I'm not a fan of science fiction, so I decided to give it yet another chance. I thought this collection of short stories mostly of older (1950s onward) science fiction would help me to form an opinion on the genre, and of course, I was hoping to improve my poor appreciation towards it. Maybe I'm a hopeless case, but this didn't impress me. The stories were mostly okayish, but the lack of great ones made the whole turn to the totally forgettable side of literature. ( )

I began reading this anthology out of a sense of duty, part of my SF education, but I enjoyed almost all of these stories. There was only one I couldn't finish.

Most date from the 1950s but though some of the technology now seems dated, they are still good stories. I found the social contexts of some of the older stories quite interesting, and most stories weren't as sexist etc. as I would have expected.

I would have liked to know what criteria Aldiss used to select the newer stories to fit in with the anthology as a whole.

Recommended, especially if you haven't read much older SF. ( )

Very variable.

A scattered collection of 31 short and slightly longer stories. The oldest is "Nightfall" by Asimov that must have apeared in a hundred collections by now. The most recent is a 2007 offreing from a new author Eliza Blair. As can be expected in such a collection it's a bit hit and miss, depending on what you personally like. I generally found most of the older stories badly dated - LP players in the 21st cen? Some big names and some are ok - Harry Harrison's "An Alien Agony" is decent and surprising considering it was a '62 offereing. One or two of the new tales were very good - "friends in need" is worthwhile as is Chiang's "Story of your life". However the balance of good to mediocre isn't great.

The range of themes is nothing secial, a few alien encounters, a few expanding empires and a bit of time travel is about it. With the occasional exception none of the plots are particularly special, merely a quick expoundation of an Idea.

Worth picking up as anintrodction to some of the big names in SF, or for a specific tale you are seeking. However not that strong on it's own. ( )