Reviews for The winds of change and other stories

The average rating for The winds of change and other stories based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-01-02 00:00:00 Matt Guisinger January 2nd is National Science Fiction Day. It became that due to it being the date the Isaac Asimov celebrated his birthday. He didn't know when his birthday was and chose January 2nd in the third grade. In celebration, I decided to read "Winds of Change . . . and other stories", a collection of 21 short stories, all previously published. Although one story "To Tell at a Glance" was previously published in a shorter form. The stories were originally published from 1953 - 1982 with most coming from the late 70's and early 80's. Four of the stories are very short, Asimov refers to them as vignettes. I've read a great deal of Asimov, most in my youth and this might be a reread, as the title sounded familiar. However, I must admit, I didn't recall a single story, so maybe this is my first read. I hate to say this on Asimov's birthday and National Science Fiction day, but it's not my favorite, in fact, it's low on my list of Asimov's short story collections. Many of these stories were written for a specific purpose, to fit in a larger collection, or a requested theme by an editor. My uninformed theory is that stories that are crafted to meet a specific purpose are likely to be inferior to stories that emerge from a writer's imagination without guardrails. Not to say that all the stories are weak (weak on an Asimov scale). A few of my favorites include "Belief" - An older page turner, and an example of his simple, yet elegant style. "Ideas Die Hard" - A setup for a solid twist, although it quickly became dated. "Nothing from Nothing" - A great idea that Asimov received from a colleague. "To Tell at a Glance" - An intriguing sci-fi mystery with a great lead character. "One Night of Song" - I found the protagonist hilarious and the story fun. "The Winds of Change" - Oddly written, but intriguing (although slightly political). The rest felt lacking, at least as far as Asimov stories go. The vignettes were just setups for bad puns and others were stories that felt forced to fit a theme. Still, I don't regret reading the collection, as Asimov's worst is still better than many other's best. I also enjoyed his introductions, although brief. An average sci-fi short story collection from one of the masters of Science Fiction.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-24 00:00:00 Joe Richard Intelligent ideas, concisely developed. I took a break from Asimov (except as he showed up in misc. anthologies) for a few decades and am now going back and reading (rereading, probably, in most cases) the shelf of books that I own by him. And imo his stories hold up well. Still witty, still thought-provoking, still enjoyable, whether or not I remember them from before. Most in this collection are too short to be fully memorable, at least to a rabid reader like me. But in this case that's a good thing, because every punch line/ pay-off/ twist ending/ irony had an impact on me... and therefore, even though the stories are simply told, I felt well-rewarded for reading each. The vignettes (short-shorts) are especially funny, especially if you like puns. (Another reviewer says these were rejected for publication - only some, and only at first offer; she misunderstood.)