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The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century: Stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Finney, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin,
- ISBN13: 9780345460943
- Condition: New
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Product Description
LEAP INTO THE FUTURE, AND SHOOT BACK TO THE PAST
H. G. Wells’s seminal short story “The Time Machine,” published in 1895, provided the springboard for modern science fiction’s time travel explosion. Responding to their own fascination with the subject, the greatest visionary writers of the twentieth century penned some of their finest stories. Here are eighteen of the most exciting tales ever told, including
“Time’s Arrow” I… More >>
Aug 11th, 2010 at 7:09 am
A compilation such as this proves that a genre can be difficult to define, and that talented writers can explore what appears to be a simple theme in myriad unexpected fashions. That’s what makes this compendium of classic time travel stories such fun to read. Most of the short stories here, spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s, examine the personal or social ramifications of traveling through time and messing things up, and this strong focus can be attributed to editors Turtledove and Greenburg. The archetypal masterpiece about how even slightly altering the past can screw up the present, Ray Bradbury’s awesome “A Sound of Thunder,” is included here. That’s the story from which most modern time travel literature springs, and it’s also the source of the celebrated butterfly effect, though Bradbury didn’t use that exact term. Other influential early classics such as “Time’s Arrow” by Arthur C. Clarke and “A Gun for Dinosaur” by L. Sprague de Camp are also included. For the later stories, there are a few missteps, like the Vietnam obsession of Joe Haldeman’s “Anniversary Project,” and the heavy-handed gender politics of Ursula K. Leguin’s “Another Story or The Fisherman of the Inland Sea.” But most of the rest of the collection is perfectly enjoyable, with winners like Poul Anderson’s “The Man Who Came Early,” which illustrates how a modern American would be both unbearably obnoxious and pathetically helpless in medieval times, and R.A. Lafferty’s “Rainbird” in which an inventor can’t stop going back in time to set his younger self on a different path, with outlandish results. Remember – if you ever travel through time, don’t change anything! [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating: 5 / 5
Aug 11th, 2010 at 9:26 am
For over a century time travel has remained one of the most enduring categories of science fiction. Authors such as Mark Twain and H. G. Wells established many of the ideas that were subsequently encapsulated in numerous stories that have entertained millions of readers. This anthology bring together eighteen stories from many of the giants of the field. Some, such as Theodore Sturgeon’s “Yesterday was Monday” and Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” are true classics, while others like Connie Wills’s “Fire Watch” are destined to join them as among the greatest stories of the genre.
With a collection like this, it is easy to criticize some of the selections. Many longtime readers will complain about the exclusion of a favorite tale or the inclusion of one that they do not like (my personal complaint is with the inclusion of Robert Silverberg’s “Sailing to Byzantium, which while one of the best novellas ever written is not really a time travel story per se). Yet it is hard to complain about the collection as a whole, which has a good balance of stories from different premises, authors, and stories. Fans of the genre will find much to enjoy in this book, while anyone seeking to learn what the field has to offer will be impressed with the imagination and the writing contained within these pages.
Rating: 4 / 5
Aug 11th, 2010 at 11:24 am
I gave this book as a gift, then read it and regretted. The commentary was knowledgeable but the stories tended to be very pulp-y and, to me, only interesting for historic or nostalgic value. Most readers’ tastes will have evolved past most of these tales. The worst aren’t really even stories, in the sense of plot or characters, but have the quality of bad Twilight Zone episodes based entirely on a single “Wouldn’t it be weird” punchline.
Sorry to be negative, but I was genuinely disappointed with at least half of the collection. Even the stories listed as good examples in the editorial review are mostly trivial and now cliche. For escapist time travel yarns, you might try Heinlein’s “The Door Into Summer”, Willis’s “Doomsday Book” or “To Say Nothing Of The Dog”, or (what the heck) Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.
Rating: 2 / 5
Aug 11th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
This book does have some of the best time travel stories of all time. But the title is a lie. It does not have the best time travel stories of the 20th Century. Robert Heinlein’s “By His Bootstraps” would have to be included for it to truthfully claim such a lofty title.
Rating: 3 / 5
Aug 11th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
The stories in this volume are themselves great, and I’m admittedly biased because he very first story happens to be my favorite time travel story ever.
But the best part, in my opinion, are the wonderful introductions to each story, where teach author’s work, style, and contributions to the sci-fi genre are explained in caring and specific detail. I read the book for the stories, but I bought the book because of the intros, which offer a good set of suggestions for reading follow up, and gave me a really good justification for who I should by this, considering I had ready some of the stories before.
Rating: 5 / 5