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36th out of 253 books
—
379 voters
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century
by
Harry Turtledove ,
Martin H. Greenberg , Poul Anderson , R.A. Lafferty , Larry Niven , Joe Haldeman , Jack Dann (Goodreads Author) , Connie Willis
,
more…
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, provided the springboard for modern science fiction's time travel explosion. Responding to their own fascination with the subject, the greatest visionary writers of the twentieth century penned some of their finest stories. Here are ei...more
H.G. Wells's seminal novella The Time Machine, published in 1895, provided the springboard for modern science fiction's time travel explosion. Responding to their own fascination with the subject, the greatest visionary writers of the twentieth century penned some of their finest stories. Here are ei...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
December 28th 2004
by Del Rey
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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 that "All the world's a stage, /...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 that "All the world's a stage, /...more
The stories in this anthology are thought-provoking, some more than others; some are just there for entertainment value or because they have time-travel involved in some capacity. I was surprised that Heinlein did not make it into this anthology; "All You Zombies" and "By His Bootstraps" are pretty important contributors to the genre, though I suspect it was issues with copyrights and not editor choice. I'm using this anthology to teach a literature course on Time Travel, and I believe the stori...more
Dec 11, 2010
Megan
added it
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 the premise of this one a lot too, about a future w...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 the premise of this one a lot too, about a future w...more
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 Early" by Poul Anderson, and "Rainbird" by R....more
1 like · like · see review
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 the topic of time t...more
Aug 30, 2012
Clark Hallman
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
Contains: Yesterday Was Monday by Theodore Sturgeon, Time Locker by Henry Kuttner, Time's Arrow by Arthur C. Clarke, Death Ship by Richard Matheson, A Gun for Dinosaur by L. Sprague de Camp, The Man Who Came Earley by Poul Anderson, Rainbird by R.A. Lafferty, Leviathan! by Larry Niven, Anniversary Project by Joe Haldeman, Timetipping by Jack Dann, Fire Watch by Connie Willis, Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg, The Pure Product by John Kessel, Trapalanda by Charles Sheffield, The Price of...more
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.
"Yesterday Was Monday" b...more
"Yesterday Was Monday" b...more
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 me -Robert S...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 me -Robert S...more
Nov 08, 2007
Jamie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of time-travel stories
Shelves:
sci-fi,
time-travel
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 only adds to their appeal, in my opinion, especia...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 only adds to their appeal, in my opinion, especia...more
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 stories all go, "A whaaaaaat?"
To which twenty different characters in twenty different stories all go, "A whaaaaaat?"
most of the stories has been written prior to 1990 but all wonderful stories I think my favorite would have to be the prices of orange. I believe I read this book way back on first time out . I did truly enjoy reading the prices of oranges, a gun for dinosaur, time Locker, yesterday was Monday, and Leviathan the best . I believe yesterday was Monday what is made into well written 4 not sure which twilight zone or out of limits back in the 19 fifties or early sixties
Nov 29, 2010
John
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
favorites
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. The stories I...more
As with any collection of short stories, some selections are better than others. The stories I...more
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...more
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.
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...more
Till date this has been the only theme-based science fiction anthology that I have read. It had contained several classics, several not-so-famous and yet highly readable stories, and rubbish stuff. Try to find out the "best of" collections of some of the contributors, and there you may find many more jewels.
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.
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?
I'm a lover of all things time travel. A very good compilation. A few of these have been turned into films, namely, The Sound of Thunder. A must read for a lover of the genre, but there is still something missing. I would give it 3.5 if possible.
This was a really likable collection if you like anthologies, with a lot of range and also a lot of dinosaurs, although Ursula K Le Guin's contribution as usual overshadowed everything else.
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.
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.
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.
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 of saying some...more
The editors picked out some good stories with the exception of one or two. I suggest this book to anyone interested in this genre.
Good range of sci fi time travel stories. I might quarrel with "best" of the 20th century, but all the stories are of very high quality, some outstanding. All readable.
Since 60% of these stories involved time travel, I gave it 60% of the stars.
I enjoyed about half of the stories in this collection. My favorite was "The Price of Oranges".
Includes neither of Heinlein's classic time travel tales, "All You Zombies" and "By His Bootstraps." No "Vintage Season", but does have Kuttner's "Time Locker." Includes the classics "A Sound of Thunder" (Bradbury) and A Gun for Dinosaur" (de Camp), as well as A.C. Clarke's "Time's Arrow." Great book for fans of time travel!
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.
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Dr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original sce...more
More about Harry Turtledove...
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original sce...more
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updated Nov 14, 2010 03:55am