In Memory Yet Green, the first volume of [Isaac Asimov's] autobiography, was mostly about his discovery of science fiction, his love affair with it, his first attempts at writing it, and his eventual success. The second volume, In Joy Still Felt,… is devoted to the way in which his efforts were directed from science fiction … to nonfiction. More precisely it describes how he became a publishing phenomenon and a financial success, how his marriage of 28 years ended in divorce, how he returned to New York, found a second wife, suffered through a thyroid cancer operation, a heart attack and his second wife's mastectomy, and enjoyed the fruits of his labors.

What is important to the sf reader, however, is Asimov's intimate relationship with the science-fiction world. Asimov writes simply, engagingly and with great frankness about all aspects of his life…. But one of the book's great attractions is the way it chronicles the development of science fiction from the time it was just getting started in the magazines almost up to the present, all through the experience of a man who was involved with most of sf, first as reader, then as fan, writer, book author and, finally, institution.