Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov alsopossessed one of the most brilliant and original minds of our time. Hisaccessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science tohumor to history earned him the nickname the Great Explainer. is his personal story - vivid, open, and honest - as only Asimovhimself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the starsyet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galacticcivilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the greatminds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyedobservations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a rivetingbehind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities - Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others - who along with Asimov helpedshape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself, I. Asimov is the candidmemoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half acentury and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividlyenvisioned.