X Stands for Unknown
{{short description|Book by Isaac Asimov}}
{{One source|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name = 'X' Stands for Unknown
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = XStandsForUnknown.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Isaac Asimov
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series = Fantasy & Science Fiction essays
| subject =
| published = 1984 (Doubleday)
| media_type = print (Hardback and Paperback)
| pages = 218
| isbn = 0-385-18915-X
| oclc =
| preceded_by = Counting the Eons
| followed_by = The Subatomic Monster
}}
{{'}}X{{'}} Stands for Unknown is a collection of seventeen nonfiction science essays written by Isaac Asimov. It was the seventeenth of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, these being first published between January 1982 and May 1983. It was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1984.
Contents
- Physics
- 1 Read Out Your Good Book in Verse (May 1982)
- 2 Four Hundred Octaves (June 1982)
- 3 The Three Who Died Too Soon (July 1982)
- 4 X Stands for Unknown (August 1982)
- Chemistry
- 5 Big Brother (September 1982)
- 6 Bread and Stone (October 1982)
- 7 A Difference of an 'E' (November 1982)
- 8 Silicon Life After All (December 1982)
- Astronomy
- 9 The Long Ellipse (January 1982)
- 10 Change of Time and State (April 1982)
- 11 Whatzisname's Orbit (March 1982)
- 12 Ready and Waiting (February 1983)
- 13 Dead Centre (April 1983)
- 14 Out in the Boondocks (May 1983)
- Mathematics
- 15 To Ungild Refinèd Gold (January 1983)
- 16 The Circle of the Earth (February 1982)
- 17 The Armies of the Night (March 1983)
Reception
Dave Langford reviewed X Stands for Unknown for White Dwarf #79, and stated that "If you're scientifically literate you'll find the interesting bits buried in over-familiar stuff (though I always cheer Asimov when he stomps the crackpots). If not, you probably don't read books like this. That's showbiz."{{cite magazine | last =Langford | first =Dave | author-link =David Langford | title =Critical Mass | magazine =White Dwarf | issue =79 | pages =16 | publisher =Games Workshop | date = July 1986 }}
Reviews
- Review by Edward James (1985) in Paperback Inferno, #55{{cite web | url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?690449 | title=Title: X Stands for Unknown }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/Essays/f_and_sf_essays.html Asimovonline.com]
- [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/984180._X_Stands_For_Unknown 'X' Stands For Unknown] at goodreads.com
{{Asimov essay collections}}
Category:Essay collections by Isaac Asimov
Category:Doubleday (publisher) books
Category:Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
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