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by Scott La Counte, Minute Help Guides

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Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Speculative Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

Reviews

[The Poor Person's Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone serious about SF have to start here

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Best of Science Fiction", edited by Groff Conklin, is an anthology of short fiction first published in 1946. The first edition of this book was a large volume which tried to live up to its ambitious title. There were 40 short stories put into 6 sections titled as follows: "The Atom", "The Wonders of Earth", "The Superscience of Man", "Dangerous Inventions", "Adventures in Dimension", and "From Outer Space". The collection includes a large number of stories originally published between 1930 and 1945, from authors like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Clifford D. Simak, Theodore Sturgeon, A.E. van Vogt, and many more. In addition, there were some older stories from Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, among others.
The revised edition, published in 1963 included just 22 of the original 40 stories, losing all of the older stories, and some of the newer ones as well. It is true that some of the stories were somewhat dated, and certainly the revised edition is a very good selection of stories from the 30's and first half of the 40's. However, I prefer the lengthier original edition, which was republished in 1980 under the name "The Golden Age of Science Fiction." There are too many stories to name them all, but among those that are included are "Deadline" by Cleve Cartmill, "Killdozer!" by Theodore Sturgeon, "Goldfish Bowl" by Anson MacDonald (a.k.a. Robert Heinlein), "First Contact" by Murray Leinster (a.k.a. William F. Jenkins), and "Jackdaw" by Ross Rocklynne, all of which appear in both editions of this book.

This book was tied for 13th on the Arkham Survey in 1949 as one of the `Basic SF Titles'. It also was rated as the 6th best book on the 1952 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll. As for awards for the stories in this collection: "Killdozer!" was tied for 35th on the Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll for Short Fiction in 1971. "First Contact" was tied for 9th on the same poll, and won the Retro Hugo for novelettes written in 1945 which was awarded in 1996. "The Piper's Son" was also nominated for the Retro Hugo for novelettes written in 1945.

[Lloyd Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was mind-blowing to tour the collective imagination of science fiction writers in 1946.

This was before:
- The atomic bomb
- Space travel
- Computers
- Telecommunications
- Understanding DNA

The book's introduction praises "serious" science fiction, which it contrasts with "comic-book" stories. This is hilarious, because half the stories in the anthology are Zap Brannigan pulp. The book has aliens, more aliens, man-eating plants, man-eating blobs, utopias, dystopias, apocalyptic disasters, romance, bromance, racism, sexism, and batman. I'm talking about a man who has bat tissue transplanted into his ear, and gains the powers (and characteristics) of a bat.

There are also two stories by Heinlein and Asimov which stand apart. It's easy to tell why those guys had actual writing careers.

[Neer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology that makes you think. More here: https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...

[Dkolacinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Groff Conklin anthology, published in 1946 which includes SF fiction from the 1920s through the 1940s. A great anthology even if some of the stories are dated.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather stodgy collection that is best read in spurts, or by skipping certain sections completely. It's laid out in six sections, the first three of which weren't that appealing (and one of THOSE -- The Atom -- which you could probably skip completely due to how dated it is).

The only memorable stories in those first three sections were from the Wonders of the Earth section: "Killdozer!" a surprisingly compelling tale about a possessed bulldozer, and "Davy Jones' Ambassador," an underwater adventure that reminded me a lot of the James Cameron film "The Abyss." The third section, The Superscience of Man, was the most disappointing for me as it had the big names of short fiction -- Poe, Doyle, Wells and Julian Huxley -- but featured telepathy and body-swapping stories that were uniformly dull.

The best stories by far were by two other big names -- Heinlein and Asimov -- and found in the last From Outer Space section. Heinlein's "Universe" was a proto-Matrix type dystopian hero's journey about a huge spaceship whose inhabitants believe there is no outer world. It featured some well-layered philosophical and religious musings about the nature of reality and how people become entrenched in their beliefs. Asimov's "Blind Alley" is a fascinating psychological examination of colonization with a great payoff as only Asimov does.

The other stories worth reading are "Ultimate Metal," about a newly discovered alloy whose inventor doesn't research enough before implementation; "The Machine," about a disastrous world where a supercomputer takes care of all of humanities needs; "The Monster from Nowhere," a cool mystery about an extra-dimensional "monster"; and "The Search," one of the best and most complete time-travel stories I've read.

Still, that's a pretty low ratio of good stories and the entire collection is forgettable except as a nifty glimpse at the origins of the genre. Campbell's preface is pretty interesting as well, in any case significantly moreso than Conklin's.

Not Bad Reviews

@pointblaek

[William Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology had very good stories reflecting the early days of sci-fi. Sadly, I'd read many of them, since I've been a life-long fan of the genre. Many were worth rereading, though, as I'd read them long ago.

Reading books written in the 1930's have archaic ideas regarding women and race. That can be a bit jarring to us 21st century readers. Smoking was taken for granted, as was cocktail hour. this took me back to my youth in the '50's and '60's when these practices were common and socially acceptable.

The authors chosen were all early favorites, so I found the stories good examples of science fiction's growth over time. This is a long book; over 5000 pages, but well worth the time spent.

[Libby Beyreis · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a couple of good yarns in this book, but mostly it's all very dated, old-fashioned SF written before SF authors had discovered the knack of telling an interesting story. I can only read so many unironic stories about square-jawed, all-American scientist adventurers before it gets tedious. As an exploration of the roots of modern SF, the book has a small amount of anthropological interest, but even for that I wouldn't recommend seeking it out.

[Richp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of classic SF stories written before 1946. Some of these stories are widely reprinted classics, some are obscure. Some are very good, a few are mediocre. This is an excellent overview of short SF up to that time. It likely would not be of interest to those who are not, or not about to become, SF fans.

[Annalise]

Purchased this to help my son with a short-story reading assignment.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten short novels from the hayday of sci-fi including the classic The Weapons Shop by A.E.Van Voight, Killdozer by Sturgeon and others.