Stories deal with social planning, evolution, immortality, computers, sea farming, invaders, time travel, a tragic stowaway, androids, experiments, and war

A total of 23 stories not often found in anthologies, all by scientists, known and obscure.

Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov also possessed one of the most brilliant and original minds of our time. His accessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science to humor to history earned him the nickname “the Great Explainer.” I. Asimov is his personal story—vivid, open, and honest—as only Asimov himself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the stars yet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galactic civilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than 470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the great minds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyed observations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities—Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others—who along with Asimov helped shape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself, I. Asimov is the candid memoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half a century and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividly envisioned.

Gold is the final and crowning achievement of the fifty-year career of science fiction's transcendent genius, the world-famous author who defined the field of science fiction for its practitioners, its millions of readers, and the world at large. The first section contains stories that range from the humorous to the profound, at the heart of which is the title story, "Gold," a moving and revealing drama about a writer who gambles everything on a chance at immortality: a gamble Asimov himself made -- and won. The second section contains the grand master's ruminations on the SF genre itself. And the final section is comprised of Asimov's thoughts on the craft and writing of science fiction.

"This anthology, with selections from the great early years of science fiction, contains wonderfully imaginative and timeless short stories and novellas by the great masters of the genre" -- Page 4 of cover.

Science fiction-noveller.

A Space Academy student and his time-travelling robot stop an evil villain from taking over the Solar System in this children’s sci-fi classic. Fourteen-year-old Jeff Wells, a cadet at the Space Academy on Mars, is in danger of being kicked out unless he can improve his grades. With a little help from the academy’s commandant, Jeff finds a robot named Norby to help him study. But Norby’s no ordinary robot. He has the only mini-anti-gravity device in existence. Norby’s special abilities suddenly come in handy when a villain named Ing targets Jeff’s older brother in his quest to conquer the Solar System. When Ing takes over Manhattan Island, renaming it “the Kingdom of Ing,” Norby and Jeff put studying aside to teach Ing a lesson!

In what The Washington Post calls "probably the finest collection of first-rate short science fiction" is a gathering of such acclaimed voices as Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, Fred Saberhagen, Robert Silverberg, Alfred Bester, and Roger Zelazny.