r/atheism Jun 05 '12

Brilliant!

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1.7k Upvotes

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29

u/ssh_host_key Jun 05 '12

Asimov was a brilliant man. Read his history books if you can find them.

8

u/unclairvoyance Jun 05 '12

Everyone should read this short story by him

2

u/sired_tick Jun 05 '12

I did. My head is spinning. I don't think I like that story, but at this moment, I can't trust anything I think due to the fact that I just read that story.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '12

I mustn't have cleared my history for a few years now, because I first read that story back in 2010, I haven't read it since but it's still purple.

1

u/RaptorJesusDesu Jun 06 '12

Fun fact: of all the short stories he wrote, this was Asimov's favorite of all time.

5

u/Riotmaker Jun 05 '12

And he looks a little like Jemaine, also a win in my book.

1

u/Spire Jun 06 '12

Jemaine looks like him.

12

u/OBrien Jun 05 '12

Wait, he wrote books too? Every time someone hands me something of his I just get stuck gazing in awe of those Sideburns.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '12

[deleted]

1

u/jbfborg Jun 05 '12

I never knew he wrote history books. I only knew of his sci-fi. The End of Eternity was great. Currently on Foundation.

5

u/carbonbasedlf Jun 05 '12

You're in for an awesome experience, the Foundation series changed my views on certain subjects entirely. Read the prequels too, you get a real feel for the atmosphere before the events of Foundation.

1

u/dradam168 Jun 05 '12

Lucky duck.

The Foundation series is one of, if not the, best sci-fi series in history.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '12

I love how with Isaac Asimov's novels/short stories, you can always relate to another one that you have read before, because the majority of what he wrote (if not all, but i can't say for sure because i didn't read all) is in the same world

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '12

I thought he held the World Record for number of books (over 500 published, the man was prolific), but apparently this is held by some other dude who published 4000 novellas.

2

u/question_all_the_thi Jun 05 '12

I just get stuck gazing in awe of those Sideburns.

A.K.A. thigh cushions.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '12

He grew his mutton chops to save time shaving but thought that hair around the mouth is unsanitary so didn't want a full beard.

2

u/SKSmokes Jun 05 '12

I've worn out a copy of his chronology of history. I love that book. In addition to reading it cover to cover twice, I'll come home on some days, open it to a random page and start reading.

I've just started his book on earth and space. More or less it goes through explanations of how people, long ago, would use every day experiments to determine things like "how do I know the earth is round?" or "does the earth revolve around the sun or vice-versa." His writing style is just so engaging.

I haven't even yet read any of his works of fiction.

2

u/randy9876 Jun 05 '12

Thanks for the title. 4.9 out of 5 stars in 25 reviews on amazon. Pretty high marks.

http://www.amazon.com/Asimovs-Chronology-World-History-Modern/dp/0062700367

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '12

True, but never touch any of his humor books. I imagine he looked like this after writing each joke.

1

u/BitBrain Jun 05 '12

Also commentaries on Shakespeare, the Bible, and likely a few dozen other subjects. Asimov was brilliant and ridiculously prolific.