Earth Is Room Enough (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1957; vuoden 1970 painos)

Lots to love here, with a good amount of humor. My favorites are, "The Dead Past", "Jokester" , and "Living Space". I'll have to finally try out some of his longer works. ( )

Good book that didn't seem to age well. The 1950s version of the future didn't happen. Great writer overall but this is not his best ( )

nice collection of short stories, some better than others and many dated technologically (punch cards with super powerful multivac etc). Asimov gets quickly to the point with an interesting premise and conclusion without a lot of wasted time and develops the stories with just the right amount of flesh. ( )

There's a peculiar charm to Golden Age SF, perhaps especially in its short stories. This collection is a prime example. On the one hand, the details are hopelessly antique; nobody in 2011 can possibly consider the technology or science realistic. The themes and ideas, though... those have a bizarre, almost eerie resonance.

For example, "The Fun They Had" treats electronic books as the norm, a simple fact of life accessible to any child...something we're still struggling with over fifty years later. Aside from its anachronistic Multivac, though, "The Franchise" could have been written last month as a commentary on modern political campaigns.

There's a lot of good fiction being written now, but sometimes there's just no substitute for the old masters. ( )

When I was young I enjoyed Asimov's stories a lot. I almost always found them smart and clever. His later work didn't thrill me and I suppose I outgrew him also. He was an incredibly prolific author and there are a lot of stories I have never read. This collection published in 1957 is one of them.

There are a lot of stories in this collection:

7 • The Dead Past • (1956) • novelette
55 • The Foundation of S.F. Success • (1954) • poem
57 • Franchise • (1955) • shortstory
75 • Gimmicks Three • (1956) • shortstory
83 • Kid Stuff • (1953) • shortstory
97 • The Watery Place • (1956) • shortstory
103 • Living Space • (1956) • shortstory
119 • The Message • (1956) • shortstory
121 • Satisfaction Guaranteed • (1951) • shortstory
137 • Hell-Fire • (1956) • shortstory (variant of Hell Fire)
139 • The Last Trump • (1955) • shortstory
157 • The Fun They Had • (1951) • shortstory
161 • Jokester • (1956) • shortstory
175 • The Immortal Bard • (1954) • shortstory
179 • Someday • (1956) • shortstory
189 • The Author's Ordeal • (1957) • poem
193 • Dreaming Is a Private Thing • (1955) • shortstory

These science fiction stories are all set on earth. That is where the title comes from. The subtitle of the book is "Science Fiction Tales of Our Own Planet." The 15 stories and 2 poems were first published in a wide variety of science fiction magazines primarily in 1956, with the earliest from 1951 as can be seen in the dates listed above. This is an OK collection of stories that I enjoyed reading, although they really feel dated. On the downside here, Asimov's humor always fell flat, very flat, with me.

There are only a couple stories that I can say I really enjoyed. My favorite stories here start with the first one, "The Dead Past." I've read this a long time before (I even have the 1956 magazine copy of Astounding in which it first appeared) but that didn't spoil my enjoyment. An older professor of ancient history wants access to a time viewer and super-computer to further his research on Carthage. That is how it starts but it rather quickly runs away from that. The story was set in what is our present. The technology here is way off the mark but the political and social ramifications are spot on. This was the longest story by far. Other favorites here were "Living Space," and "Satisfaction Guaranteed." There are several stories I'd call clunkers, but passable, and the two poems ... blah.

I would only recommend this collection to Asimov fans and those who enjoy old-time science fiction stories. ( )