George Soros - Soros György

George Soros (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, as György Schwartz) is a Hungarian-born American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist.[3]
Currently, he is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute and is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. According to his own website, Soros claims his support for the Solidarity labour movement in Poland, as well as the Czechoslovak human rights organization Charter 77, contributed to ending Soviet Union political dominance in those countries.[4] His funding and organization of Georgia's Rose Revolution was considered by Russian and Western observers to have been crucial to its success, although Soros said his role has been "greatly exaggerated." In the United States, he is known for having donated large sums of money in a failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush's bid for re-election in 2004. On BookTV, November 12, 2007, he said that he supports Barack Obama for the Democratic candidate in the 2008 election, but says that John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden are all fine candidates, as well.
Soros is famously known for "breaking the Bank of England" on Black Wednesday in 1992. With an estimated current net worth of around $8.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 80th-richest person in the world.

George Soros is the son of the Esperanto writer Teodoro Schwartz. Teodoro (also known as Tivadar) was a Hungarian Jew who was a prisoner of war during and after World War I and eventually escaped from Russia to rejoin his family in Budapest.[5]
The family changed its name in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros, in response to growing anti-semitism with the rise of Fascism. Tivadar liked the new name because it is a palindrome and because it has a meaning. Though the specific meaning is left unstated in Kaufmann's biography, in Hungarian "soros" means "next in line, or designated successor", and in Esperanto it means "will soar".[6] His son George was taught to speak Esperanto from birth and thus is one of the rare native Esperanto speakers. George Soros later said that he "grew up in a Jewish, anti-semitic home," and that his parents were "uncomfortable with their religious roots."[7]
George Soros has been married and divorced twice, to Annaliese Witschak and to Susan Weber Soros. He has five children: Robert, Andrea, Jonathan (with his first wife, Annaliese), Alexander and Gregory (with his second wife, Susan). His elder brother Paul Soros is an engineer, and is also a well-known philanthropist, investor, and New York socialite.

Soros is the founder of Soros Fund Management. In 1970 he co-founded the Quantum Fund with Jim Rogers. It returned 3,365% during the next ten years (42.6% per year for 10 years), and created the bulk of the Soros fortune. Rogers "retired" from the fund in 1980.

On Black Wednesday (September 16, 1992), Soros became immediately famous when he sold short more than $10 billion worth of pounds, profiting from the Bank of England's reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchange Rate Mechanism countries or to float its currency.
Finally, the Bank of England was forced to withdraw the currency out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and to devalue the pound sterling, and Soros earned an estimated US$ 1.1 billion in the process. He was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England."
The Times October 26, 1992, Monday quoted Soros as saying: "Our total position by Black Wednesday had to be worth almost $10 billion. We planned to sell more than that. In fact, when Norman Lamont said just before the devaluation that he would borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling, we were amused because that was about how much we wanted to sell."
According to Steven Drobny,[10] Stanley Druckenmiller, who traded under Soros, originally saw the weakness in the pound. "Soros' contribution was pushing him to take a gigantic position," in accord with Druckenmiller's own research and instincts.
In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused Soros of using the wealth under his control to punish ASEAN for welcoming Myanmar as a member. Later, he called Soros a moron.[11] Thai nationals have called Soros "an economic war criminal" who "sucks the blood from the people".

Soros has been active as a philanthropist since the 1970s, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa, and began funding dissident movements behind the iron curtain.
Soros' philanthropic funding in Central and Eastern Europe mostly occurs through the Open Society Institute (OSI) and national Soros Foundations, which sometimes go under other names, e.g., the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland. As of 2003, PBS[17] estimated that he had given away a total of $4 billion.
He has promoted non-violent efforts to increase democracy in many countries.
The OSI says it has spent about $400 million annually in recent years.
TIME Magazine in 2007 cited two specific projects - $100 million toward internet infrastructure for regional Russian universities; and $50 million for the Millennium Promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa - while noting that Soros has given $742 million to projects in the U.S., and given away a total of more than $6 billion.[18]
Other notable projects have included aid to scientists and universities throughout Central and Eastern Europe, help to civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, worldwide efforts to repeal drug prohibition laws, and Transparency International. Soros also pledged an endowment of €420 million to the Central European University (CEU). The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus and his microfinance bank Grameen Bank received support from the OSI.
According to the National Review[19] the Open Society Institute gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Defense Committee of Lynne Stewart, the lawyer who has defended alleged terrorists in court and was sentenced to 2⅓ years in prison for "providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy" via a press conference for a client. An OSI spokeswoman said "it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support."
In September 2006, Soros departed from his characteristic sponsorship of democracy building programs, pledging $50 million to the Jeffrey Sachs-led Millennium Promise to help eradicate extreme poverty in Africa. Noting the connection between bad governance and poverty, he remarked on the humanitarian value of the project.[20]
He received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the University of Oxford in 1980, the Budapest University of Economics, and Yale University in 1991. Soros also received the Yale International Center for Finance Award from the Yale School of Management in 2000 as well as the Laurea Honoris Causa, the highest honor of the University of Bologna in 1995.

Soros György (született Schwartz György; Budapest, 1930. augusztus 2. – ) magyar származású amerikai pénzügyi spekuláns és befektető. Filantróp tevékenységéről is ismert.

Magyar zsidó családban született, Schwartz Tivadar (Soros Tivadar) író, újságíró, eszperantista fiaként. 1944-ben a 13 éves fiút egy minisztériumi tisztviselő rejtegette Budapesten, így sikerült túlélnie a holokausztot. 1947-ben kivándorolt az Egyesült Királyságba. 1952-ben diplomázott a London School of Economicson. 1947–1956 között Nagy-Britanniában élt. 1956-ban költözött az Egyesült Államokba.
1962-1965 között filozófiával foglalkozott. Egy évtizeden keresztül egy tőzsdei cégnél alkuszként és értékpapír-elemzőként dolgozott. 1969-ben megalapította a Quantum Befektetési Alapot, 1983-ban pedig a Soros Alapítványt, amit a következő évben Magyarországra is kiterjesztett. 1994-ben elindította a Global Power Investmentset. 1989-ben a Magyar Kulturális Kamara tiszteletbeli elnökének választották.
A Soros Fund Management befektetési alapkezelő társaság és a Nyitott Társadalom Intézet elnöke. A lengyel Szolidaritás és a csehszlovák Charta 77 mozgalomnak nyújtott segítsége hozzájárult a Szovjetunió befolyásának gyengüléséhez, végül megszűnéséhez. Orosz és nyugati elemzők szerint a 2003-as grúz rózsás forradalom sikere az ő finanszírozása és szervezése nélkül aligha lett volna elképzelhető, bár szerinte ezek a vélemények messzemenőkig túlzóak. Az Egyesült Államok belpolitikájának alakításában is tevékenyen részt vett a 2004-es elnökválasztás során, a George W. Bush megbuktatására tett erőfeszítések nagyösszegű támogatásával.

