From Earth To Heaven is the fifth anthology of essays written for Fantasy and Science Fiction, published in 1966.
The essay titles to the right are listed in the order they appear in the book. Because one of the purposes of these critiques is to examine Asimov's growth as a writer, the essays are covered in chronological order in the body of this page.
This is the first of Asimov's essays in which a list of the essays - and the months in which they appeared, is given.
From Earth To Heaven (1966)
Oh, East is West and West is East
Water, Water Everywhere
Up and Down the Earth
The Isles of Earth
Future? Tense!
The Nobelmen of Science
Exclamation Point
Death in the Laboratory
To Tell a Chemist
The Certainty of Uncertainty
Behind the Teacher's Back
The Land of Mu
Time and Tide
The Rocks of Damocles
Harmony in Heaven
Sq-u-u-sh!
The Proton-Reckoner
March 1965
December 1965
February 1966
June 1966
June 1965
April 1966
July 1965
September 1965
May 1965
April 1965
August 1965
October 1965
May 1966
March 1966
February 1965
November 1965
January 1966
Essays listed chronologically
Harmony in Heaven
Oh, East is West and West is East
The Certainty of Uncertainty
To Tell A Chemist
Future? Tense!
Exclamation Point!
Behind the Teacher's Back
Death in the Laboratory
The Land of Mu
Sq-u-u-ush!
Water, Water Everywhere
The Proton-Reckoner
Up and Down the Earth
The Rocks of Damocles
The Nobelmen of Science
Time and Tide
The Isles of Earth
.
February 1965
March 1965
April 1965
May 1965
June 1965
July 1965
August 1965
September 1965
October 1965
November 1965
December 1965
January 1966
February 1966
March 1966
April 1966
May 1966
June 1966
The essays below are discussed as written in chronological order, not as they appeared in the book. The paragraph in grey is the opening lines of each essay.
In his introduction, Asimov points out that the stereotype of the scientist is not a true one - "There is poetry everywhere and in everything, and it is most clealy present in the world that scientists have at their brain-tips. There remains only the task of expressing it, of casting it into the wind that it might be carried to all men."
Harmony in Heaven (February 1965)
I never actually took any courses in astronomy, which is something I regret for, looking back on it now, there were a number of courses I did take which I might cheerfully have sacrificed for a bit of astronomy.
However, one must look at the bright side, which is that now, every once in a while, I come across a little item in my astronomical reading which gladdens my heart by teaching me something new. If I had had formal training in the field, then these items would all have been old stuff and I would have missed my moments of delight.
Personal details?
Yes - the astronomy anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov comments that he recently read Introduction to Astronomy by Dean B. McLaughlin (1961) which has "delighted him in several places." McLaughlin commented on Johannes Kepler's Harmonic Law, which Asimov expands on here. Kepler's third law, is referred to as the harmoc law, referencing the "music of the spheres:" For 2,000 years philosophers had held that planets were spaced at such distances that their movements gave rise to sounds that united in heavenly harmony.
Asimov discusses the paths of the planets theough space, their speed, etc.
Quotes?
None.
Oh, East is West and West is East (March 1965)
About half a year ago, I bought myself a sixteen-inch globe on a nice wooden stand, with an electric light inside and a brass holder to keep it tipped at twenty-three degrees. Now it stands in my attic study, to the left of my typewriter.
I use it as reference and as an object d'art, but most often, I use it as a means of self-hypnosis. Faced with a nasty question as to just how to phrase some thought percolating through the softly reverbrating interior of my skull, I can stare at the globe and find escape in a delightful period of non-thought as I study the outlines of Cambodia.
Personal details?
Yes - the globe anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses the points of the compass, how there's a farthest north and farthest south, but that farthest east and west are just conventions, imposed by the prime meridian.
Quotes?
None
The Certainty of Uncertainty (April 1965)
In high school, one of the pieces of literature I was required to read was James Barrie's The Admirable Crichton. I reacted to it quite emotionally, but that is not the point at this moment. What is the point is that one of the characters, a well-born young goof named Ernest, had carefully polished up an epigram which he sprang several times during the play.
It went, "After all, I'm not young enough to know everything."
Personal details?
