Books

Stories

The Winds of Change and Other Stories
Book 267
1983
Science Fiction Collection
11
Counting the Eons <<<
>>> Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 9, 1947
 

This is a weak collection on the whole. Few of the stories in the collection are memorable at all, and many of those that are (such as the title story, "Lest We Remember", "The Last Answer", and "Found!"), I don’t particularly like, although Asimov did.

(Regarding the title story, Asimov liked it because it was a vicious attack on what he considered to be the forces of superstition and ignorance which were raising their ugly heads again in the United States during the presidency of Ronald Regan, whom he loathed—specifically the Moral Majority. As a political statement, and as an insight into Asimov’s thinking, the story may have some merit. As a story, it has little.)

On the other hand, we also have "Good Taste", which I love, and "Death of a Foy", which, despite everything, does bring a smile to my lips, and the former in particular helps enormously to redeem the collection in my estimation. Still, since both are available elsewhere in Asimov anthologies, there is little reason to own this one except as part of a complete collection.

Contents
1
"About Nothing"
0
"Perfect Fit, A"
1
"Belief"
2
"Death of a Foy"
1
"Fair Exchange?"
0
"For the Birds"
2
"Found!"
3
"Good Taste"
2
"How It Happened"
1
"Ideas Die Hard"
1
"Ignition Point!"
0
"It Is Coming"
1
"The Last Answer"
0
"The Last Shuttle"
0
"Lest We Remember"
1
"Nothing For Nothing"
2
"One Night of Song"
3
"The Smile that Loses"
3
"Sure Thing"
0
"To Tell At a Glance"
0
"The Winds of Change"
 
Review copyright © 1995–2002 by John H. Jenkins. All rights reserved.
Last updated: JHJ