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Subject: Isaac Asimov FAQ, Part 1/3
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Summary: This document answers frequently asked questions about Isaac Asimov and his work.
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FAQ for alt.books.isaac-asimov


This document answers frequently asked questions about Isaac Asimov and
his works. It is posted periodically to the Usenet newsgroups
alt.books.isaac-asimov, alt.answers, and news.answers, and is available
via anonymous FTP at rtfm.mit.edu as the files:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_1_3
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_2_3
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_3_3

If you don't have anonymous FTP capabilities, send mail to
mailserver@rtfm.mit.edu, subject ignored, with the following message in
the body text:
   send usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_1_3
   send usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_2_3
   send usenet/alt.books.isaac-asimov/Isaac_Asimov_FAQ,_Part_3_3

For help on the mailserver, send a message with the subject "help".

It is also available via anonymous FTP at vaxa.crc.mssm.edu.

The latest WWW edition of this FAQ can be found at Lightside, Inc. via the URL:
http://www.lightside.com/SpecialInterest/asimov/asimov-faq.html
Many thanks to Fred Condo (fred@lightside.com) for graciously allowing
this FAQ to reside there.

Compiled by Edward Seiler (Ed.Seiler@gsfc.nasa.gov) and John H. Jenkins
(John_Jenkins@taligent.com). Special thanks to Soh Kam Yung
(sauron@ee.nus.sg, engp3010@leonis.nus.sg), Mark Brader(msb@sq.com), and
Matthew P. Wiener (weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu) for their contributions.


This FAQ is organized as follows (questions whose answers have changed
since the last posting of the FAQ are marked with an asterisk).

Table of Contents:

1. For starters
 1.1  Where can I get a list of all of Asimov's books? Is there an FTP
      site for this information?
 1.2  Where else can I find Asimov stuff on the net?

2. Biographical (non-literary)
 2.1  How do you pronounce "Isaac Asimov"?
 2.2  Is Asimov really dead?  When did he die?  Where is he buried?
 2.3  When and where was he born?
 2.4  Who are the other members of his family?
 2.5  Was he married? Did he have any children?
 2.6  Where did Asimov live, attend school, and work during his life?
 2.7  What are the titles of Asimov's autobiographies?  Where can I get
      them?
 2.8  What books and articles about Asimov have been written by others?
 2.9  What religious beliefs did Asimov have?
 2.10 Did Asimov do anything other than write all day and all night?
 2.11 Is it true that Asimov had a fear of flying?
 2.12 What other notable quirks, fears, and pet peeves did Asimov have?

3. Biographical (literary)
 3.1  When did he start writing?
 3.2  What was his first published story?
 3.3  What awards did he win for his writing?
 3.4  What is Asimov's last book?
*3.5  Of his own work, what were Asimov's favorite and least favorite novel?
      What were his favorite and least favorite stories?

4. The Foundation/robot Series
 4.1  What is this _Forward_the_Foundation_ I keep hearing about?
 4.2  Did Asimov *really* write _Forward_the_Foundation_?  Didn't he die
      before it was done, so somebody else really wrote it up from
      notes?
 4.3  What about the contradictions between _Forward_the_Foundation_ and
      other Foundation books?
 4.4  What is the chronological order of the Foundation books?
 4.5  What is the order in which the Foundation books should be read?
 4.6  What is the significance of the ending of _Foundation_and_Earth_?
 4.7  Why do Asimov's books give two reasons why the Earth becomes 
      radioactive?
 4.8  Did Asimov write the Foundation books with any plan in mind?
 4.9  Is Data from "Star Trek:  The Next Generation" an Asimovian robot?
 4.10 What *are* the Laws of Robotics, anyway?

5. Other writings
 5.1  What is the relationship between the movie "Fantastic Voyage" and
      Asimov's novel?
 5.2  What did Asimov write besides the Foundation and robot books?
 5.3  What is the source of the title of the novel
      _The_Gods_Themselves_?
*5.4  Is there an index of his science articles for the Magazine of
      Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF)? Of his editorials in Isaac
      Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (IASFM)?
 5.5  What is the Asimov-Clarke treaty?

6. More Than Books...
 6.1  What records, audio tapes, videotapes, and software are available?
 6.2  Have any of Asimov's books or stories been made into a movie or
television series?

