18 April, 2012

Blasts from the (future) Past


Isaac Asimov
An unusual read for me because, though i have clearly read it before, i cannot pinpoint when, even within plus or minus five years; was it while i was at UHill? or Loretto maybe? in the UK? Canada? Italy, even? Quite an odd experience, to be so out of touch with when and where previously came across a book; i suppose that it is related to the degree to which i have internalised it, made it a part of my past, as i have with so much of Asimov’s work, both fiction and non-fiction. Very enjoyable, then, to find it at Craft a couple of days ago and reread it straight away When i don’t read him for some time, i tend to forget just how much i enjoy about Asimov’s writing style, and i’m triggered to think about getting and reading more. I may wait, however, until a more propitious time, when i can find (maybe) a set of all the Robot books, or all the Empire, or Foundation, or, ideally, all three in one standard edition, which would greatly appeal to my tidy (compulsive) mind.

James Blish
Oddly, James Blish’s Star Trek books just about fall into the same category as Asimov’s Caves of Steel, in that i cannot remember just when i read them; i’m pretty sure, however, in this case that it was in Vancouver, perhaps at UHill, or borrowed from the West Point Grey or Dunbar branches of the Vancouver Public Library. I can remember searching for more of them, being excited when i found one, devouring them, though i cannot exactly put a place to any of these memories. Blish was certainly my first introduction to Star Trek; indeed, to this day i’ve probably only seen a half dozen at most of the episodes, and they have been less exciting for me than Blish’s adaptations. These were one of my earlier introductions to science fiction, and they did the job very thoroughly. Rereading this book was just as much of a pleasure as i knew it was going to be when i saw it in Craft the other day and picked it up with no delay. A good choice, that was.

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