Shout Out / Isaac Asimov

• Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare:
  • In the introduction, Dr. Asimov says reading The Signet Classic Shakespeare books inspired him to create this work, and uses this series when quoting lines.
  • Huon Of Bordeaux is where A Midsummer Night's Dream got the name Oberon from, and while explaining this, Dr. Asimov goes off on a tangent about Huon being a representation of the French culture's Gaul, Roman, and Germanic roots.
  • Dr. Asimov references The King Must Die by Mary Renault because she has a conjecture for why Theseus deserts Ariadne (from Crete).
  • Dr. Asimov uses The Private Life Of Helen Of Troy by John Erskine as an example of authors doing their own version of Homer's The Iliad.
  • Dr Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, is referenced for its line "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships—".
  • In a footnote, Dr. Asimov says The Anger Of Achilles, by Robert Graves, is the English translation of The Iliad he uses when comparing William Shakespeare to the "original" Homer.
  • Tristan and Iseult is referenced as an example where stories of courtly love cast the woman's husband as the villain (because the male love interest must overcome challenges).
  • Testament Of Cresseid is mentioned as a possible source for Shakespeare, but ultimately unrelated to the fifth act of Troilus and Cressida''
  • Dialogues Of The Gods, by Lucian Of Samosata, is referenced as another fictional account of the title character in Timon of Athens, contrasting Lucian's humorous treatment with Shakespeare's harsh denouncement.
• Black Widowers:
  • Tales of the Black Widowers:
    • In the introduction, Dr. Asimov claims Agatha Christie had used almost all the possible Plot Twists in Mystery Fiction, and mentions Hercule Poirot by name.
    • In the introduction, Dr. Asimov explains how David Ford was an inspiration, and mentions his work in 1776 (both stage and film).
  • "The Acquisitive Chuckle" describes the opening toast for all Black Widowers meetings, it's to "Old King Cole", the Nursery Rhyme.
  • "Ph as in Phony":
    • Drake compares Professor St. George to Captain Bligh from the mutiny of the Bounty, because St. George was an extremely strict teacher.
    • In the afterword, Dr. Asimov mentions Lawrence Treat for why the magazine changed the title of this story.
  • "Truth to Tell":
    • Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler, for his use of lies.
    • Napoleon III for his use of lies.
    • Commentaries, by Julius Caesar, for his use of lies.
    • Agatha Christie, for making the least suspicious person seem like the criminal.
  • "Go, Little Book!":
    • "El Paso", by Marty Robbins, is mentioned in reference to subverting audience expectations with First-Person Perspective by having the narrator die.
    • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie, is mentioned in reference to subverting audience expectations with First-Person Perspective, but the character is cut off before they can explain how.
    • "Go, little book!" is a reference to Geoffrey Chaucer, Robert Southey, and Lord Byron. Each had used that line, building off of the previous artist.
  • "Early Sunday Morning":
    • Rubin complains that Halsted has been reading too much Agatha Christie, and mentions Miss Marple.
    • Avalon quotes the first line from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, "The moving finger writes".
  • "The Obvious Factor":
    • Medieval versions of the Troilus tale are referenced for having influenced modern recollection of Pandarus, obscuring his deed in the original Greek.
    • The plot of Troilus and Cressida, by Shakespeare, is confused for the plot of the fourth book in The Iliad.
    • Drake and Rubin debate the finer points of Secret Service Operator 5.
    • Drake and Rubin debate the finer points of Secret Agent X.
    • Mr Eldridge quotes from Sherlock Holmes: "When the impossible has been eliminated, then whatever remains, however improbable, is the truth."
    • Trumbull interrupts Rubin to stop playing Twenty Questions and asks Henry to explain clearly.
    • Henry quotes from Thomas Jefferson: "I would sooner believe that a Yankee professor would lie than that a stone would fall from heaven."
