Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology First Edition - Isaac Asimov - Bauman Rare Books

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Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Isaac ASIMOV

Item#: 43088 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

FIRST EDITION OF ASIMOV’S “MOST ELABORATE HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF SCIENCE”

ASIMOV, Isaac. Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Garden City: Doubleday, 1964. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Asimov’s “most elaborate historical account of science,” his important history of the lives and achievements of the 1000 greatest scientists from ancient times to the present.

“The most elaborate historical account of science I have yet attempted arose out of a suggestion made to me in 1961 by T. O’Conor Sloane of Doubleday… [He] asked me to do 250 short biographies of the most important scientist in history, arranged chronologically. In principle, that was easy, but it was clearly going to be a difficult task to pick out the 250 most important scientists, so I avoided the necessity of too many decisions by writing 1000 short biographies… Among the scientific biographies contained in the book were some that were as short as 100 words and others that were as long as 10,000 words, and I must admit that the choice of whom to include and how thoroughly to deal with him was entirely a matter of my own prejudices. If he were someone I liked, he got in a considerable length and that’s all there was to it” (Asimov, Opus 100, pp. 126-8). “As a scientific biographical text it remains unsurpassed, and is still used as a reference book in major libraries around the world” (White, Asimov: The Unauthorized Life, p. 173).

Price-clipped dust jacket. A fine copy.

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