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Summary: I know this will be good but ...
Review: Can someone list the titles and authors of all the stories in this book???Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: A Classic Must-Have for All Sci-Fi Fans
Review: I bought this book when it first came out in 1970 when I joined the Science Fiction Book Club, and it is my favorite collection to this day. Sure the stories are dated, some of them, and the style is old fashioned sometimes, but they are all excellent stories. Even re-reading them is a joy. If you are serious about sci-fi this is truly a must-have volume. There were several volumes that followed (2a and 2b for example) but this book remains my favorite. I am grateful for the chance to get it in a better hardback quality than the book club version. BUY THIS BOOK!
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Summary: The single must-have science fiction anthology.
Review: I first picked up the original printing of this anthology when I was a small child, around ten years old, and the first story in it ("A Martian Oddyssey") was so good that I put the book back down and didn't read the rest of it for another year because I was afraid none of the other stories in there could possibly be as good.
Almost all of them were. That's not the only reason you should read this collection, though. Beyond the stunning quality of the stories in this collection, many of these stories have, by now, what amounts to historical importance within the sci-fi field; these are the best of the best first stories, the bones that the modern great SF writers gnawed on in their childhoods, the building-block stories of the genre. You really haven't read science fiction if you haven't read Asimov's "Nightfall," if you haven't read "The Cold Equations" or "Arena" or "Twilight" or "Flowers for Algernon." Understanding modern sci-fi without a knowledge of these stories would be like trying to understand modern fantasy without having read Tolkien.
I am unaware of a better or even a comparable science fiction anthology (apart, perhaps, from the subsequent volumes in this same series). There couldn't be. These are the stories that built the genre. Any collection that was comparable would have to collect all the same tales.
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Summary: All Classics
Review: I have the Avon paperback first edition from 1971, it's falling apart from re-readings over the years. While not all the styles may be to all tastes, there are no duds in this collection. It's great to see it's available again. Highly recommended. By the way, if you don't mind paying a small fortune, I think this and the two companion volumes (edited by Ben Bova and out of print elsewhere) are available as a leather-bound set from Easton Press.
Rating:
Summary: All Classics
Review: I have the Avon paperback first edition from 1971, it's falling apart from re-readings over the years. While not all the styles may be to all tastes, there are no duds in this collection. It's great to see it's available again. Highly recommended. By the way, if you don't mind paying a small fortune, I think this and the two companion volumes (edited by Ben Bova and out of print elsewhere) are available as a leather-bound set from Easton Press.
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Summary: THE single greatest SF collection
Review: I was about seven years old when this collection was first published. I had the paperback edition and I kept it so long it was battered into oblivion; it's that good.
Now it's available in a hardcover reprint that will presumably stand up under much greater battering. That's good, because this one is absolutely a keeper.
This volume collects the absolute cream of short SF from 1929 to 1964 and it is, to this day, still THE single finest such collection extant. There's still nothing to touch, e.g., the bone-chilling mojo of Tom Godwin's 'The Cold Equations' or the majestic hubris of the title character in Ted Sturgeon's 'Microcosmic God'.
If you have any interest in classic SF, this book undoubtedly deserves a prominent place on your shelf. Consider the hardcover an investment; it will pay off.
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Summary: A trip down memory lane
Review: I've checked it out of the library more than once, but this is such a good book to own. If you want to see how science fiction is done, or learn how to write it yourself, this is the collection for you. It's a who's who of the grandmasters at the top of their game. There isn't a single story here that won't provoke or haunt you in some way shape or form.
Rating:
Summary: A trip down memory lane
Review: I've checked it out of the library more than once, but this is such a good book to own. If you want to see how science fiction is done, or learn how to write it yourself, this is the collection for you. It's a who's who of the grandmasters at the top of their game. There isn't a single story here that won't provoke or haunt you in some way shape or form.
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Summary: Essential
Review: If I was stuck for life on a desert island, there are two
SF books I would take with me--Anthony Boucher's two-volume _A
Treasury of Great Science Fiction,_ and _The Science Fiction
Hall of Fame._ Which is best? I'd be hard pressed to choose.
Both are essential if you like science fiction. This collection contains some truly wonderful stories, such as Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God," which I first read when I was about 11, and which forever changed the way I viewed the world. There's some other neat stuff in here, such as James Blish's "Surface Tension," which is microscopic people who build their version of a "spaceship"...only it happens to be about two inches long. This book is throughly enjoyable, and
you will like it, I promise.
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Summary: Mostly classics
Review: Long out of print, these 26 stories include classics from the big names of the second third of the 20th century - Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Roger Zelazny. Playful, speculative or cautionary, they home in on the futuristic preoccupations of their day. Robert Heinlein's "The Roads Must Roll" explores the flaws inherent in a perfectly mechanized society, Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God," posits a scientist who creates a new life form for his own edification and the only woman represented, Judith Merrill, has a cautionary tale about radiation, "That Only A Mother." Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall," imagines a dire fate for a planet that plunges into night only once every 2,500 years, Ray Bradbury's "Mars Is Heaven!" describes a fateful first contact for hapless Americans, and Roger Bixby's "It's a GOOD Life" gives us the mortal fear of powerful children. The earliest stories are mostly of historical interest - their encounters with aliens and thinking robots are a bit heavy handed in the prose department - but most are still fresh and timeless. These are stories that inspired a generation of writers and readers, spawning imitations and movies and Twilight Zone episodes. A must for genuine sci-fi fans.
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