  • "The Pointing Finger":
    • To Columbia Encyclopedia, a nonfiction book the Widowers keep on hand to resolve disputes.
    • The club keeps two different versions of The Bible on hand to resolve disputes; King James and the New English translations.
    • As reference material to resolve arguments, the club keeps several books by Webster; the second edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Webster's Biographical Dictionary, and Webster's Geographical Dictionary.
    • To The Guinness Book of Records, a nonfiction reference book the club keeps around to resolve disputes.
    • To Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a nonfiction reference book the club keeps around to resolve disputes.
    • To The Complete Works of Shakespeare compiled by Kitterage, a book the club keeps around to resolve disputes regarding the Bard. Several of his plays are mentioned by name in this story.
    • To demonstrate Mr Levy's grandfather-in-law was a well-read man, War and Peace is one of the books he enjoyed.
    • To the song "Quartet" (better known as Bella figlia dell'amore) from Rigoletto (an opera by Giuseppe Verdi), is presented as the best example of opera.
  • "Miss What?": To figure out the meaning of "Rahab", the Black Widowers pull out the King James version of The Bible and quote passages aloud for everyone to hear.
    • They quoted from the Book of Numbers, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel."
    • They quoted from the Book of Job, "Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge."
    • They quoted from the Book of Joshua, "And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there."
    • They quoted from the Gospel Of Matthew, "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king."
    • They quoted from the 74th poem in the Book of Psalms,"Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces."
    • They quoted from the 87th poem in the Book of Psalms, "I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia."
    • They quoted from the 89th poem in the Book of Psalms, "Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain."
    • They quoted from the Book of Genesis, “ the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
    • They quoted from the Book of Isaiah, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon?"
  • "The Curious Omission":
    • Mr Atwood lists a number of Tabletop Games that he would play with Mr Sanders; Chinese Checkers, Parcheesi, Backgammon, Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, Go, three-dimensional Tic-Tac-Toe, Bridge, and gin rummy.
    • The mystery revolves around a clue in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.
    • While trying to solve the mystery, the characters mention the Disney adaptation, Alice in Wonderland.
    • When Henry presents the solution, he says they should check Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.
  • "Out of Sight":
    • While explaining ASCII Art, Avalon cites "The Mouse's Tail" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
    • Trumbull accuses Halsted of trying to sneak in his The Iliad limerick without them noticing.
    • Rubin paraphrases the famous phrase from Sherlock Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Dr. Long."
    • Mr Long mentions a dish of curried lamb being put under his nose during the incident, alluding to the curried mutton from "Silver Blaze", which was an important clue toward the incident being an Inside Job, just like this story..
  • "To The Barest": Parris, the lawyer, being forced to choose between six men for the title of "the barest" is an allusion to Classical Mythology and Paris the swine-herder being forced to choose between three goddesses for the title of "the fairest".
  • The "Northwestward" story's dinner conversation, before the grilling, is focused around heroes:
    • The Batman television series is mentioned, although only Julie Newmar is named.
    • Mr Wayne claims to be the inspiration behind the story of Batman.
      "because I am Batman."
    • Prince Valiant of Prince Valiant.
    • Odysseus and gods of The Trojan Cycle, are discussed, with The Iliad and Homer mentioned by name.
    • The titular character of Superman.
    • Siegfried of Nibelungenlied.
    • The titular character of The Epic of Gilgamesh.
    • Conan, from Robert Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories.
    • Hercules and Achillies from Classical Mythology.
    • Rustum of The Shahnameh.
• The Complete Robot
  • In the Introduction, Dr. Asimov name-drops the Adam Link series by Eando Binder.
  • In the Introduction, Dr. Asimov cites Lester del Rey's story, "Helen O Loy", as an example of Robots-as-Pathos.
  • In the blurb for Powell and Donovan, Dr. Asimov admitted that they were inspired by John W. Campbell's Penton and Blake, the protagonists of The Planeteers.
