Rating: 
Summary: Timeless and marvelous.
Review: I once heard Cordwainer Smith described as "a man who knew his way around in the future so well, it was suspected he must have come from there". And after reading these stories, I have to agree. He writes so casually about the most exotic concepts, he makes you feel that yes, of course this is the way it will be.The stories here are arranged chronologically, forming a quasi-novel, in the manner of Simak's "City", and adding to the book's charm. If all books were this good, I'd just curl up in an easy chair, hook up an I.V., and read forever...
Rating:
Summary: The best there is; it gets no better
Review: I picked up one of Smith's books years ago because of the titles
of the stories: "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" and "The Ballard of Lost C'mell." Boy, was I in for a treat. Ostensibly science-fiction, in reality it's more along the lines of mythology, even religion. The world that Smith (whose real name was Paul Linebarger) recreates is vivid and realistic. In fact, it is the most vivid and realistic world I have ever encountered in fiction. His visions are astonishing. I've never encountered anything like his writing, in all that I have read, and I doubt I ever will again.
Rating:
Summary: A service to poetic sf
Review: I was overwhelmed to find this compilation several years ago, though it took my local bookseller (not on the web then) a month to contact NESFA (and we're only 30 miles away) and get it. It now sits on my bedside bookshelf, and is regular reading. Not only is this a unique author and gloriously poetic style, we can be thankful to him for another. In writing of her own experiences coming to be an sf writer, Ursula leGuin cites Smith's stories as a part of what brought her (also very poetic) voice to the field. For all of us who grew beyond BEMs and intergallactic cabals, a hearty thanks to NESFA (who, I have discovered, have done it again with a Zenna Henderson collection!)
Rating:
Summary: I'll buy this book for a single story
Review: I've read all his SF stories many times; this book contains "The Queen of the Afternoon", so I have to buy this book just to get that one story. "The Lady Who Sailed 'The Soul'" always brings tears to my eyes. "The Dead Lady of Clown Town" inspires me. "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard": I remember for reading it as a kid; the style stuck in my mind, even though I didn't understand the story. The other stories are merely excellent. Just how does he manage to persuade me, a hard SF addict, to willingly suspend my disbelief? I don't think I'll ever know. But I'll keep reading the stories...
Rating:
Summary: A truly unique writer that hits me where I live.
Review: In many ways Cordwainer Smith's interests & musings come closer to my own then is normal for an sf writer. I haven't read this collection, but I've read some of the stories in it elsewhere. His stories are strange, poetic, kind, & on occasion quite funny. The net seems to be filled with people who've never read any science fiction older then the 80's so it is pleasing people are keeping him alive. Well metaphorically speaking since he did die before I was even born.
Rating:
Summary: Good collection
Review: It is good to see that the NESFA is keeping the name of Cordwainer Smith alive for future readers of Science Fiction. He was one of the great writers if the golden age and should be remembered in the SF community. His writing, at its best, was the equal of any of the great writers you could name. Read these stories.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing writer
Review: Like everyone else who has commented here, I love Cordwainer Smith. I first started reading him when I was about 12 -- it was "The Dead Lady of Clown Town". For the first time, I realised that it was possible to fuse poetry and prose and tell a great story. I eagerly read everything else of his I could lay my hands on, just for the sheer beauty of the writing. Later, when I got older, I discovered the philosophical ideas behind the stories, and grew to admire them even more. When I spotted "The Rediscovery of Man" in my local bookstore, I immediately snatched it off the shelf, afraid that some other fan of great writing would grab it first.
Rating:
Summary: Humanity's Strange Future History
Review: Like Heinlein, Smith built a detailed future history of the human race as a backdrop for his writing. It starts at the end of WWII and continues tens of thousands of years into the future. Smith
spent much of his childhood in Asia, as the son of a diplomat,
and grew up to become an expert in Asian culture and affairs, as well as politics in general and psycology in particular. Many of Smith's stories are rewrites of Chinese myths and fables, with casts of characters out of his dreamlike human universe governed by the omnipresent Instrumentality. Interestingly, even within this vast sweep of time, Smith's Instrumentality never chances upon a single truly alien race, despite the eventual development of various and increasingly efficient techniques of FTL travel.
At a few points in "The Rediscovery of Man" Smith makes mention of the Instrumentality's preparations for possible alien encounters, but only modified and/or forgotten sub-species of humans are ever discovered.
The word "dark" gets used a lot in describing Smith's future vision, but I don't believe that there is more darkness in his writing than would/will actually occur. Smith's personal history is one of witnessing human affairs from the viewpoint of those who are leading (or manipulating) the rest of us, and it is the
appearance of this unique understanding in his writing that gives it both it's dreamlike quality and it's realism - but perhaps also that element of darkness. But the wonderfully offbeat technology is pure imagination - such as the
"laminated mouse brain" in the story "Think Blue, Count Two",
or Old North Australia's strange and fearsome defense system in
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons".
One could actually hope that humanity really turns out as exotic, abstract and imaginative (and as long-lasting!) as Smith's vision. If you are a scifi buff but are unfamiliar with Smith's work, there is a gaping hole in your expertise that you can now remedy with a single, chronologically-ordered volume of stories. If scifi really isn't your bag, I guarantee you still will be seduced and enchanted and transfixed by this relatively small body of work which, like the writing of Stanislaw Lem, raises speculative fiction to the level of true literature.
Rating:
Summary: THE best
Review: Lyrical and stunning. I remeber many of the characters years after reading the book
Rating:
Summary: THE best
Review: Lyrical and stunning. I remeber many of the characters years after reading the book
| 
