Do you want to see inside the head of a writer 50 years ago? Then Buy Jupiter and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov is the book for you. What did people think life would be like half a century later? This book is an interesting and imaginative glimpse into the past.

Reading Buy Jupiter and Other Stories, you have to be conscious of the author's perspective. He was imagining our world – the world of the future. You have to remember how much we've progressed since his time. If both Asimov and a current author wrote about what the world would be like 100 years from now, it would be interesting to compare their ideas. Asimov's guesses are often right, although he got some things incorrect.

One of Asimov's better stories, “The Darwinian Pool Room,” is about the creation of the universe and Genesis. The author relates this creation to a pool game.

Another great story is “The Monkey's Finger.” What I like most is how the characters talk about normal things such as computer chess and make them sound amazing. It's funny to learn how different the world was when this was written.

“The Pause” is one story you wouldn't immediately flip to. It has the world's most boring opening. The first page talks about an assembly line of little capsules, which did not grab my attention.

Learning what people of the past thought the world would be like now is fascinating. I really enjoyed this book. It's a portal to the past. I'd give it three stars for the read and five for satisfaction of the writing style. If you were reading it in decades past, it wouldn't be as interesting, but the text compels readers today.