• The Early Asimov:
  • Due to Dr. Asimov's prolific publication history, even during his early years, it can be safely assumed that every Science Fiction Pulp Magazine of the golden age, as well as most of the publishing houses and major editors, are named here.
  • Classical Mythology gets referenced when Dr. Asimov explains the premise of "Knossos in Its Glory"; a retelling of the Theseus myth with science fiction elements.
• The Empire Novels' Pebble in the Sky:
  • Robert Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra" is quoted by Joseph Schwartz at the very beginning of the work, and at the very end, saying
    "Grow old along with me!
    The best is yet to be,
    The last of life, for which the first was made..."
  • A Raggedy Ann doll is lying in the streets when Joseph Schwartz is sent into the future, but cut in half because of the edge of the field.
• Extraterrestrial Civilizations:
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey is referenced because of its motif of aliens observing Earth's evolution from hominids to space travel.
  • Aesop's Fables is used to reference the Talking Animal trope.
  • Isaac Asimov:
    • The Collapsing Universe is mentioned several times as a resource readers might be interested in for details on stars at extreme ends of size/mass, like black holes.
    • Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus is mentioned as an example of the scientific assumption that Venus Is Wet affecting Science Fiction until 1956.
  • The Bible:
    • "Book of Genesis" 3:1 is used to illustrate how humans attribute human-level intelligence in animals.
    • "Book of Numbers" 15 is referenced for the Fanon that arose during medieval times that the man gathering sticks during Sabbath was punished by being sent to the moon, becoming The Man in the Moon.
    • The creation story is referenced in chapter nine at length, providing the basis for the early scientific theory of life being created through spontaneous generation.
  • Classical Mythology is used as an example of early anthropomorphism, giving human intelligence to aspects of nature.
  • William Congreve is referenced for his opinion that monkeys fall into the Uncanny Valley.
  • Charles Darwin is referenced for both On The Origin Of Species and The Descent Of Man.
  • Dr Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting, is mentioned as a story with Talking Animal.
  • Human Destiny, by Pierre Lecomte du Nouy, is cited as a work that argues against the spontaneous generation of life theory on the basis that the molecules important to life are too complex to arise from random chance. Dr. Asimov then relates a series of experiments by Stanley Lloyd Miller who proved the construction was due to reliable chemical interactions and not random chance.
  • The Man In The Moone, by Francis Godwin, is referenced for being a story where characters travel to the moon. It is also contrasted against a Non-Fiction book published in the same year, The Discovery Of A World In The Moone by John Wilkins.
  • The titular Mickey Mouse is mentioned as an example of how human characteristics are seen in nonhuman animals.
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, is credited for referencing the Christian Fanon of the origin on The Man in the Moon.
  • Odyssey is used as an example of spirits initially inhabiting Earth, before the concept of "afterlife" moving to an underground/alternate world.
  • The Origin Of Life, by Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin, is used to illustrate the scientific theory that the primordial atmosphere of Earth was vastly different from today's atmosphere (Dr. Asimov explains that our world has had three substantially different atmospheres).
  • Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto, is referenced as a story where a character travels to the moon and finds it populated by a human civilization.
  • Reynard the Fox is used to illustrate how humans attribute human-level intelligence in animals.
  • The Roots Of Civilization, by Alexander Marshak, is referenced as a claim for humans keeping track of lunar activity.
  • Somnium, by Johannes Kepler, is referenced for being a story where a character travels to the moon (in a dream) and for providing an accurate account of a lunar day length.
  • Stonehenge Decoded, by Gerald Hawkins, claims Stonehenge was used as a prehistoric astronomical calendar.
  • True History, by Lucian Of Samosata, is referenced as a story wherein a character travels to the moon and finds other worlds with civilizations on each of them.
  • Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris, is mentioned as a story with Talking Animal.
  • Voyages To The Moon And The Sun, by Cyrano De Bergerac, considered several ways to travel into space, although the main character eventually used a method that would prove unworkable in real life.
