Stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Finney, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin
H.G. Wells's seminal novella The Time Machine, published in 1895, provi...
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Mar 28, 2010
Aerin
rated it: 
I like to do short-story collection reviews story by story, otherwise they just end up being a variation on the sentence: "Some of these stories were good; others, not so very good." So:
Theodore Sturgeon: Yesterday Was Monday
I was glad to see a Sturgeon story included, because I'm only familiar with him from Sturgeon's Law - a truth so very true that I figured the man who coined it must be at least a little bit awesome. This story takes Shakespeare's declaration tha More...
Theodore Sturgeon: Yesterday Was Monday
I was glad to see a Sturgeon story included, because I'm only familiar with him from Sturgeon's Law - a truth so very true that I figured the man who coined it must be at least a little bit awesome. This story takes Shakespeare's declaration tha More...
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Dec 11, 2010
I'm listing all the stories so I can remember which authors to read more by.
1. "Sailing to Byzantium" by Robert Silverberg - This was one of my favorites. I thought its premise was really original and yet it was largely character-driven.
2. "The Man Who Came Early" by Poul Anderson. - Okay. I don't remember a great deal about this one, so I don't think it made much of an impression.
3. "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis. - Another favorite. I enjoyed t More...
1. "Sailing to Byzantium" by Robert Silverberg - This was one of my favorites. I thought its premise was really original and yet it was largely character-driven.
2. "The Man Who Came Early" by Poul Anderson. - Okay. I don't remember a great deal about this one, so I don't think it made much of an impression.
3. "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis. - Another favorite. I enjoyed t More...
Dec 05, 2008
Jacob
rated it:
Very good, very varied collection of storis. There were a few I didn't care for: "Timetipping" by Jack Dann was just weird, and I couldn't really get into Robert Silverberg's "Sailing to Byzantium," as well as one or two other less-impressive ones, but overall the stories varied from entertaining to excellent: "I'm Scared" by Jack Finney was especially good, as well as "A Gun for Dinosaur" by L. Sprague de Camp (more on that below), "The Man Who Came
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Oct 10, 2011
Scott
rated it: 
I've always been wary of "Best Of" collections because, what one editor may find of quality, another may not, and then there is also myself, the reader, who also has his own views of what the parameters should be. I just don't feel the title of this collection lives up to its name. IMO, the stories start out strong with the "golden age" writers (Sturgeon, Clarke, Bradbury, Finney, Matheson), then seem to become less exciting and start to seem to pay only a passing glance with
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Oct 08, 2011
Deborah
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All of these stories are reprints and I had already read some of them. The introduction is good and the books are in order by copyright date. The copyright dates are listed under permissions at the back of the book. Some of the older stories are dated and some suffered a bit by being the influence of later stories, which makes them very predictable. Don't give up if you don't like the first few, skip ahead a bit, then come back to the others. I only rate the ones I liked.
"Yesterda More...
"Yesterda More...
Aug 08, 2010
Mina
rated it:
A interesting bag of stories -some of them don't seem to be about time travel but tangentially, which is fine, I suppose, but confusing considering the name of the anthology.
I was particularly fond of The Price of Oranges by Nancy Kress and Another Story or the Fisherman from the Inner sea by Ursula K. LeGuin, mostly because they focused on the kind of psychological and emotional disruption that time travel would brought forth. Other stories tried to but didn't really got there for More...
I was particularly fond of The Price of Oranges by Nancy Kress and Another Story or the Fisherman from the Inner sea by Ursula K. LeGuin, mostly because they focused on the kind of psychological and emotional disruption that time travel would brought forth. Other stories tried to but didn't really got there for More...
Nov 08, 2007
Jamie
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When I read a collection of short stories, I generally start not at the beginning, but with the shortest stories first. If those first few "really short" stories whet my appetite, I'll move up to the longer stories.
This collection grabbed me from story #1. Just about every one of them held my attention and my imagination. Granted, some of them read like episodes of "The Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits" (in fact, several were adapted for TV). This onl More...
This collection grabbed me from story #1. Just about every one of them held my attention and my imagination. Granted, some of them read like episodes of "The Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits" (in fact, several were adapted for TV). This onl More...
Feb 24, 2009
Phillip
rated it:
A cool collection, but it's funny: they're all about time travel, but they were all written not expecting to be paired with other time travel stories. Each one inevitably starts with a "mysterious" event occurring, and then an investigation and then some scientist finally confesses he's responsible, but the true answer is "shocking." Then he takes a breath and says, "I've built a time machine."
To which twenty different characters in twenty different st
To which twenty different characters in twenty different st
Feb 11, 2011
John
rated it:
When I got my first Kindle for Christmas in 2009, this was the first e-book I read. Being a big fan of time-travel stories, I immediately searched the Kindle archives for any stories on this subject. And since I hadn't read anything in years (other than listening to an occassional audio book), I figured a collection of short stories would be a little easier to digest and help get me back into a routine.
