Nota: prima parte di "The early Asimov", la seconda parte è in " Asimov Story n. 2 "

Su Isaac Asimov si scrivono ormai delle tesi di laurea, ed è forse per facilitare il lavoro agli eruditi che il celebre autore ha ordinato e raccolto in volume i suoi racconti più antichi e meno noti, la massima parte dei quali è del tutto inedita in Italia. Chiunque altro ci farebbe la figura del vanitoso, se non del megalomane. Ma Asimov è anzitutto un uomo di grande spirito: ogni racconto è commentato e criticato, con una specie di paterna, ironica indulgenze e questa serie di interventi personali finisce per formare per conto suo una divertentissima autobiografia letteraria, piena di episodi curiosi, bizzarri, ingenui, maliziosamente modesti o gongolanti. Urania comincia ora a pubblicare questa insolita, preziosa raccolta, che per ragioni di spazio è stata divisa in quattro fascicoli. Ecco dunque la prima puntata di Asimov Story che inizia nel 1938, quando l'autore aveva 18 anni e divorava tutte le riviste di fantascienza esposte nell'edicola di suo padre.

Indice:
La minaccia di Callisto (The Callistan Menace, 1940)
Anello intorno al sole (Ring Around the Sun, 1940)
Il magnifico possesso (The Magnificent Possession, 1940)
Pendolarità (Trends, 1939)
L'arma troppo terribile per essere usata (The Weapon too Dreadfull to Use, 1939)
Il guardiano della fiamma (Black Friar of the Flame, 1942)

Copertina di Karel Thole

Isaac Asimov, illustre studioso e brillante divulgatore scientifico, ma anche grandissimo scrittore di science fiction, ha costruito questa volta una vera e propria 'biografia delle scienze fisiche'. Questo libro, che nel mondo anglosassone è divenuto una sorta di bibbia della fisica, ci introduce, in una forma semplice ma rigorosa, ai segreti dei quasar e dei buchi neri, dei quark e degli acceleratori di particelle dell'intelligenza artificiale e delle fonti di energia - di quella 'sporca' come di quella 'pulita' -. Un vero, completo manuale, ma anche un 'romanzo' affascinante sia per il profano sia per l'uomo di scienza.

Contents:

9 · 1955 Introduction · Martin H. Greenberg · in
13 · The Tunnel Under the World · Frederik Pohl · nv Galaxy Jan ’55
46 · The Darfsteller · Walter M. Miller, Jr. · na Astounding Jan ’55
112 · The Cave of Night · James E. Gunn · ss Galaxy Feb ’55
130 · Grandpa · James H. Schmitz · nv Astounding Feb ’55
153 · Who? · Theodore Sturgeon · nv Galaxy Mar ’55
187 · The Short Ones · Raymond E. Banks · nv F&SF Mar ’55
209 · Captive Market · Philip K. Dick · ss If Apr ’55
228 · Allamagoosa · Eric Frank Russell · ss Astounding May ’55
243 · The Vanishing American · Charles Beaumont · ss F&SF Aug ’55
254 · The Game of Rat and Dragon · Cordwainer Smith · ss Galaxy Oct ’55
270 · The Star [Star of Bethlehem] · Arthur C. Clarke · ss Infinity Science Fiction Nov ’55
277 · Nobody Bothers Gus [as by Paul Janvier] · Algis Budrys · ss Astounding Nov ’55
292 · Delenda Est [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] · Poul Anderson · nv F&SF Dec ’55
333 · Dreaming Is a Private Thing · Isaac Asimov · ss F&SF Dec ’55

L'Impero galattico è giunto a una fase critica e Cleon I, l'ultimo imperatore, è destinato a perdere il controllo della Galassia, ma a saperlo sono solo Hari Seldon, il creatore della psicostoria, e Demerzel, il robot umanoide.

Runaround is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, featuring his recurring characters Powell and Donovan. It was written in October 1941 and first published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It appears in the collections I, Robot (1950), The Complete Robot (1982), and Robot Visions (1990). Runaround is notable for featuring the first explicit appearance of the Three Laws of Robotics, which had previously only been implied in Asimov’s robot stories.