7. Coming attractions...

----------------------------------------------------------------------


1. For starters

------------------------------

1.1 Where can I get a list of all of Asimov's books? Is there an FTP
    site for this information?

Asimov published lists of his books periodically through his life, in his
three Opus books (_Opus_100_, _Opus_200_, _Opus_300_) and the three
volumes of his autobiography (_In_Memory_Yet_Green_, _In_Joy_Still_Felt_,
and _I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_).

The lists in _Opus_100_, _Opus_200_, _Opus_300_, _In_Memory_Yet_Green_,
and _In_Joy_Still_Felt_ include an official number for the books listed,
indicating the order of publication. The catalogue in
_I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_ does not number the books listed and is known to be
incomplete. Official numbers for the books not listed in the other volumes
are not available. 

As of the time of his death, Asimov had published some two hundred books
without official numbers.  Many of these can be found by going through
such sources as _Books_In_Print_ or the Library of Congress card catalog
[which can be accessed by telnet to locis.loc.gov]. However, since Asimov
often did not count as "his" books those on which a publisher merely
slapped his name, and because a number of his books were published in
limited editions by obscure presses, these sources cannot be taken as
complete. The compilation of a truly complete list is not a casual
undertaking.

There is an anonymous ftp site that provides lists of his known books and
short stories at vaxa.crc.mssm.edu. Once you connect, cd asimov (the ftp
server supports Unix-style commands, so don't worry about VAX syntax).
Thanks to Alex Pechtchanski (pechtcha@vaxa.crc.mssm.edu) for providing the
site.  Any omissions or errors should be reported to Edward Seiler
(Ed.Seiler@gsfc.nasa.gov) or John H. Jenkins (John_Jenkins@taligent.com).
Here are the current contents:

asimov_big_list.txt:  A list of all known editions [that is, known by
                      me, the list compiler, ES] of Asimov's books.
                      This is an ASCII file, up to 132 chars. per line,
                      including title, publisher, year of publication,
                      number of pages, size, Library of Congress call
                      number, Dewey number, ISBN, and Library of
                      Congress card catalog number.
asimov_big_list_by_title.txt: The "big list" in alphabetical order by
                              title.
asimov_catalogue.txt: A catalogue of Asimov titles, arranged by categories in 
                      the same fashion as in his autobiographies.
asimov_titles.txt:    A list of Asimov's books in order of authorship,
                      as known or estimated.
short_story_list.txt: A list of Asimov's short stories, in order of
                      publication, cross-referenced to list which of
                      Asimov's collections they can be found in.
trantorian.empire:    A list of worlds mentioned in the Foundation
                      series.

The anonymous ftp site, gandalf.rutgers.edu archives sf-related material
and contains a general Science Fiction resource guide. A bibliography of
books by Isaac Asimov and Janet Asimov can be found there, as well as
those on other writers. (The list on Asimov is less comprehensive or
detailed than the ones given above). These lists of bibliographies are
copyrighted by John Wenn (jwenn@world.std.com).

The files are:

/pub/sfl/authorlists/Asimov.Isaac
/pub/sfl/authorlists/Asimov.Janet

------------------------------

1.2 Where else can I find Asimov stuff on the net? 

Following is a list of gopher sites containing Asimov related material
found using Veronica. For UNIX based systems, the easiest way of using
these links is to paste the parts between (and including) the # and the
URL lines into a file called .gopherrc (note the dot). For WWW clients on
any system, manually enter the URL information.

An article by Isaac Asimov on Saving the Earth
#
Type=0
Name=asimov.savearth
Path=ftp:pencil.cs.missouri.edu@/pub/map/lib/environ/asimov.savearth
Host=services.more.net Port=70
URL: ftp://pencil.cs.missouri.edu/pub/map/lib/environ/asimov.savearth 

A directory containing speeches Asimov gave on the Impact of Science on Society
#
Type=1
Name= Isaac Asimov
Path=11/Library/Reference/Etext/Impact.of.Science.On.Society.hd/3
Host=info.rutgers.edu Port=70
URL:
gopher://info.rutgers.edu:70/0/Library/Reference/Etext/Impact.of.Science.On.Society.hd/3

