L Sprague de Camp's "Lest darkness fall". Main character kind of a dick, but still very entertaining. Oh and more famous the whole series he wrote (with Fletcher Pratt) about a psycniatrist who ends up in a series of adventure in alternate worlds, and becomes a damn good magician (in multiple senses of the word "good")

Are we not supposed to enjoy Asimov? That's a bunch of poo. I like reading him, sure. Tickles the thinky mathy parts of my brain.

Are we not supposed to enjoy Asimov?

I was just asking if people did. And some people do.

Gleaned from the comments of Mark Reads:

You can pull up Google Maps and ask for the Walking directions from "The Shire" to "Mordor."

You get a special warning.

It tried to direct me from someplace in Chehalis to Mordor Tattoo in Oregon.

But does it give you the warning beforehand? I got one.

Does anybody really like reading Asimov?

I got a tinge of disbelief in that question. You didn't intend any with your word choice?

to Mordor Tattoo in Oregon

Clearly they do not encourage walk ins.

I got a tinge of disbelief in that question.

Saying he was a shitty writer with weak characterization and would recommend him gave me that sense too.

Books are very subjective things.

I got a tinge of disbelief in that question. You didn't intend any with your word choice?

Oh absolutely intended. I think he's vastly overrated.

But people did say they enjoyed reading him and I don't think they're lying or deluded. So I got my answer despite my leading question.

Then my question stands--I reacted as if you thought we weren't supposed to enjoy him, and I was quite surprised at that. Was your initial thought that he was coasting on juvenile attention? Or something else?

Was your initial thought that he was coasting on juvenile attention? Or something else?

Just looking at his place in the canon. Thinking about the kind of people you read as an English Major; you have to read Clarissa by Richardson which is an Important Novel in English literary history but it's not an enjoyable or particularly good one.

And I think that's Asimov's place. The Foundation books and his robot stories are important and influential, but not because of the quality of his writing. They arrived at a certain place and time and the ideas were valuable and other people did (I think) better things with them. Certainly it's hard to imagine something like Iain Banks Culture series without the precedent of the Foundation books.

Also, I think Asimov's public persona as a popularizer of science and genial figure in the magazines and fandom had a lot to do with the place he was accorded in science fiction history. That boost in reputation is separate from his writing.

He's just kind of sacred cow of science fiction. He sits in the inner circle of Science Fiction Valhalla, but I don't think his actual literary output merits it.