He was a damn fine author. How big a fan are you? A question asked. Will you pass or fail? http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=44120
Asimov is a good writer but Kurt Vonnegut is better.. his language is alot more complexed and ideas much more powerfull: I recomend you read Slaughterhouse 5 amazing book, funny at times aswell..
i'm not disagreeing with you. kurt vonnegut is an excellent author. but i don't really think that the how "complex" the language is determines the quality of a novel. but that's just me... -niv
I've read his foundation and robot seires several times over. More recently I've read his "Ugly little boy" and " monsters" books. In my opinion he is the best sci-fi writer ever to write science ficiton. Orson Scott Card is a close second or third.
I'd say Asimov is the best sci-fi short story writer, but I really need to read more of his novels (or reread in some cases). As for Orson Scott Card, I find him a little variable - Ender's Game was excellent, Speaker for the Dead was better, but the rest of his novels were not as good IMO. However, Unaccompanied Sonata is probably one of my favourite collections, including Asimov.
There is no doubt that Azimov was a quality writer. Why? Accessible. Great plots. Staggering ideas. But very weak on character development. (Only in his later works do his readers become aware that sex exists in the future!) A true founding father of sf, but the greatest? I would say not. Niven, Heinlein, Herbert. I would rank them above him.
I agree and since he was a physicist to begin with his writings are many times based on scientific facts. Did you know that he wrote over 500 books?
I think you will find he was a chemist. (Actually, I know you will find that. Just being diplomatic.)
Thanks, Oph. I wasn't sure, so I forbore to comment. Anyway, a small anecdote about great writers: When Asimov and Heinlein were working together fot the US Navy, they got to talking about how they write SF, and Asimov mentioned that he typed up a first draft, went thorugh correcting the mistakes, and typed up the second and final draft. Heinlein replies: "You type it twice? Why don't you type it correctly the first time?" Heh. I guess some people are just meant to write SF.
I remember that story. I think it was recounted by Azimov. While I was sure he was a chemist I like to check my facts. I came across this interesting site. I only dipped into it, but I think it would be of interest to all Azimov fans. Let me just note that although I contest Altaran's claim for him being the best ever, I do so having read all of his fiction at least once. The original Foundation series was one of the things that drew me into the worlds of sf. Great author, just not the greatest.
It was indeed, in one of the many articles he wrote on writing SF. Do you have the address for the site?
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Actually, I wouldnt put Niven above ASimov, Ophiolite. I agree that Herbert and Heinlein are better, but I dont thinkk Niven is.
He (Niven) has the most convincing aliens: Footfall, Ringworld, Mote. And I'm including Herbert because of Dune - the rest of his work was mundane - so I have to let Niven in on the strength of Ringworld. But he is the weakest of the three.
I didn't really like Ringworld all that much - the first book was good, but I liked the sequels less. Heinlein was the first SF author I ever read, so obviously that's influenced my tastes heavily.
I dont find Nivens aliens always convincing. Like a lot of peoples, they come across as very human, or perhaps they were written in too human a style. Whereas Herberts ones always seemed suitably mysterious and not quite human. As for the rest of Herberts work being mundane, how much of it have you actually read? Another I might consider better than Niven is fritz leiber. On the other hand, Niven did have some pretty good lines going, with the organ banks, the wibble tech ringworld stuff, and the protectors. But some of his later stuff was kind of dull, especially when he teamed up with Pournelle. (though footfall was pretty good, except the end)