This is a collection of handpicked stories, essentially an anthology book. It contains some of the greatest sci-fi stories published within 1929 to 1964 written by some of the greatest sci-fi writers of the world. These stories were selected and curated by authors of “American Science Fiction Writers”, through voting.

Source

One can say, the book contains some of the stories that had far reaching influences on the genre itself and are considered as pinnacles of it. For anyone interested in sci-fi, this can be their initial go to title for it features stories from all the big names, Asimov, Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlein etc. The stories are set by the order of their publishing date. So if an audience reads the stories by the release order, they will see how the subjects of sci-fi stories evolved from one author to the next through the years during that period of time. How their ideas of society and prosperity changed along with technological advancement. For instance, Mars’s portrayal in the 50’s and 60’s are far comprehensible and less imaginary than it was in the 20’s and 30’s. The stories featuring Mars changed some of their narrative structures as well. In later stories, the cold war and fear of nuclear technology were introduced. Uncertainty and an air of reluctance anent space travel among the mass started to get more pronounced as the timeline advanced.
These stories felt to me like windows to the history and them being sci-fi is the cool breeze in a hot summer’s night.

Although some of the stories were way too futuristic. Clearly the authors of those stories didn’t want to limit themselves within bounds of tangible, comprehensive imagination.

However, I didn’t take all of the 26 stories to heart. Some I liked a lot and some wasn’t a fan of. Let me tell about the ones I adored the most.

Stanley G. Weinbaum - “A Martian Odyssey”

On an expedition to Mars, a space traveller meets a native martian by accident and even though it is by definition entirely alien to him, it showed some indication of intelligence and the traveller befriends it. Together, they go on an adventure. The details of that adventure are fascinating, imaginative and rewarding to read.

John. W. Campbell - “Twilight”

A time traveller from the 21st century travels seven million years to the future. There he sees the world entirely transformed - in its etiquettes, inhabitants and also its geography.
I liked it not for the story but the imaginary futuristic world Campbell created and exposed the audience to. Immensely thoughtful and profoundly creative. This story reminded me of Autofac by Phillip K. Dick.

Theodore Sturgeon - “Microcosmic God”

An eccentric super genius scientist shut himself off in an isolated island. There he created life from scratch. Exactly how it happened in the real world — evolution and all that. His lifeforms also multiplied from monocellular beings to multicellular ones and at one point we see the rise of a intelligent species. The scientist then forced the new intelligent species to go through continuous hardships so their evolution can have a way faster pacing. So much so, their cultures, technology and civilization got more advanced than the humans of the outer worlds.

I have been musing on this story for the last couple of years. I kept repeating the events in my mind long after I read it.

Frederic Brown - “Arena”

The star trek movie with the same name was inspired by this story.
Two different species are engaged in a constant battle for eons. On one side, there are humans and on the other, invading aliens. But something is different this time. A third alien race interferd. They are far too advanced than both humans and invading aliens. They take one individual human and one alien from both of the warring sides and pit them against one another in an arena like battlefield. These two are representatives of the two races. Whoever wins, their race wins. Whoever loses, they race gets eradicated. Lost and forgotten, totally, utterly. The stake is too high!

Murray Leinster - “First Contact”

I think you can guess from the name, it’s about the fictional tale of meeting the aliens for the first time. But unlike what Hollywood would insist upon you, it’s not about fighting or invading. The humans were scouting a strange, bright newly formed nebula. There they identify an alien spaceship. After much dilly-dallying, both parties established contact. Turned out, they were scouting the very same nebula as well!
But how there can be a peaceful negotiation? No one is ready to let the other party go. What if they find out my home planet’s location and come back with an army?

This story absolutely nailed how the first contact should go. Instead of showing the human race as primitive and the aliens superior or vice versa — the writer made both species equal in terms and set them negotiating for a favorable solution for both parties, as intelligent species are supposed to strive for.

James Blish - “Surface Tension”

Humans are conquering planets and putting settlers on them — making vast colonies of humans. In one such planet, all of the lifeforms are tiny and they live in water. To adopt the characteristics and atmosphere of the planet, humans create microscopic bodies for a future generation, plant them on the planet and leave. The new human race grows in their own might. But unlike us, the biggest challenge they face is the surface tension of water. If they can break through that, then they can finally take it to the sky and perhaps learn about their full-fledged giant human ancestors and their glorious history!

Daniel Keyes - “Flowers for Algernon”

I loved this story the most and I think I have talked about it in one of the posts earlier. It’s written from a first person perspective and the narrator is a person suffering from severe down syndrome who is laughed at and mocked constantly in every trade of his life. But two scientists do some experiments on him and he rapidly starts to gain smartness and superior intelligence. The narrator keeps a diary and the story is made with those diary entries.

At first, it’s hard to read the story as the narrator keeps making spelling mistakes as an imbecile. As his intelligence gets blown up, his writings start to get improved and more and more complex.

The sci-fi bit of this story is there but not that dominant at all. It’s a tragedy. A story that swept me of my feet and sent me weeping. I will remember this one as long as my consciousness do not fail me.

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There are two more volumes that followed this book. I haven't read any of them but I plan to.