In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov

Rating:
Summary: An exercise in narcissism
Review: For the record, I should state at the outset that Isaac Asimov provided me with one of the most memorable reading experiences of my youth with "The Caves of Steel," a unique amalgam of the science fiction and detective genres. However, after that first sublime experience, my further reading of him left me increasingly cold. I began to see his writing as awkward, mechanical and unimaginative, with thin characterization (even by science fiction standards) and pedestrian plotting. He was seemingly never able to shake the literary conventions of the pulp magazines he loved as an adolescent. That may have been at least partly because he apparently never read anything else but science fiction and thus had no acquaintance with higher literary standards. So, how to explain his popularity? One possible reason is that he was good with ideas, which are cherished by science fiction fans. Another, and more likely explanation, is that he was the consummate self-promoter. He had a talent for selling himself to fans and editors alike by the consistent application of boundless energy in the service of his own ego. This tendency is clearly reflected throughout "In Memory Yet Green," which reveals an eager-to-please but calculating individual who made himself a primary figure in the science fiction world by sheer force of personality. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as many ultimately deserving reputations are made that way, but the quality of the work Asimov left behind pales in comparison to the bravado employed in its promotion. And, as is true in many such cases, the individual himself is revealed as shallow, immature and self-absorbed. Asimov unwittingly does so in page after page of this autobiography, whether he is describing his extremely penurious spending habits (which he saw as normal), his reprehensible treatment of women (which he describes with typical lack of insight as "suave"), his obsession with money (he insists on providing a down-to-the-penny accounting of every check he ever received, an enervating exercise for the reader), as well as numerous trivial details of his life which could be of interest only to himself. It is, in fine, the most narcissistic autobiography I have ever read. One can only explain its publication by reference to Asimov's finely-honed talent for self-promotion. Few others could have gotten away with it. To be fair, though, there are some good things here, such as his (too brief) descriptions of some of the other famous figures in science fiction history and his insider's view of publishing in those days. But, on the whole, spending several hours reading this book is like spending a year diligently panning for gold in the nearest creek bed: an exhausting exercise unlikely to reveal anything of lasting value.

Rating:
Summary: A Book only his Fans will Love
Review: I have heard it claimed that Isaac Assimov is the only author that has at least one book in every major classification of the Library's Dewey decimal system. Mr. Assimov was a prodigious workaholic author. In this book, written I suppose so he can get a book in the Autobiographical section. Isaac tells of his early life as the son of Russian-Jewish emigrants living in Brooklyn. Work and study became his regiment early on in life. I would recommend this book only if you have enjoyed his regular fare. One can see the seeds of his future books as he goes about trying to select a career path. Assimov goes onto explain his activities during WWII and surprisingly the struggle he had to become an author. Even a budding author with his talent needed mentoring. This is definitely a low-key verbose book that will appeal mainly to his fans. This book includes only his early career. One of his memories was his father's look of surprise when he saw the ocean after they stood on their apartment building roof for the first time. His family had been so intent on running their candy store business that years after arriving in New York they had never realized the ocean was so near. The book is a series of these types of memories, no blockbusters, some would even say "its nothing to write about " but he did and it makes for passable entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: A Book only his Fans will Love
Review: I have heard it claimed that Isaac Assimov is the only author that has at least one book in every major classification of the Library's Dewey decimal system. Mr. Assimov was a prodigious workaholic author. In this book, written I suppose so he can get a book in the Autobiographical section. Isaac tells of his early life as the son of Russian-Jewish emigrants living in Brooklyn. Work and study became his regiment early on in life. I would recommend this book only if you have enjoyed his regular fare. One can see the seeds of his future books as he goes about trying to select a career path. Assimov goes onto explain his activities during WWII and surprisingly the struggle he had to become an author. Even a budding author with his talent needed mentoring. This is definitely a low-key verbose book that will appeal mainly to his fans. This book includes only his early career. One of his memories was his father's look of surprise when he saw the ocean after they stood on their apartment building roof for the first time. His family had been so intent on running their candy store business that years after arriving in New York they had never realized the ocean was so near. The book is a series of these types of memories, no blockbusters, some would even say "its nothing to write about " but he did and it makes for passable entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: A detailed narrative of a prolific author's life
Review: I read this book (and all of Asimov's autobiographies) when they were first printed and have read each one at least twice. If you like Asimov's "gentle reader" writing style, reading his autobiographies will be fun for you, more so if you want a view into a busy, obsessed writer's life and the forces that shaped him.

These books are frank (especially "I, Asimov"), interesting, and very often amusing.

"In Memory Yet Green" and "In Joy Still Felt" are large tomes, totalling about 1550pp together.

For a biography of Asimov, you can't do better than these. As he mentioned in his biographies, there's not much in the way of action or big events in these books. It's a long trip through all the words, but the trip is enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: The story of Isaac Asimov, Part One
Review: This is the first part of Isaac Asimov's autobiography. In the introduction, he starts out by saying that the point against writing this autobiography was that nothing of any importance had ever happened to him, and after having read In Memory Yet Green, I'm almost inclined to agree with him. Although, in many ways, his life has been quite unique, it has, at the same time, been quite ordinary for the most part. Nevertheless, he still manages to fill a book over 700 pages long - and this only covers his life up until 1954, when he was 34 years old! This is because, as he also says in the introduction, he is a good writer and thus able to weave such a spell of words that no one would notice that nothing had ever happened to him. I'm almost inclined to agree with that as well (despite the fact that no one ever accused Isaac Asimov of being overly modest).
His story starts out relatively interesting, covering his childhood and early years. But then it deteriorates into what seems like a day-by-day account of where he went, what he did, who he met, who said what, and so on. This is because he has the use of his diaries that he has kept for the most of his life. You can't accuse him of leaving out any details (although he is, of course, bound to have left out some things), but for a balanced account, you would, of course, need the input of a second party.
The picture that emerges of Asimov is a conflicting one. On the one hand he was the liberal, freethinking, atheistic genius, one of the world's greatest writers of science fiction, who was also a kind, caring, and warm-hearted individual (and also very naive and innocent in many ways). On the other hand, he also seems to have been (as he himself admits) very pleased with himself and his intelligence, and never hesitating to announce this, loudly and frequently, to the rest of the world. What is more troubling, in a way, was his tendency to grope, flirt with, and leer at every young woman in his presence (he was apparently known among some women as "the man with a hundred hands"), despite the fact that he was married. For a long time, it never went beyond this (and if some women took him up on his suggestions, his usual reaction was to run away in a panic), and it seems he genuinely didn't see that he sometimes crossed the line. Sadly, however, in the long run the temptations, I guess, were to great, and (again by his own admission) he was unfaithful to his wife on several occasions.
The book is too long and, perhaps, overly detailed, but at the same time it is very well written. Asimov's life story is occasionally quite interesting - especially if you're a fan of his and interested in the early development of science fiction - and there is, of course, a wealth of detail about the early days of science fiction, and many anecdotes about the other giants in the field, long before they became giants. From that point of view, In Memory Yet Green is recommended, otherwise there probably will not be much of interest here to the casual reader.