Asimov: the Unauthorised Life - Michael White

Michael White has had a pretty varied life, ranging from collaborating with John Gribbin on a biography of Stephen Hawking to touring with the Thompson Twins pop group (I use the phrase advisedly). Who better, then, to write the life story of one of the most famous of modern "Renaissance Men", Isaac Asimov? Asimov was a man of enormous contradictions: utterly confident in his own ability, yet caused great anxiety by the responsibility conferred upon him by large financial advances; inspired by the vastness of outer space yet terrified of flying; devoted to his second wife, psychologist and fellow SF author Janet Jeppson, yet an incorrigible flirt whose ...

Isaac Asimov, inventor of the word "robotics", remains one of the giants of science fiction. I had been an avid reader of his stories since before I realised that it was he who wrote so many of the stories I admired (I have slight name dyslexia), even before I knew of SF as a genre. This biography details Asimov's life from his childhood, through his career, to his death. I discovered a lot of things I hadn't known before, and rediscovered some fondly remembered material. The book ends on a satisfyingly upbeat note. Unfortunately, Asimov, a master whose creations are so wonderful to me, has now acquired some rather nasty ...