A chronology of Asimov's Susan Calvin stories, robot novels, galactic
empire novels and Foundation series.
#
Type=0
Name=Isaac Asimov Fiction Timeline
Path=0/Library/Media/Sci-Fi/asimov.tl
Host=wiretap.spies.com Port=70
URL: gopher://wiretap.spies.com:70/0/Library/Media/Sci-Fi/asimov.tl

An audio file at the Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University,
where Asimov talks for an audience about his writing and his productivity.
#
Type=0
Name=Isaac Asimov speaks at MSU in 1974
Path=/ss/libraries/collections/branch/voice/sounds/Isaac_Asimov.au
Host=gopher.msu.edu Port=70
URL:
gopher://gopher.msu.edu:70/ss/libraries/collections/main/voice/sounds/Isaac_Asimov.au

A transcript of the audio file.
#
URL: http://www.lightside.com/SpecialInterest/asimov/speech.html
or
#
Type=0
Name=Transcript of Isaac Asimov speaks at MSU in 1974
Path=/ASIMOV/asimov_speech_transcript.txt
Host=vaxa.crc.mssm.edu Port=70
URL: ftp://vaxa.crc.mssm.edu/ASIMOV/asimov_speech_transcript.txt
Note:This transcript is an unofficial one and may be removed without
warning if relevant authorities object to its inclusion in a public
archive.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Biographical (non-literary)

------------------------------

2.1 How do you pronounce "Isaac Asimov"?

"EYE'zik AA'zi-mov".  "AA'zi-mof" is also OK.  The name is spelled with an
"s" and not a "z" because Asimov's father didn't understand the Latin
alphabet clearly when the family moved to the US in 1923.  One way to
remember this pronunciation is the pun from _The_Flying_Sorcerers_ by
Larry Niven and David Gerrold:  "As a color, shade of purple-grey", or "As
a mauve".  Asimov wrote a poem ("The Prime of Life") in which he rhymes
his surname with "stars above"; someone else suggested amending the poem
to rhyme it with "mazel tov", which he thought an improvement.

Asimov's own suggestion, however, as to how to remember his name was to
say "Has Him Off" and leave out the H's.

------------------------------

2.2 Is Asimov really dead?  When did he die?  Where is he buried?

Asimov died on April 6, 1992 of heart and kidney failure.  His body was
cremated and his ashes scattered.

------------------------------

2.3 When and where was he born?

Asimov was born (officially) January 2, 1920, in the town of Petrovichi
(pronounced peh-TRUV-ih-chee), then in the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic (czarist Russia no longer existed, while the USSR
hadn't formed yet) and now in Russia.  It can be found at latitude 53.58
N, longitude 32.10 E, about 400 km. southwest of Moscow and some 16 km
east of the border between Belarus and Russia.  Born to Jews in the early
days of the RSFSR, there are no accurate records, however, and it is
possible that he may have been born as early as October 4, 1919.

Asimov's birthdate was temporarily changed by his mother to September 7,
1919 in order to get him into school a year earlier. When, several years
later, he discovered this, he insisted that the official records be
changed back. January 2, 1920 was the date he personally celebrated
throughout his life.

His family left the Soviet Union on January 11, 1923 and arrived in New
York City February 3.

Please note that the date given on the first page of the hardcover edition
of Asimov's last autobiographical book, _I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_ is a
typographical error (January 1, 1920), but the mistake was corrected in
the paperback edition.  Asimov's other books leave no possible doubt that
the date he celebrated as his birthday was January 2.

------------------------------

2.4 Who are the other members of his family?

He was the son of Judah Asimov (1896-1969) and Anna Rachel Berman Asimov
(1895-1973), who were married in 1918.  Asimov was named Isaac after his
mother's father, Isaac Berman.  He has a sister Marcia (born Manya in
1922) and a brother Stanley (b. 1929).

His father saved the money earned from several jobs during his first three
years in the U.S. and bought a candy store in Brooklyn, which his parents
ran for the next forty or so years.

Marcia married Nicholas Repanes in 1955 and has two sons, Larry and Richard.

Stan became a journalist and rose to vice president in charge of editorial
administration for Newsday.  Stan and his wife Ruth have a son, Eric, and
a daughter, Nanette, both journalists.  Ruth has a son, Daniel, by a
previous marriage, who was adopted by Stan, and is a mathematician.  Dan
Asimov may be found on the net, but does NOT wish to be bothered with
inquiries about Isaac, so please leave him alone.

