Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York
Date Published: 1972
Description: Good in Fair jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book Club Edition. The book is very solid with bright, unmarked pages. A name is written on the first end paper. The dust jacket is aging with moderate shelf & edge wear. The top and bottom of the spine are chipped and there is an ~3/4 inch tear near the bottom rear of the spine. read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Pages tanned and tight, text clean. Owner name in front and back, title page inscribed. A few small tears and minor creases, no stains. Edges soiled. Cover is discolored with scratches, creases and edge wear. Spine is... Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 288 p. Fawcett Crest; X2883. Portions of this book previously published in Galaxy magazine and If magazine. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 1969
Description: Good. No Jacket. Good. No DJ Issued Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has very mild corner wear and a couple of faint spine crease lines. Pages are age toned with no other faults. 288 p. 22 cm. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Crest, Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1973
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Good reading copy. Spine creases and slight roll. Cover has a corner crease, rubbing, and light soiling. Pages tanning. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.
Date Published: 1972
Description: Very good. No dust jacket. HC, NO DJ, ORIGINAL 1972 PRINTING, COVER AND TEXT EXTRA CLEAN FOR AGE, NO MARKINGS INSIDE, NEXT DAY SHIPPING. 288 p. 22 cm. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Crest
Date Published: 1973
Description: Fair. No Jacket. Corners and edges worn, spine lightly creased, covers worn and creased with some discoloration, small amount of water damage, text is unmarked. read more
Description: Fair. This is a paperback. Condition B/C. Creased spine and hinge with small tear at bottom spine, with chipping and edgewear. isbn no as stated on spine is: 449-01829-125. read more
"A noted physicist discovers a parallel universe (or is discovered by the residents of the parrallel universe, rather), and learns (from those in the para-universe) that we can send material low in energy to them (where it is high in energy (i.e. radioactive), and they can send material which is low in energy in their universe, but high in energy for us. Thus both universes now have a source of cheap energy. Two men, Pete Lamont and Ben Denison, are worried that the energy exchange is dangerous. The tenuous physical balance in our universe is gradually being thrown out of kilter, and this will eventually cause our sun to explode. Shift to the parrallel universe, where there are "hard-bodied" people (much like us, it seems) and "soft-bodied" people (think intelligent blobs). One of the soft-bodied people learns of the energy exchange and worries that the outcome will be the destruction of our solar system. It turns out that she is right, and the hard-bodied people know it. They want this to happen, because our destruction will release a great amount of energy that they will be able to tap into. Return to our universe, on the Lunar colony, where Ben Denison has gone, drummed out of the field by the noted physicist, who is obssessed with protecting his turg. Dension and Selene, a Lunar native, work on proving Lamont's and Denison's theory and finding a solution."
"This reads like the type of book a chemist with deeply-hidden hopes to become a writer would daydream of creating. Which, probably, fits how this book came to be rather accurately, considering Asimov's background. Ah, the days when science fiction was written by scientists, rather than people who were actually good writers. The ideas are the focus, at the expense of everything else. But the second portion was very clever, and brought the pleasure that comes with surprise. The quote around which the whole story rotates, "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain," is shallow and deep at the same time. And so is this book."
"This is a great book. For one thing, Asimov has written a very entertaining story, and he fleshed out each character. It was simple to read, for the most part, but for those non-hard science types you will find it difficult to follow the theory. He does explain the physics well (so much so that I wish he had been my physics teacher), but some will still have a hard time. Regardless, this does not detract from the story.
Long and short: A chemist becomes famous for "discovering" a new particle, unaware of the fact that he is actually a pawn of beings from a parallel universe who need new energy sources, as their sun is cooling. As a result of this fluke, the chemist is hailed as a scientist on par with Einstein, and somehow transforms into the top physicist of the time. Of course, he decides to get back at those who thought he was a joke (because, actually he is), and he crushes any opposition from new scientists who question his work. At the same time, one of the beings in the parallel universe figures out that the "discovery" will actually mean the destruction of of our universe, and actions are taken to warn us. The third part of the book returns to our universe, and we see how things are resolved.
Asimov not only understands science, but he understands people, and he injects that understanding into hsi work. The bad guys are really bad, but you see exactly why there are. No black hat necessary. The good guys have their flaws, but they're good not because of their actions to help humanity but because they admit to their faults and rise above them. The characters are real. We know people like these. It makes it that much more entertaining, for we slowly find ourselves personally invested in their success. Funny how good writing does that."
"Probably the strangest book on alien sex you'll read. If you're like most people, probably the only book on alien sex you'll read. To be fair, it was only the middle third of the book that dealt with the topic.
Alien sex aside, Asimov had a pretty good plot and a story that kept me going. The story spans two universes and details the politics and struggles of the scientists involved in discovering an endless source of energy, and later finding out just how much trouble they landed themselves in as it happened.
It's a good example of hard sci-fi, but hardly something I would use to introduce somebody to the genre."
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