Issac Asimov

The End of Eternity

I finally read a book that has been lying in my collection for months because of blasted school and my annoying penchant for laziness: Asimov’s “The End of Eternity”.

My God, the story’s payoff has completely overwhelmed me. It’s in the league of the alien story in “The Gods Themselves” and more. I love it as much as the brilliant quote in his “Robots and Empire” where he philosphises through the eyes of Elijah Baley about humankind as a complex tapestry.

Eternity” begins as a science fiction story that appears to neatly tighten the loose ends of time-travel paradoxes that has often been questioned and criticised whenever the notion of time travel is discussed. But it evolves into something more: the consequences of controlling time and evolution to suit our ethical standards that are subjective to the era in which we are brought up in; the aesthetics and risk of seeking the unknown.

The book links also, very nicely with the Robots and Foundation stories. I would say it is sort of a prequel to the Robots series. However, this link is more a speculative one to the Robots and Foundation mythos than a direct connection.

Subjects: Books 書物

Mood: Raves and Rants

Tags: Arthur C. Clarke, ethics, Foundation, god, Issac Asimov, Olaf Stapledon, robot, science fiction

Issac Asimov-obsession

As you can probably tell from the side panel of this page, I’m having an obsession with Issac Asimov books right now On my wish list is the entire Robot Series which includes, in series order: I, Robot, The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn and finally Robots and Empire. I’ve already read all of these books but they’re so good that I have to own them. I’m probably going to order the first 4 books from Acmabooks.com which is this pretty decent Singapore online bookstore.Unfortunately Robots and Empire appears to be out-of-print. The only places I can get a copy at reasonable prices are Amazon UK and some Australian bookstores.

I also discovered to my horror that my Foundation series (which I’m currently re-reading) is incomplete. It’s missing Foundation and Earth, the last book in the series, which is another out-of-print book. How did I know this? By accident actually. I was ..ahem.. downloading (illegally) some ebook versions of the Foundation series so that I could read them on my computer if I didn’t have my book with me, when I noticed one book that I didn’t have. At least it’s comforting to know that it’s quite possible to buy the book online even though it’s probably impossible to get new copies of them direct from the bookstores in Singapore.

Subjects: Books 書物

Mood: Gratifications

Tags: Amazon, book, Empire, Foundation, Issac Asimov, library, out-of-print, robot, yoga

15 mins before lecture

It’s 15 mins before my first lecture. I’m at the school’s computer lab at the moment. Earlier, I had breakfast at with my mom and dad. Because my lecture on starts at 10AM, my dad dropped me off at the Arts faculty where I popped into the library to check out some novels. I borrowed Arthur Clarke’s The City and the Stars as well as Asimov’s I, Robot. The books are kind of yellowed and spotty, and a little dusty too. They smell…I don’t want to smell them. The Clarke book was printed in 1975 and the Asimov book in 1983. Strange, I’ve Raymond Feist’s 2nd Edition Magician at home, which I believe was in 1983, but it doesn’t look half as bad as the Asimov book. Oh well.

It appears that blogger’s publishing facility is down. So I guess this blog won’t get to appear until I get home. It’s now 5 mins before the lecture. I’m not feeling too good. A sense of dread maybe?

Subjects: Books 書物, School 学校

Mood: Raves and Rants

Tags: Arthur C. Clarke, blogging, Issac Asimov, library, Magician, Raymond E. Feist, robot

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