Starbucks Coffee and Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz (b. July 19, 1952) is an American businessman and entrepreneur most widely known as the chairman and CEO [2] of Starbucks and a former owner of Seattle SuperSonics which he sold to Oklahoma businessman Clayton Bennett. Howard Schultz co-founded Maveron, his investment group, in 1998 with Dan Levitan.
Schultz grew up in a subsidized public housing project (Bay View Houses) in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, New York. He attended Canarsie High School and is the eldest of three children. He has a sister, Ronnie (b. 1956) and a brother Michael (b. 1961), who both live in New York. His mother lives in New Jersey and his father, of whom he often speaks in his interviews, is deceased. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife and their two children, Jordan and Addison. He owns an apartment on the upper east side section of Manhattan and a house in East Hampton, N.Y.
In 1975, he became the first of his family to graduate from college when he earned his bachelor's degree in communication from Northern Michigan University, which he attended on a football scholarship. He is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
In 1982, he joined Seattle's Starbucks, which sold only coffee beans at the time. Inspired by Italian espresso bars, he resolved to create a similar experience in the United States. Having been rebuffed by Starbucks management at the time, Schultz responded by leaving to start his own company, Il Giornale in 1985. Two years later, the original Starbucks management decided to work on Peet's Coffee & Tea and sold its Starbucks unit to Schultz and Il Giornale.
Schultz renamed Il Giornale with the Starbucks name and aggressively expanded Starbucks' reach across the United States. It can be said that Starbucks popularized espresso drinks such as the cafe latte to many Americans who had previously only ever tasted freeze dried coffee.
Schultz co-authored a book called Pour Your Heart into It that expounds on his life journey with Starbucks. This book is also published in Turkish by Babıali Kültür Yayıncılığı as Gönlünü İşe Vermek.
Schultz is also the former owner of the NBA's Seattle Supersonics. On July 17, 2006, it was announced that Schultz sold the team to a group of businessmen from Oklahoma City for $350 million. It is speculated that the new owners will move the team to Oklahoma City some time after the 2006-2007 NBA season[3]. This sale was seen by many as very disappointing as Schultz had often claimed that he wished to save basketball in Seattle.
He also owned the WNBA's Seattle Storm, and is a significant stakeholder in Jamba Juice.
In 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Schultz as the 354th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of $1.1 billion dollars.
On March 29, 2007, Schultz accepted the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Award for Ethics in Business at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. The same night, he delivered the Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics.
On January 8th, 2008 Howard Schultz regained his status as CEO of Starbucks after a hiatus of 8 years[1].
He owns a $35 million dollar townhouse in New York City, and a beach house in the Hamptons.
A Starbucksot három bölcsész alapította – Jerry Baldwin angoltanár, Gordon Bowker író, Zev Siegl történelemtanár –, akik ugyan nem voltak üzletemberek, viszont imádták a finom kávét és teát. Egyetlen vágyuk az volt, hogy megosszák a jobbnál jobb feketéket a nagyközönséggel, vagyis Amerika lakóival. Seattle-ben nyitották meg első üzletüket 1971-ben, minőségi kávébabot és kávéfőzéshez szükséges eszközöket árusítottak, forró kávét nem. A vállalkozás logója már ekkor sellőt mintázott, és nevét Starbucksról, Moby Dick másodkapitányáról kapta.
Howard Schultz felbukkanásával kezdődött el a „nagy kávéivászat”, ekkor már főzték is, nem csak árulták az aromás babokat, az új cégvezető pedig abban reménykedett, hogy az amerikaiak az otthonuk és a munkahelyük után a legtöbb időt valamelyik kávézójukban fogják eltölteni. Az álom szép lassan valóra vált, hiszen 1982-től új korszak köszöntött be a cég életében: a vállalat intenzív terjeszkedésbe kezdett. Az első, anyaországon kívüli kávézó Tokióban nyílt 1996-ban, Nagy-Britanniában 1997-ben, 2000-ben Németországban és Hollandiában. A londoni piacot például három-négy év alatt szinte telítette a társaság kávés vendéglátóhelyekkel.
Az amerikaiak kimondottam megkedvelték a kávét, ma a világ kávéfogyasztásának egyharmadát az Egyesült Államok mondhatja magáénak. Ehhez nagyban hozzájárult Howard Schultz sikeres üzletpolitikája is. A „nyugalom szigetére”, egy-egy Starbucks kávézóba a minőségi termékek csábítják be a vevőket: 30-féle kávébabot, forró és jeges kávéitalokat, jeges teákat, tejes és gyümölcsös turmixokat, tartalmas amerikai süteményeket, szendvicseket árulnak. A legkedveltebb folyékony finomságok közé tartozik a latte, vagyis az eszpresszóalapú tejhabos tejeskávé és a frappuccino, a sűrű, jeges kávéturmix. Az italokat mindenki a saját szája íze szerint rendeli meg, 3,5 vagy akár 7 decis kiszerelésben kapjuk kézbe kávénkat. Az amerikaiaknak a „kávébirodalom” italai megfizethetőek, megengedhető luxus betérni egy ilyen helyre, a magyaroknak már kicsit drága mulatság. Az Egyesült Államokban a Starbucks a mindennapok része, a cég alapítóinak minden vágya teljesült, hiszen az amerikaiak számára szinte a második otthon.
A legtöbb Starbucksot természetesen itt találjuk, összesen 9 ezret, ám a cégvezetés középtávú tervei között szerepel, hogy legalább negyvenezer új üzletet nyit, ebből húszezret az Egyesült Államokon kívül. Az óriáscég jelenleg 38 országban van jelen, 13 ezer kávézót üzemeltet, a világ legnagyobb kávézólánca. A hálózat hat új üzlettel és 350 új munkatárssal bővül naponta. A kávéóriás 1997 és 2001 között bevételét megkétszerezte, egységeinek számát pedig megnégyszerezte. A cég 2006-os nyeresége 12,5 milliárd dollár volt. A kávézólánc nagy hangsúlyt fektet a távol-keleti terjeszkedésre is, a tulajdonosok Kínát tekintik a legnagyobb potenciális piacnak.

