Buy Jupiter
Isaac Asimov
238 pages
published in 1975
It's hard to know for sure at this late date, but Buy Jupiter, together with I, Robot, was probably the first science fiction book I've ever read. one of the. I must have been seven or eight years old or so and this and the few other adult science fiction books the local library had in its childrens section instilled a lifelong love of the genre. It was therefore with some sense of nostalgia that I reread this book for the first time in years -- these stories were like old friends to me. Nostalgia can be a dangerous guide of course, as so many books can turn out to have been visited by the suck fairy since you last time you've read them, not to mention the racism or sexism fairy. Luckily none of them have been busy on Buy Jupiter, the stories were just as good as I remembered.
This despite the fact that Buy Jupiter is a bit of a strange collection, filled with twentyfive years of leftover stories. There isn't any classic in this, no one story you would put in a Best of Asimov collection but this might actually its strength. Because it's a filler collection, because most of the stories are short or very short, you get a huge variation of stories and subjects, a smorgasbord of Asimov's fiction. A good introduction to science fiction as well, though even at the time I first read those stories they were already dated -- you don't pick up on that as a child anyway.
Asimov had the habit of putting a lot of anecdotes in his collections, about how story got written, what was happening in his life at the time and so on, and this is another reason why this is such a fun collection. He's nicely chatty with a self depreciating sense of humour, with his anecdotes giving some insight in the life of a science fiction writer.
The stories themselves are as I said somewhat lightweight, but again fun. The majority are basic O. Henry stories, with a twist or revelation in the end towards which the entire story leads up to. Mostly these are lightly humourous, though there are a few examples of some anvils need to be dropped as well -- with the majority of the stories dating to the fifties, it's no surprise that there are several nuclear doom stories...
- Darwinian Pool Room · ss Galaxy Oct 50
A silly morlaity story of what, if evolution is directed, the simultaneous development of cybernetics and nuclear weapons means... - Day of the Hunters · ss Future Nov 50
Another morality tale. A time traveller finds out what killed the dinosaurs -- they hunted themselves to extinction. - Shah Guido G. · ss Marvel Science Fiction Nov 51
The clue to what kind of story this is, is in the title: Shah Guido G.: get it? - Button, Button · ss Startling Stories Jan 53
You have a time machine that can bring back anything from the past, provided it's only a few square inches big, doesn't weight more than a few grammes and existed more than 150 years ago. Stamps are out, but they thought they had the perfect collectionable -- but forgot one thing... - The Monkeys Finger · ss Startling Stories Feb 53
When a science fiction writer cannot convince his editor that the changes the latter wants in the story are wrong, he takes him to his professor friend, who has a computer brain with a monkey interface that can use the rules of writing to recreate any given story from just a few words or paragraphs to convince him once and for all. May or may not be based on a true incident. - Everest · ss Universe Dec 53
As Asimov puts it in the notes to the story, this is the perfect illustration of the value of science fiction in predicting the future -- as it confidently stated Everest would never be climbed, five months after it first was... - The Pause · ss Time to Come, ed. August Derleth, Farrar, 1954
Suddenly, radioactivity and all nuclear knowledge is lost from the world and only one person notices... - Lets Not · ss Boston University Graduate Journal Dec 54
Another dropped anvil about nuclear war. - Each an Explorer · ss Future #30 56
The best story in the collection, in which explorers discover two planets with the same plant life and two very different alien species lovingly caring for it, for no discernible purpose. Why are these aliens compelled to do so, why are the explorers compelled to visit both planets, why do they keep sneezing from all the dust in their space ship and why are they now racing back to Earth to tell of their discovery? - Blank! · ss Infinity Science Fiction Jun 57
A time machine is as save as an elevator, isn't it? - Does a Bee Care? · ss If Jun 57
The other outstanding story. Nobody knows why Kane is hanging around the space project, or what his contribution to building the rocket is, nor does Kane himself. All he knows he's seeing a particular patch of stars and thinks of home... - Silly Asses · vi Future Feb 58
Yup, another anvil. - Buy Jupiter! · ss Venture May 58
The aliens said they wanted to buy Jupiter, but couldn't live there. They said the Solar System was on one of their trade routes and that they were in competition with another alien race, yet insisted Jupiter would not be used as a military base. So what would they use it for? - A Statue for Father · ss Satellite Feb 59
Father wanted to be known for being the scientist who finally managed to overcome the problems with the chronofunnels, very imperfect time viewers, yet it wasn't this that led to "a statue for father"... - Rain, Rain, Go Away · ss Fantastic Universe Sep 59
Those new neighbours from Arizona sure are concerned about the weather... - Founding Father · ss Galaxy Oct 65
On an unique planet, a group of shipwrecked explorers have lost the fight against its atmosphere, yet in their deaths may yet find victory. - Exile to Hell · ss Analog May 68
Those who threaten civilisation need to be banished from it, though the death penalty would be more humane! - Key Item · vi F&SF Jul 68
How do you find the fault that's causing Multivac, the computer that runs the world, almost, if not entirely as complex as a human brain, to stop working? Perhaps you just need to look at how you're programming it... - The Proper Study · ss Boys Life Sep 68
How do you convince the military to make public knowledge the existence of a machine capable of letting you visualise emotions and influence others with it, so that it can be studied for the benefit of all mankind? - 2430 A.D. · ss IBM Oct 70
The first of two stories based on a J. B. Priestly quote: "Between midnight and dawn when sleep will not come and all the old wounds begin to ache, I often have a nightmare vision of a future all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality on the whole packed globe". This is the story that proves the quote right. - The Greatest Asset · ss Analog Jan 72
And this is the story that proves it wrong. - Take a Match · ss New Dimensions II, ed. Robert Silverberg, Doubleday, 1972
Sometimes when high tech doesn't work, you just need to think of a lower tech solution... - Thiotimoline to the Stars [Thiotimoline] · ss Astounding, ed. Harry Harrison, Random, 1973
Thiotimoline is a very special chemical. It dissolves in water that is not yet added to it and if this water is withheld at the last moment, it will travel time towards it... - Light Verse · ss The Saturday Evening Post Sep 73
To close out the collection, a short-short robots story.