Reviewed by daltonlp on

4 of 5 stars

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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.

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  • 23 November, 2011: Reviewed