Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters

艾薩克．艾西莫夫（Isaac Asimov）是我們這個時代最多產的作家之一。1992 年，他以七十二歲之齡辭世時，已出版超過 470 本書，幾乎橫跨所有小說與非小說類型。除了著作等身之外，艾西莫夫也是一位驚人的書信往來者；在他的職業生涯中，共收到超過十萬封來信，其中九萬多封都親自回覆。

對艾西莫夫的弟弟、資深報人史丹利．艾西莫夫（Stanley Asimov）而言，編成《Yours, Isaac Asimov》無疑是一項出於深厚情感的心血之作。這本書在史丹利於 1995 年 8 月辭世前完成，收錄了一千封從未公開出版過的信件節錄，每一封皆由他親自挑選，納入本書。全書依主題編排，並搭配史丹利簡短而富洞見的引言；信件對象涵蓋政治家、科學家、演員、作家，也包括孩子、家庭主婦、有志成為作家的人，以及世界各地的讀者與書迷。

這些信件溫暖、真誠、理性，有時也充滿熱情。透過字裡行間，艾西莫夫傳奇般的才智、機鋒與魅力熠熠生輝。

於是，我們得以擁有《Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters》這本書——它讓人親密窺見這位現代偉大作家與思想家的思想、情感與觀點。正如史丹利．艾西莫夫所說：「請仔細閱讀這些信。說不定，其中有一封正是寫給你的。」

Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific authors of our time. When he died in 1992 at the age of seventy-two, he had published more than 470 books in nearly every category of fiction and nonfiction. Asimov was a prodigious correspondent as well as a prolific author. During his professional career he received more than one hundred thousand letters, over ninety thousand of which he answered.

For Asimov's younger brother, veteran newspaperman Stanley Asimov, the creation of Yours, Isaac Asimov was truly a labor of love. Completed before Stanley's death in August 1995, the book is made up of excerpts from one thousand never-before-published letters, each handpicked by Stanley for inclusion in this volume. Arranged by subject and accompanied by Stanley's short, insightful introductions, here are letters to statesmen and scientists, actors and authors, as well as to children, housewives, aspiring writers, and fans the world over. The letters are warm, engaging, reasoned, and occasionally impassioned. Through them all Isaac Asimov's legendary genius, wit, and charm shine through.

And so we have Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters, an intimate glimpse into the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of a great writer and thinker of the modern age. As Stanley Asimov advised, "Read the letters carefully. One of them may have been written to you."