Howard Schultz építette fel a Starbucks márkát és ő álmodta meg a vállalat figyelemre méltó sikerét megalapozó fogyasztói élményt - jelentette ki Craig Weatherup, a Starbuck igazgatótanácsa jelölő és vállalatirányítási bizottságának elnöke. A Tanácsnak a teendőkről alkotott elképzeléseit tekintve senki más nem lenne alkalmasabb a szükséges változtatások keresztülvitelére annak biztosítása érdekében, hogy a Starbucks teljes vállalati felépítményét az innováció ösztönzésének, a fogyasztóra való összpontosításnak és igényei kielégítésének rendelje alá.
Schultz töltötte be a Vállalat vezérigazgatói posztját 1987 és 2000 között. Ezalatt az idő alatt a Vállalat részvényeit 1992-ben bevezették a tőzsdére és kiemelkedő növekedési eredményeket ért el mind az Egyesült Államokban, mind külföldön. Az igazgatótanács elnökeként 2000 óta Schultz a Vállalat globális stratégiájának és mostanra 43 országra kiterjedő terjeszkedésének szentelte figyelmét. Az igazgatótanács elnökeként és vezérigazgatói minőségében a Vállalat általános stratégiai irányának lefektetése lesz a feladata, különös tekintettel minden a fogyasztót érintő témára. Martin Coles általános igazgató felügyeleti joggal rendelkezik minden működési és vállalatirányítási kérdésben és közvetlenül Schultznak jelent.
"Felvillanyoz a vezérigazgatói munkakörbe való visszatérés lehetősége ilyen hosszú idő után és örömömre szolgál, hogy vezethetem a Starbucks-ot és elkötelezett partnereit, alkalmazottait további eredmények elérésében globális szinten . Meg kell birkóznunk az előttünk álló kihívásokkal és tudjuk, hogy képesek vagyunk rá. Röviden, ismét amellett kötelezzük el magunkat, ami olyan egyedivé tette a Starbucks-ot és a Starbucks-élményt: etikus elveket követünk a világ legjobb kávé nyersanyagának beszerzésében és feldolgozásában; következetesen a fogyasztót helyezzük az előtérbe; építünk a partnereinknél kivívott bizalomra, a vállalkozói kockázatvállalásra, a sikerünket megalapozó innovációra és kreativitásra." - jelentette ki Schultz.

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Joel and Ethan Coen, known collectively as The Coen Brothers, are four-time Academy Award winning American filmmakers. For more than 20 years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy) to film noir (Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men), to movies where those two genres blur together (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink). The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias "Roderick Jaynes". They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share such a similar vision of what their films are to be that actors say that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer.

Joel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Coen (born September 21, 1957) grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their parents, Edward and Rena Coen, both Jewish, were professors, their father an economist at the University of Minnesota and their mother an art historian at St. Cloud State University.
When they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television with a neighborhood kid, Mark Zimering ("Zeimers"), as the star. Their first attempt was a romp titled, Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go. Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey (1966) became their Zeimers in Zambia,[3] which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear.
The brothers graduated from St. Louis Park (MN) High School in 1973 and 1976. They both also graduated from Simon's Rock College of Bard (now Bard College at Simon's Rock) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the undergraduate film program at New York University where he made a 30-minute thesis film called Soundings. The film depicted a woman engaged in sex with her deaf boyfriend while verbally fantasizing about having sex with her boyfriend's best friend, who is listening in the next room.[citation needed] Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, "Two Views of Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy."
In the late 70s both brothers lived in the Weinstein dormatory at 5-11 University Place, an NYU dorm noted for housing such creatives as Ralph Bakshi, Rick Rubin (Def Jam), and film makers Chris Columbus and Dan Goldman (Mr. Danny).

Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They have adopted a son from Paraguay named Pedro McDormand Coen (Frances and all her siblings are adopted themselves). McDormand has starred in five of the Coen Brothers' films, including a minor appearance in Miller's Crossing, a supporting role in Raising Arizona, and lead roles in Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, and her Academy Award winning role in Fargo.
Ethan is married to film editor Tricia Cooke.
Both couples live in New York City, though they do not with each other.

After graduating from NYU Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi who was looking for an assistant editor on his first feature film The Evil Dead (1981).
In 1984 the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first film together. Set in Texas, the film tells the tale of a shifty, sleazy bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. Within this film are considerable elements that point toward their future direction: their own subverted homages to genre movies (in this case noir and horror) and clever plot twists layered over a simplistic story; their darkly inventive and twisted sense of humor; and their mastery of atmosphere. The film starred Frances McDormand who would go on to feature in many of the Coen brothers' films (and marry Joel Coen). Upon release the film received much praise and especially amongst the more 'left field' viewers and won awards for Joel's direction at both the Sundance and Independent Spirit awards.
The next Coen brothers project to hit the big screen was 1985s Crimewave directed by Sam Raimi. The film was written by the brothers and Sam Raimi with whom Joel had worked on The Evil Dead.
The next film written and directed by the brothers was the 1987 release Raising Arizona. The film is the story of the unlikely married couple ex-convict Hi (played by Nicolas Cage) and ex-cop Ed (played by Holly Hunter) who long for a baby but are unable to conceive. Fortune smiles on them when a local furniture tycoon appears on television with his five newly born quintuplets that he jokes 'are more than we can handle'. Seeing this as a 'sign' and an opportunity to redress the natural balance, Hi and Ed steal one of the quintuplets and start to bring up the child as their own. Raising Arizona was much more accessible to the mass market with its innocence and wacky slapstick easing the action along amongst a somewhat darker humour.

