Science Fiction Book Review

The Winds of Change and other stories

by Isaac Asimov
Reviewed date: 2004 Nov 9
277 pages
cover art

A collection of 21 Asimov short stories, each with an introduction by the author. The Winds of Change is classic Asimov and comes highly recommended by your humble reviewer.

  • About Nothing: Humorous short-short about a black hole.
  • A Perfect Fit: Ian Bradstone is incapable of using a computer.
  • Belief: A physicist discovers that he can fly. But how to convince his fellow scientists that he is telling the truth?
  • Death of a Foy: Humorous short-short, but I don't get the punch line. Guess I'm stupid.
  • Fair Exchange?: A man takes a trip back in time to retrieve the lost score to a Gilbert and Sullivan work.
  • For the Birds: Flying in zero gravity.
  • Found!: Orbital computer inexplicably stops working.
  • Good Taste: People in future space habitats eat only Prime grown in vats.
  • How It Happened: Humorous short-short about the origin of the universe.
  • Ideas Die Hard: Space ships sent to the moon cease to function at about 200,000 miles out.
  • Ignition Point: Scientific principles of speech-writing promise to turn an amiable but shallow man into a master politician.
  • It Is Coming: Something is coming to Earth, and it's up to Multivac to figure out what it is.
  • The Last Answer: The afterlife isn't all it's cracked up to be.
  • The Last Shuttle: The last shuttle flight.
  • Lest We Remember: Give a man total and instant recall of every bit of information he has ever experienced and see what becomes of him.
  • Nothing for Nothing: Traders visit Earth in ancient times. What will they take away and what will they give in return?
  • One Night of Song: A man gives his ex-girlfriend the gift of a perfect singing voice for one night.
  • The Smile That Loses: Azazel the implet captures the essence of a man in a perfect photograph.
  • Sure Thing: Short-short with a pun punch line.
  • To Tell At A Glance: Elaine Metro must identify the sabateur in the group of VIP tourists, but if she guesses wrong all will be lost.
  • The Winds of Change: A man manipulates time to win the fame and recognition he so desperately desires.

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