Gold
Isaac Asimov
1995
This is a collection of some of Asimov’s final writings, including short stories and articles about science fiction and writing science fiction. The short stories are a rather desultory bunch. Too many of them rely on bad puns for their effect (something Asimov had an unfortunate weakness for). The best deal with dilemmas posed by science and society. The title story, which won a Hugo, seems to reference his novel, The Gods Themselves, and speaks to his legacy. There are lots of robots and computers here, as well as the usual lot of hubristic scientists – Asimov specialties.
|
Story and Author |
Tags/Hub Areas |
Therapeutic Tags |
Personal Rating |
|
Cal |
Robots, authors, rivalry |
Robot rights |
*** |
|
Left To Right |
Parity reversal machine experiment, anti-matter generator, bad pun |
Humour |
** |
|
Frustration |
War, computers, Dr Strangelove, doomsday machine |
Pacifism, human limitations, hubris |
**1/2 |
|
Hallucination |
YA, dome city, wise computer, alien contact, colonisation, neutron star |
Preserving alien life, empathy, vocation |
***1/2 |
|
The Instability |
Big Bang, time travel, stasis drive, red dwarf star, disaster |
** |
|
|
Alexander the God |
Computers, stock market, classic history, greed |
Hubris |
**1/2 |
|
In the Canyon |
Mars, settlement, epistolary |
** |
|
|
Goodbye To Earth |
Cities in space, exodus, orbiting settlements, Nemesis novel |
Sustainability |
**1/2 |
|
Battle-Hymn |
Puns, Mars, vote, sovereignty, star drive |
Humour |
** |
|
Feghoot and the Courts |
Aliens, alien law, bad pun |
Humour |
* |
|
Fault-Intolerant |
Computers, diary entries, computer as author, authors made redundant, automation |
Vocation, leisure society |
**1/2 |
|
Kid Brother |
Robots, families, robot integration, tragedy |
Robot rights, empathy |
**** |
|
The Nations In Space |
Orbital solar power stations, nation rivalry, energy disaster |
Empathy, co-operation, interconnected world |
**1/2 |
|
The Smile of the Chipper |
Cybernisation, computer implants, sexual politics, business competition |
Sexism, misogyny, deviousness |
**1/2 |
|
Gold |
The Gods Themselves, King Lear, immortality, creativity, enhanced cinema |
Artistic expression |
***1/2 |