------------------------------

2.5 Was he married? Did he have any children?

Asimov met Gertrude Blugerman on a blind date on Valentine's Day, 1942,
and they were married five and a half months later, July 26, 1942.  They
had a son David (b. 1951) and a daughter Robyn Joan (b. 1955).  They
separated in 1970 and their divorce became effective on November 16, 1973.

Isaac first met Janet Opal Jeppson when he signed an autograph for her at
an SF convention on September 2, 1956.  He was suffering badly (and
silently) from a kidney stone at the time, which gave her the impression
that he was an unpleasant person. He later claimed to have absolutely no
recollection of that first meeting. They next met on May 1, 1959, when
Janet attended a mystery writers' banquet as a guest of Veronica Parker
Johnson and was seated with Asimov.  That time the mutual attraction was
immediate.  When Isaac and Gertrude finally separated in 1970, he moved in
with Janet almost at once, and they were married at Janet's home by an
official of the Ethical Culture Society on November 30, 1973.  Asimov had
no children by his second marriage.

------------------------------

2.6  Where did Asimov live, attend school, and work during his life?

When the Asimov family came to the United States in 1923, they moved into
their first apartment at 425 Van Siclen Avenue, in the East New York
section of Brooklyn.  In the summer of 1925 they moved one block away to
an apartment at 434 Miller Avenue.  They moved half a mile eastward in
December 1928 to another apartment at 651 Essex Street, above the second
candy store bought by his father.  In early 1933, they moved to an
apartment on Church Avenue, and after a brief stay there they moved to an
apartment above yet another family candy store, at 1312 Decatur Street, in
the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn.  In December of 1936, Asimov's father
sold his third candy store and bought his fourth, at 174 Windsor Place, in
the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, and the family moved to a house across
the street.

In May of 1942, Asimov left New York to work at a wartime job at the
Philadelphia Naval Yard, and there he rented a room in someone else's
house at 4707 Sansom Avenue, until September, when soon after getting
married he and Gertrude moved into an apartment at 4715 Walnut Street. 
When the lease ran out they moved to another apartment in Philadelphia at
Wingate Hall in December.  They moved back to New York in September 1945,
and in November he was inducted into the army.  In the army he spent a
week at Fort Meade, Md., and was then stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia
until March of 1946, when he was transferred to the island of Oahu.  He
returned to the states in May, and after his discharge from the army in
July, he and Gertrude moved into a small apartment in Brooklyn on 213 Dean
Street in September 1946.  In September of 1947 they moved to the
downstairs apartment of his parents' house on Windsor Place, and in July
of the next year moved to Apartment 9-C of the Stuyvesant Town complex on
273 First Avenue.  They moved to Boston in May 1949 to an apartment at 42
Worcester Square, and quickly moved again in July to an apartment in the
suburb of Somerville.  In May 1951 they moved to an apartment at 265
Lowell Street, in Waltham, Mass.  They moved two miles to the south to a
house at 45 Greenough Street in West Newton, Mass. in March 1956.

In July 1970, he separated from his wife and moved back to New York,
staying at the Oliver Cromwell Hotel.  After his divorce from Gertrude in
November 1973, he married Janet and moved into her apartment.  They moved
to the Park Ten apartments in April 1975, to a 33rd floor apartment
overlooking Central Park, where they lived together until his death in
1992.

Asimov began his formal education in the New York Public School system in
1925 at PS182, and transferred to PS202 when the family moved in 1928.  He
continued on to East New York Junior High School 149 in September 1930,
where he was placed in the rapid advance course, and graduated in June
1932.  He entered tenth grade at Boys High School in the fall, and
graduated in the spring of 1935.  After attending City College for only a
few days, he switched to the Brooklyn campus of Seth Low Junior College,
which provided him with a scholarship of one hundred dollars.  The college
closed after his freshman year, so he continued at the parent institution,
Columbia University, at the Morningside Heights campus.  He graduated from
Columbia with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1939.  After his applications to all
five New York City medical schools were rejected, he applied for the
master's program in chemistry at Columbia.  After he was rejected for the
master's program, he convinced the department committee to accept him on
probation.  After one year the probation was lifted, and he earned his
M.A. in Chemistry in 1941.  He continued on at Columbia in a Ph.D.
program, and after the gap in his research that lasted from 1942 through
1946 (due to his wartime job and his army), he earned his Ph.D. in
Biochemistry in May 1948.

