艾薩剋·阿西莫夫（Isaac Asimov，192O－1992）美籍猶太人，為本世紀最頂尖的科幻小說傢之一，曾獲代錶科幻界最高榮譽的雨果奬和星雲終身成就“大師奬”。以他的名字為號召的“阿西莫夫科幻雜誌”，是美國當今數一數二的科幻文學重鎮。

“基地”、“機器人”等係列是阿西莫夫的代錶作。這些看似各自獨立的故事，相互貫串起來，竟是一部俯仰兩萬年的長篇史詩！阿西莫夫特意將科幻場景巨幅拉大，在全銀河的背景下架構他獨有的科幻世界、藉由銀河帝國的興亡史來討論人性與政冶、經濟、軍事等文明要素産生的互動影響。這種宏觀視野使他的作品處處閃動著關懷人類未來的筆觸，超越一般科幻作品的局限。

阿西莫夫不僅是哥倫比亞大學的化學博士，更是世聞名的全能作傢，一生著述多達百七十餘本，內容廣及科學類的數理化、天文、生物、醫學，還旁涉人文類的文學、宗教、史地等。如此淵博的學識使他的筆下世界具備瞭奇幻的想像與高度的預言性。在他剛開始寫機器人小說時，機器人學未發展齣來；等到這門科技發展得相當有成果時，幾乎每一本有關機器人學發展史的書籍都提到他、他的小說與他發明的“機器人三定律”。這定律幾乎成瞭以後科幻作傢創作有關機器人的作品時必須遵循的法則。

阿西莫夫以真確的物質科學及人文現象演繹齣他的科幻世界，又雜進偵探與推理的小說技法，使得他的作品情節生動，扣人心弦，讓人不忍釋捲。

Isaac Asimov's death on 6 April 1992, was a great loss to the world of literary science and free thought. The prolific author's vision is unmatched today, and his pointed honesty shines through in "The Roving Mind", now reissued in this special tribute edition. This collection of essays is wide-ranging, reflecting Asimov's extraordinary skill in disseminating knowledge from across the spectrum of human thought. Some of the areas explored in this volume of 62 essays include creationism, pseudoscience, censorship, population, philosophy of science, transportation, computers and corporations of the future, and astronomy. His predictions about cloning which has only recently become the topic of public debate the theory of 'technophobia', and other scientific developments are astounding. In a lighter tone, Asimov includes several personal stories from his life including thoughts on his style of writing and memories of family in younger days. With tributes by Arthur C Clarke, L Sprague de Camp, Harlan Ellison, Kendrick Frazier, Martin Gardner, Donald Goldsmith, Stephen Jay Gould, E C Krupp, Frederik Pohl, and Carl Sagan.