Miller's Crossing was released in 1990, a straight-ahead homage to the gangster movie genre. Starring Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne and future Coen brothers' staple John Turturro, the film is set during the prohibition era of the 1930s and tells the tale of feuding mobs and gangster capers. The film was praised for its dialogue and in-depth characterization. Typical of the brothers' oeuvre are the touches of dark humor and plot twists that were already becoming recurring features of their work.
The Coen brothers' reputation was seemingly enhanced with every subsequent release, but it took a massive leap forward with their next movie, 1991s visually stunning Barton Fink. Barton Fink is set in 1941 and is the story of a New York playwright (the eponymous Barton Fink) who moves to Los Angeles to write a B-movie. He settles down in his hotel apartment to commence the writing but all too soon gets writer's block and allows himself to receive some inspiration from the amiable man in the room next door (played by John Goodman), together with some industry associates. Inspiration comes from the strangest places, and the hotel is definitely unusual and a magnet for the bizarre. Barton Fink was a critical success, garnering Oscar nominations plus winning three major awards at Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm). Barton Fink was the first of the brothers' films to use Director of Photography Roger Deakins, a key figure in the brothers' circle over the following 15 years.
In 1994, with their stock at an all-time high, the brothers were able to attempt their first big-budget feature film The Hudsucker Proxy (co-written with Sam Raimi). The story revolves around a man who is made the head of a massive corporation with the expectation that he will ruin the company (so that the board can buy it for next to nothing); instead, he ends up inventing the hula hoop and becomes both a success and a "personality" overnight. The critics were, for once, lukewarm about the film, while Roger Deakins was universally praised for his skill as Director of Photography. The film was generally criticized for being "a pastiche too far."[citation needed] Most critics viewed the film as having nothing new to say due to its constant references and homages to classic movies of the 1930s and 40s. Many were disappointed by the Coens' first attempt at the big league. More significantly, the film proved to be a massive commercial failure, making back only $3 million of its $25 million budget.
Following the commercial failure of The Hudsucker Proxy, the brothers returned to more familiar ground in 1996 with the low-budget noir thriller Fargo. Set in the Coen brothers' home state of Minnesota, the movie tells the tale of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a man with a money problem, who works in his father-in-law's car showroom. Jerry is anxious to get hold of some money to move up in the world and hatches a plan to have his wife kidnapped so that his wealthy father-in-law will pay the ransom that he can split with the kidnappers. Inevitably, his best laid plans go wrong when the bungling kidnappers deviate from the agreed non-violent plan and local cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) starts to investigate the whole affair. A critical and commercial success, with particular praise for its dialogue and McDormand's performance, the film received several awards including a BAFTA Award and Cannes award for direction and two Oscars, one for Best Original Screenplay and a Best Actress Oscar for McDormand.
The Coens' next film would build upon this success and in 1998 The Big Lebowski was released. With its story about "The Dude," an LA slacker (played by Jeff Bridges), used as an unwitting pawn in a fake kidnapping plot with his bowling buddies (Steve Buscemi and John Goodman), the Coens had hit on a film that would provide a mainstream accessibility that they had not enjoyed since Raising Arizona. Despite a lukewarm reception from the critics at the time and only moderate commercial success, the film is now regarded as a cult classic.

Buoyed by the success of both Fargo and Lebowski, the Coen brothers' next film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) was yet another critical success. Based loosely on Homer's "Odyssey" (complete with a cyclops, sirens, et al.) the story is set in Mississippi in the 1930s and follows a trio of escaped convicts who have absconded from a chain gang and who journey home in an attempt to recover the loot from a bank heist that the leader has buried. But they have no idea what the journey is that they are undertaking. The film also highlighted the comic abilities of George Clooney who starred as the oddball lead character of Ulysses Everett McGill (ably assisted by his sidekick, the now ubiquitous John Turturro). The film's Bluegrass soundtrack, offbeat humor and, yet again, stunning cinematography, meant it was a critical and commercial hit. The soundtrack CD became even more successful than the film, spawning a concert, a concert DVD of its own (Down from the Mountain) and coinciding with a resurgence in interest in American folk music.
The Coen brothers changed the pace in 2001 with another noirish thriller, The Man Who Wasn't There. Set in late 1940s California, the film tells the tale of a laconic chain smoking barber (played by Billy Bob Thornton), who in an effort to get some money together to invest in a dry cleaning business, decides to blackmail his wife's boss, who is also her lover. Unusual for a contemporary film, it was presented, though not shot, entirely in black and white. The film's twists and turns and dark humor were typical of Coen films, but here the slow deliberate build of the thriller, its dead-end roads and black and white look meant that the film was more for the purists rather than for the casual audience.
Intolerable Cruelty, arguably the Coens' most mainstream release, was released in 2003 and starred George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The film was a throwback to the romantic comedies of the 1940s with a story based around Miles Massey, a hot shot divorce lawyer, and a beautiful divorcee whom Massey had managed to stop getting any money from her divorce. She sets out on a course to get even with him while he becomes smitten with her. Intolerable Cruelty divided the critics, some applauding the romantic screwball comedy elements of the movie, others enquiring as to why the Coens would wish to supply us with their take on this genre. Either way, the general feeling was that the film was not entirely satisfying, and the film proved to be only a moderate commercial success.
In 2004, the Coen brothers released The Ladykillers, a remake of the Ealing Studios classic. The story revolves around a professor (played by Tom Hanks) who puts together a team to rob a casino. They rent a room in an elderly woman's house to execute the heist. When the woman discovers the plot, however, the gang decides to murder her to ensure her silence. This is easier said than done. The Coens received some of the most lukewarm reviews of their career with this movie; much criticism surmised that while the Coens have managed to make films in which a genre can be homaged or pastiched successfully, a relatively faithful reworking of an individual classic did not give them enough creative leeway to place a complete trademark touch on their work.
The Coens' latest movie No Country for Old Men was released in November 2007. Based on the 2005 novel by the author Cormac McCarthy, the film tells the tale of a man named Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) living on the Texas / Mexico border who stumbles upon two million dollars in drug money that he decides to pocket. He then has to go on the run to avoid those looking to recover the money, including a sinister killer (Javier Bardem) who confounds both Llewelyn and the local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones). This plot line is a return to the dark, noir themes which have provided the Coens with some of their most successful material, but it also marks a notable departure, including a lack of regular Coen actors (with the exception of Stephen Root), a less pronounced comedic element and minimal use of music. The film has received nearly universal critical praise, garnering a 95% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes[1]. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, all of which were received by the Coens, as well as Best Supporting Actor received by Bardem. (The Coens were also nominated for Best Editor, but lost) It was the first time since 1961(Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise for "West Side Story") that two directors had received the honor of Best Director at the same time.

