by Isaac Asimov
First published 1991
Isaac Asimov presents a collection of speculative scenarios where familiar technological progress veers into uncharted territory. Each story examines moments when scientific advancement reaches critical junctures, forcing characters to confront choices that reshape entire civilizations. Engineers discover their inventions produce consequences no one anticipated. Scientists find their theories leading to applications they never intended. Politicians must navigate societies transformed by innovations that arrived too quickly for existing institutions to handle. The stories move between intimate human moments and sweeping social changes, showing how individual decisions ripple outward to affect millions. Asimov focuses on the tension between human nature and accelerating change, exploring what happens when people must adapt to worlds their own creations have made unfamiliar.
Genres: science-fiction, speculative-fiction, 21st-century, alternate-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: human-adaptation, unintended-consequences
Paperback · Presses Pocket