Listing books in anthology
Full title | A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Richard Dawkins (author) |
Publisher | Mariner Books |
Categories | Anthology, biology, essay and science |
Publication year | 2004 |
Original publication year | 2003 |
ISBN | 978-0-618-48539-0 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 263 |
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Full title | The Abominable Earthman [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Frederik Pohl (author) |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1963 |
Pages | 159 |
Synopsis | The Abominable Earthman contains five short stories, and one long-ish one (taking up the bulk of the book). The Abominable Earthman, the titular story, is about what happens when green-skinned aliens conquer Earth in a short span of time, and the adventures of a small group of people who are trying to overthrow them. We Never Mention Aunt Nora is about a most curious pregnancy and an aunt who we don't talk about... A Life and a Half is about a very bleak future which runs very efficiently, alright, but about which something else is off. Punch is a strange little story about benevolent aliens. The Martian Star-Gazers reads like an anthropology report on the previous inhabitants of Mars. Whatever Counts, the longest of the stories, is about a group of colonists and the crew who are hauling them to Aleph Four, a satellite of a Jupiter-like planet a long way off (the journey takes eighteen years). There's also a rhinoceroid alien race of graceful and fast creatures who lack any kind of subconscious who feature prominently (to say more would spoil). Three Portraits and a Prayer is a very short story about a dying scientist, his doctor, and an evil millionaire. |
Review | Unfortunately, almost all the short stories fell rather flat for me. It's all very well written, but some of the stories left me wondering what the point was. The Martian Star-Gazers stood out for me. There's not a whole lot of action in it, but the way it's written made it very interesting to read. It's written almost as thought it were a piece of anthropology, describing Martian mythology and the stars in their skies and what it meant to them. Whatever Counts, the longest story in the collection, also stood out. There aren't too many main characters and Pohl develops them in style: In the end, one really does care about them and their motives, and the aliens, the Gormen, are enigmatic and fit the story very well. I can't recommend this one unless you really want those two stories. However, you're probably better off buying another Pohl collection with those two in them. |
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Full title | The Alternate Asimovs [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1986 |
Pages | 320 |
Synopsis | Contains Grow Old Along with Me (which became Pebble in the Sky), The End of Eternity (which became a novel with the same name), and two versions of Belief (the unpublished and the published versions). Grow Old Along with Me takes place in the Galactic Era (when humans have colonized millions of worlds) and deals with an Earth plot to take revenge at the rest of the Galaxy for its poor treatment of the Earth, and to establish the Earth as the ruling world. (As a side-note, no one in the Galaxy really knows if humanity originated on a single planet, or if they originated on several worlds more or less simultaneously and, when each planet became space-faring, met and interbred to form the humanity that is the Galactic Empire. Most adhere to the latter, which they call the Merger Theory. The former is called the Radiation Theory and is believed by a small sect on Earth calling themselves the Ancients.) The End of Eternity is a time travel short story about the so-called Eternals who live in Eternity and alter the realities of different centuries by making quantum changes. Belief is a story about Roger Toomey who one morning discovers that he can levitate, and centers around his attempts at getting his fellow physicists to believe him. The two versions (the unpublished and the published) differ only in the endings. My favorite of these is by far the published version of Belief (Asimov preferred the unpublished one), because it tells a beautiful story in a beautiful way. My least favorite is The End of Eternity, because time travel is full of paradoxes (and I really dislike paradoxes). |
Full title | American Poetry: An Introductory Anthology [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Donald Hall (author) |
Publisher | Faber and Faber |
Categories | Anthology and poetry |
Publication year | 1991 |
Original publication year | 1969 |
Pages | 192 |
Synopsis | As the title says, this is an introductory anthology to American poetry. The introduction devotes around three pages to a synopsis of a selection of the authors' lives, and the book itself has a handful of poems from each author. |
Review | This book is pretty dated, but I still enjoyed the selection. |
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Full title | Asimov Laughs Again: More Than 700 Jokes, Limericks, and Anecdotes [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Harper Perennial |
Categories | Anthology and humor |
Publication year | 1993 |
Original publication year | 1992 |
ISBN | 978-0-06-092448-5 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 341 |
Synopsis | Unlike Asimov's previous compilation of jokes, Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor, this one isn't divided into categories; rather, it's a long story of one joke flowing neatly into the next one, with banter inbetween. |
Review | I like this style much better, as evidenced by the copious amount of dog-earing in my paperback edition. Let me give you some samples.
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Full title | The Beginning and the End [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Pocket Books |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy, essay and science |
Publication year | 1978 |
Original publication year | 1977 |
ISBN | 0-671-47644-0 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 253 |
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A THE PAST
B THE PRESENT
C THE FUTURE
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Full title | The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1986 |
Pages | 249 |
Synopsis | Perhaps The best non-robot non-Foundation science fiction of Isaac Asimov would be a more fitting, if longer, title for the book. This is an anthology of stories chosen by Asimov himself, with commentary preceding each story. |
Full title | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson: Dikt i utvalg [permalink] |
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Translated title | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson: Selected Poems |
Language | Norwegian |
Authors | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (author), Olav Christopher Jenssen (illustrator) and Knut Ødegård (foreword) |
Publisher | Den Norske Bokklubben |
Categories | Anthology and poetry |
Publication year | 1979 |
ISBN | 82-525-0295-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 124 |
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Full title | The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2001 |
ISBN | 978-1-85798-323-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 966 |
Synopsis | A collection of virtually every short story of Arthur C. Clarke. See Structure for links to some of them. |
Review | The stories are of varying quality, although most are very good (and some are truly excellent). As this is a compilation, it's hard to give a verdict, but I definitely recommend it to you if you're a Clarke fan. |
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Full title | The Complete Robot [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1982 |
Pages | 680 |
Synopsis | This is a collection of robot stories that he wrote between 1940 and 1976. They're not grouped chronologically, but by theme (and this works really well). The stories, of course, revolve around robots; non-humanoid, immobile, metallic, and humanoid (there's even an android in the last story, but I've already spoiled too much). |
Review | Some of these stories are amazing, and you should go pick up this anthology now. My favorites are A Boy's Best Friend, Victory Unintentional, Segregationist, Evidence, Feminine Intuition, and The Bicentennial Man. |
Full title | Counting the Eons [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy and science |
Publication year | 1983 |
Pages | 254 |
Full title | Dangerous Visions [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Harlan Ellison (editor), Diane Dillon (illustrator), Leo Dillon (illustrator), Isaac Asimov (foreword), Brian W. Aldiss, Carol Emshwiller, Damon Knight, David R. Bunch, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, Henry Slesar, Howard Rodman, J. G. Ballard, James Cross, Joe L. Hensley, John Brunner, John Sladek, Jonathan Brand, Keith Laumer, Kris Neville, Larry Eisenberg, Larry Niven, Lester del Rey, Miriam Allen deFord, Norman Spinrad, Philip José Farmer, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, R. A. Lafferty, Robert Bloch, Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany, Sonya Dorman and Theodore Sturgeon |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1975 |
Pages | 544 |
Synopsis | An anthology with short stories which each presents a "dangerous vision" (although I would call them "visions for thought"). |
Review | These thirty-two stories are all excellent in their own ways, but some stand out as superbly excellent. They are Shall the Dust Praise Thee?, Evensong, The Malley System, Carcinoma Angels, and A Toy For Juliette. Go buy this book. |
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Full title | Discoveries [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Alan Lothian (introduction), Arthur C. Clarke, Bob Shaw, Greg Bear, Ian McDonald, Ian Watson, Mike McQuay, Paul J. McAuley, Robert Holdstock and Tricia Sullivan |
Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1995 |
ISBN | 0-575-06258-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 190 |
Synopsis | I can't remember where I got this book, but I reckon it's pretty rare to come across as it's not normally sold, but was given away free with the October 1995 issue of BBC Focus. It's an anthology of short science fiction stories from budding British authors. |
Review | A few of the stories fell flat, but some are good (I really enjoyed Blood Music). If you happen to come across it, you might want to buy it, if only for its rarity. |
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Full title | Edgar Allan Poe Collected Stories and Poems [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Edgar Allan Poe (author), Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator), Édouard Manet (illustrator), Gustave Doré (illustrator), Harry Clarke (illustrator) and John Tenniel (illustrator) |
Publisher | CRW Publishing |
Categories | Anthology, novel and short stories |
Publication year | 2008 |
Original publication year | 2006 |
ISBN | 978-1904919773 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 374 |
Synopsis | This is a collection of Poe's works. It's a big and beautifully-bound book, with illustrations for all the stories and poems. |