Yes - Crichton anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov discussses the uncertainty principle of Werner Heisenberg, and gives various examples and explanations of why "The very act of measurement alters the quantity being measured."
Quotes?
None.
To Tell A Chemist (May 1965)
Some time ago, I watched a television program called "To Tell the Truth." If you are unaware of its nature, I will explain that it involves a panel of four, who try to guess which one, of three people claiming to be John Smith, is the real John Smith. They do so by asking questions which, they hope, the real John Smith (pledged to tell the truth) can answer correctly, while the phonies, however primed, cannot.
The reason I watched was that Catherine de Camp (the lovely and charming wife of L. Sprague de Camp) was scheduled to appear as a contestant in her capacity as archaeologist. To my surprise, two of the four panelists would not believe she was the real Catherine de CAmp. Her case seemed shaken when, in answer to one question, she stated that Atlantis had never existed. The stir of disapproval among the panelists was marked. Surely, no real archaeologist (they were plainly thinking) would deny the existence of Atlantis.
Personal details?
Yes - rather more of Catherine de Camp but still..
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
Asimov's opening anecdotes comment on how to tell who is a chemist by asking two questions: "how do you poronounce unionized" and "what is a mole," and thereafter goes on to explain what a mole (or mol) is when it comes to chemistry.
Quotes?
None
Future? Tense! (June 1965)
On the whole, there are two ways of looking at a science fiction writer.
One way is to consider him a nut. ("How are the little green men these days, Isaac?" "Been to the Moon lately, Ike, old boy?"
The other way is to consider him a keen-eyed viewer of the future. ("And what will the vacuum cleaner of the twenty-first century be like, Dr. Asimov?" "What sort of thing will be replacing television, Professor?")
Personal details?
Yes - an anecdote about writing an article about the World's Fair for the New York Times.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
Only obliquely. In postulating how someone of the 1880s might predict the social future of the automobile: "...and if youngsters can drive off somewhere in cars, how will that affect the status of youth? Of sex? Of women?" [As if the "yougsters" he's talking about are only boys, and women would be those who those boys would pick up in said cars and have their way with.]
A further example is of Asimov pretending to be an 1880s sf writer predicting the future of the automobile: "Now we have our hero - ordinary chap, clean-cut, wife, two children, sense of humor, excellent driver." -- it's the status quo for Asimov of the 60s, the husband works, th e wife stays at home, and of course there are two kids.
Subject and notes
Asimov talks about the predicative value of science fiction. It's not that science fiction predicts a certain gadget, but that it predicts social change - and that's what governments need to think about. [What would be the social reaction of Muslims - Sunni and Shiite - if they were persuaded by their leaders that their country was invaded (as opposed to liberated) by a Christian country?]
Minorities
He also makes comments on various short stories, and mentions Ray Bradbury's "Way in the Middle of the Air" about the effect on the United States of a mass migration of Negroes to Mars. "In my novel, The Current Of Space I dealt - but not very explicitly - with the role of the Negro in the colonization of the Galaxy. [Please note that Negro was the accepted polite usage in the 1960s, as Black or African-American has been since in the last few decades.]
Quotes?
"The broad vague brush with which the science fiction writer sketches the future is particularly suitable for the broada vague movemenets of social reaction. The science fiction is concerned with the broad sweeps of history, not the minutiae of gadgetry."
"The important prediction is not the automobile, but the parking problem; not radio, but the soap opera; not the income tax, but the expense account, not the Bomb, but the nuclear stalemate? Not the action, in short, but the reaction?"
Exclamation Point! (July 1965)
It is a sad thing to be unrequitedly in love, I can tell you. The truth is that I love mathematics and mathematics is completely indifferent to me.
Oh, I can handle the elementary aspects of math all right but as soon as subtle insights are required, she goes in search of someone else. She's not interested in me.
Personal details?
Yes - Asimov's anecdote about loving mathematics.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
This is an essay that is full of numbers - as Asimov attempts to show his "Asimov Series" of numbers, which he believes he has invented himself (and which no one ever wrote in and told him had been done by someone else - or he'd have mentioned it in the essay as it appears in the book).
Quotes?
None.
Behind the Teacher's Back (August 1965)
In the course of writing these chapters in their original form, I have developed several bad habits. Partly, this is because I have a natural affinity for bad habits and partly because I am given such a free hand that it is hard not to pamper myself.
