Trivia / The Stars, Like Dust

• Executive Meddling: The ending (with the "secret document" that will give the rebels "the strongest weapon in the universe" they need to defeat the Tyranni turning out to be the United States Constitution) was not Asimov's idea, but that of Horace Gold, the editor of Galaxy magazine, where the novel was first serialized. Asimov only went along with it in order to get the story published. Asimov considered Gold's ending to be quite improbable, and called the book "his least favorite novel".
• Science Marches On: The climactic scenes take place on a type of planet (breathable atmosphere and Earthlike gravity, but no organic life or liquid water) which later science determined was extremely unlikely to exist in the real world. Later editions of the book contain an afterword by Dr. Asimov, apologizing to the reader for the error and stating he hadn't been able to find a way to correct it without rewriting the entire climax.
• Technology Marches On: Specifically, computer and information technology. Biron calculates the trajectory for an interstellar Jump by hand. The calculation is relatively complex to find the angle of the jump and the distance, but it's explicitly a straight-line course, and he has to work it out on paper, using numbers from printed books (the Standard Galactic Ephemeris).

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