Review | If you've never read anything by Edgar Allan Poe before, you're in for a major treat. I can highly recommend some stories: The Pit and the Pendulum (about a man being kept captive during the Spanish Inquisition), The Gold Bug (about a man discovering an ancient treasure map), The Premature Burial (about exactly what the title says), The Cask of Amontillado (about a drunk man meeting a horrifying death), The Tell-Tale Heart (about a murderer who hallucinates his victim's heart beat), and Shadow — A Parable (about whispers in the night, not to spoil it). I can heartily recommend this book, or any other Poe collection, for that matter. |
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Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque
Poems
Later Poems
Poems Written in Youth
Poems Now First Collected
Additional Poems Attributed to Poe
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Full title | Expanded Universe [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Robert A. Heinlein (author) |
Publisher | Baen Publishing Enterprises |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2007 |
Original publication year | 1980 |
ISBN | 978-0-7434-9915-6 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 705 |
Synopsis | A collection of short stories and essays, the essays focusing for the most part on WWII and the atomic bomb. |
Review | A really nice read. I especially liked How to Be a Survivor, Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon, and Paul Dirac, Antimatter, and You. |
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Full title | Expedition to Earth [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1982 |
Original publication year | 1953 |
ISBN | 0-345-31057-8 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 165 |
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Full title | Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Groff Conklin (editor), Isaac Asimov (editor), A. E. van Vogt, Alan Bloch, Alan E. Nourse, Alan Nelson, Albert Hernhuter, Anthony Boucher, Arthur C. Clarke, Arthur Feldman, Arthur Porges, Avro Manhattan, C. M. Kornbluth, Cleve Cartmill, Damon Knight, David Grinnell, Edward G. Robles, Edward Grendon, Eric Frank Russell, Evelyn E. Smith, Frank M. Robinson, Fredric Brown, Fritz Leiber, H. B. Hickey, Howard Schoenfeld, Idris Seabright, Jack Finney, James Causey, James H. Schmitz, John D. MacDonald, John Lewis, John P. McKnight, Karen Anderson, Lion Miller, Mack Reynolds, Marion Gross, Mildred Clingerman, Peter Cartur, Poul Anderson, Ralph Williams, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, Roger Dee, S. Fowler Wright, Stuart Friedman, T. P. Caravan, Theodore Sturgeon, W. Hilton-Young, Walt Sheldon, Will Stanton, William Tenn and Winston K. Marks |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1963 |
ISBN | 0-684-84296-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 287 |
Synopsis | Fifty short-short stories from fifty different authors are collected here. |
Review | Almost all of the stories are truly excellent, and I have transcribed some of the best ones and put them on my Short Stories page (Men Are Different, Texas Week, The Haunted Space Suit, and Counter Charm). Go there for a sample before you buy the book. (You will buy it, remember.) |
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Full title | Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1990 |
Pages | 416 |
Synopsis | The first part is an anthology of short stories, while the two last parts are non-fiction dealing with concepts in science fiction and on writing science fiction, respectively. |
Full title | Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor: 640 Jokes, Anecdotes, and Limericks, Complete with Notes on How to Tell Them [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Categories | Anthology and humor |
Publication year | 1971 |
ISBN | 978-0-395-57226-9 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 420 |
Synopsis | As advertised on the front cover, the book contains 640 jokes, anecdotes, and limericks, complete with notes on how to tell them. The jokes are sorted into eleven chapters (Anticlimax, Shaggy Dog, Paradox, Put-down, Word Play, Tables Turned, Jewish, Ethnic, Religion, Marriage, and Bawdy), more or less successfully (apparently it's hard to classify jokes). |
Review | Most of the jokes are pretty good, and some stand out. Here's a little selection:
I highly recommend the book. |
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Full title | The Martian Chronicles [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Ray Bradbury (author) |
Publisher | William Morrow |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2006 |
Original publication year | 1950 |
ISBN | 978-0-380-97383-5 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 268 |
Synopsis | A collection of short stories woven together into a coherent whole. The stories concern Mars, and humanity's efforts to colonize it. |
Review | I really enjoyed all the "chapters" (short stories), but "Usher II" really stood out, being an homage to E. A. Poe. Definitely recommended. |
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Full title | Mortality [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Christopher Hitchens (author), Graydon Carter (foreword) and Carol Blue (afterword) |
Publisher | Twelve |
Categories | Anthology, autobiography, essay and memoir |
Publication year | 2012 |
ISBN | 978-1-4555-2347-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 104 |
Synopsis | Mortality is a very short collection of essays that Hitchens wrote for Vanity Fair about his diagnosis of and living with oesophageal cancer. There are forays into other topics, but the essays mainly concern his living with cancer and all that that implies.
