I. Asimov: A Memoir
Contents
Introduction
Infant Prodigy?
My Father
My Mother
Marcia
Religion
My Name
Anti-Semitism
Library
Bookworm
School
Growing Up
Long Hours
Pulp Fiction
Science Fiction
Beginning to Write
Humiliation
Failure
The Futurians
Frederik Pohl
Cyril M. Kornbluth
Donald AllenWollheim
Early Sales
John Wood Campbell, Jr.
Robert Anson Heinlein
Lyon Sprague de Camp
Clifford Donald Simak
Jack Williamson
Lester del Rey
Theodore Sturgeon
Graduate School
Women
Heartbreak
"Nightfall"
As World War II Begins
Master of Arts
Pearl Harbor
Marriage and Problems
In-Laws
NAES
Life at War's End
Games
Acrophobia
Claustrophilia
Ph. D. and Public Speaking
Postdoctorate
Job Hunting
The Big Three
Arthur Charles Clarke
More Family
First Novel
New Job at Last
Doubleday
Gnome Press
Boston University School of Medicine
Scientific Papers
Novels
Nonfiction
Children
David
Robyn
Off the Cuff
Horace Leonard Gold
Country Living
Automobile
Fired!
Prolificity
Writer's Problems
Critics
Humor
Literary Sex and Censorship
Doomsday
Style
Letters
Plagiarism
Science Fiction Conventions
Anthony Boucher
Randall Garrett
Harlan Ellison
Hal Clement
Ben Bova
Over My Head
Farewell to Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Janet
Mystery Novels
Lawrence P. Ashmead
Overweight
More Conventions
Guide to Science
Indexes
Titles
Essay Collections
Histories
Reference Library
Boston University Collection
Anthologies
Headnotes
My Own Hugos
Walker & Company
Failures
Teenagers
Al Capp
Oases
Judy-Lynn del Rey
The Bible
Hundredth Book
Death
Life After Death
Divorce
Second Marriage
Guide to Shakespeare
Annotations
New in-Laws
Hospitalizations
Cruises
Janet's Books
Hollywood
Star Trek Conventions
Short Mysteries
Trap Door Spiders
Mensa
The Baker Street Irregulars
The Gilbert & Sullivan Society
American Way
Rensselaerville Institute
Mohonk Mountain House
Travel
Foreign Travel
Martin Harry Greenberg
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Autobiography
Heart Attack
Crown Publishers
Simon & Schuster
Marginal Items
Nightfall, Inc.
Hugh Downs
Best-seller
Out of the Past
Word Processor
Police
Heinz Pagels
New Robot Novels
Robyn Again
Triple Bypass
Azazel
Fantastic Voyage II
Limousines
Humanists
Senior Citizen
More About Doubleday
Interviews
Honors
Russian Relatives
Grand Master
Children's Books
Recent Novels
Back to Nonfiction
Robert Silverberg
Gathering Shadows
Threescore Years and Ten
Hospital
New Autobiography
New Life
Epilogue, by Janet Asimov
Photographs
Introduction
In 1977, I wrote my autobiography.
Since I was dealing with my favorite subject, I wrote at length and I ended with 640,000 words. Since Doubleday is always overwhelmingly kind to me, they published it all—but in two volumes. The first wasIt had been a quiet life and there was no great excitement in it, so even though I made up for that by what I considered a charming literary style (I never bother with false modesty, as you will quickly discover), the publication was not a world-shaking event. However, some thousands of people found pleasure in reading it, and I am periodically asked if I will continue the tale.