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Asimov, Isaac (edited by Carl Freedman) ~ Conversations with Isaac Asimov

When I selected this book I thought
Isaac Asimov was difficult to drag from his typewriter for family holidays, let alone be tied down for an interview, and this volume pulls together interviews from 1968 to 1990. Topics focus on science fiction with wads of technology, science, life and human behaviour thrown in for good measure.

50-word description
I grabbed the book because it’s simpler than deciding between Asimov’s prodigious output in science fiction and other fields of study: I tried but couldn’t locate his book of bawdy limericks. Also, there are few non-fiction titles in the ‘A’ section. If you have an ‘A’ surname you’re unlikely to feature in any non-fiction section — sorry.

150-word review
I must confess I left this book neglected in my library bag (yeah, I’m a nerd). Someone please wipe the egg from my face because I was hooked on his self-deprecating daring in the first interview at a science fiction forum in 1968:

“Dr Franklin and Mr Pohl, everybody, everybody. As is usual I come unprepared, which doesn’t matter, because I am always unprepared. No one can tell the difference. Right?”

Throughout the interviews, Asimov illuminate his theories and visions of science fiction, the restricting flaws of unimaginative scientists and his dreams of space travel and habitation of planets beyond Earth. Freedman includes essays of rare visits to Asimov’s home to build the profile of the man behind an almost-500 book bibliography.

There is some duplication, as the editor notes, but the sensible route was chosen to publish interviews in their entirety and risk some overlap or – to look positively – show the subtle differences in questions and Asimov’s responses at different times.

Asimov was sometimes pessimistic (or just decades too early in his prophecy) about the end of human life on our planet but has proven correct in most of his opinions and predictions. If there was one person who could be revived every 20 years to study and discuss the state of humanity, I’d vote for him.

isaac asimov (edited by carl freeman) ~ conversations with isaac asimov

Found in
Non-fiction A

Read
Mar 09

Links
Isaac Asimov FAQ
Frankston Library catalogue link

Rating
Fascinating

This is book 21 of the project.

Atwood, Margaret ~ Negotiating with the Dead

When I selected this book I thought
Here’s a shameful confession: until April last year I had never read a book by Margaret Atwood. I picked up The Handmaid’s Tale after a recommendation by SSS and have been making up for lost time furiously by gulping down her fiction, poetry and non-fiction (Margaret turns 70 this year; she might only have another 20 years of writing left!)

50-word description
Negotiating with the Dead expands on the six-part Empson Lectures delivered by Atwood at Cambridge University in 2000. Her lectures focus on writing and being a writer and the book delves into unravelling writers’ motivations and the relationships between writer, reader and subject.

150-word review
The book opens with Atwood’s enthusiastic acceptance in 1998 to present the 2000 Empson Lectures and escalating doubt and writer’s block as the months and weeks fly past. She deconstructs why we write what motivates us to feed the often undefinable compulsion to create something literary out of nothing but a blank page and an urge.

Quotes and examinations of poetry, fables and novels introduce and usefully expand on the questions raised in the six chapters on the definition of a writer, the two-faced role of hands-off observer and keen-eyed documenter, art for art’s sake or financial success, the inevitable meeting with social and moral responsibilities, the relationship of writer, reader and book, and writing’s role alongside the ticking clock of mortality.

By no means is the book prescriptive or instructive — and Atwood often throws more challenges than she answers with the sly wit imbued in many of her fictional characters — and that’s the main charm of this intriguing book.

margaret atwood ~ negotiating with the dead

Found in
Non-fiction A

Read
Jan 09

Links:
Author’s official reference site
Frankston Library catalogue

Rating
Fascinating

This is book 15 of the project.