Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing

by Janet Asimov

Book Overview

This charming book is a series of entertaining and thought-provoking musings, mainly about the imagination, the sense of identity, the compulsion to write, and Isaac Asimov--who, as Janet Asimov says, was good at all of them. Dr. Janet J. Asimov, a psychiatrist and celebrated fiction writer, has penned this delightful memoir with insight, poignancy, and wit on topics that she and her husband, Isaac Asimov, found especially meaningful over the years...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591024056
• ISBN13: 9781591024057
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A very personal, fine memoir.

NOTES FOR A MEMOIR ON ISAAC ASIMOV, LIFE, AND WRITING is both a autobiography of Janet's life with her famous husband, scientist and writer Isaac, and survey of IsaacAsimov's ideals and values. Plenty of books have been written on Asimov's contributions and science, but few offer the personal and witty insights of NOTES FOR A MEMOIR, which details the life they had together. There's plenty of new information you won't find elsewhere, along with excerpts from his letters to her and family photos, making it a 'must' for any Asimov fan. A selection of Janet's short stories concludes a very personal, fine memoir. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A Delightful Book, An Enjoyable Read

Not a deep and heavy duty book, but amusing, entertaining and an overall delight. For instance in a story about Alaska in the winter being told by her brother he said, 'if you took off your glove and your hand froze to something metal, the air force advice was to urinate on said hand because urine would probably be the only source of warm water you'd have with you.' Isaac's comment, 'think of what could happen if a woman's hand gets frozen onto metal. The solution is for women never to go anywhere without the company of some obliging male.' That's kind of the tone of the book. It's a loving rememberance of their life together. Janet and Isaac were married almost twenty years, and it appears to have been a happy marriage based on mutual respect, mutual admiration and love. The book is the same. Janet's happy marriage is just an indication of her happy life. It's a delightful book, well worth your time.

interesting background

This is not a biography of Isaac Asimov, though it is of course mostly about him. It is a grab-bag of chapters about various aspects of their lives together, and of her background. The latter can be of interest to those who read Isaac's works, and want some knowledge of his wife. Some sections complement what Isaac already wrote. For example, in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, he reported on his experiences in going to dinner with Mikhail Gorbachev at the White House. But Janet fills in some missing details. Like how he was severely ill at the time. (It was shortly before his death.) And how she could not attend the actual dinner, but wangled her way into the White House, since she was a doctor and Isaac needed his medications. The book also gives more details about Isaac's trenchant atheism, and his lifelong campaign against religious obscurantism.