For instance, when space runs out and I am feeling Puckish, I commit a cliff-hanger and end with an indication that there is more to the story I am telling and that I will reserve the rest for some other time. Afterward, I may write that other column or I may not. It depends on my lordly whim.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
In Asimov's opening anecdote, he reveals that it is a woman who writes him in a "savage," manner, asking if he's going to finish off the concepts in a previous essay, and responds with a "smoldering threat" when he writes to her and says he will do so. Also, he points out in a footnote: "A young lady - undoubtedly beautiful."
It's always difficult to put 21st century sensibilities on what people write in any other decade, including the 1960s, but one wonders about Asimov sometimes. "A young lady - undoubtedly beautiful." Why? Because she was rude to him and only beautiful women dare to be rude? Or because only "plain" women are rude and he was making a slight dig at the woman, should she ever read this particular book?
As for savagerey and smoldering threats - one would really like to have read the letters themselves to see exactly what was said.
Subject and notes
Asimov continues to explain the "uncertainty principle," and expands it to talk about thediscovery of the meson and how scientists came to look for it.
Quotes?
None
Death in the Laboratory (September 1965)
I'm a great one for iconoclasm. Given half a chance, I love to say something shattering about some revered institution, and wax sarcastically cynical about Mother's DAy or apple pie or baseball. Naturally, though, I draw the line at having people say nasty things about institutions I personally revere.
Like Science and Scientists, for instance. (Capital S, you'll notice.)
Personal details?
None.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses various chemists who died relatively young and why - and gives the story of the discovery of the isolation of flourine.
Quotes?
None.
The Land of Mu (October 1965)
When I was in my early teens, I found a book inb the public library that seemed fascinating. It was The Lost Continent of Mu by James Churchward and I took it out exultantly.
The disappointment was keen. I may have been young, but I wasn't so young as not to recognize nonsense. This was my first encounter with "serious" literature spawned by the Atlantis legend (as opposed to honest science fiction) and I needed no second.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote about reading the Churchward book.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov dismisses Churchward's theories about lost Atlantis (and for that matter, the existence of Atlantis itself) in a few paragraphs, but then goes on to reveal the "real" land of Mu, that of muons and pions.
Muons - Still Unknown?
"Do you know that it is just about 30 years now since the muon was discovered and physicists still don't know what it does or what function it serves.
"Why should the muon be so much more massive than the electron? No one knows."
"Why should this huge difference in mass make so little difference in respect to charge, spin, magnetic field, and type of interactions undergone? No one knows."
"How does the neutron tell the two neutrinos (muon-neutrino and electron-neutrino) apart, when we can't?"
Quotes?
None
Squ-u-u-ush (November 1965)
Anyone who likes to slip his imagination off its leash and let it roam freely is bound to find it hunting down extremes with the greatest abandon. At least, it is so in the case of my own imagination (which, at the best of times, is held back only by a rather badly raveled piece of string.)
At various times, I have tried to track down the most instantaneous instant, the most infinite infinity, the hottest heat, the coldest cold, and so on. Now I am impelled to track down the desnsest density into its (as we shall see) rather glamorous layer.
Personal details?
Not really - unless you count his comment about his imagination as a personal detail.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses density and gravity in various objects...including white dwarf stars. He's talking about black holes.
Although the concepts that Asimov discusses have been discussed since 1784 - is there a body that has a graviational field so strong that even light cannot escape from it - the term "black hole" did not come to be used until 1967: "In December 1967 the theoretical physicist John Wheeler coined the expression "black hole" in his public lecture Our Universe: the Known and Unknown, and this mysterious, slightly menacing phrase attracted more attention than the static-sounding "frozen star"."
Quotes?
None
Water, Water Everywhere (December 1965)
The one time in my adult life that I indulged in an ocean voyage, it wasn't voluntary. Some nice sergeants were herding a variety of young men in soldier suits on to a vessel and I was one of the young men.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
Asimov spends the entire essay talking about the oceans and the largest lakes in the world, and their sizes.
Quotes?
None
The Proton-Reckoner (January 1966)
There is, in my heart, a very warm niche for the mathematician Archimedes.