  • H. G. Wells:
    • The First Men On The Moon is referenced as a story where the protagonists travel to The Moon and discover Insectoid Aliens living underground.
    • War of the Worlds is referenced for being based partially on the astrometric reports OF Mars by Percival Lowell and partially on how the European nations were dividing the continent of Africa. It is also recognized for popularizing the idea that First Contact would mean the potential eradication of humanity.
  • Worlds In The Making, by Svante August Arrhenius, is referenced for being the first suggestion of Panspermia.
• Foundation Series:
  • "The Mayors": William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Mayor Salvor Hardin misquotes Caesar's line "Et tu, Brutus?" as "Thou, too, Brutus" when his primary advisor expresses disappointment in Mayor Hardin's refusal to share his plans.
  • Foundation's Fear: Voltaire actually quotes someone other than himself when he quotes from The Merry Wives of Windsor, saying Falstaff's line; "Let the sky rain potatoes!".
• "The Fun They Had": In the editor's note prefacing the story in The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction (February 1954 issue), they mention Biochemistry And Human Metabolism as Asimov's opus, at least by the standards of Boston University.
• "Hell-Fire (1956)": This story references the Continental Press, a telegraph newspaper, using a reporter to give the audience a perspective on events.
• "Hostess": Dr. Smollett's internal narration quotes from the Book of Genesis, saying the serpent of Eden "was more subtil than any beast of the field." She compares the non-physical parasite of this story to The Bible, wondering if the myth was an Allegory for the parasite that causes "death by old age" in humans.
• "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda": Under the apparent effects of Spaceoline, Ferrucci mentions "Trip the light fantastic", which is an old reference to Comus, by John Milton.
• "Jokester":
  • Meyerhof is named "Grand Master" as a reference to Chess players who look millions of moves ahead. The comparison is explicitly made.
  • This story compares Multivac to the Oracle of Delphi priestess who spoke nonsense that predicted the future. The computer analysts are compared to the priests that interpreted the prophetic babbling.
• "Kid Stuff":
  • The elf is from Avalon, and Prentiss immediately associates the name with the fae from Arthurian Legend.
  • Jan Prentiss explains to his wife that kids today don't believe in fairy stories anymore.
    • Kids believe in Tom Corbett Space Cadet stories.
    • Kids believe in Hopalong Cassidy stories.
    • Kids believe in Dick Tracy stories.
    • Kids believe in Howdy Doody stories.
    • Kids believe in Superman stories.
• "The Last Question": The final lines of the story are drawn from the first chapter in the Book of Genesis; "LET THERE BE LIGHT."
• Nightfall and Other Stories:
  • During the introduction of "Breeds There a Man...?", Dr. Asimov cites On the Beach as an example of what he calls "tomorrow fiction"; fiction that is as realistic as showing up in tomorrow's newspapers.
  • During the introduction of "C-Chute", Dr. Asimov cites Othello, quoting from the play.
  • During the introduction of "In a Good Cause—", Dr. Asimov quotes the titular character from Shakespeare's Richard III, part of the "I am determined to prove a villain"-speech.
  • During the introduction of "What Is This Thing Called Love?", Dr. Asimov makes a reference to a fictional title in The Bobbsey Twins series; The Bobbsey Twins in Outer Space.
  • During the introduction to "My Son, the Physicist", Dr. Asimov obliquely references "The Green Hills of Earth", due to the way Robert A. Heinlein broke out of the Sci Fi Ghetto and into popular newspapers.
  • Dr. Asimov mentions Playboy in a few introductions, sometimes as the Inspiration for the Work and sometimes as a contrast for non-genre magazines publishing short stories.
• Opus 100: As a description of his life to the point of publishing one hundred books, many popular Pulp Magazine titles are mentioned for having inspired or published his work, as well as various other publishers and magazines he had been published in. Here are other titles and authors he mentions.