As with any collection of short stories, some selections are better than others. More...
As with any collection of short stories, some selections are better than others. More...
Oct 03, 2011
Susan
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As is true in so many compilations, the stories in this book vary from so-so to wonderful. In the process of making my way through them, I discovered that maybe time travel per se is not the type of science fiction I really enjoy. There were more than I needed of encounters with dinosaurs and other real or imaginary creatures of the past. I find I much prefer stories that explore the complex possibilities and impossibilities created by time travel, and the confusion of people as they try to deal
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Feb 01, 2011
Jeff
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This has some real gems including a story by Charles Sheffield, who I had never heard of before but quickly became a great fan of. Also, there is a World War II story that has a take on time travel and history I had never considered before and a great story by Nancy Kess called the Price of Oranges. Only a few stories were disappointing.
Sep 29, 2011
Sandy
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While this is a fair representation of great science fiction authors of the twentieth century, I don't agree it's the best collection of time travel stories. For one thing, was time traveling to hunt dinosaurs such a meme of the early twentieth that it required three stories? I did like that the stories were organized chronologically according to publication date, because it was interesting to track the level of time travel cognition required by the reader as our general knowledge of the subject
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Mar 18, 2010
Lincoln
rated it:
Ahh...Time travel
Its kind of an authors get out of jail free card. Wait that can't happen he is my favorite character he can't die...oh stop time go back fix it. I like real history and the idea of manipulating factual events. The big what if questions. Good old "The Sound of Thunder" stepping on a butterfly 65 million years ago changes language and culture in the present.
Its kind of an authors get out of jail free card. Wait that can't happen he is my favorite character he can't die...oh stop time go back fix it. I like real history and the idea of manipulating factual events. The big what if questions. Good old "The Sound of Thunder" stepping on a butterfly 65 million years ago changes language and culture in the present.
Jul 13, 2009
Ralph
rated it:
Some excellent stories - one can certainly see how these stories helped create the foundation for modern Time Travel stories.
Inclusion of several of the tales, which were of obvious lesser quality, was puzzling. It made me wonder what the editor's true criteria was?
Inclusion of several of the tales, which were of obvious lesser quality, was puzzling. It made me wonder what the editor's true criteria was?
Aug 03, 2011
Rica
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Along with alternate history, time travel is one of my favourite subgenres of science fiction, so I'd read some of these classic stories previously. Others were new to me. All were excellent.
Apr 20, 2010
Shannon
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Some of the stories were very good, but as a collection, it's a bit uneven and i thought the introductions to the stories were uneven and poorly edited.
Nov 12, 2009
Robert
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All good with the slightest caveat - I could not read the Robert Silverberg story no matter how many times I tried - I found it to be tedious, ponderous dreck.
Sep 06, 2010
Jennifer
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It's possible Harry Turtledove and I just have different opinions about what makes a story "great." On the other hand, it's quite odd when at least two of the stories are not actually about time travel at all--time travel is just a red herring. So is it a story about time travel if, say, someone thinks they're a time traveler but they turn out to just be insane? I'm not sure, but it's a bit offputting. My favorites are the more contemplative stories that use time travel as a means
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Jul 13, 2009
Jody
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The editors picked out some good stories with the exception of one or two. I suggest this book to anyone interested in this genre.
Mar 08, 2009
Diane
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A good selection from some great authors. It's fun to see how they can take the same concept--time-travel--and go in so many different directions.
Aug 13, 2010
Gunner
rated it:
A decent collection of stories, but the first half is much better than the second.
Nov 26, 2011
Christopher
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I haven't been a fan of the other "Best of" collections by Harry Turtledove but this one is a little different. Most of the stories in here are incredible and well chosen for their differences in approaching the "limited" world of time travel. I especially enjoyed Jack Finney's "I'm Scared" and the Ursula K. Le Guin's "Another Story".
Oct 31, 2011
Allen
rated it:
Decent collection. Skipped two stories (read one recently in another collection, couldn't get into the other).
Apr 18, 2008
Rebecca
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My inner science fiction nerd comes out with these books. I love history and the “What if…” is so interesting to me. I also like the short story format.
Aug 22, 2008
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century: Stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Finney, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin, (2004)
Sep 17, 2007
My Fiance gave me this book for my birthday - what can I say.. if you love time travel stories, it is a fantastic collection to own.
May 29, 2011
Michele
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A solid collection; all of them good reads but none really outstanding. Apart from the Le Guin at the end, of course :)
Jan 26, 2010
Carrie
rated it:
You can't go wrong with a heapin' helpin' of time travel sci-fi. Fun and bite-sized!