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Review | It's a very short book, but the essays are interesting. If you're familiar with Hitchens' output, then you know what to expect. |
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Full title | The Nine Billion Names of God [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
Publisher | Signet Books |
Categories | Anthology and science fiction |
Publication year | 1974 |
Pages | 240 |
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Full title | The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Richard Dawkins (author) |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Categories | Anthology and science |
Publication year | 2008 |
Pages | 395 |
Synopsis | This is an anthology book of post-1900 science writings (essays, anecdotes, poetry) written by working scientists, as opposed to written by non-scientists, and it is supremely excellent. Richard Dawkins has collected them, sorted them, and written introductions to each of them, which put them in context. |
Review | I liked this book so much that I transcribed a few of these and put them on my Essays page ("On Being the Right Size", "One Self", an extract from Man in the Universe, "Seven Wonders", and an extract from The Periodic Table); you could read those if you want a short taste of what the book is about. I strongly recommend this book. |
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PART I
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Full title | The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Christopher Hitchens (foreword) |
Publisher | Da Capo Press |
Categories | Anthology, philosophy and religion |
Publication year | 2007 |
Pages | 499 |
Synopsis | A huge collection of writings by atheists about religion, faith, non-religion, reason, science, and logic, with biographical information on each author. Some of them are pretty dated, but they're interesting nonetheless. |
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Full title | The Relativity of Wrong: Essays on the Solar System and Beyond [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy, physics and science |
Publication year | 1988 |
Pages | 225 |
Synopsis | Explains atoms and isotopes, planets and satellites, novas and supernovas. It also contains a title essay, which is available online. In it, he explains that there is a continuum from right to wrong, and that it's possible to be righter and wronger. For instance, if you think the Earth is flat you are wronger than if you think the Earth is a sphere. You're still wrong, because the Earth is more like an oblate spheroid, but even that is wrong. And so on. |
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Full title | Robot Dreams [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Isaac Asimov (author) and Ralph McQuarrie (illustrator) |
Publisher | Ace Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2004 |
Original publication year | 1986 |
ISBN | 0-441-01183-7 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 333 |
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Full title | Robot Visions [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Isaac Asimov (author) and Ralph McQuarrie (illustrator) |
Publisher | Roc Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 1991 |
Original publication year | 1990 |
ISBN | 0-451-45064-7 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 482 |
Synopsis | This is an anthology of a few stories that are (perhaps paradoxically) not found in The Complete Robot, and a few essays about robots and computers in general. |
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Stories
Essays
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Full title | Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Arthur Conan Doyle (author) |
Publisher | Chancellor Press |
Categories | Anthology, crime and short stories |
Publication year | 2006 |
Original publication year | 1985 |
ISBN | 978-07537-0912-2 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 992 |
Synopsis | A collection of all of the Sherlock Holmes short stories in one neat volume. |
Review | What struck me while reading the short stories is how ingenious Sherlock Holmes is. It's a very fun exercise to try to second-guess what Holmes' solution to each case turns out to be. |
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
His Last Bow
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
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Full title | The Sun Shines Bright [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Grafton |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy, chemistry, essay and science |
Publication year | 1987 |
Original publication year | 1984 |
ISBN | 0-586-05841-9 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 268 |
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INTRODUCTIONTHE SUN
THE STARS
THE PLANETS
THE MOON
THE ELEMENTS
THE CELL
THE SCIENTISTS
THE PEOPLE
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Full title | The Tragedy of the Moon [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Coronet Books |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy, chemistry, essay and science |
Publication year | 1975 |
Original publication year | 1972 |
ISBN | 0-340-19879-6 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 222 |
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Full title | The Tyrannosaurus Prescription: And 100 Other Essays [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Prometheus Books |
Categories | Anthology, astronomy and science |
Publication year | 1989 |
ISBN | 0-87957-540-7 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 323 |