Asimov started working in his parents' Essex Street candy store in 1929,
when his mother became unable to work a full day due to her third
pregnancy, and learned the steady work habits that would stay with him for
the rest of his life.  After his freshman year of college, he had a summer
job at the Columbia Combining Company, where he cut and folded sheets of
rubberized fabric.  During his sophomore year he held a National Youth
Administration job working for a psychology professor, and as a junior and
senior his NYA job was as a typist for a sociology professor.  Throughout
the period of 1929 to 1942, he continued to work at the family candy
store.  He worked as a junior chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard from
May 1942 to October 1945, together with fellow science fiction authors
Robert Heinlein and L. Sprague de Camp.  In 1948 he obtained a
postdoctoral position at Columbia researching antimalarial compounds.  In
June of 1949 he took a job as instructor in biochemistry at the Boston
University School of Medicine, and was promoted to assistant professor in
December 1951.  He was promoted to associate professor, which provided him
with tenure, in July 1955.  He gave up his teaching duties and salary at
the School of Medicine in 1958 , but retained his title, so that on July
1, 1958, he became a full-time writer.  (He was fired, he said, for
choosing to be an excellent lecturer and science writer, rather than be a
merely mediocre researcher). In 1979, the school promoted him to the rank
of full professor.

------------------------------

2.7 What are the titles of Asimov's autobiographies? Where can I get them?

_In_Memory_Yet_Green_ covers the period from 1920-1954. 
_In_Joy_Still_Felt_ spans the time from 1954-1978.  These two volumes were
published by Doubleday in 1979 and 1980, with paperback editions following
a year later.  They are currently out of print, and thus your best bet for
finding them is to check used book stores, science fiction conventions,
etc.

_I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_ was published by Doubleday in March 1994, and covers
his entire life, written in 166 brief chapters arranged in roughly
chronological order.

In addition, the three Opus books (_Opus_100_, _Opus_200_, and
_Opus_300_), _The_Early_Asimov_, _Before_the_Golden_Age_, and
_Asimov_Laughs_Again_ contain substantial autobiographical material, and
Asimov talks a great deal about himself and his life in many of his other
books, particularly in anecdotes found in his essays in the Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction and his editorials in Isaac Asimov's Science
Fiction Magazine.

------------------------------

2.8 What books and articles about Asimov have been written by others?

Books:

_Seekers_of_Tomorrow_, "Isaac Asimov", by Sam Moskowitz, World, 1966, pp.
249-265.

_The_Asimov_Science_Fiction_Bibliography_, compiled by M. B. Tepper,
Chinese Ducked Press, 1970.

_The_Universe_Makers_, by Donald A. Wollheim, Harper & Row, 1971.

_Asimov_Analyzed_, by Neil Goble, Mirage, 1972.

_Isaac_Asimov:_A_Checklist_of_Works_Published_in_the_United_States,
_March_1939-May_1972_, by Marjorie M. Miller, Kent State University Press,
1972.

_The_Science_Fiction_of_Isaac_Asimov_, by Joseph F. Patrouch, Jr.,
Doubleday, 1974.

_Asimov's_Foundation_Trilogy_and_Other_Works:
_Notes,_Including_Life_of_the_Author,_an_Overview_of_Asimov's_Science_Fiction,
_Categories_of_Science_Fiction,_Analyses_of_the_Works_, by L. David Allen;
consulting editor, James L. Roberts, Cliffs Notes, c1977

_Isaac_Asimov_, edited by Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg,
Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977.

_Isaac_Asimov_, by Jean Fiedler and Jim Mele. Ungar, c1982.

_Isaac_Asimov,_the_Foundations_of_Science_Fiction_, by James Gunn,  Oxford
University Press, 1982.

_Isaac_Asimov--Scientist_and_Storyteller_, by Ellen Erlanger, Lerner
Publications Co., c1986.

_Isaac_Asimov_, by Donald M. Hassler, Starmont House, 1989.

_Isaac_Asimov_, by William F. Touponce, Twayne Publishers, 1991.


Articles:

"You Can't Beat Brains", L. Sprague De Camp, _F&SF_, XXXI (Oct. 1966), 32-35.

_Magazine_of_Fantasy_and_Science_Fiction_, XXXI (October 1966), special
Asimov Anniversary edition.

