Isaac Asimov

[prunesquallor]

Isaac Asimov by Michael White.

I'm way behind on my bookblogging, but here's a quick take on one I read several months ago.

I got this hoping it would provide a different perspective on this author from the (three!) autobiographies. Unfortunately, it really doesn't: it's mostly a paraphrase of Asimov's version of events. One welcome exception is White does rightfully spank Asimov for his attitude and actions during his time in the army. (Asimov had strongly favored the U.S. entering WWII, but was exempted from service due to his work at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyards. After the war he was drafted and reacted poorly, whining and fighting tooth and nail to get out. He finally received an early discharge due to a technicality. Asimov seemed totally unaware of how shamefully he had behaved.)

White also accepts without comment Asimov's own account of his divorce and the beginning of his relationship with Janet Jeppson, his second wife. I find this version of events difficult to believe: Asimov acknowledged he had been cheating on his first wife with various women for more than a decade, but he claimed he had not cheated specifically with Janet during the marriage, though by his own admission he moved in with her almost immediately after the separation. His story just doesn't pass the smell test. Asimov may have felt the need to keep up the facade - presumably for divorce settlement reasons - but his biographer should at least mention this seems suspicious. (White explains in his afterword to this edition that at the time he originally wrote this bio he knew Asimov had had AIDS - from a blood transfusion - but he kept it out of the book at the request of the family.)

Not recommended - it contributes nothing new of importance.

(Incidentially, as a child of the eighties I was very amused to learn this biographer used to be a member of the Thompson Twins.)

Comments

[laurahcory1.livejournal.com]

Incidentially, as a child of the eighties I was very amused to learn this biographer used to be a member of the Thompson Twins.

Really? That *is* amusing. Every now and then I remember that Neil Gaiman wrote a biography of Duran Duran...

[treddytrafalgar.livejournal.com]

Yep, really:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_White_(author)

Hopefully his other bios are better than the Asimov one.