A Coen-testvérek az idén filmtörténetet írhatnak, ha a Nem vénnek való vidék című filmjükért kapott mind a négy jelölésüket (rendezés, legjobb film, forgatókönyv, vágás) díjra váltják. Négy Oscart egy évben eddig csak Walt Disney kapott 1953-ban, testvérek pedig még soha nem vehették át együtt a kitüntetést. Rendezésért megosztott Oscar-díjat egyszer, 1961-ben ítéltek oda a West Side Story-ért. Testvérpárt először 1942-ben jelöltek (a színészek között Joan Fontaine és Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine nyert).

Hasonlóan bizarr figurákban bővelkedik a Coen-életmű, elég csak A nagy Lebowski Dude-jára (magyarul Töki), az Arizónai ördögfióka gyermektolvaj rendőrnőjére vagy éppen a tudathasadásos forgatókönyvíróra, Barton Finkre gondolni. Ők mindannyian összegyűltek, hogy a New York Times exkluzív fotógalériájában népszerűsítsék a testvérek filmográfiájának legújabb csúcspontját. A No Country-t szűk körben mutatták csak be a hétvégén, de kiváló vászon/néző átlagot produkált és fokozatosan terjeszkedik majd az Egyesült Államokban, hogy a díjeső szempontjából kulcsfontosságú decemberben már mindenhol láthassák A kritikusok körében egyelőre páratlan konszenzus alakult ki arról, hogy ez az év legjobb amerikai filmje és végre egy "legjobb rendező" Oscar sem tűnik elérhetetlennek a két testvér számára.

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920?[1] – April 6, 1992), originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов [1], was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful writer, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.
Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His works have been published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (all except the 100s, Philosophy).[2][3]
Asimov is widely considered a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered one of the "Big Three" science-fiction writers during his lifetime.[4] Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series; his other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson. He penned numerous short stories, among them "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time, a title many still honor. He also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great amount of nonfiction. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.

Most of Asimov's popularized science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Examples include his Guide to Science, the three volume set Understanding Physics, and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery.
Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs".[5] He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, a Brooklyn, NY elementary school, and two different Isaac Asimov Awards are named in his honor.

Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia) to Anna Rachel Berman Asimov and Judah Asimov, a Jewish family of millers. His date of birth is uncertain because of differences in the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars and a lack of records. Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2nd.[1] The family name derives from озимые (ozimiye), a Russian word for a winter grain in which his great-grandfather dealt, to which a patronymic suffix was added. His family immigrated to the United States when he was three years old. Since his parents always spoke Yiddish and English with him, he never learned Russian. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Asimov taught himself to read at the age of five, and remained fluent in Yiddish as well as English. His parents owned a succession of candy stores, and everyone in the family was expected to work in them. Science fiction pulp magazines were sold in the stores, and he began reading them. Around the age of eleven he began to write his own stories, and by age nineteen, having discovered science fiction fandom, he was selling them to the science fiction magazines. John W. Campbell, then editor of Astounding Science Fiction, was a strong formative influence and eventually became a personal friend.
Asimov attended New York City Public Schools, including Boys' High School, in Brooklyn, New York. From there he went on to Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1939, eventually returning to earn a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1948. In between, he spent three years during World War II working as a civilian at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station. After the war ended, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving for just under nine months before receiving an honorable discharge. In the course of his brief military career, he rose to the rank of corporal on the basis of his typing skills, and narrowly avoided participating in the 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.
After completing his doctorate, Asimov joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine, with which he remained associated thereafter. From 1958, this was in a non-teaching capacity, as he turned to writing full-time (his writing income had already exceeded his academic salary). Being tenured meant that he retained the title of associate professor, and in 1979 the university honored his writing by promoting him to full professor of biochemistry. Asimov's personal papers from 1965 are archived at the university's Mugar Memorial Library, to which he donated them at the request of curator Howard Gottlieb. The collection fills 464 boxes, on seventy-one metres of shelf space.
Asimov married Gertrude Blugerman (1917, Canada–1990, Boston) on July 26, 1942. They had two children, David (b. 1951) and Robyn Joan (b. 1955). After a separation in 1970, he and Gertrude divorced in 1973, and Asimov married Janet O. Jeppson later that year.
Asimov was a claustrophile; he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces. In the first volume of his autobiography, he recalls a childhood desire to own a magazine stand in a New York City Subway station, within which he could enclose himself and listen to the rumble of passing trains while reading.
Asimov was afraid of flying, only doing so twice in his entire life (once in the course of his work at the Naval Air Experimental Station, and once returning home from the army base in Oahu in 1946). He seldom traveled great distances, partly because his aversion to aircraft complicated the logistics of long-distance travel. This phobia influenced several of his fiction works, such as the Wendell Urth mystery stories and the Robot novels featuring Elijah Baley. In his later years, he found he enjoyed traveling on cruise ships, and on several occasions he became part of the cruises' "entertainment," giving science-themed talks on ships such as the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. Asimov was an enormously entertaining, prolific, and sought-after public speaker. His sense of timing was exquisite; he never looked at a clock, but invariably spoke for precisely the time allocated[citation needed].
Asimov was a frequent fixture at science fiction conventions, where he remained friendly and approachable. As noted above, he patiently answered tens of thousands of questions and other mail with postcards, and was pleased to give autographs.
He was of medium height, stocky, with muttonchop whiskers and a distinct Brooklyn-Yiddish accent. His physical dexterity was very poor. He never learned how to swim or ride a bicycle; however, he did learn to drive a car after he moved to Boston. In his humor book Asimov Laughs Again, he describes Boston driving as "anarchy on wheels." He demonstrated his love of driving in his science fiction short story, 'Sally', about robot cars. An observant reader will notice that he gives a detailed description of only one of the cars within the story, which he calls 'Giuseppe' from Milan - which means that Giuseppe was an Alfa Romeo. None of the other vehicles , not even the titular vehicle of that story receive as specific a description. Asimov did not otherwise mention in any detail any other type of vehicle in any of his works, which has led many fans to speculate that perhaps this brand of automobile was a personal favorite.
Asimov's wide interests included his participation in his later years in organizations devoted to the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and in The Wolfe Pack [2], a group of devotees of the Nero Wolfe mysteries written by Rex Stout. He was a prominent member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the leading Sherlock Holmes society. From 1985 until his death in 1992, he was president of the American Humanist Association; his successor was his friend and fellow writer Kurt Vonnegut. He was also a close friend of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and earned a screen credit on Star Trek: The Motion Picture for advice he gave during production (generally, confirming to Paramount Pictures that Roddenberry's ideas were legitimate science-fictional extrapolation).
Asimov died on April 6, 1992. He was survived by his second wife, Janet, and his children from his first marriage. Ten years after his death, Janet Asimov's edition of Asimov's autobiography, It's Been a Good Life, revealed that his death was caused by AIDS; he had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion received during a heart bypass operation in December 1983.[6] The specific cause of death was heart and renal failure as complications of HIV infection. Janet Asimov wrote in the epilogue of It's Been a Good Life that Asimov had wanted to "go public," but his doctors convinced him to remain silent, warning that anti-AIDS prejudice would extend to his family members. Asimov's family considered disclosing his condition after he died, but the controversy which erupted when Arthur Ashe announced that he had AIDS convinced them otherwise. Ten years later, after Asimov's doctors had died, Janet and Robyn agreed that the AIDS story could be made public.[7]

