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The Planet That Wasn't | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Isaac Asimov | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
This another collection of Asimov's essays and articles. As always, he shows himself knowldgeable in a wide variety of subjects, from the debunking of Martian canals to the origins of the witch's stereotypical image to the definition of intelligence. Interestingly, he arranges them this time not in any objective order, but from least to most controversial. Thus he begins with an explanation for why the planet Vulcan was eventually discarded as an uneccessary addition to our solar system - a strict matter of historical fact - to the highly charged topic of evolution.
This collection is much better than some of his others. Not because he wrote better, or anything. But these articles are mostly still relevant. Other than a few items, and of course the not-uncommon mention of relative time ("a few months ago" is by now anything but), these hold up pretty well. Evolution is still debated by a small but loud core of die-hards, and they still use every argument they can think of to explain why this universe and life on Earth requires a creator of some stripe. Meanwhile, the history of science never changes, and Asimov has a capacity to bring it alive in more detail than you're ever likely to get in a classroom. The only article that is obsolete is his reasoning for why CFCs should be abandoned, lest they do irrovicable harm to the "ozonosphere." CFCs were banned in 1987, and the ozone layer is still hurting. Even that essay isn't completely useless, though, for it explains exactly why this stuff is so bad for our atmosphere.
The book does suffer from a few of Asimov's own preconceptions. For instance, although he argues fervently for getting started on space colonies immediately, something I agree with, some of his reasoning is a bit off. He assumes, for instance, that humanity simply cannot manage to reach the third millenium without either destroying itself in some fashion or by overcoming all obstacles and ushering an age of peace and prosperity. The idea that we'd somehow muddle through apparently wasn't something he considered a possibility. This assumption flavors several of his essays. Asimov also introduces each essay with a short little personal anecdote, usually related to why it was written. Sometimes these are interesting and sometimes... not.
Other than a few bumps, thought, this book is as relevant now as it was when it came out, way back in 1975. It's an interesting read, and the essays are short. This is one collection that you should check out if you come across it. Even now.
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