The Science Fiction Review Books,Non-fiction Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Isaac Asimov

Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Isaac Asimov

Published 39 years ago in 1979, Isaac Asimov discussed the possibilities of finding intelligent life in his book Extraterrestrial Civilizations. This has been on my reading list for quite a long time, but I just now got the notion to mark it off. Having read literally all of Asimov’s fiction, I thought it was time to read more of his non-fiction. Unwittingly, I finished this just a week or two before his birthday, which by the way was 99 years ago today!

I was thinking Extraterrestrial Civilizations would be a discussion on what civilizations might be like when if/when we discover them, or they discover us. It turned out to be more of a thought experiment, methodically laying out probabilities based on list of assumptions. Most of these assumptions were made with what scientific knowledge there was available at the time. Asimov was very careful to speckle the book with asterisks noting that if certain assumptions would change in the future, the predictions would be changed or invalidated.

While going over these assumptions, Asimov explains quite a bit of astrophysics in rather easy to understand language. I recall from his style from his autobiography, I, Asimov: A Memoir, and also Isaac Asimov’s Guide to Earth and Space (not reviewed here). It is a very conversational style and it feels to me like he’s just sitting across the room talking to me. He also throws in a few quips here and there that are quite amusing. When discussing coasting between the stars taking 1,000 subjective years, assuming astronauts are immortal, he writes:

Then, too, the astronauts would have to have something to occupy their minds. Comparatively close quarters with no chance for a change in company for nearly 1,000 years could be very difficult to tolerate. It might not be too cynical to suppose that murder and suicide would empty the ship long before the trip is over, for it is much easier to imagine a victory over death than a victory over boredom.

After finally working his way down to “Figure 13 — The number of planets in our Galaxy on which a technological civilization is now in being = 530,000”, Asimov tackles some of the concerns that some opponents of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have for trying to communicate with other worlds. He argues that the cat’s already out of the bag. We have radio signals going out at the speed of light that have already announced our existence to anyone that is capable and cares to listen. If we do make contact, and the speed of light holds, we should have plenty of time to either escape our solar system and prepare for the worst. Nothing as of yet has shown that the speed of light can be broken, and with acceleration and deceleration needs, it can take quite some time for whatever intelligent species detects our emissions locates us and finds their way here.

He describes a path that humans can take to evolve into star faring people that are not tied to a planet. This massive ships he calls “free worlds” in that they are self sustaining and might grab resources such as comets as they pass through other solar systems, or even gather particles in interstellar space. I felt some sense of hope that humanity might actually survive the destruction of Earth, which seems inevitable without worrying about crazed aliens coming to destroy us, or the Sun turning into a red giant.

Asimov also discusses the conditions required for intelligent life, and what it might look like. He’s careful to qualify his statements with “life as we know it” throughout to cover himself. Basically life as we know it requires a few unique factors, and he goes through those requirements to narrow down possibilities of those factors being met by certain types of stars in our Galaxy.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in the possibilities of life outside of our solar system, despite that the book is a bit dated. If you’ve only read Asimov’s fiction, I think this would be a good introduction to his non-fiction, aside from his autobiographies. If I had the time, I might search out an old copy of one of his science textbooks (yes, he wrote several!) on a subject I don’t know much about and go through it. I’m sure it would be enlightening.

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I, Robot – BBC Radio 4 dramatization (2017)I, Robot – BBC Radio 4 dramatization (2017)

There is a 5 episode series based on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot available to stream for free via BBC Radio’s iPlayer. I’ve only listened to the first episode “Robbie” and enjoyed it. The overall story is the same, but delivered in a slightly different way. I think it’s worth it to check out at least the first episode to see if you like it. I figured I’d post here right away when I saw it as the availability is time limited. The Omnibus has a bit longer shelf life than the oldest episode. I may go back and compare this version to the Audible version to see which I like better. If you’re into special effects, be sure to check out this one before it is too late.

Omnibus link: Expires March 14th – 1hr 10 min

Individual Episodes 1-5 link: ~15 minute episodes, begin to expire on March 8th.

 

via The Guardian

Happy Birthday Isaac AsimovHappy Birthday Isaac Asimov

Happy birthday Isaac Asimov! I started casually reading “In Memory Yet Green,” last month in my spare time. I would take it with me to places I expected to wait like the doctor’s office or something like that. It has been satisfying to finally get to know the author of my favorite science fiction series. According to this first volume of his autobiography, there is no real record of Isaac Asimov’s birthday. He was born in Petrovichi, Russia around 1920 and chose arbitrarily to celebrate his birthday on January 2nd.

Sadly, Isaac Asimov died of heart and kidney failure complications due to AIDS on April 6, 1992. He contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a heart bypass operation in 1983. This link to HIV and AIDS wasn’t revealed until later when Janet Asimov published “It’s Been a Good Life,” in 2002.

It is a shame that such a talented author died before his time, but not before he wrote or edited over 400 books and countless essays and letters. I would have loved see how he continued his Robot and Foundation novels in the future. Hopefully I will find time to read some of his non-fiction this year, which most of his writing consists of. For a start, I received “Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Life in Letters,” for Christmas. I’m sure that it will be very interesting. If you haven’t read anything by Asimov, you should visit your local library or run a creative Google search. You’ll be in for a treat.

Foundation and Earth by Isaac AsimovFoundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Earth Book Cover

Background:
This is the final novel in the Foundation Universe chronologically speaking. There are a couple short stories completed by other authors, but Foundation and Earth describes (in 494 pages) where Asimov saw his epic saga moving toward. It is a shame that he couldn’t have lived longer to continue on writing. For those that don’t know, Isaac Asimov contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a heart operation in 1983. It later developed into AIDS, causing heart and kidney failure which led to his death in 1992. For more information on his life and death, visit Asimov Online. I wish I could remember the source, but I know I read that Asimov was not sure exactly how he would continue the series when a fan suggested he go back and write some prequels. Before his death he did fill in some gaps with the Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.

Review:
Almost no time has passed since Golan Trevize made his decision in favor of Galaxia over a Second Galactic Empire controlled by either the First or Second Foundation. Trevize is still on Gaia along with Janov Pelorat and Bliss. Golan intends to find Earth so that he can find out why he chose felt that Galaxia was best for not only mankind, but for every living thing in the Galaxy. He will not rest until he finds Earth. Bliss insists on going on his search to act as protection through her role as part of Gaia, and Janov has his own research on Earth that he wishes to complete.

The one thing that Asimov succeeds accomplishing in this novel, as he does with the others books in this series, is creating and describing different cultures. These cultures vary from the extremes of conservatism to tribal utopias. Each new world has its own customs, mythology, and history which is described through the interactions between the protagonists and the natives encountered throughout their complex journey. (more…)