Isaac Asimov, Writing, and I.

Whenever I visit my parent’s house, I always make sure to bring something to read or write with me. I do this because my mom stocks her bookshelves mostly with books and text books about math and science. Books you would never catch me reading-- even if hell froze over. So you know I had to be *completely* bored out of my mind when I decided to skim through my mom’s copy of Mr. Asimov’s anthology “Science, Numbers, and I.” While I wasn’t impressed with the summary listed on the back of the book, I decided to read the excerpt located on first page of the book, and I was completely blown away by what I read:

“What does a writer do when he is so fortunate as to have a completely free hand to write about anything he chooses? If he is sane at all, he writes about whatever happens to interest him, and that is what I do.” (Introduction)

Until I read that passage, I have always believed that writing essays was about bringing attention to issues like ‘The Importance of Freedom;’ ‘Racism in the 21st Century;’ or ‘Poverty in the United States.’ Never once did it occur to me that I could write an essay about the history of my favorite comic book, “The Uncanny X-men;” or an essay about the meaning of the lyrics of my favorite song, “It’s My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown; or even an essay about the cancellation of my favorite soap opera, “Another World.” I have always believed that I had to construct arguments like a scientist to support my thesis statement. I had no idea that I could ramble on about things I liked, and I did not necessarily have to be specific about why I liked them.

Encouraged by Mr. Asimov’s introduction to his anthology, I decided to give his writings a chance by reading the final essay of the book called, “Portrait of the Writer as a Boy” first. He began his essay with a brief rant about his frustration with his inability to answer his fan mail in a timely manner, since it was not given to him in a timely manner by his publisher. Mr. Asimov also indicated in his essay that it bothered him very much that due to time constraints, he was unable to answer in detail those fan letters that he *did* respond to. These two “thorns in his side” inspired Mr. Asimov to use “[t]he final chapter ... [to answer] a few questions [about myself].” (pp 215-16)

For the rest of the essay, Mr. Asimov describes in detail-- using entertaining antidotes-- how he became a writer, why he wrote science-fiction, and how he was introduced to the publishing process. I learned that his love of reading started Mr. Asimov on his path of becoming a writer, and that early science fiction magazine publications like, “Science Wonder Stories,” fostered his love of science fiction which eventually evolved into a desire to write stories for publication. (pp 216-24) Finally, Mr. Asimov ended his essay lamenting the loss of his earlier written works that he chose not to save because either he himself, or the publisher both decided that those early stories were not worthy of print. (p. 226)

Since Mr. Asimov’s essay about himself was easy to read, and gave me insight about having the qualities of being persistent, about having passion for what you write, and about how writing is *not* all about the “”-- I decided to read his essay about Mars and its satellites, Phobos and Demios called, “Kaleidoscope in the Sky.” I could not finish reading the essay because it bored me to tears. Obviously, I don’t share his passion for science or math.

In closing, while Mr. Asimov’s prose is both witty and concise, I am *still* not a fan of essays or books about science and/or math. By the same token, however, I am not going to wait until I am completely bored out of my mind before reading either one of Mr. Asimov’s essays, or one of his stories. Heck, I might even read all of “I, Robot.”

... Nah!

My thanks to Ms. Viki for helping me edit this essay.

T A G S : essay, Isaac Asimov, I, Robot, writing.