"Translator", _Time_, XC (July 7, 1967), 55-56.

"The TV and Dr. A", Greg Bear, _Luna_, No. 1 (June 1969), 5.

"Isaac Asimov, Man of 7,560,000 Words", _New_York_Times_Book_Review_, Aug.
3, 1969, 8, 28.

"Asimov's Hundred", Nathan Paul, _Publishers'_Weekly_, CXCVI (Aug. 25,
1969), 270.

"A Thinking Woman's Philtre", Judy-Lynn Benjamin, _Luna_, No. 5 (Oct.
1969),  14-17.

"Coming of the Humanoids: Android Fiction", N. P. Huxley, _Commonweal_,
XCI (Dec. 5, 1969), 297-300.

"Scientific Enquiry" a _Boston_ Interview with Isaac Asimov", _Boston_,
LXI (Dec. 1969), 51-54, 82-86, 89-90.

"ESFA Open Meeting-1970", _The WSFA Journal_, No. 73 (Sept.-Nov. 1970), 11-22.

"Amazing Mr. Asimov", P. Farrell, _Writer's_Digest_, LIII (July 1973), 20-22.

"Keeping Posted", _Saturday_Evening_Post_, CCXLVI (Jan. 1974), 6.

"Backward, March!", _Forbes_, CXIX (Apr. 1, 1977), 74.

"Asimov, the Human Writing Machine", J. L. Collier, _Reader's_Digest_, CXI
(Aug. 1977), 123-126.

"What Makes Isaac Write?", _Time_, CXIII (Feb. 26, 1979), 79.

"Asimov at 200", T. Lask, _New_York_Times_Book_Review_, Jan.  28, 1979, 43.

"Science and American Society", F. Jerome, _Current_, CCXXXVII (Nov.
1981), 3-10. Also _Environment_, XXIII (Sept. 1981), 25-30.

"A Conversation with Isaac Asimov", F. Kendig, _Psychology_Today_, XVII
(Jan. 1983), 42-47.

"Isaac Asimov: Modern-Day Renaissance Man", J. Walsh, _The_Humanist_, XLIV
(July/Aug. 1984), 5.

"Asimov Is Celebrating 300th Book's Publication", E. McDowell,
_The_New_York_Times_, Dec. 17, 1984, C13.

"The Protean Penman", S. Kaufer, _Time_, CXXXII (Dec. 19, 1988), 80-82.

"Isaac Asimov Speaks", _The_Humanist_, IL (Jan./Feb. 1989), 5-13.

"Requiem: Isaac Asimov 1920-1992", K. Ferrell, _Omni_, XIV (June 1992), 22.

"Giants Fall", L. David, _Ad_Astra_, IV (July/Aug. 1992), 11.

"Isaac Asimov", K. Frazier, _Skeptical_Inquirer_, XVII (Summer 1992), 351.

"Asimov's Vision", A. Dane, _Popular_Mechanics_, CLXIX (Aug. 1992), 96.

"Isaac Asimov", _Magazine_of_Fantasy_and_Science_Fiction_, LXXXIII (Aug.
1992), 5.

"A Celebration of Isaac Asimov: a Man For the Universe",
_Skeptical_Inquirer_, XVII (Fall 1992),   30-47.

"The Legacy of Isaac Asimov", P. D. Hutcheon, _The_Humanist_, LIII
(Mar./Apr. 1993), 3-5.

"Isaac Asimov: a One-Man Renaissance", B. Chambers, _The_Humanist_, LIII
(Mar./Apr. 1993), 6-8.

"Asimov's Laws of Robotics: Implications for Information Technology", part
1, _Computer_, Dec. 1993, 53-61.

"Asimov's Laws of Robotics: Implications for Information Technology", part
2, _Computer_, Jan. 1994, 57-65.

------------------------------

2.9 What religious beliefs did Asimov have?

Asimov had no religious beliefs; he never believed in either God or an
afterlife.  He considered himself a Humanist, one who believes that it is
humans who are responsible for all of the problems of society, as well as
the great achievements throughout history.  The Humanists believe that
neither good nor evil are produced by supernatural beings, and that the
solution to the problems of humankind can be found without the
intervention of such beings.  Asimov was a strong proponent of scientific
reasoning who adamantly opposed creationists, religious zealots,
pseudoscience, and mysticism.

