The Planet That Wasn't

287 Pages·1977·0.67 MB·English

by  Isaac Asimov

THE PLANET THAT WASN’T [154-066-4.0]
By: ISAAC ASIMOV

Category: Fiction Science Fiction
Synopsis:
No synopsis available.
ISAAC ASIMOV is undoubtedly America’s foremost writer on science for
the layman. An Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Boston
University School of Medicine, he has written well over a hundred books,
as well as hundreds of articles in publications ranging from Esquire to
Atomic Energy Commission pamphlets. Famed for his science fiction
writing (his three-volume Hugo Award-winning THE FOUNDATION
TRILOGY is available in individual Avon editions and as a one-volume
Equinox edition), Dr. Asimov is equally acclaimed for such standards of
science reportage as THE UNIVERSE, LIFE AND ENERGY, THE
SOLAR SYSTEM AND BACK, ASIMOV’S BIOGRAPHICAL
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, and ADDING A
DIMENSION (all available in Avon editions). His non-science writings
include the two-volume ASIMOV’S GUIDE TO SHAKESPEARE,
ASIIVIOV’S ANNOTATED DON JUAN, and ASIMOV’S GUIDE TO THE
BIBLE (available in a two-volume Avon edition). Born in Russia, Asimov
came to this country with his parents at the age of three, and grew up in
Brooklyn. In 1948 he received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Columbia and
then joined the faculty at Boston Un’iversity, where he works today.
Other A von books by
Isaac-Asimov
‘OF TIME, SPACE, AND OTHER THINGS 35584 $1.75
THE UNIVERSE:
FROM FLAT EARTH TO OUASAR 27979 1.95
Asimov’s GUIDE TO THE BIBLE,
THE NEw TESTAMENT 247864.95
Asimov’s GUIDE TO THE BIBLE,
THE OLD TESTAMENT 247944.95
ADDING A DIMENSION 368711.50
FROM EARTH To HEAVEN 292311.75
THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY 26930 4.95
LIFE AND ENERGY 316661.95
THE NEUTRINO 25544 1.50
THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND BACK 10157 1.25’
ViEw FROM A HEIGHT 245471.25
FOUNDATION 29579 1.50
FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE 306271.50
SECOND FOUNDATION 292801.50
Asimov’s BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 32775 6.95
THE PLANET
THAT WASN’T

ISAAC ASIMOV

0 A DISCUS BOOK/PUBLISHED BY AVON
BOOKS
The following essays in this volume are reprinted from The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction, having appeared in the indicated issues:
Star in the East, December 1974
Thinking About Thinking, January 1975
The Rocketing Dutchmen, February 1975
The Bridge of the Gods, March 1975
The Judo Argument, April 1975
The Planet That Wasn’t, May 1975
The Olympian Snows, June 1975
Titanic Surprise, July 1975
The Wicked Witch is Dead, August 1975
The Wrong Turning, September 1975
The Third Liquid, October 1975
Best Foot Backward, November 1975
The Smell of Electricity, December 1975
Silent Victory, January 1976
Change of Air, February 1976
The Nightfall Effect, March 1976
All Gall, April 1976
1974, 1975, 1976 by Mercury Press, Inc.

AVONBOOKS
A division of
The Hearst Corporation
959 Eighth Avenue
New York, New York 10019

Copyright @ 1976 by Isaac Asimov
Published by arrangement with Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 7540710
ISBN: 0-380-01813-6

M rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
Doubleday & Co., Inc., 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10017
First Discus Printing, December, 1977
DISCUS TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND IN OTHER
COUNTRIES, MARCA REGISTRADA, HECHO EN U.S.A.
Printed in the U.S.A.
Dedicated to
the memory of James Blish (1921-1975)
Contents
INTRODUCTION 9
1 THE PLANET THAT WASN’T13
2 THE OLYMPIAN SNOWS26
3 TITANTIC SURPRISE39
4 THE WRONG TURNING52
5 THE BRIDGE OF THE GODS67
6 THE THIRD LIQUID81
7 ALL GALL94
8 THE SMELL OF ELECTRICITY107
9 SILENT VICTORY120
10 CHANGE OF AIR133
11 THE WICKED WITCH is DEAD146
12 THE NIGHTFALL EFFECT159
13 THE ROCKETING DUTCHMEN172
14 BEST FOOT BACKWARD185
15 THINKING ABOUT THINKING198
16 STAR IN THE EAST211
17 THE JUDO ARGUMENT225
Introduction
The key to my long-continuing series of essays in The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction is variety Partly that is to the credit of my
Gentle Editors-Edward L. Ferman at F & SF and Cathleen Jordan at
Doubleday & Company-who are perfectly content to let me waunder on
about any subject that interests me. Partly, also, it is to the credit of my
own restless mind.
I am quite likely to talk about the atmosphere one month, space
colonies the next, and atherosclerosis the one after. Why not? Not only
do I hold my own interest that way, but I pique the readers’ curiosity.
“What will Isaac be talking about next month?” they wonder.
However, be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not
escape
calumny.*
. Would you believe that last week I received a letter denouncing me for
having been on an “astronomy kick” for years and urging me, quite
angrily, to get off?
“What is this?” thought I, in confusion. “Have I been writing nothing but
astronomy articles for years and haven’t noticed?”
I checked and I leave it to you. If you’ll consider this book, which has
my most recent seventeen essays in it, you will see that there are
exactly four articles that might be considered straightforward
astronomy-the first four in the book. Some of the rest may have
tangential astronomic interest, but nothing more than that.
That’s not one of my own. It was written by an old-time dramatist
named William Shakespeare. One of his characters with the
improbable name of Hamlet says it to Ophella-apparently a girlfriend of
his.
9
can only suppose my correspondent had been nipping just a bit too
eagerly at
the medicinal brandy.
The variety of my essays does present problems, however. For
instance, what do I call the collections?
Looking back on it, I can see that I would have saved myself a lot of
trouble if I had called them all “Collected Essays” and labeled them-
Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and so on.-But how dulll What I do,
instead, is to try to-pick some bouncy title that (1) indicates at least
vaguely the nature of the contents, and (2) uses a key word that
symbolizes science and yet one that I have not used before. If one of
the essays included in the book legitimately has the title I select, so
much the better.
I haven’t used the word “planet” in any of the titles to my essay
collections, and one of the essays in this collection has the title “The
Planet That Wasn’t.” Very goodl That’s the title of the book. It sounds
like science fiction, I admit, but that’s not necessarily a drawback. Any
of my books, whatever the title, is likely to be put in the science fiction
section, anyway. You can’t always count on bookstore employees
knowing that I write anything but science fiction. I once got an agitated
phone call from a friend of mine who told me that a book of mine
entitled An EasY Introduction to the Slide Rule-which was exactly what
the title proclaimed it to be-was in with my science fiction at a certain
bookstore. I told him to relax, since it is precisely the readers of my
science fiction who are most apt to buy and read my nonfiction.
Another problem raised by the variety of essays I write is the matter of
arrangement. I have seventeen essays in this book. Which comes first,
which second, which third, and why?
I could arrange them in the order they were originally published but that
would mean that, by ‘and large, they would be arranged every which
way.
That sort of charming disorder works fine as long as they
appear at 10