Life and Time

296 Pages·1979·18.956 MB·English

by  Isaac Asimov

L.A.T.
$9.95
Asimov is back!
Here are twenty-six essays in which
the Good Doctor explores the phe¬
nomena of our Universe that directly
affect man—and all other Earthly life.
In times past, present... and future.
First it’s a journey back over the
millennia delving into man’s physio¬
logical past to trace the development
of multicellular life from the first nu-
cleoprotein molecule. Then onward
with deductions and inductions that
only Asimov could make: fiddling
around with DNA and RNA; explain¬
ing what actually causes earthquakes;
probing microbes and manipulating
genes; proposing solutions to the en¬
ergy crisis; even hypothesizing which
of several apocalypses could destroy
the Earth.
All enthralling elucidations of the
mechanisms of life as we know it—how
it all came to be and how it some day
might be.

ESSAYS ON SCIENCE BY ISAAC ASIMOV
&
THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
Fact and Fancy
View From a Height
Adding a Dimension
Of Time and Space and Other Things
From Earth To Heaven
Science, Numbers and 1
The Solar System and Back
The Stars in Their Courses
The Left Hand of the Electron
Asimov on Astronomy
Asimov on Chemistry
Of Matters Great and Small
Asimov on Physics
The Planet That Wasn't
Asimov on Numbers
Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright
OTHER SOURCES
Only a Trillion
Is Anyone There?
Today and Tomorrow and
—
Science Past—Science Future
The Beginning and the End
Life and Time
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/lifetime0000asim
ISAAC ASIMOV
LIFE AND T
DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC.
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK
&
1978
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Asimov, Isaac, 1920-
Life and Time.
1. Biology—Philosophy. 2. Science—Philosophy.
I. Title.
QH331.A82 574'.01
isbn: 0-385-14645-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-62644
Copyright © 1978 by Isaac Asimov
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
“Life” is reprinted with permission from Volume 14, Collier’s Ency¬
clopedia. Copyright © 1968 by Crowell-Collier Educational Corp.
“The March of the Phyla” is reprinted from the May 1960 issue of
Astounding Science Fiction, copyright © 1960 by Street & Smith
Publications, Inc.
“Beyond the Phyla” is reprinted from the July 1960 issue of Astound¬
ing Science Fiction, copyright © 1960 by Street & Smith Publica¬
tions, Inc.
“The Gift of the Plants” is reprinted from the January 1977 issue of
Horticulture, copyright © 1977 by Massachusetts Horticultural
Society.
V
“The Brain Explosion” originally appeared as “The Hidden Universe:
The Brain” in the June 11, 1977, issue of TV Guide® Magazine.
Reprinted with permission from TV Guide® Magazine. Copyright
© 1977 by Triangle Publications, Inc., Radnor, Pa.
“Man, the Overbalancer” originally appeared as “At Stake:
500,000,000 Years of Life” in the April-May issue of National
Wildlife, copyright © 1972 by the National Wildlife Federation,
Inc.
“The Myth of Less-Than-AH” appeared in 1975 in UN 30.
“The Flaming God” appeared in the October 30, 1976, issue of
Saturday Review, copyright © 1976 by Saturday Review/World,
Inc.
“Before Bacteria” originally appeared as “Microbes and Men” in the
March 19, 1977, issue of TV Guide® Magazine. Reprinted with
permission from TV Guide® Magazine. Copyright © 1977 by
Triangle Publications, Inc., Radnor, Pa.
“The Face of the Moon” appeared in the January-Febraary 1976
issue of Mercury, copyright © by the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific.
“The Discovery of Argon” appeared in Adventures in Discovery,
edited by Tom Purdom, copyright © 1969 by Tom Purdom.
“Water” originally appeared as “Water, Water, Everywhere” in the
March-April 1978 issue of International Wildlife, copyright ©
1978 by the National Wildlife Federation, Inc.
“Salt” originally appeared as “Salt of the Earth” in March-April
1977 issue of International Wildlife, copyright © 1977 by the
National Wildlife Federation, Inc.
“Earth Shrugs Its Shoulders” originally appeared as “Stand By, We
Have an Earthquake Warning” in the January-February 1977
issue of Think Magazine. Reprinted by permission from Think
Magazine, published by IBM, copyright © 1977 by International
Business Machines Corporation.
“Forget Me Not!” originally appeared as “What’s on Your Mind?”
in the May 1972 issue of Penthouse, copyright © 1972 by Pent¬
house International, Ltd.
“You Are a Catalog” appeared in the Spring 1970 issue of Boston
University Journal, copyright © 1970 by the Trustees of Boston
University.
vi
“The Gene Scene” appeared in the September 1977 issue of The
Saturday Evening Post, copyright © 1977 by The Saturday Eve¬
ning Post Company.
“Technology and Communication” originally appeared as “Not
Enough Information, Too Much Information, and the Information
Democracy” in Dialogue in Technology $7 by Gould, Inc.
“One-to-One” originally appeared as “One-To-One-To-Wonderland” in
the Autumn 1976 issue of Creative Living, copyright © 1976 by
Northwestern Mutual Life.
“Farewell to Youth” appeared in the December 1974 issue of The
American Legion Magazine, copyright © 1974 by The American
Legion.
“Moving About” first appeared as “Earth Trek” in the November
1976 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, copyright © 1976 The
Saturday Evening Post Company.
“The Ultimate Speed Limit” appeared in the July 8, 1972, issue of
Saturday Review of Science, copyright © 1972 Saturday Review,
Inc.
“The Coming Decades in Agriculture” is being published here for the
first time.
“An Open Letter to the President” first appeared as “Isaac Asimov
Advises the President” in the February 1977 issue of Science
Digest, copyright © 1976 by The Hearst Corporation.
“Space and the Law” originally appeared as “Perspective of Space”
in American Law: the Third Century, edited by Bernard Schwartz,
copyright © 1976 by New York University.
“A Choice of Catastrophes” originally appeared as “20 Ways the
World Could End” in the March 1977 issue of Popular Mechanics,
copyright © 1977 by The Hearst Corporation.