  • When describing the occasion of choosing a pseudonym, Dr. Asimov mentions hearing about Cornell Woolrich writing as William Irish, inspiring him to choose the name Paul French.
  • When describing how Wellsprings Of Life became outdated, he mentions its praise from Science magazine, where he was called "one of our natural wonders and national resources".
  • The Talmud is mentioned as an influence in his approach to ethics, despite not being religious himself.
  • Man of La Mancha is paraphrased, comparing himself to the title character as both change their direction based upon the whims of chance/fate.
  • "Part 9" is dedicated entirely to The Bible, primarily featuring events surrounding the creation of Asimovs Guide To The Bible.
  • When discussing various titles, Dr. Asimov mentions George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism. He's concerned about naming his books too close to other people's books, so being aware of what other people wrote is important to him, even if the books are otherwise unrelated.
  • Dr. Asimov mentions James D Watson's The Double Helix, explaining that his story, "The Holmes Ginsbook Device", was a Satire of the book.
  • When describing his dedication to planning his next hundred books, Dr. Asimov expresses his admiration of Charles Dickens, who had been found dead while writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Robot Series:
  • The Complete Robot:
    • In the Introduction, Dr. Asimov name-drops the Adam Link series by Eando Binder.
    • In the Introduction, Dr. Asimov cites Lester del Rey's story, "Helen O Loy", as an example of Robots-as-Pathos.
    • In the blurb for Powell and Donovan, Dr. Asimov admitted that they were inspired by John W. Campbell's Penton and Blake, the protagonists of The Planeteers.
  • "Little Lost Robot": The name/nickname for the robots in this story derive from The Iliad. Nestor was a man who enjoyed sharing long-winded insights to other people, just like the robots enjoy explaining (in detail) why they disagree with their human masters. While none of the people Nestor advised snapped at him, the titular NS-2 robot annoyed their primary owner enough to get yelled at for trying to redo an old experiment.
  • "Reason": This story references The Prophet Muhammad with the following quote: There is no Master but the Master and QT-1 is his prophet!
  • "Robbie":
    • Cinderella is Robbie's favourite story, at least the way Gloria tells it.
    • Mr Weston urges his wife to stop reading Frankenstein because she's unreasonably worried that Robbie might be dangerous.
  • "Robot Dreams":
    • The narrative compares Dr. Calvin's ability to interpret the positronic brain records to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's ability to hear a symphony by reading the sheet music.
    • Book of Exodus: LVX-1's dream features a man who calls out, "Let my people go!", a quote from Chapter 9, verse 13. The symbolism is intentional, as the man is attempting a Slave Liberation.
  • "Runaround": The proximity to selenium has disturbed Speedy's sensitive computer brain, causing him to speak whimsically, such as quoting from several Gilbert and Sullivan plays.
  • "Too Bad": A Short Story about a miniature robot injected into somebody's bloodstream to cure cancer. It even states that a miniature submarine was considered, and rejected as too expensive, which acts as a reference to Fantastic Voyage, which Dr. Asimov wrote the novelization to.
• "Rejection Slips": "Learned", the first letter, name-drops Immanuel Kant to explain why the manuscript is terrible.
• The Rest of the Robots:
  • The introduction starts with a "Great Man" and his "little woman", which refers to Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley. The familiarity of his stories Adonais, Ode To The West Wind, and The Cenci are contrasted against her more famous story, Frankenstein.
  • During the introduction, Dr. Asimov compares Faust to Frankenstein, as both works are about dangerous knowledge. He develops the Faustian conflict further in the introduction, explaining that Faust must face Mephistopheles, but the plot did not require some sort of failing on Faust's end.
  • Karel Čapek's R.U.R.: The introduction describes how R.U.R. was following in the footsteps of Frankenstein and Faust, with artificial life that causes trouble due to its existence.