Isaac Asimov was a Humanist and a rationalist.[8] He did not oppose religious conviction in others, but he frequently railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science. During his childhood, his father and mother observed Orthodox Jewish traditions, though not as stringently as they had in Petrovichi, but they did not force their beliefs upon young Isaac. Thus he grew up without strong religious influences, coming to believe that the Bible represented Hebrew mythology in the same way that the Iliad recorded Greek mythology (for a brief while his father worked in the local synagogue to enjoy the familiar surroundings and "shine as a learned scholar" versed in the sacred writings. This experience had little effect upon Isaac beyond teaching him the Hebrew alphabet). For many years, Asimov called himself an atheist; however, he considered the term somewhat inadequate, as it described what he did not believe rather than what he did. Eventually, he described himself as a "humanist" and considered that term more practical.
In his last autobiography, Asimov wrote, "If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul." The same memoir states his belief that Hell is "the drooling dream of a sadist" crudely affixed to an all-merciful God; if even human governments were willing to curtail cruel and unusual punishments, wondered Asimov, why would punishment in the afterlife not be restricted to a limited term? Asimov rejected the idea that a human belief or action could merit infinite punishment. If an afterlife of just deserts existed, he claimed, the longest and most severe punishment would be reserved for those who "slandered God by inventing Hell". As his Treasury of Humor and Asimov Laughs Again record, he was willing to tell jokes involving the Judeo-Christian God, Satan, the Garden of Eden, and other religious topics, expressing the viewpoint that a good joke can do more to provoke thought than hours of philosophical discussion.
Asimov became a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party during the New Deal, and thereafter remained a political liberal. He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and, in a television interview during the early 1970s, he publicly endorsed George McGovern. He was unhappy about what he considered an "irrationalist" viewpoint taken by many liberal political activists from the late 1960s and onwards. In his autobiography In Joy Still Felt, he recalls meeting the counterculture figure Abbie Hoffman; Asimov's impression was that the 1960s' counterculture heroes had ridden an emotional wave which, in the end, left them stranded in a "no-man's land of the spirit" from which he wondered if they would ever return (this attitude is echoed by The Wave Speech in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). His defense of civil applications of nuclear power even after the Three Mile Island incident damaged his relations with some of his fellow liberals. In a letter reprinted in Yours, Isaac Asimov, he states that although he would prefer living in "no danger whatsoever" than near a nuclear reactor, he would still prefer a home near a nuclear power plant than in a slum on Love Canal or near "a Union Carbide plant producing methyl isocyanate" (referring to the Bhopal disaster). He issued many appeals for population control, reflecting a perspective articulated by people from Thomas Malthus through Paul R. Ehrlich. Asimov considered himself a feminist even before Women's Liberation became a widespread movement; he joked that he wished women to be free "because I hate it when they charge". More seriously, he argued that the issue of women's rights was closely connected to that of population control. Furthermore, he believed that homosexuality must be considered a "moral right" on population grounds, as must all consenting adult sexual activity that does not lead to reproduction (Yours, Isaac Asimov).
In the closing years of his life, Asimov blamed the deterioration of the quality of life that he perceived in New York City on the shrinking tax base caused by middle class flight to the suburbs. His last non-fiction book, Our Angry Earth (1991, co-written with his long-time friend science fiction author Frederik Pohl), deals with elements of the environmental crisis such as global warming and the destruction of the ozone layer.

Isaac Asimov (Petrovicsi, Oroszország, 1920. január 2. – New York, 1992. április 6., eredeti neve Исаак Озимов, jelenlegi orosz írásmódja Айзек Азимов) orosz származású amerikai író és biokémikus. Tudományos-fantasztikus és tudománynépszerűsítő művei tették ismertté rendkívül sikeres és kivételesen termékeny írói pályafutása során. Több mint 500 kötetet és nagyjából 90 000 levelet, levelezőlapot írt vagy szerkesztett, művei jelentek meg a Dewey-féle tizedes osztályozás minden főosztályában, kivéve a filozófiát.[1] Asimovot a tudományos-fantasztikus irodalom mesterének ismerik el széles körben. Egyike volt a múlt századi sci-fi három nagy öregjének:[2] A két másik sci-fi klasszikus, akivel együtt Asimov népszerűvé tette a tudományos-fantasztikus irodalmat, Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) és Arthur C. Clarke Asimov legismertebb műve az Alapítvány-trilógia, de hasonlóan jelentős a Galaktikus Birodalom-sorozat és a robottörténetek, amelyeket későbbi írásaiban összekapcsolt az Alapítvány-trilógiával. Asimov a sci-fin kívül krimit és fantasyt is írt. Az Űrvadász-sorozatot Paul French álnév alatt jelentette meg.
Népszerűek olvasmányos stílusban megírt tudományos ismeretterjesztő munkái, illetve tudományos újságírói tevékenységének eredményéből, a több mint 1600 esszéből válogatott esszékötetei. Ilyen ismeretterjesztő művei például a Guide to Science („Útikalauz a tudományhoz”), a három részes Understanding Physics („Értsük meg a fizikát”), az Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery („Asimov kronológiája a tudományról és felfedezésekről”), vagy magyar nyelven A biológia rövid története és a Robbanó napok. Esszékötetei például az Asimov on Science („Asimov a tudományról”), az Asimov on Astronomy („Asimov a csillagászatról”) vagy a magyarul is megjelent A Hold tragédiája.
Régi tagja és alelnöke is volt a Mensának, habár nem mindig szívesen; „intellektuálisan harcias”-ként jellemezte tagtársait. Jobban élvezte, hogy az Amerikai Humanista Szervezet elnöke lehetett. Róla nevezték el az Asimov kisbolygót, az Asimov's Science Fiction magazint és két különböző Isaac Asimov-díjat is.

