Isaac Asimov was one of the most
prolific authors of our time. When he died in 1992 at the age of seventy-two,
he had published more than 470 books innearly every category of fiction
and nonfiction. Asimov was a prodigious correspondent as well as a prolific
author. During his professional career he received more than one hundred
thousand letters, over ninety thousand of which he answered.
For Asimov’s younger brother, veteran
newspaperman Stanley Asimov, the creationof Yours, Isaac Asimov was truly
a labor of love. Completed before Stanley’s death in August 1995, the book
is made up of excerpts from one thousand never-before-published letters,
each handpicked by Stanley for inclusion in this volume. Arranged by subject
and accompanied by Stanley’s short, insightful introductions, here are
letters to statesmen and scientists,actors and authors, as well as to children,
housewives, aspiring writers, and fans the world over. The letters are
warm, engaging, reasoned, and occasionally impassioned. Through them all
Isaac Asimov’s legendary genius, wit, and charm shine through.
And so we have Yours, Isaac Asimov:
A Lifetime of Letters, an intimateglimpse into the thoughts, feelings,
and opinions of a great writer and thinkerof the modern age. As Stanley
Asimov advised, “Read the letters carefully. One of them may have been
written to you.”