Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #463686 in Books
• Published on: 1989-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
SF historian and editor Hartwell, who in little more than a year has produced massive anthologies of horror ( The Dark Descent ) and fantasy ( Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment ), now performs a similar service for SF readers with this chest-denting, 1100-page volume. He has brought together 53 selections, virtually every one of high quality, fully a third from Europe, Asia or Latin America. Among the best stories in this first-rate collection are J. G. Ballard's "Chronopolis," about a future in which time pieces are outlawed; Robert Sheckley's "Ghost V," set on a paradise planet haunted by monsters from the subconscious, a story that expertly mixes suspense and humor; Philip K. Dick's chilling future war scenario, "Second Variety"; Larry Niven's tale of night of apocalyptic change, "Inconstant Moon"; and "Vintage Season," about decadent time tourists who travel to historical tragedies to enjoy them as theater, by Henry Kuttner and his wife, C. L. Moore. There are also fine tales by Gene Wolfe, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, Fritz Leiber, C. M. Kornbluth, Ursula LeGuin, Robert Heinlein, Italo Calvino, Thomas Disch and John Updike. The editor has contributed a scholarly, engaging introduction to each story.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An Exhaustive (and Exhausting) Collection
With over 50 stories and over 1050 pages of text, "The World Treasury of Science Fiction" is quite a heavy read. The book contains shorts from almost all of the major science fiction writers of the 20th Century (at least up until 1989, when it was published). Some of the tales are among the best I've ever read, like Phillip K. Dick's chilling military piece "Second Variety," Kurt Vonnegot's angry satire "Harrison Bergeron,' Larry Niven's apocalyptic "Inconstant Moon" and Rene Rebetez-Cortes's evolutionary horror story "The New Prehistory." Others I didn't like so much, but some of that was a matter of taste not quality.

The book is not presented in any kind of recognizable order, but there is a brief introdutory blurb for each author. I would recommend it with the caveat that most readers are likely to skip over some of the less appealing entries.

A Wonderful Collection
Without a doubt, its title alone (The World Treasury of Science Fiction) does not deceive. Contemporary scifi from tons of cultures are represented in this book. Many of the stories are translated from other languages, and are rare (and wonderful) finds indeed. The commentary before each story is expertly written, with references to similar stories in the same book. The World Treasury covers a wide spectrum: from the traditional appeal of John W. Campbell to the surrealist (and very creepy) mood of French writer Boris Vian.

The World Treasury of Science Fiction is a superior examination of scifi in other cultures; it really suprised me how vastly different eastern European and Asian sf is from our traditional American and British works. This collection is for any devout science fiction fan, especailly if you want to learn the true diversity of modern science fiction.

An entertaining mix
A wonderful collection of short stories and novella from around the world. For each story, the editor gives us a well written introduction on the author and also his comparisons to other authors. Some of the stories go back to the 30's and 40's where science fiction began to take off, then on into the 50's and 60's where it really established itself; a few are taken out of the 70's and 80's.

We think of science fiction as flying around in outer-space searching for other life forms. We do have countless books written on this theme; science fiction is much more complicated than that, it is not always what we think it to be, or where we think we might find it. And these 49 short stories in a thick book represent a diverse combination. The ones that stood out for me are from:

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
J. G. Ballard
Theodore Stergeon
Rene Rebetez-Cortes
Gene Wolfe
Alfred Bester
C. M. Kornbluth
Larry Niven
Frederik Pohl
Boris Vian
Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Tor Age Bringsvaerd
Philip K. Dick
Stanislaw Lem
Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Wish you well
Scott