Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 20: 1958

Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #20

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg, Poul Anderson

Contents:

9 · Introduction · Martin H. Greenberg · in
13 · The Last of the Deliverers · Poul Anderson · ss F&SF Feb ’58
29 · The Feeling of Power · Isaac Asimov · ss If Feb ’58
41 · Poor Little Warrior! · Brian W. Aldiss · ss F&SF Apr ’58
49 · The Iron Chancellor · Robert Silverberg · nv Galaxy May ’58
77 · The Prize of Peril · Robert Sheckley · ss F&SF May ’58
99 · Or All the Seas with Oysters · Avram Davidson · ss Galaxy May ’58
111 · Two Dooms · C. M. Kornbluth · na Venture Jul ’58
167 · The Big Front Yard · Clifford D. Simak · na Astounding Oct ’58
229 · The Burning of the Brain · Cordwainer Smith · ss If Oct ’58
243 · The Yellow Pill · Rog Phillips · ss Astounding Oct ’58
259 · Unhuman Sacrifice · Katherine MacLean · nv Astounding Nov ’58
297 · The Immortals [Dr. Russell Pearce] · James E. Gunn · nv Star Science Fiction Stories #4, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1958

Genres: Science Fiction

351 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Carlo]

During San Antonio vacation

[Matteo Pellegrini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dodici migliori racconti di fantascienza del 1958. Nel 1958 gli Stati Uniti mandarono in orbita Explorer, il primo satellite artificiale e la NASA lanciò nello spazio profondo i primi coraggiosi astronauti. Sul fronte della fantascienza fu un anno particolarmente prolifico per la fantasia di scrittori come Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Brian W. Aldiss, Robert Silverberg, Robert Sheckley, Avram Davidson, C. M. Kornbluth, Clifford D. Simak, Cordwainer Smith, Rog Phillips, Katherine MacLean, James E. Gunn, i cui frutti migliori sono raccolti in questa antologia.

[Nicholas Barone · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, not great, collection of stories. All of the stories in this collection were originally published in 1958. My favorites in this collection are "The Big Front Yard" by Clifford Simak and "The Immortals" by James Gunn.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

[FIRST READING: * * * * ]

Sheckley's "The Prize of Peril" nicely satiric--and (unfortunately) prescient. Also liked Rog Phillips' "The Yellow Pill." And Towser (from "Big Front Yard") was a pretty cool pooch. :)