  • During the introduction, Jules Verne is mentioned as a master storyteller who dabbled in Science Fiction.
  • During the preface of "Part II: The Laws of Robotics", Dr. Asimov mentions The Iliad, citing Book XVIII, where Hephaistos has female servants built from gold.
  • Dr. Asimov obliquely mentions Escapade magazine, calling it only, "one of those magazines that feature the undraped female form divine". The August 1960 issue had reprinted his tale, "Let's Get Together".
• "Strikebreaker": When comparing different caste systems to the Fantastic Caste System of Elsevere, Lamorak recalls Al Capp's Li'l Abner, and their "inside man at the skonk works."
• "Trends": Classical Mythology is referenced by Harman's decision to name his rocketships after the titan Prometheus who brought fire (technology/science) from the heavens to human beings. Harman plans to go into the heavens and bring back science in the form of working space technology.
• "What Is This Thing Called Love?": One of the more popular periodicals that Botax uses to research human mating rituals is called "Recreationlad".
• Words of Science and the History Behind Them
  • The entry for "Almanac" mentions The Old Farmers Almanac as an example of one of the best-known encyclopedias of weather predictions.
  • The entry for "Amalgam" mentions The Iliad as an example of the Bronze Age, because all the armour was made of bronze.
  • The entry for "Ammonia" explains how words like ammonia and amino acid are derived from Egyptian Mythology, based on the god Amen/Amun, patron of Thebes.
  • The entry for "Humor" references the Ben Jonson play Every Man In His Humor, as an example of Elizabethan plays where one personality trait was exaggerated, creating the association between humorous and funny.
  • The entry for "Hurricane" explains the connection between the various cyclone storms and mythology. Taíno Mythology gives us the evil spirit Hurakan, or hurricane. Classical Mythology gives us Typhon, who fought Zeus, by way of Arabic; the word tufan became typhoon. The word tornado, in contrast, comes from the older Spanish word "tronada", meaning thunderstorm.
  • The entry for "Insect" explains that the pupa stage of development is also called a nymph, from Classical Mythology.
  • The entry for "Mammal" explains that the spiny anteater is also called the echidna, after the Greek monster.
  • The entry for "Nicotine" explains that the word morphine comes from the Roman god of sleep, Morpheus.
  • The entry for "Phobos" describes how Jonathon Swift's fictional book, Gulliver's Travels, postulated that Mars would have two moons before they had been seen in 1877.
  • The entry for "Phobos" explains that the moons of Mars comes from Greek Mythology; Ares had two sons, named Phobos and Deimos.
  • The entry for "Phospherous" explains that the Greeks figured out that the "morning star" and "evening star" were actually the same planet, so they named it Aphrodite from Greek Mythology. The Roman name for the same goddess is Venus.
  • The entry for "Psychology" begins by describing the relationship between Psyche and Eros, characters from Classical Mythology.
  • The entry for "Pterodactyl" mentions Fantasia by name, for the dinosaurs during The Rite of Spring.
  • The entry for "Tantalum" explains that the atomic element 73 is named after King Tantalus of Lydia, from Classical Mythology.
  • The entry for "Thyroid" mentions The Iliad, albeit in the context of the historical period instead of as a fictional work.
  • The entry for "Umbra" explains the use of Umbrial as a name for a sad and gloomy spirit contrasting with William Shakespeare's Ariel from The Tempest. Umbrial first appeared in Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock", and both Umbriel and Ariel are names given to Uranus's moons.
  • The entry for "Uranium" explains how the planet Uranus got its name from Classical Mythology, the god Ouranos, and how the element Uranium derives its name from that of the planet. Zeus/Jupiter, Cronos/Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto are also mentioned and elements are named after those planets as well.
  • The entries for "Volcano" and "Vulcanize" both mention the god Vulcan from Classical Mythology, and the former also mentions Hephaestus and The Iliad because Hephaestus is assumed to use Mt Etna as a forge.

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