In fact, if transmigrations of souls were something I believed in, I could only wish that my soul had once inhabited the body of Archimedes, because I feel it would have had a congenial home there.
I'll explain why.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
Asimov segues from Archimedes discussion of how much sand there is on a beach to how big is the Universe, and how it was created, and if it can ever end.
Asimov mentions the Big Bang theory but states that he emotionally drawn to the more "optimistic" theory of continuous creation.
Quotes?
"My faith is this: The universe is boundless and without limit and ...never, never, never swill mankind lack for a frontier to face and conquer."
Up and Down the Earth (February 1966)
Boston is getting its face lifted, and now we have "The New Boston."
The outstanding feature of the New Boston is the Prudential Center, which is an area in the Back Bay that has been renovated into New York-like luxury. It possesses a new hotel, the Sheraton-Boston, and, most spectacular of all, the fifty-two-story Prudential Tower, which is 750 feet tall.
Personal details?
Yes - the opening anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses the size of the various mountains, and points out that their height above sea-level is calculated in with their real height - so Mount Everest isn't really the tallest mountain in the world if it's just size for size - its the island of Hawaii - with its Mauna Kea.
He also points out that K2 has a name - Godwin Austen - however 40 years on K2 is still cal;led K2. (Asimov does mention the tendency for native names of mountains to be restored:
Mount Carstensz is the highest mountain in the world that is not on a continent. [Thought that was Hawaii?] Who it is named for I do not know, but it is in the Western portion of New Guinea and is part of the Nassau Mountain Range, which is named for the Dutch Royal Family. I suspect that by now Indonesia has renamed both the range and the mountain, or more likely, has restored the original names, but I don't know what thse might be."
Current events
Asimov comments that the Northeast is going through a serious drought at the time of his writing.
Quotes?
None
The Rocks of Damocles (March 1966)
In some ways, science fiction writers aren't doing too well these days. In late 1962, Mariner II seemed to settle the question of the surface temperature of Venus, placing it far above the boiling point of water.
With that, there vanished some of the most beautiful settings for s. f. stories. Old-times may remember with nostalgia, as I do, the moist, swampy world of Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet." Well, it's gone! For that matter, I wrote a short novel under a pseudonym, only ten years ago, that was set on a Venus that was one huge ocean, with Earth-cities built underwater in the shallower regions...All gone!
Now along comes Mariner IV and discovers craters (not canals) on mars.
Personal details?
None.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses the amount of asteroids in space, those that have hit the earth in the past and those that might hit the earth in future.
Quotes?
None.
The Nobelmen of Science (April 1966)
Something happened to me some time ago which still leaves me stunned.
I got a call early in the morning from a reporter. He said, "Three Frenchmen have just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work on genetics, and I thought you might explain to me, in simple terms, the significance of their discoveries."
"Who are these Frenchmen?"
He told me, and the names drew a blank. I pleaded ignorance of their work and apologized. I hung up.
Personal details?
Yes - in opening anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
Only 3 women have won Nobel Prizes - Asimov doesn't use the word "only," he just points out that some of the winners have been women.
Subject and notes
Asimov postulates that scientists who win Nobel Prizes in chemistry should be identified by their college - which formed them into the future scientist, rather than by country. He then proceeds to provide a list of all Nobel Prize winners by country.
Quotes?
None
Time and Tide (May 1966)
What with one thing and another, I've gotten used to explaining various subtle puzzles that arise in connection with the scientific view of the universe. For instance, I have disposed of the manner in which electrons and photons can be waves part of the time and particles the rest of the time in a dozen different ways and by use of a dozen different analogies.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None.
Comments on politics?
None.
Comments on women?
None.
Subject and notes
Asimov attempts to explain why the Earth has two high tides and two low tides every day.
Quotes?
None
The Isles of Earth (June 1966)
One of the nicest things about the science essays I write is the mail it brings me - almost invariably good-humored and interesting.
Personal details?
Yes - opening anecdote.
Comments on religion?
None
Comments on politics?
None
Comments on women?
None
Subject and notes
Asimov discusses the various islands of the worlds and lists them by size.
Quotes?
None
All quotes maintain their original copyright and are presented here for research, reference and review.
Thanks to Doubleday for permission to use selected quotes.
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