Asimov 1920. január 2. körül született (ez a hivatalos dátum, pontosan azonban nem ismert) Petrovicsiban, egy, Oroszországban (a mai Szmolenszki területen) található zsidó faluban, Judah Asimov és Anna Rachel Berman Asimov gyermekeként, egy zsidó molnár családba. Isaac csak három éves volt, amikor emigráltak az Egyesült Államokba. Minthogy szülei csak jiddis nyelven és angolul beszéltek fiukkal, az sohasem tanult meg oroszul. Az ifjú Asimov Brooklynban nevelkedett, ötévesen megtanult olvasni, s élete végéig tökéletesen beszélt az angol mellett jiddis nyelven is. Szülei egy kis vegyesbolt tulajdonosai voltak, ahol az egész család dolgozott. Itt sci-fi magazinokat is árultak, így Isaac olvasgatni kezdte azokat. Nagyjából tizenegy éves volt, amikor első történeteit kezdte írogatni, pár évvel később pedig már jó párat eladott ponyvairodalmi folyóiratoknak.

1939-ben diplomázott a Columbia Egyetemen, majd 1948-ban ugyanott biokémiából doktori fokozatot szerzett. Közben a második világháború alatt három évig Philadelphia tengerészeti hajógyárában dolgozott. A háború végével besorozták az amerikai hadseregbe, ahol kilenc hónapot szolgált mielőtt leszerelték. Ezen rövidke hadi karrierje során gépelési tudásának köszönhetően a tizedesi rangig vitte, és így épphogy, de elkerülte az 1946-os Bikini-atolli atombomba-kísérletekben való részvételt.
Miután ledoktorált, a Bostoni Egyetem orvostudományi karának tantestületéhez csatlakozott. 1958-tól kezdve már egyáltalán nem tanított, minden idejét írással töltötte (írói bevétele ekkor már nagyobb volt a tanári fizetésénél). Két éven át harcolt azért, hogy egyetemi docensi státuszát – fizetség és tanítási-kutatási kötelezettség nélkül – megőrizhesse.[3] Sikerült neki, sőt 1979-ben írói tevékenységének elismeréseképpen egyetemi tanárnak nevezték ki. 1965-től gyűjtött személyes iratait a Mugar Memorial könyvtárban tartják, ahol 464 dobozban 71 méternyi polcot foglalnak el.
1942. július 26-án feleségül vette Gertrude Blugermant (1917., Kanada – 1990., Boston), s két gyermekük született, David (1951-ben) és Robyn Joan (1955-ben). 1970-ben szétköltöztek, majd 1973-ban elváltak. Asimov még ebben az évben elvette Janet O. Jeppsont.
Asimov klausztrofíliás volt: élvezte a kicsi, zárt helyeket. Önéletrajzának első részében visszaemlékezik egyik gyerekkori álmára, amikor is egy újságos standra vágyott egy New York-i metróállomáson, ahova bezárkózhatott, s hallgathatta a vonatok dübörgését, miközben olvasott.
A repüléstől is félt, egész életében csak kétszer használta ezt a közlekedési módot (egyszer a haditengerészetnél és egyszer amikor az oahui hadibázisról tért haza 1946-ban). Csak ritkán utazott messzire, részben mert a repülőtől való félelme gátolta a távmunkában. Ezen fóbia hatott néhány történetére is, úgymint a Wendell Urth krimitörténeteire és az Elijah Baleyről szóló robotsorozatára. Kései éveiben rájött, élvezi a hajókirándulásokat, így néhány alkalommal a hajók „szórakoztató egységének” tagja lett, tudományos beszélgetéseket folytatva az RMS Queen Elizabeth 2-höz hasonló luxushajókon. Asimov meglehetősen szórakoztató, termékeny és keresett szónok volt. Rendkívüli érzéke volt az időzítéshez. Soha nem nézett az órára, de mindig pontosan a megadott ideig beszélt.
Elég ügyetlen volt: soha nem tanult meg úszni vagy biciklizni, bár Bostonba költözése után megtanult autót vezetni. Asimov Laughs Again („Asimov ismét nevet”) című vicckönyvében a bostoni autóforgalmat „a kerekek anarchiája”-ként írja le.
1960-ban Asimov előtt magas IQ-ja megnyitotta a Mensa-nak, a rendkívüli intelligenciájú emberek egyesületének a kapuit. A tagságtól hol visszalépett, mert a tagtársakat túl arrogánsnak találta, hol aktív tagként előadásokat tartott Mensa csoportok előtt. [4]
Asimov kései éveiben széles érdeklődési körébe tartozott a Gilbert és Sullivan operettjeire és Rex Stout Nero Wolfe detektívtörténeteire épülő szervezetekben való részvétel. Kiemelkedő tagja volt a Baker Street Irregulars csoportnak, a legnépszerűbb Sherlock Holmes-társaságnak. 1985-től 1992-ben bekövetkezett haláláig az Amerikai Humanista Szervezet elnöke volt, ezen a poszton barátja és egyben népszerű írótársa, Kurt Vonnegut követte. Szintén közeli barátja volt a Star Trek „atyjának”, Gene Roddenberrynek, s a Star Trek: Csillagösvény című film stáblistáján is helyet kapott a forgatás során adott tanácsaiért.
Asimov 1992. április 6-án halt meg. Tíz évvel halála után felesége, Janet Asimov az It's Been a Good Life című életrajzi művében felfedte, hogy férje halálát AIDS okozta. Asimov egyik bypass műtétje során, vérátömlesztéssel kapta a HIV-vírust.[5] Halálának pontos oka az AIDS szövődményeként fellépő szív- és veseelégtelenség volt. Az Asimov-életrajz utószavában elmondja, férje nyilvánosságra akarta hozni, de orvosai azt tanácsolták, ne tegye, mert az AIDS-ellenes előítélet kihathat családtagjaira is. Asimov családja úgy döntött, az AIDS-fertőzést Isaac halála után felfedi, de mivel Arthur Ashe AIDS-es voltának nyilvánosságra hozatala vitákat szült, megváltoztatták terveiket. Tíz évvel később – miután Asimov orvosai meghaltak – Janet és Robyn megegyeztek abban, hogy a halál valódi okát is bejelenthetik.