Synopsis | A collection of 101 essays divided into seven sections: The Future, Space, Science, SciQuest, "Foreword by Isaac Asimov", Science Fiction, and Personal. |
Review | Almost all Asimov essays are excellent and when you pick up an anthology of them you're almost bound not to be disappointed, and this book is no exception except for the section "Foreword by Isaac Asimov", which is simply a collection of forewords to various books. This isn't too bad in itself (in fact, they are all rather well-written), but I, at least, when reading positive forewords and blurbs and reviews, positively want to get the book being foreworded/blurbed/reviewed. Other than that section, I can thoroughly recommend the book. (For a taste of the book, read What Is the Universe?) In the introduction Asimov says that the title of the eponymous essay (The Tyrannosaurus Prescription) is whimsical, but I disagree. It is actually a prescription for an ill, and it's not at all whimsical. Read the essay if you want to find out why I think so. |
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THE FUTURE
SPACE
SCIENCE
SCIQUEST
"FOREWORD BY ISAAC ASIMOV"
SCIENCE FICTION
PERSONAL
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Full title | View From a Height [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Avon Books |
Categories | Anthology, biology, chemistry, physics and science |
Publication year | 1975 |
Original publication year | 1963 |
ISBN | 0-380-00356-2 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 224 |
Synopsis | This is an essay collection broken into four parts: Biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. As the subtitle says, it's a brilliant overview of the exciting realms of science. The title invokes the image of viewing science from above, to get an overview of it, and in the introduction Asimov likens science before 1800 to a well-managed orchard. After 1800, it's overgrown and even though there's still an underlying order to it, each wanderer through the orchard only gets to see a small part of it.
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Full title | We'll Always Have Paris [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Ray Bradbury (author) |
Publisher | Voyager |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2009 |
ISBN | 978-0-00-730364-9 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 210 |
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Full title | What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | John Brockman (editor) and Ian McEwan (foreword) |
Publisher | Pocket Books |
Categories | Anthology and essay |
Publication year | 2005 |
ISBN | 978-1-4165-2261-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 266 |
Synopsis | This book is a collection of very small essays by a bunch of leading scientists, philosophers, writers, and intellectuals on the title question. The topics range from artificial intelligence to consciousness to epistemology (and a lot in between). |
Review | This was an immensely satisfying read. You get a lot of perspective just reading the speculations of these people. I highly recommend this book! |
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Full title | The Winds of Change: ...And Other Stories [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Isaac Asimov (author) |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Categories | Anthology and science fiction |
Publication year | 1984 |
ISBN | 0-345-31188-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 277 |
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Full title | Zima Blue and Other Stories [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Alastair Reynolds (author) and Paul J. McAuley (introduction) |
Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2010 |
ISBN | 978-0-575-08455-1 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 455 |
Synopsis | A short story (and novella-length) anthology from Alastair Reynolds. The Real Story is about a journalist's quest to unravel the real story behind the first Mars landing. Beyond the Aquila Rift is about what it means to be lost. Really lost. Enola is about a little nomad girl's affinity for a machine (and mutatis mutandis for the machine), and what that implies. Signal to Noise and Cardiff Afterlife are two connected stories about what happens when you make contact with parallel universes. The next three stories, Hideaway, Minla's Flowers, and Merlin's Gun, are the longest in the anthology and form a chronological trilogy (despite being written out of order). The first one is about a so-called swallowship (huge spaceship) on the run from an alien enemy known as the Huskers. The other two are a continuation of the first, but I won't say anything about them except that all three concern the same protagonist, Merlin, and his quest for his Gun. Angels of Ashes is a weird piece about religion and statistics (ehr, more or less) Spirey and the Queen is about a faux war over a planetary accretion disk. Understanding Space and Time is about one man's quest to, well, understand space and time. Digital to Analogue is a conspiracy/thriller tale set on Earth in the nineties, and is the least science fictional (not to mention the least space operatic) one in the collection, and is about a memetic virus spreading through the club scene. Everlasting is about the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum physics. Specifically, one man's (pretty weird) take on it. And finally, the eponymous Zima Blue is about a pretty eccentric and long-lived artist's quest to connect with his roots. |
