
• Subjects: Nature / General; Science; Science / Astronomy; Science / General