Isaac Asimov humanista és racionalista volt. Nem ellenezte mások őszinte hitét valamely vallásban, de annál inkább felszólalt a babonás és megalapozatlan hiedelmek ellen. Gyerekkora alatt szülei az ortodox zsidó hagyományokat követték, de nem erőszakolták ezen hitet fiukra, így nem hatott rá olyan erőteljesen a vallás. Ennek köszönhető, hogy a Bibliát a héber mitológia szövegkönyvének tekintette, valahogy úgy, mint ahogy a görögé az Iliász. (Kis ideig apja – Judah Asimov – egy helyi zsinagógában dolgozott, hogy a családias hangulatot élvezhesse. Isaacre ez kis hatással volt azon kívül, hogy megtanulta a héber ábécét.) Asimov sok éven keresztül ateistának mondta magát, ugyanakkor tudta, hogy ez kissé alkalmatlan meghatározás, mert azt mondja el, miben nem hisz, nem pedig, hogy miben hisz. Később a „humanista” jelzőt találta kielégítőnek.
Utolsó önéletrajzi művében Asimov ezt írta: „Ha nem lennék ateista, olyan Istenben hinnék, aki nem a szavaik, hanem a teljes életük alapján menti meg az embereket. Azt hiszem, inkább választana egy őszinte és becsületes ateistát, mint egy tv-szónokot, akinek minden szava Isten, Isten és Isten, de minden tette aljas, alávaló és tisztességtelen.” Ugyanezen könyvben szerepel az a nézete is, hogy a pokol valójában „egy szadista képtelen álma” durván hozzáragasztva egy irgalmas Istenhez. Ha még a kormány is képes megnyirbálni a kegyetlenkedést és a szokatlan büntetéseket – gondolta Asimov –, mért pont a túlvilágon ne lenne minimalizálva a büntetés? Asimov elutasította az eszmét, miszerint egy emberi hit vagy cselekvés végtelen megtorlást vonhat maga után. Ha létezik egy túlvilág, ahol az épp elhunytak fölött ítélkeznek, a leghosszabb és legkeményebb büntetést biztosan azok kapnák, akik „Istent rágalmazták meg a pokol feltalálásával”. Ahogy az a Treasury of Humorban („A humor kincstára”) és az Asimov Laughs Againben is olvasható, előszeretettel mesélt vicceket a keresztény Istenről, a sátánról, az édenkertről és egyéb vallási témákról, azzal a szándékkal, miszerint egy jó vicc gondolatébresztőbb lehet, mint több óra filozofálgatás.
Asimov politikai beállítottságát nézve progresszívnak mondta magát, s hűséges támogatója volt a Demokrata Pártnak. A 60-as években hangos ellenzője volt a vietnami háborúnak, s a 70-es évek elején egy tv-interjúban nyilvánosan támogatta George McGovernt. Nem örült annak a – szerinte értelmetlen – iránynak, amerre a 60-as években a liberális politikusok vitték az országot. Az In Joy Still Felt című önéletrajzi művében visszaidézi az ellenkulturális Abbie Hoffmannal való találkozását. Asimovnak az volt az érzése, hogy a 60-as évekbeli ellenkultúra hősei egy érzelmi hullámot lovagoltak meg, ami végül hajótöröttként dobta le őket a „lélek senkiföldjére”, ahonnan nemigen tudnak visszajönni. (Ez a gondolatmenet visszacseng Hunter S. Thompson Félelem és reszketés Las Vegasban című művében is.) A nukleáris energia békés használatának még a Three Mile Island-i baleset után is tartó védelmezése tönkretette néhány liberálisabb baráti kapcsolatát. Egy, a Yours, Isaac Asimovban („Üdvözlettel: Isaac Asimov”) megjelent levelében olvasható, hogy bár szívesebben élne egy „veszélytelen akármiben”, mint egy atomreaktorban, mégis inkább lakna egy erőműben, mint a Love Canal-i nyomornegyedben (a New York állambeli Niagara Falls rákkeltő anyagokkal súlyosan szennyezett városrésze) vagy a Union Carbide metil-izocianátot termelő telepénél (a bhopali katasztrófára utalva). Jó néhány kérvényt nyújtott be a népességszabályozásért, Thomas Malthustól Paul R. Ehrlichig számos emberre hivatkozva. Asimov már a nők emberi jogáért folytatott mozgalom elterjedése előtt is feministának tartotta magát. Gyakran viccelt azzal, hogy örülne, ha a nők szabadok volnának, mert „utálom, amikor pénzt kérnek”. Komolyabban azzal érvelt, hogy a nők jogai szorosan összekapcsolhatók a népességkorlátozással. Úgy gondolta továbbá, hogy a homoszexualitásnak ugyanúgy erkölcsileg elfogadottnak kéne lennie, ahogy minden reprodukcióhoz nem vezető szexuális aktivitás is az.[7]
Utolsó éveiben Asimov a New York-i életszínvonal romlását a középosztály elővárosokba való menekülését követő csökkenő adóbevételekkel magyarázta. Utolsó ismeretterjesztő műve, az Our Angry Earth („Dühös Földünk”, jó barátjával, a szintén sci-fi író Frederik Pohllal közösen írta 1991-ben) olyan különböző környezeti problémákkal foglalkozik, mint a globális felmelegedés és az ózonréteg elvékonyodása.