"12 short stories (avg.26 pages) sandwiched between two novels: 170 pgs & 132 pgs. Some of these are sure to be familiar to you; but others are like ""hidden treasures"". Not that they're so great, but that they're samples of a style of writing that seems to have disappeared. The science takes a background to the ""soft"" science: i.e. these stories take place in the future (or past, or both) but they all say something about the human condition in a rather gentle way...less a critique than a ""have you noticed this about humanity?"" And it's obvious that Asimov likes to ""tweak"" his endings to add a parenthetic, often wry, comment. One of the stylish aspects of Asimov's writings that I find endearing is that his characters are way in advance of many--if not most--of the sci-fi authors of his time...they tend to be described as believably intelligent, if emotionally a bit unstable.

The two novels:
""The Gods Themselves"" was new to me, and I can see why it wasn't more popular. Asimov jumps around mixing different plot lines before kind of bringing it all together at the end and this is the only story that doesn't quite satisfy me. His treatment of the aliens is quite enjoyable, however--they really are believable in their uniqueness.

""The End of Eternity"" I remember reading in my childhood and then easily forgot...whose protagonist was irritatingly emotionally unstable...and who somehow rose above his irrationality to surprise everyone with his leaps of intellect and managed to get his act together at the end to provide a comforting ending.

These are not riveting stories--but, as I mention--they're comforting. They held my attention and then gave me something to think about afterwords. I will add here that they are only marginally similar to Larry Niven's ""Draco Tavern"" stories. Niven builds up to a an emotional whack on the side of your head...Asimov is ever more subtle." ( )