Asimov did not oppose genuine religious feeling in others. He did,
however, have little patience for intolerance or superstition masquerading
as religion. 

Although he was an atheist, Asimov was proud of his Jewish heritage.  His
parents never made an effort to teach him religion.  He did study in
Hebrew school for several months while his father served as secretary for
the local synagogue, where he learned some Hebrew and how to read Yiddish.

Asimov did have a great interest in the Bible, and wrote several books
about it, notably the two volume _Asimov's_Guide_to_the_Bible_ and
_The_Story_of_Ruth_.

------------------------------

2.10 Did Asimov do anything other than write all day and all night?

Although famous for writing over eight hours a day, seven days a week,
Asimov found time to do a few other things beside writing.

He was a member of the Dutch Treat Club, a group that met for lunch every
Tuesday at the Regency Hotel in New York.  He joined the club in 1971 and
was made president in 1985.

He joined the Baker Street Irregulars in 1973, a group of avid Sherlock
Holmes fans that held an annual banquet to celebrate Holmes' birthday. 
Asimov admitted that he was not a true Holmes enthusiast, but enjoyed
delivering banquet toasts, speeches, and singing sentimental songs.

Asimov was a Gilbert & Sullivan enthusiast since his youth, when he
listened to the plays on the radio. In 1970 he joined the Gilbert and
Sullivan Society, and attended almost all of their meetings. He regularly
attended G & S productions in Manhattan, and occasionally served as
toastmaster at benefit shows. He loved to sing songs from the shows, and
was quite proud of his singing voice (among other things).

He belonged to an all-male club called the Trap Door Spiders, which met
for dinner one Friday night every month, treating a guest invited by the
host to dinner in return for the privilege of grilling him about his life
and work.  The club formed the basis for the Black Widower mystery short
stories.  The characters were loosely modeled on actual club members as
follows:

Black Widower      Trap Door Spider
=============      ================
Geoffrey Avalon    L. Sprague de Camp
Emmanuel Rubin     Lester del Rey
James Drake        Doc Clark
Thomas Trumball    Gilbert Cant
Mario Gonzalo      Lin Carter
Roger Halsted      Don Bensen
Henry              fictional

Asimov joined Mensa, the high-IQ society, in the early 1960's, but found
that many of the members were arrogant about their supposed intelligence,
so he let his membership lapse. However when he moved back to New York, he
became an active member once again, and gave speeches to groups of Mensans
on a number of occasions. Yet once again membership became a burden for
him, so he resigned from the group.

Asimov was a member of the Explorers Club, and served as master of
ceremonies for two years at their annual banquet.

------------------------------

2.11 Is it true that Asimov had a fear of flying?

Yes, the same author who described spaceflights to other worlds and who
argued valiantly for the cause of rationality suffered from an irrational
fear of heights and flying.  This had the consequence of limiting the
range over which he travelled throughout much of his life.

Asimov discovered that he was acrophobic at the New York World's Fair in
1940, when he took his date and first love Irene on a roller coaster,
expecting that it would cause her to cling to him in fear and give him a
chance to kiss her.  Instead it was he who was terrified while his date
remained perfectly calm.  Two years later, his wife-to-be Gertrude
convinced him to ride on a roller coaster at Coney Island, and he was once
again terrified.

Asimov did in fact fly on an airplane twice in his life.  The first time
he did so while working at the Naval Air Experimental Station in
Philadelphia during World War II.  While working on dye markers that made
ditched pilots more visible to rescue searchers, he developed a test to
compare dye visibility that did not require a plane flight, but in order
to validate his test he volunteered to fly in a small plane to observe the
markers.  He was so absorbed in his observations that he didn't suffer
from any undue fear.  His second plane flight took place on his return
from his army station in Hawaii, in which he flew aboard a DC-3 to San
Francisco.

After his military service in Hawaii in 1946, Asimov never ventured so far
from home, and did not often travel great distances.  When he did need to
travel significant distances, he usually took a train, or rode in someone
else's car, until he learned to drive in 1950.  Oddly enough, he found
that he felt quite comfortable behind the wheel of an automobile.  In the
1970's he and Janet travelled by train to Florida and California, and they
took several several sea cruises to such places as the Caribbean, West
Africa, England, and France.

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