"Reason" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, first published in the April 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and collected in I, Robot (1950), The Complete Robot (1982), and Robot Visions (1990). It is part of Asimov's Robot series, and was the second of Asimov's positronic robot stories to see publication.

Powell and Donovan are assigned to a space station which supplies energy via microwave beams to the planets. The robots that control the energy beams are in turn co-ordinated by QT1, known to Powell and Donovan as Cutie, an advanced model with highly developed reasoning ability. Using these abilities, Cutie decides that space, stars and the planets beyond the station don't really exist, and that the humans that visit the station are unimportant, short-lived and expendable. QT1 makes the lesser robots disciples of a new religion, which considers the power source of the ship to be "Master."

"Catch that Rabbit" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov that was first published in the February 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the collections I, Robot (1950) and The Complete Robot (1982).

"Liar!" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the May 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and was reprinted in the collections I, Robot (1950) and The Complete Robot (1982). It was Asimov's third published positronic robot story.

Although the word "robot" was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), Asimov's story "Liar!" contains the first recorded use of the word "robotics" according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In 1969

"Liar" was adapted into an episode of the British television series Out of the Unknown, although only a few short clips of this episode are known to exist. The events of this short story are also mentioned in the novel The Robots of Dawn written by the same author.

"Escape!" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published as "Paradoxical Escape" (a publisher's change in the title) in the August 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted as "Escape!" (Asimov's choice of title) in the collections I, Robot (1950) and The Complete Robot (1982).

Stephen Byerley runs for mayor of a major American city. His opponent Francis Quinn claims that Stephen Byerley is a humanoid robot...

"The Evitable Conflict" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the June 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and subsequently appeared in the collections I, Robot (1950), The Complete Robot (1982), and Robot Visions (1990). It features the character Stephen Byerley from the earlier story "Evidence".

- Il robot che leggeva le bozze
- Che tu ne prenda cura
- Il migliore amico dell'uomo

An outdated household robot is humiliated by a newer model ... an unanticipated twist of the infallible three laws of robotics.

A woman is forced to choose between her own son and his robotic younger brother. Asimov's Reader's Choice Award Nominee

"Light Verse" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the September–October 1973 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It later appeared in the collections Buy Jupiter and Other Stories (1975), The Complete Robot (1982), and Robot Dreams (1986).

This story details a small portion of the life of Avis Lardner, the widow of an astronaut, William J. Lardner.

"Not Final!" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, originally published in the October 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and included in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. Its sequel, "Victory Unintentional", is a robot story. These are two of the few stories by Asimov to postulate non-human intelligences in the Solar system.

Earth colonists on Ganymede, the largest satellite of Jupiter, have discovered the existence of intelligent life on the planet's surface. They manage to establish communication with the Jovians by means of a "radio-click" code, and exchange scientific information. When the Jovians realise that the humans are not like them, they break off communication with a threat to destroy what they see as inferior beings.

"Victory Unintentional" is a humorous science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, originally published in the August 1942 issue of Super Science Stories and included in the collections The Rest of the Robots (1964) and The Complete Robot (1982). It is a sequel to a non-robot story, "Not Final!", published the previous year, and one of the few stories by Asimov to postulate non-human intelligences in the Solar System. It is also one of the few positronic robot stories by Asimov that does not form part of the larger Robot/Foundation Series.

This short story was first published in ''Boys and Girls page'', ''NEA service'', in December 1951.
"The Fun They Had" is a science fiction story written by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in a children's newspaper in 1951 and was reprinted in the February 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , as well as the collections Earth Is Room Enough (1957), 50 Short Science Fiction Tales (1960), and The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973).

"Let's Get Together" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was originally published in the February 1957 issue of Infinity Science Fiction, and included in the collections The Rest of the Robots (1964) and The Complete Robot (1982). The robots in this tale are very different from Asimov's norm, being quite happy to work as war machines. The tale is also based on a continuation of Cold War hostility, rather than the peaceful unified world of most of the robot stories.