Review | I enjoyed almost all the stories in this collection, and before I praise this collection any further, I have to get it out of the way: Angels of Ashes and Digital to Analogue fell entirely flat for me! The ones that stood out, however, more than made up for it. In particular I immensely enjoyed the Merlin trilogy (Hideaway, Minla's Flowers, and Merlin's Gun). They are truly epic in scale, and brilliantly captures the sense of the lone ranger on a quest. Understanding Space and Time, another wonderful story, is also epic, but in its own way. I hope I'm not spoiling anything by saying that it reminded me of Asimov's The Last Question, both in form and content. (Read them both and you'll understand.) The last two items, Everlasting and Zima Blue, also had me hooked, the former for its weird speculations (and the experimental testing of said speculation...), the latter for its musings on time and memory, and the sympathy you get for the protagonist, the eccentric artist Zima. All in all, if you enjoy pointed SF vignettes or space opera novellas, go buy this book! |
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Full title | The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Two [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | George Mann (editor), Brenda Cooper, Chris Roberson, Dan Abnett, David Louis Edelman, Dominic Green, Eric Brown, Karl Schroeder, Kay Kenyon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Michael Moorcock, Neal Asher, Paul Di Filippo, Peter Watts and Robert Reed |
Publisher | Solaris Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Publication year | 2008 |
ISBN | 978-1-84416-542-1 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 413 |
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Full title | Before the Golden Age Volume 1: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Isaac Asimov (editor), Charles R. Tanner, Clifford D. Simak, Edmond Hamilton, Jack Williamson, Neil R. Jones, P. Schuyler Miller and Sterner St. Paul Meek (Pseudonym: Capt. S. P. Meek) |
Categories | Anthology and science fiction |
Series | Before the Golden Age (1/3) |
Publication year | 1975 |
ISBN | 0-8600-78035 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 381 |
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Full title | Before the Golden Age Volume Two: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Isaac Asimov (editor), Charles R. Tanner, Jack Williamson and Laurence Manning |
Publisher | Orbit Books |
Categories | Anthology and science fiction |
Series | Before the Golden Age (2/3) |
Publication year | 1975 |
ISBN | 0-8600-78248 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 224 |
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Full title | Before the Golden Age Volume Three: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | Isaac Asimov (editor), Edmond Hamilton, Henry Hasse, John D. Clark, John W. Campbell, Jr., Leslie Frances Stone, Murray Leinster, Nat Schachner and Ross Louis Rocklin (Pseudonym: Ross Rocklynne) |
Publisher | Orbit Books |
Categories | Anthology and science fiction |
Series | Before the Golden Age (3/3) |
Publication year | 1978 |
Original publication year | 1975 |
ISBN | 0-8600-78620 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 400 |
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Full title | The State of the Art [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Author | Iain M. Banks (author) |
Publisher | Orbit Books |
Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
Series | Culture (4/10) |
Publication year | 1991 |
ISBN | 1-85723-030-2 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 216 |
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Full title | H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus Vol. 2: Dagon and Other Macabre Tales [permalink] |
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Language | English |
Authors | H. P. Lovecraft (author) and August Derleth (introduction) |
Publisher | Voyager |
Categories | Anthology, horror and short stories |
Series | H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus (2/3) |
Publication year | 2000 |
Original publication year | 1965 |
ISBN | 978-0-586-06324-8 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
Pages | 512 |
Synopsis | This collection contains a bunch of short stories, as well as a very interesting essay by August Derleth called Supernatural Horror in Literature. Also in there are some stories under the heading Early Tales and four really small stories under Fragments, stories not really completed (and therefore not that interesting). Most of the stories are first-person accounts of some horrible fate befalling the protagonist (such as Dagon, The Temple, and Imprisoned with the Pharaohs) while a few are third-person narratives over a span of time (like The Doom that came to Sarnath, The Cats of Ulthar, and The Quest of Iranon). |
Review | This collection represents my first foray into Lovecraft's literature (except for The Call of Cthulhu, which I read ages ago). As I'm not really well read in horror literature, I don't know how it stacks up against other authors, but I know I like it! Lovecraft has a very peculiar way of writing, and virtually every story manages to draw you in and keep your attention throughout. Also, most of the stories have a twist at the end that's not always easy to predict, which makes them all the more enjoyable. This collection, as opposed to the first and third in this series, is a little bit special in that there are a lot of stories, so if you don't have that much time to read, this book is excellent. The stories are short and almost all are engaging and very fun to read. |
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Early Tales
Fragments
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