TEHRAN (IBNA) -- A
scientific book, ‘The Stars in Their Courses’ (1971) by Russian-American writer ‎and professor of biochemistry Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) has been published in Persian ‎and is available in Iranian bookstores. ‎
A collection of seventeen scientific essays by Asimov, the book has been translated into Persian by Mohammad-Reza Tavakoli Saberi and Gholam-Reza Tavakoli Saberi. Elm Publishing has released ‘The Stars in Their Courses’ in 295 pages.
It is the eighth in a series of books collecting his essays from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (May 1969 to September 1970). Doubleday & Company first published the collection in 1971.
This non-technical, misnamed study is not about the movement and make-up of the stars. Mr. Asimov’s interests range all over the universe, so does this book.
Included are sections and chapters on Newton’s laws; “weighing” the earth (read the book to see why the quotation marks are needed); the periodic table; astrology and Velikovsky (which and whom he effectively demolishes); the dangers of overpopulation; a defense of science and the space effort; the need for world cooperation; and much else.
Aside from a discussion of tachyons- hypothetical, faster-than-light particles- and perhaps the suggestion that the invention of poison gas started the tarnishing of science’s halo, there is little in subject matter that is new here. The style is highly informal: “Does it matter that the close match of weight and mass to which we are accustomed on the surface of the earth fails elsewhere? Sure it does.” Does it matter that these essays were written by Isaac Asimov and not someone else? Sure it does.
During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction.