Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1: 1939

Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #1

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), A.E. van Vogt

Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg selected their favorite SF stories from the "Golden Years" of Science Fiction (1939-1963) and published them in a 25 volume set (one book for each year), an anthology collection of the greatest science fiction stories of modern times.

Starting with the time-tested classics of 1939, Asimov brings you, year by year, those stories which have stood the test of time, which have become the masterworks on which others have built, and which will always remain jewels in the cabinet of science fiction. And of course Isaac Asimov himself, who, with collaborator Greenberg, introduces each story and tells what it meant in the rise of modern science fiction.
Contents:
* Introduction (The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) (1979) • essay by Martin H. Greenberg
* I, Robot [Adam Link] (1966) / short story by Otto Binder (variant of "I, Robot" 1939) [as by Eando Binder]
* The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton (1939) / short story by Robert Bloch
* Trouble with Water (1939) / short story by H. L. Gold
* Cloak of Aesir [Sarn] (1939) / novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Don A. Stuart]
* The Day Is Done (1939) / short story by Lester del Rey
* The Ultimate Catalyst (1939) / novelette by John Taine
* The Gnarly Man (1939) / novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
* Black Destroyer [Space Beagle] (1939) / novelette by A. E. van Vogt
* Greater Than Gods (1939) / novelette by C. L. Moore
* Trends (1939) / short story by Isaac Asimov
* The Blue Giraffe (1939) / novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
* The Misguided Halo (1939) / short story by Henry Kuttner
* Heavy Planet (1939) / short story by Milton A. Rothman
* Life-Line [Future History] (1939) / short story by Robert A. Heinlein
* Ether Breather [Ether Breather] (1939) / short story by Theodore Sturgeon
* Pilgrimage [Meg • 4] (1939) / novelette by Nelson S. Bond [as by Nelson Bond]
* Rust (1939) / short story by Joseph E. Kelleam
* The Four-Sided Triangle (1939) / novelette by William F. Temple (variant of The 4-Sided Triangle)
* Star Bright (1939) / novelette by Jack Williamson
* Misfit [Future History] (1939) / novelette by Robert A. Heinlein
.

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

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1979

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Ricardo Carrión Libros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una gran selección de relatos de ciencia ficción hecha por Asimov. Disfruté mucho cada uno de los relatos. Pero hay tres que me gustaron mucho:

El día ha muerto (Lester del rey)

Este cuento es denominado por Asimov como de ciencia ficción prehistórica. Trata la vida del último hombre de Neanderthal que, ya viejo, vive en medio de una sociedad predominante de hombres cromañon. De esta forma, el autor muestra la diferencia entre dos géneros homo. Mientras el Homo sapiens (Cromañon) evoluciona su pulgar y el habla, volviéndose mucho más diestro, el Homo neanderthal se ha quedado atrás en la vía evolutiva e incluso, su espíritu de lucha es menor, sus ganas de vivir también. Desde la perspectiva de este último Neanderthal, el autor reflexiona sobre la soledad y las ganas de vivir.


El hombre deforme (Sprague de Camp)

Al igual que el cuento anterior retoma la historia de los hombres de Neanderthal, pero en esta ocasión en el presente. Una extraña anomalía genética provoca que uno de estos seres viva por siempre y sea testigo de la historia del hombre.

Destructor negro (A. E. van Vogt)

Un relato fascinante y extenso donde la humanidad ya ha conquistado una gran parte de la galaxia y en una misión de exploración a un planeta desconocido se encuentran con una sociedad extinta, pero un ser monstruoso, una forma de vida inteligente, habita allí, y los desafía a un juego de inteligencia y de supervivencia.

[Williwaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I, Robot, by Eando Binder: good story about human fear of AI.

Strange Flight of Richard Clatyon, by Robert Bloch: excellent, deceptive story of "inner space" -- a story that was inevitable, but Bloch got to it first!

Trouble With Water, by H.L. Gold: very entertaining and humorous fable, but not sure it should be classified as "sf." Water gnomes who swim by ear-propulsion!

Cloak of Aesir, by Don Stuart (J.W. Campbell): hopelessly tedious and unreadable. Tried to stick with it for over two days and gave up!

The Day is Done, by Lester del Rey. A fine "prehistoric" tale about the last Neanderthal and his inability to fit in with a Cro-Magnon culture. I empathized with Hwoogh, the main character. This story has relevance for geezers like me: I realize that my own culture is fading and my sense of relevance is dwindling.

The Ultimate Catalyst, by John Taine. Taine was a brilliant mathematician who also wrote sf. This story is about a biochemist who uses his knowledge to help his daughter escape a brutal dictatorship. I'll try not to spoil it, but I will say it involves poison and fungus. This story is okay, but not "great," as the title of the book suggests.

The Gnarly Man, by L. Sprague de Camp. What if a Neanderthal were alive today? de Camp postulates that a Neanderthal was struck by lightning, which somehow altered his brain and made him immortal. He's been around for the last 40 thousand years or so, always finding some niche in which he can coexist with homo sapiens. When the story opens, he's working at a freak show on Coney Island. When an anthropologist discovers him, the fun begins! A clever and entertaining story which hinges on human greed.

The Black Destroyer, by A.E. Van Vogt. Supposedly, this story ushered the world into the "Golden Age" of sf. It was the cover story for the July, 1939 issue of Astounding SF. The central character is a ravenous cat-like being with tentacles called "Coeurl." Coeurl, the last of his kind, prowls the twilight of a dead planet bathed in the light of a dim red sun, light years from Earth. He seems to have eaten his last available meal when, as luck would have it, visitors from Earth plunge to the planetary surface in their ovoid ship. Although Coeurl plans to destroy and suck the marrow from the 100 or so humans on board, he craftily conceals his intent and manages to get invited inside. Little by little, after some mysterious deaths, the Earthlings begin to catch on. Against seemingly insurmountable odds (for Coeurl is a very powerful being, indeed), the Earthlings finally outsmart and overcome Coeurl. With this story, Van Vogt created the paradigm for many an episode of Star Trek!!! I learned from watching a youtube video, that Marvel Comics adapted this story in Worlds Unknown #5 (1973). You can see it here: Pulp Crazy The comic book looks great, so I ordered a copy!

Van Vogt's writing is fluid and engaging. I am not sure why this story had such a powerful impact when it was first published, but I think it was partly the quality of Van Vogt's writing, and partly the fact that the point of view is primarily Coeurl's. Van Vogt really gets us inside the alien's mind, and Coeurl's perspective is unmediated by human judgment.

Greater Than the Gods, by C.L. Moore. A poetic and dreamy story about making an important decision (choosing a mate) in the face of influences from the future. Suggests that there are multiple realities.

Trends, by Asimov. The public has turned against science in the world of the future (1970's). A man struggles to privately finance and build a rocket to the moon in a climate of extreme resistance.

The Blue Giraffe, by L. Sprague de Camp. A great yarn about a wildlife reserve in South Africa, where some extreme mutations are taking place. The narrator tells his story in order to explain to his son why he was adopted. An engaging and entertaining tale.

The Misguided Halo, by Henry Kuttner. This is more of a fantasy yarn than a sf tale. A goofy premise (what if someone woke up with a halo?) with lots of slapstick action. Great fun from the pages of Unknown (Astounding SF's companion fantasy magazine).

Heavy Planet, by Milton Rothman. In this story, a ship from earth has crashed on a massive planet inhabited by E.T.'s One of the E.T.'s discovers the ship and investigates. All the humans on board have been reduced to a pulp by the planet's intense gravitational field. There are two factions of E.T.'s battling for supremacy. The earth ship has some technology which will give one faction the upper hand. Nothing too "heavy" here, but it's an entertaining, fast-paced tale.

Life-Line, by Robert A. Heinlein. Pinero, the central character, has developed a device which can predict the exact time of a person's death. He quickly becomes the target of an assassination plot by the insurance industry. This was, I believe, Heinlein's first-published story. Quite impressive!

Ether Breather, by Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon imagines a future when television has been developed and is widely used commercially (remember, this was written in 1939!). Color is the new thing, and one broadcaster has begun the first color transmissions. Trouble ensues, in the form of beings who live in the "ether," at a high frequency. It turns out that they are practical jokers who decide to interfere with the broadcasts. The central characters are a screenplay writer and a perfume company executive, who investigate some unexpected alterations in the presentation of their products. A clever, amusing, light-hearted story.

Pilgrimage, by Nelson Bond. Rod Serling must have found inspiration for the ending of "Planet of the Apes" in this one. A well-known landmark appears in a post-apocalyptic world. It's not the Statue of Liberty, though. Good story!

Rust · Joseph E. Kelleam · ss Astounding Oct ’39. This is so Spielbergian that I'm convinced he must have read it. Three aging robots slowly succumb to rickety joints (and ultimately, death) in the twilight of a post-human world. Truly poignant!

363 · The Four-Sided Triangle · William F. Temple · nv Amazing Nov ’39. Wow! What a great story! Apparently, this one inspired a film which I'd like to track down. The "triangle" is a love triangle. Two scientists love the same woman, but she can only marry one of them. So the "loser" builds his own replica of the woman, with tragic results. Great twist ending, too!

385 · Star Bright · Jack Williamson. This story was published in Argosy, a popular pulp magazine which did not specialize in any particular genre. Average bookkeeper with average family has an encounter with a meteor. A piece lodges in his brain and bestows the gift of creation by fiat. Among other things, he creates counterfeit money just by visualizing it. Trouble ensues. An excellent, modern-day fairy tale.

Misfit, by Robert A. Heinlein. This is the only "realistic" piece in the whole book. While other stories in this book are arguably "hard sf," this is the hardest of the lot. A troubled young man joins a space corps which is involved in transforming an asteroid into a space station. Heinlein packs this with convincing details which convey a sense of wonder about the human conquest of space. There's not much to this story except for the technology, but somehow it manages to be perfectly enjoyable despite a total absence of character development and lack of plot.

My favorite stories were (not in ranked order): "Strange Flight of Richard Clayton," "Black Destroyer," "Rust," and "Four Sided Triangle." Every story was interesting in some way, except for "Cloak of Aesir," which I found unreadable.

On to Volume II!!

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first in the series of short SFF prose collections, which were printed out in 1979-1992 formally (as the full title suggests) under Isaac Asimov as an editor. Each of 25 volumes covered one year and they are a great way to go deep into the period’s SF. I’ve started reading the series, after out group, ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes started reading chronologically Hugo (and later Nebula)-nominated short stories and I decided to read more from the 40s and 50s SF.

Contents:
Introduction (The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) ) (1979) essay by Martin H. Greenberg
I, Robot [Adam Link](1963)short story by Otto Binder (variant of "I, Robot" 1939) [as by Eando Binder] - a great story from POV of the first sentient self-aware robot. his creator dies in an accident, the robot is accused of murder, hunted down 5*
The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton (1939) short story by Robert Bloch - a man in the first solo flight to Mars, his ship is a small closed space, he cannot see what's going on outside, his clocks are broken, he has nightmares his ship stayed on Earth, he aged due to his fear. Reminded me a bit of the debut episode of Twilight Zone. 3*
Trouble with Water (1939) short story by H. L. Gold - a humorous story, a man goes fishing, and meets a water gnome, who curses him - all water evades the man... he has to shift to beer not to die from thrist, his wife asks him to go on, for their business is the only one in the city w/o rain, etc. 3.25*
Cloak of Aesir [Sarn] (1939) novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Don A. Stuart] - the idea is interesting alien matriarchial Sarn invaded and occupied Earth millennia ago. The are ruled by 'mothers' and the supreme ruler is the only one who recalls the original invasion (which happened in 1977). She has to fight the aspirations of her daughters to replace her and a new genius man, who has a cloak impenetrable by any weapon. 2.5*
The Day Is Done (1939) short story by Lester del Rey - last days of last Neanderthal living close to Cromangons, "talkers", who hunted down all game... their chief likes the man, but children abuse him... a solid sad story. 4*
The Ultimate Catalyst (1939) novelette by John Taine - a group with a dictator hides in the Amazon jungle, live in an abandoned gold mine. There is a biologist and his daughter and the biologist says that he created ba meat fruit, for locally no meat is available and the guerrillas want meat. The biologist has his own motives. 3*
The Gnarly Man (1939) novelette by L. Sprague de Camp - the last Neanderthal man discovered in the 20th century NY working in a circus. According to him, after a freak accident, he stopped aging. Scientists want to study him and here the age of the story shows a surgeon plants to operate to study his brain and as the man protests, the surgeon tells: “This isn’t kidnaping. You can only kidnap a person, you know. He isn’t a human being, and I can prove it.” Finally, he disappears 4*
Black Destroyer [Space Beagle] (1939) novelette by A. E. van Vogt - a human ship finds remnants of an alien civilization and a "Pussy" - a local (?) large feline with tentacles from its shoulders. Part of the story goes from the POV of Pussy, who plans to kill humans and hijack the ship. I highly suspect that it was an inspiration for later Berserker series by Fred Saberhagen 3*
Greater Than Gods (1939) novelette by C. L. Moore - a scientist in the 23rd century finally finds a way to determine (and set?) a child's sex before birth. He also plans to marry, but is unsure with whom. So he watches two possible futures, connecting to a women-dominated world of his great-many-times-daughter (no tech, no war, psychic powers) and his great-many-times-son (totalitarian multi-world empire, up to currently trending "Roman salute") - which future will he choose? 3.5*
Trends (1939) short story by Isaac Asimov - a private entrepreneur tries to launch the first rocket to the Moon in 1973, but religious fanatics try to stop him. The idea of a cyclical history (there is even WW2 started in 1940) as a seed to his psychohistory? 3*
The Blue Giraffe (1939) novelette by L. Sprague de Camp - the weakest of his stories so far, more in line with pulp era than Campellian SF. A boy finds out that he was adopted and his dad tells the story of a protected habitat in Africa, where suddenly mutants started to appear. 3*
The Misguided Halo (1939) short story by Henry Kuttner - a young angel by error gives a saint halo to a man in Tibet, USA. The first story where a joke made me burst with laughter. 4*
Heavy Planet (1939) short story by Milton A. Rothman - a story playing with properties of materials at high powers. A rocket (from Earth?) fell on a hi-gravity water world, from POV of a local inhabitant. it is interesting in the sense that the person can make steel flow with bare hands but overall a bit boring. 3*
Life-Line [Future History] (1939) short story by Robert A. Heinlein - read it recently elsewhere. 3.5*
Ether Breather [Ether Breather] (1939) short story by Theodore Sturgeon - a color TV is introduced, but it shows not what was scribed a sentient wave-form intervened to have fun 3.5*
Pilgrimage [Meg 4] (1939) novelette by Nelson S. Bond - a post-apoc primitive world, ruled by women, where weak men are only for procreation. the protagonist is a girl/woman (it starts when she's 12, but in the main story is about 17) who wants to become a tribe mother (a kind of leader/historian) and goes on an initiation quest there meets a man (instead of man-thing as locals are known), who tells her that old gods where men (blasphemy!) and she sees their faces = Mt. Rushmore. The idea from Planet of the Apes but earlier 3.25*
Rust (1939) short story by Joseph E. Kelleam - last of killer robots die out. They were created to "kill men in yellow uniform" but it was shortened to "kill men", so post-humanity story. 3*
The Four-Sided Triangle (1939) novelette by William F. Temple (variant of The 4-Sided Triangle) - starts with three: an inventor, a millionaire and a girl (yes, a bit sexist). They produce what we now call 3D-printer and the millionaire informs the inventor that he marries the girl. The inventor loves the girl and invents how to create a living copy then asks them to allow to copy her The copy is too precise, with all memories = in love with the millionaire 3*
Star Bright (1939) novelette by Jack Williamson - a head of family with money problems (for his wife and son don't live by their means), suddenly receives a 'magic' ability after wishing on a falling star to create items if he can imagine them in detail. Sometimes items have only surface similarity. it turns into a SF a meteorite stuck in his head 3.5*
Misfit [Future History] (1939) novelette by Robert A. Heinlein - a group of juvenile delinquents and other misfits are sent to build a space station from an asteroid. One of them has a bunch of talents like instant calculation, which helps them when machines fail. 3*

A great collection!

[Davit · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. I, Robot by Otto Binder - 5/5 ⭐⭐️
2. The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton by Robert Bloch - 3/5
3. Trouble with Water by H. L. Gold - 4/5 ⭐️
4. Cloak of Aesir by John W. Campbell, Jr. - 1/5
5. The Day Is Done by Lester del Rey - 3/5
6. The Ultimate Catalyst by John Taine - 2/5
7. The Gnarly Man by L. Sprague de Camp - 3/5
8. Black Destroyer [Space Beagle] by A. E. van Vogt - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️
9. Greater Than Gods by C. L. Moore - 1/5
10. Trends by Isaac Asimov - 2/5
11. The Blue Giraffe by L. Sprague de Camp - 4/5 ⭐️
12. The Misguided Halo by Henry Kuttner - 2/5
13. Heavy Planet by Milton A. Rothman - 3/5
14. Life-Line [Future History] by Robert A. Heinlein - 4/5 ⭐️
15. Ether Breather by Theodore Sturgeon - 3/5
16. Pilgrimage by Nelson S. Bond - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️
17. Rust by Joseph E. Kelleam - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️
18. The Four-Sided Triangle by William F. Temple - 4/5 ⭐️
19. Star Bright (1939) / novelette by Jack Williamson - 1/5
20. Misfit by Robert A. Heinlein - 3/5

[⚔️Kelanth⚔️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Le grandi storie della fantascienza 1", titolo originale "Isaac Asimov Presents: the Great SF Stories 1 (1939)", è il primo volume dell'antologia di racconti di fantascienza Le grandi storie della fantascienza raccolti e commentati da Isaac Asimov e Martin H. Greenberg per far conoscere maggiormente i racconti della Golden Age (Età d'oro) della fantascienza, che va dal 1939 al 1963. Le 25 raccolte furono pubblicate in origine dal 1979 al 1992, alla cadenza di due volumi l'anno.
Gli ultimi due volumi vennero in realtà curati da Martin H. Greenberg assieme a Robert Silverberg (le condizioni di salute di Asimov andavano peggiorando e lo condussero alla morte nel 1992). Le antologie sono state edite in italiano da diverse case editrici. Dal momento che non fu raggiunto un accordo sulla loro pubblicazione, i testi dei racconti di Robert A. Heinlein presenti nelle raccolte originali non furono pubblicati in italiano, con l'eccezione del primo volume (di tutte le edizioni) e dei primi tre volumi della ristampa Bompiani, che li riportano.

In questo primo volume, che riguarda l'anno 1939, troviamo la raccolta dei seguenti racconti, a fianco ho messo per ognuno la mia valutazione sul racconto:

Io, Robot 4/5
Lo strano volo di Richard Clayton - 4/5
Problemi con l'acqua di H. L. Gold - 3/5
Il mantello di Aesir di Don A. Stuart - 1/5
Il giorno è compiuto di Lester del Rey - 3/5
Il catalizzatore finale di John Taine - 2/5
L'uomo nodoso di L. Sprague de Camp - 3/5
Il distruttore nero di A. E. van Vogt - 3/5
Più grande degli dei di C. L. Moore - 2/5
Oscillazioni di Isaac Asimov - 3/5
La giraffa blu di L. Sprague de Camp - 2/5
L'aureola fuorviata di Henry Kuttner - 1/5
Pianeta pesante di Milton A. Rothman - 4/5
La linea della vita di Robert A. Heinlein - 1/5
Creature eteree di Theodore Sturgeon - 1/5
Pellegrinaggio di Nelson Bond - 2/5
Ruggine di Joseph E. Kelleam - 4/5
Il triangolo quadrilatero di William F. Temple - 1/5
Stella che brilli lassù di Jack Williamson - 2/5
Disadattato di Robert A. Heinlein - 3/5

Se devo invece dare una considerazione finale su tutti i racconti devo scrivere che alcuni sono buoni, nessuno mi ha fatto rimanere con il fiato sospeso e altri, purtroppo la maggior parte, li ho trovati davvero pessimi e nel complesso questo primo volume mi ha lasciato piuttosto perplesso.

In questa raccolta di racconti si vedono molti aspetti della fantascienza. Forse troppi, tutti mescolati insieme. Dalle intelligenze artificiali, alle realtà post-apocalittiche, ad assurde situazioni e poi ancora grandi invenzioni e scoperte, avventure nello spazio, creature di altri mondi... il problema di fondo è che nel 1939 tutto ciò poteva creare quel "sense of wonder" che era tipico per racconti che si affacciavano per la prima volta nelle librerie americane, adesso nel 2017 per lo più fanno sorridere; sebbene sia importante rileggere questa fantascienza pioneristica, ciò non toglie che lo si fa con una punta di noia.

Una lettura che non può mancare agli appassionati, agli altri, tutto sommato, sì.

[stranger · Rating 4 out of 5]

dunque è la prima volta che leggo un libro di fantascienza e devo dire che questa raccolta di libri scelti da asimov è molto variegata e mi è piaciuta molto ma non tutta
io robot (4/5) spero di leggere il libro di asimov ma queste 20 pagine mi sono piaciute molto
lo strano volo di richard clayton ( 3/5) bello, era abbastanza comico e faceva ridere
problemi con l'acqua ( 4/5) bella morale in fondo, la gentilezza viene ripagata ed anche comica
il mantello di aesir ( 1/5) boh, non mi ha dato nulla, abbastanza noiosa e lenta
il giorno è compiuto (2/5) anche questa un po' noiosa ma è accettabile
il catalizzatore finale (4/5) la comicità e la vendetta >>>
l'uomo nodoso (4/5) bella morale della libertà e della popolarità, libero arbitrio, non ho molto capito quanto fosse vera la storia ma nel dubbio direi ricordi di reincarnazioni passate
il distruttore nero (2/5) storia non noiosa ma non mi è piaciuta granché
più grande degli dei (3/5) sapere il proprio futuro in anticipo e prendere la scelta con un futuro migliore.
oscillazioni (5/5) bella morale anche qui, mi è piaciuta la determinazione del protagonista, molto scorrevole ma molto corta
la giraffa blu (5/5) questa esilarante, storia di un periodo molto comico in africa tra gli animali e gli indigeni con forme particolari ( fa riflettere sulle radiazioni purtroppo ma comunque a leggerlo fa ridere)
l'aureola fuorviata( 4/5) racconto molto divertente sul giusto e sul peccato
pianeta pesante(2/5 ) non mi è piaciuto molto, non mi ispirano molto i racconti di questo tipo in cui ci sono combattimenti
la linea della vita( 3/5) bello ma non ci ho capito molto, lo stile era scorrevole e nel complesso una storia abbastanza semplice ma assurda
creature eteree(4/5) : nonostante molto corto questo racconto ha fatto ridere un po', molto carina la possibilità di una forma di vita nell'elettronica
pellegrinaggio: (2/5) storia carina ma non mi è piaciuto lo stile di scrittura:)
ruggine (2/5) abbastanza bello
il triangolo quadrilatero (4/5) una storia con una scoperta scientifica molto particolare, devo dire abbastanza triste il finale anche se dovrebbe essere felice ma in generale è stata una morale sul sentimento e clonazione
stella che brilli lassù (4/5) anche questa storia molto bella, mi è piaciuta molto il desiderio di volere qualcosa e poi la possibilità di eliminare e poi integrarlo nella sua vita
disadattato (3/5)

[Rowan Lister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this feels like Asimov handing you a drink and telling you it is a whiskey, neat. You take a sip and it’s actually a whiskey sour. Not at all what I was expecting, very pleasantly surprised.

There aren’t just SF stories stories in here. There are onion skin pages peeling away from crumbling glue that have some great fantasy and historical fiction. There were so many nuggets of gold in this disintegrating paperback. Highlights were:

Trouble With Water - H. L. Gold
The Four-sided Triangle - William F. Temple
The Gnarly Man - L. Sprague de Camp
I Robot - Eando Binder
Rust - Joseph E. Kelleam
The Day is Done - Lester Del Rey

That being said, there is some junk to pick through, so if you do pick this fossil up, don’t be afraid to skip.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are Asimov's and Greenberg's choices as the best of 1939, which they defined as the first year of the golden age of science fiction. It's hard to argue with any of their choices, and I think it's good that they picked a few stories that were a little more obscure than the obvious, famous, often-anthologized choices. My favorites in this book are the Van Vogt, both of the De Camps, and the C.L. Moore. Good historical stuff here!

[Wekoslav Stefanovski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I blame myself for not picking up this collection sooner. I'm a huge fan of the Golden Age and this collection contains most of the stories that triggered it. A must read.

[Jim Syler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t actually read this edition; I read it as part of a combined volume: Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction: 36 Stories and Novellas. But there wasn’t enough space in my review there for all my comments on the individual stories, so I’m posting them here. Refer to my review of that book for my thoughts on the book as a whole.

Below is a short description and review/discussion of every included story, as well as some random thoughts I had while reading. This is as much for my reference as it is for the benefit of prospective readers of this book (I wish there was a Goodreads for short stories!). I did not include star ratings for the stories. I can, if anyone would find that helpful.


“I, Robot,” by Eando Binder: Holy crap, that’s a wonderful story. No wonder Asimov was inspired by it to write “Robbie.” I can’t believe I’ve never read it before. I’m not saying it’s among the best ever, but it’s quite good: thoughtful, insightful, surprising, and with a minimum of scientific error. No, computers will not develop drives and emotions without being programmed to do so, but the story specifically claims otherwise, so fine. It’s told from the point of view of Adam Link, an intelligent, feeling robot who is considered a monster by the public.

“The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton,” by Robert Bloch, is about a man trapped in a spaceship traveling to Mars with a broken instrument panel and no way to communicate. It’s cute, maybe, but completely implausible, and I found it ridiculous. Asimov says that it was better than “Marooned Off Vesta.” I deeply disagree. Apparently people in the 1930’s didn’t believe in testing machines before trusting their lives to them. At least that’s what you’d glean from much science fiction from the era.

“Trouble with Water,” by H. L. Gold: I’m not sure how this story made it into this collection. It’s pure fantasy, not science fiction, and not very good at that, especially in the actual writing. It’s about a man who angers a water gnome and receives a curse that water will not touch him. Even within the conceit of the story, I thought that the way it was handled was silly.  

“Cloak of Aesir” by Don A. Stewart (a.k.a. John Campbell) is surprisingly good. Surprisingly because it starts out very oddly and obtusely, with a strange and obscure writing style. And yet, if you stick with it, it begins to clarify; the obscure is made clear, the obtuse is explained, and the seemingly irrelevant becomes worthwhile. I don’t know if I would say that Campbell is a truly brilliant writer, but perhaps he could have been. “Cloak of Aesir” is at root a novella of resistance to occupation and oppression involving a Cloak with wondrous powers, but there is much more to the story than that. Asimov is right to say of Campbell, “There was no way in which we could have given up the Editor and yet now and then we mourn the Writer and what we might have had.”

“The Day is Done,” by Lester del Rey: What a wonderful story, about an aging Neanderthal who is perhaps the last of his breed. As Greenberg’s preface says, is very hard to do good prehistoric science fiction, and del Rey does it masterfully. A wonderful illustration of the fact that science fiction doesn’t have to be space ships or laser guns; Anthropology is a science too.

“The Ultimate Catalyst,” by John Taine: This is a silly story about a biologist and his daughter who are “guests” of a trapped/exiled dictator. It’s sad that it’s silly, because the actual writing—the scripting—is pretty good. I was liking the story until I figured out what was going on. It’s like he plugged a bunch of unnecessary science into the plot, when much simpler methods would have done. I would really have much preferred a sociological story exploring why and how the world came to reject dictatorship.

Sprague de Camp, unsurprisingly, lives up to his reputation. “The Gnarly Man,” about a Neanderthal who lived to modern times, is an excellent story. Not superb, but interesting and well worth reading.

“Black Destroyer,” by A. E. van Vogt: Wow what a good story, about an alien predator on a dying world. Excellent. The idea of a predator that cunning, that able…chilling. The ending isn’t top-notch, but the rest of the story is. And this was his first published story! I should read some more van Vogt.

“Trends” is quite an insightful story from a 19-year-old Asimov. The writing quality isn’t quite up to his later work, of course, but the ideas are. A story of a spaceship launch attempt in a world consumed by religionism and anti-science fervor (which apparently was a new thing in science fiction, though Asimov eschews credit for the novelty because he got the idea from elsewhere), the phrase in the story that the title is drawn from is poignant: “Trends are things of centuries and millenniums, not years or decades. For five hundred years we have been moving toward science. You can’t reverse that in thirty years.”

“The Blue Giraffe”: Fascinating. Surprisingly good, for a story with what seems to be a silly premise, namely the discovery of blue giraffes and other impossible creatures in an African preserve. Or perhaps not so surprisingly, given that the author is L. Sprague de Camp. This story is not only scientifically plausible and gripping, but has an excellent and unexpected ending. (Mind you, I foresaw the problem, but the way it was resolved surprised me.)
Favorite quote: “He made a resolve never to speak harshly to anybody he couldn’t see.”

“The Misguided Halo,” by Henry Kuttner: A silly and pointless fantasy about a man who is mistakenly made a saint. I don’t mind fantasy, but I don’t like pointless fantasy, and anyway this is supposed to be a science fiction collection.

“Heavy Planet,” by Milton A. Rothman: I don’t understand. Is this an excerpt? It’s not bad, but it feels like a chapter of a larger work. It’s a pretty good hard SF story about life on a very large planet with intense gravity, but it ends too abruptly and leaves far too many questions unanswered.

“Life-Line,” by Robert A. Heinlein (not actually reprinted in this volume; I read it in Expanded Universe): I’ve read this story several times before, although in a slightly different edit. It is, of course, pretty good. Not as good as some of Heinlein’s later stuff, but a fine first story, about a man who can predict when you’ll die through scientific means. All I’ve got to say is, in answer to the implied question at the end of the story: Hell yes I’d want to know when I’m going to die. I’m not sure that was always my answer, but it certainly is now. I’ve got plans to make.
  I have another comment, though, regarding this quote from Greenberg’s preface to the story: “Although [Heinlein’s] political and social views have generated much controversy in the last twenty years, his emphasis on order, individualism, and discipline aroused little comment early in his career, with America in a struggle against an illegal, disorderly, and undisciplined fascism.” I’m sorry, what? Am I missing something? How was fascism/Nazism any of those things?

“Ether Breather” is an interesting story by Theodore Sturgeon about incomprehensible beings who mess up a new kind of television broadcast. It’s a bit dissatisfying—nothing’s really explained—but a fascinating concept.

“Pilgrimage,” by Nelson Bond: Wonderful! An engrossing story about a matriarchal culture and a girl who wants to be a priestess, but has some surprising things to learn. Very enjoyable and well done. The only problem is the implausible breeding arrangements, but that’s a pet peeve of mine.

“Rust,” by Joseph E. Kelleam is a somewhat oversimplistic story. It’s a pathetic (in the literal sense) tale about killer robots who have destroyed humanity and are now dying out themselves.

“The Four-Sided Triangle,” by William F. Temple has promise, but that promise is not fulfilled. Three people—two men and a woman—invent a perfect duplicator. Great! But the author does not then go on to show us the possible consequences of such a device, as it is put to relatively mundane purposes. Then they decide to duplicate the woman, as both of the men are in love with her. She consents to this, but as it turns out, she only loved one of them. Heartbreak and tragedy ensue. But the story only skims over the interesting issues, and instead focuses on contrived dilemmas that really shouldn’t be dilemmas. It’s sad. Apparently there was a book and film based on the story, but although the premise is interesting enough, unless the ideas are greatly expanded, I don’t think I’d like to see them.
  However, “The Four-Sided Triangle” does semi-accurately portray the trials and frustrations involved in the scientific process, which is a surprisingly rare thing in science fiction.

“Star Bright” starts with a fascinating premise—what if wishing on a star actually worked, at least once?—and turned it into something rather silly and disappointing, especially from Jack Williamson. There’s no real moral here, no upshot, no point. It’s not even really science fiction, because although the mechanism for his abilities is (somewhat) explained, how he got them is not.

“Misfit,” (not actually reprinted in this volume; I read it in The Past Through Tomorrow) about a young man who joins the “Cosmic Construction Corps” and is discovered to have extraordinary abilities, is great. Of course it is; it’s Heinlein. That doesn’t mean that Heinlein stories are axiomatically good, but he seems to grasp the concept of story, of narrative, far better than most of his compatriots. His stories have dramatic tension, they make sense, they are entertaining, and they have moral lessons buried in them. These moral lessons aren’t blatant, or preachy (the few stories where he attempts this fall flat); they’re just implied statements of value, which, whether you agree or disagree with them, enhance the enjoyability of the story as you subconsciously evaluate those moral lessons. Perhaps most importantly, the science-fictional elements of the story, while certainly present, are not the point. The point is the people, and the story. “Life-Line” was largely about the “gimmick,” the science-fictional element, and therefore was not as good as most of his later stories. Don’t get me wrong—I love stories that explore the consequences of a given development or idea. But even when Heinlein does that, he focuses on the people and the story, and drags us along in fascination.

[Spartaco Baldelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo è stato il mio primo libro di fantascienza quando avevo 12 anni e da allora l'ho riletto almeno 5/6 volte (un record per me). Sono storie ormai antiche e polverose, ma anche senza tempo, corredate dalle introduzioni sempre brillanti di Isaac Asimov.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. Una de las muchas recopilaciones de varios autores clásicos que hizo Asimov.
Leed, leed los autores de los relatos...que no te aburres leyendo a estos clásicos, vamos.

[Marko]

I have the german edition

[Francesco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellissima varietà di racconti

[Stephen Burridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extra star for historical interest. Some of the stories are much better than others. (A reread for me— bought the book when it was new many years ago.)

[Damiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Media finale: 3.63/5 stelle

[Alessandro Airola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una delle migliori antologie per livello medio di racconti

[Mmonchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro muestra la ciencia ficción cuando estaba naciendo, por lo que el valor de los relatos no solo recae en sí mismos sino en el contexto. Hablan de temas de los que no se había hablado antes, exploran nuevas historias, nuevas formas de contarlas, crean un género. Pero además son buenos relatos, la labor de los recopiladores ha permitido seleccionar lo mejor de la época y eso hace que el libro se lea de un tirón.

[CasualDebris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my full review and reviews of each individual story, please visit Casual Debris.

What a great concept that a series of anthologies would be printed with the aim of capturing the greatest science fiction stories of each year, beginning with the golden age of science fiction in 1939, and concluding a quarter century later with the year 1963 (anthology #25 published in 1992). (An additional volume for 1964 would be produced in 2001, edited by Greenberg and Robert Silverberg.) What a wonderful concept to store the best remembered early works for future readers to enjoy, so that they need not scour old, tattered rags, or peruse volumes of stories online, and risk losing the good ones forever.

It is just too bad the anthology is such an awful mess.

Granted, we have some fine stories in here that are worth reading both for their enjoyment and for a better understanding of the evolution of the genre and for our vision of the future as it was in 1939. What is unfortunate are the subjective selections by Asimov, who seems to have felt the need to include underwhelming stories by those who helped shape his career in those early days. Yet even worse than his sentimentality is the lack of effort that went into verifying the stories. As a consequence, a story first published ten years after this golden year is included, with Nelson Bond's "Pilgrimage" (1949). In his introduction to the story, Asimov asserts that it is "Pilgrimage" that was published in Amazing Stories in October 1939, when it was not even published in a pulp (first appearing in Bond's second collection, The Thirty-First of February (Gnome Press) in 1949). Asimov goes on to mis-represent "Pilgrimage" as the first story of the rebellious priestess Meg series, when it is in fact the last. He likely hadn't read the series, or had little recollection of it, considering how "Pilgrimage" ends the adventures of Meg so conclusively. I haven't read the series either, yet the tone of finality in this story clashed with Asimov's description and sent me off to do some research, and in no time I discovered the error. I simply located the October 1939 issue of Amazing Stories online and, lo and behold, the Bond story that was included there was the first story of the Meg series, titled "The Priestess Who Rebelled." In short, according to Asimov (and by association, Greenberg), one of the best stories of 1939 was first published in 1949.

If an updated series of the best of these early stories were to be published, with more objective editors, I would invest in the set.

Asimov's inclusion of both editors H. L. Gold and John W. Campbell are mostly sentimental, as these are influential editors who had great impact on Asimov's career, and yet the stories included are weak compared to the rest of the content, particularly Gold's which is entirely forgettable. Gold certainly was an influential editor in his day, but never made much impact as a writer.

Most of the stories selected for inclusion in the anthology first appeared in Astounding, the forerunner in publishing science fiction stories at the time. The July and August issues each feature three stories in this collection, of a total of twenty stories, therefore making up almost a third of the volume.

Yet despite the frustrations wrought by Asimov's sloppy editing, I do continue to enjoy his anecdotes on the authors in his brief intros to the stories. Beside the wreck that is the intro to the Nelson S. Bond story, however, are a couple of other odd statements, which I will mention below.

And on a final (for now) note, I was surprised yet impressed at the number of solid stories published in 1939 that hold up well today and will likely do so in 2039. "I, Robot," "Strange Flight of Richard Clayton," "Day Is Done," "Rust" and "Four-Sided Triangle" are all excellent.

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer volumen de una esmeradísima selección en la que ASIMOV presenta cronológicamente los relatos que marcaron la evolución del género. Parece como si a ASIMOV le hubiese dado un ataque de nostalgia y hubiese querido hacer una version de “Los premios Hugo” antes de que estos existiesen. Las razones no importan, por que el resultado es una de las colecciones mas deliciosas de cuentos de la era "pulp". Pequeñas maravillas, un tanto ingenuas y acartonadas, pero llenas del encanto de las cosas antiguas, de cuando la SF era un territorio virgen y todo era posible. En fin, un vistazo a una epoca tan irrepetible como fascinante. Los catorce relatos, de los mejores escritores del momento, fueron publicados originalmente durante los años 1939 y 1940 (comento brevemente lo que más me gustaron):

-El Día Ha Muerto (The Day Is Done, 1939), Lester del REY: éste, y el que sigue, no son en absoluto ciencia ficción, sino más bien "antropología especulativa"; en este relato, el autor imagina la probable convivencia entre un neanderthal, uno de los últimos de su especie, y los recién llegados homo. Un relato que a mí me parece conmovedor.

-El Hombre Deforme (The Gnarly Man, 1939), L. Sprague de CAMP: ¡divertidísimo cuento que propone a un neanderthal viviendo entre nosotros! El individuo en cuestión es inmortal debido a un rayo que lo alcanzó en su lejana juventud...

-Destructor Negro (Black Destroyer, 1939), A.E. Van VOGT: ¡Ah! excelente, excelentísima narración de un depredador muerto de hambre, pues ya ha arrasado con todas sus presas.

-El Halo Equivocado (The Misguided Halo, 1939), Henry KUTTNER: no recuerdo por qué, pero un día se aparece una aureola de ángel sobre la cabeza equivocada.

-Respirador de Éter (Ether Breather, 1939), Theodore STURGEON

-Peregrinación (Pilgrinage, 1939), Nelson BOND

-Oh, Estrella Brillante (Star Bright, 1939), Jack WILLIAMSON: un micrometeorito se incrusta en la cabeza de un buen hombre, y le confiere habilidades muy especiales...

-Inadaptado (Misfit, 1939), Robert A. HEINLEIN

-La Pistola Automática (The Automatic Pistol, 1940), Fritz LEIBER

-Franqueo Pagado al Paraíso (Postpaid to Paradise, 1940), Robert ARTHUR: otro cuento brillante, timbres postales de un lugar misterioso, mágicamente atractivo...

-It (Ello) (It, 1940), Theodore STURGEON: No confundir esta historia de terror con la clásica novela de Stephen KING , pero esta no es menos terrorífica; una planta maligna crece sobre el esqueleto de un malvado, y le da nueva vida.

-La Carretera Imposible (The Impossible Highway, 1940), Oscar J. FRIEND: uno de los mejores cuentos de este tomo, en un tiempo indeterminado, un profesor y su ayudante van caminando por una carretera desierta, que resulta ser un museo de la vida...

-Butilo y el Respirador (Butyl and the Breather, 1940), Theodore STURGEON

-Su Eminencia (The Exalted, 1940), L. Sprague de CAMP

[Matteo Pellegrini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo primo volume della collana abbraccia un anno particolarmente difficile per il mondo intero, il 1939, e raccoglie 20 storie i cui autori hanno saputo trasformare la fantascienza da facile romanzetto d'azione in un genere di letteratura che merita rispetto e ha ottenuto un proprio spazio stabile nel tempo. Questi primi venti racconti condurranno il lettore attraverso lo specchio della fantasia dove mondi rovesciati paiono reali, altrettanto credibili e, talvolta, più desiderabili di quello che, nel nostro banale pragmatismo, riteniamo l'unico vero. Una dimostrazione inequivocabile che fantascienza non è tanto esplorazione di altri pianeti, viaggi interstellari, microminiaturizzazione, energia nucleare, robot più o meno umanizzati, quanto la facoltà di trasportare questi elementi, e ogni altro concepibile da una mente umana, in contesti che consentano a chi legge una partecipazione diretta ai fatti, siano essi angosciosi come incubi o puramente fantastici.

[Francis Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series started with short SF stories from 1939 by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It lasted 24 years until Asimov sadly dies. They did one more year with Robert Silverberg replacing Asimov. But it did not continue. Much to my and my brother's chagrin. Easily the best "Best of" yearly SF short collections during its run (and possible after). They both had a great eye for a good SF story. Almost never a clunker. Highly recommended. I collected all via 2nd hand book stores during the 80s & 90s.* I don't know if they even exist anymore. Maybe they survive digitally? The publisher was DAW (Donald A. Wollheim) if they still exist. I'm out of the loop. I rarely read books released this millenium as there are so many from the previous 4 millenia to catch up with.
* book 25 my brother and I combined out finances to buy it as it was an astronomically priced book. For a paperback that wasn't a uni text book.

[Jesús · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desde la presentación que hace Asimov a los años que componen este libro hasta la selección de autores y cuentos es todo una maravilla.

Los 14 cuentos son muy buenos, es difícil elegir algunos favoritos, pero El día ha muerto de Lester del Rey, el terror de It de Theodore Sturgeon, el humor de El halo equivocado de Henry Kuttner y el alien de Destructor negro después robado para hacer unas películas ;) son de los mejores.


Venía leyendo la colección de Bruguera y me estaba cansando un poco, ya que la selección era de una franja de años bastante reducida, siempre rondaba finales de los 70s... y a decir verdad, no todos era muy bueno. Por eso decidí emepezar esta selección de cuentos, separadas por años. No me arrepiento de nada.

[George Donigian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice anthology of sci fi stories from 1939. Some feel a bit dated, others prescient. Martin Greenberg offers detailed introductions while Asimov offers personal connections with the authors or stories. A most enjoyable collection.

[bluetyson]

Isaac Asimov Presents Great Science Fiction Stories of 1939 (1979)

[Atticus06]

Lo strano mondo di Richard Clayton di Robert Bloch ***

Il giorno è compiuto di Lester Del Rey *****

L'uomo nodoso di L. Sprague de Camp ***

[Simone Scardapane]

Non mi ero reso conto che si trattava esattamente della stessa raccolta già ristampata da Urania Collezione. Rileggerlo mi farà comunque piacere.

[Carlo Mayer]

Finiti

[Adolfo_mh · Rating 4 out of 5]

excelentes relatos cortos.

[Dieghe]

Jack Williamson