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Opus 200

book by Isaac Asimov

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ17013085
Source-derived summary

Opus 200 is Isaac Asimov's joint two-hundredth book, along with his autobiography In Memory Yet Green (both books were published on the same day, following his 199th book). It was published by Houghton Mifflin in March 1979. Asimov chose to celebrate the publication of his two hundredth book by writing about his previous 198 books, including excerpts from short stories and novels, as well as nonfiction articles and books. Opus 200 also includes three complete science fiction stories, two complete mystery stories and two complete essays.

Contents

Introduction

Part 1 - Astronomy

Excerpt from The Gods Themselves

Excerpt from ABCs of Space

Excerpt from How Did We Find Out About Comets?

Excerpt from Comets and Meteors

Excerpt from Alpha Centauri, the Nearest Star

Excerpt from The Collapsing Universe

Part 2 - Robots

"The Bicentennial Man"

Part 3 - Mathematics

Excerpt from How Did We Find Out About Numbers?

Excerpt from "Skewered!"

Part 4 - Physics

Excerpt from Light

Excerpt from Please Explain

Excerpt from Worlds Within Worlds

Part 5 - Chemistry

"Good Taste"

Part 6 - Biology

Excerpt from How Did We Find Out About Germs?

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Opus 200” as book by Isaac Asimov. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1979—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1979. The account is most persuasive where Opus, book and Isaac can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as book by Isaac Asimov. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17013085. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Opus 200”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Opus 200 primary sources, Opus 200 archive and Opus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Opus 200”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Opus 200” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.