A Window on the Universe

Oxford Bookworms Collection

by Jennifer Bassett

What does the future hold in store for the human race? Aliens from distant galaxies, telepathic horror, interstellar war, time-warps, the shriek of a rose, collision with an asteroid - the unknown lies around every corner, and the universe is a big place. These nine science-fiction stories offer possibilities that are fantastic, humorous, alarming, but always thought-provoking.

This collection contains stories by Ray Bradbury, Bill Brown, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Jerome Bixby, Isaac Asimov, Brian Aldiss, Roald Dahl, and John Wyndham.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, School, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Jennifer Bassett has been a teacher, teacher trainer, editor, and materials writer, and has taught in England, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. She is the Series Editor of the Oxford Bookworms Library, and has written more than twenty original and retold stories for the series, including The Phantom of the Opera, One-Way Ticket, The President's Murderer, and William Shakespeare. Two of her adaptations, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Love Among the Haystacks, have won Language Learner Literature Awards, and three of her other titles have been finalists for the Awards. She has created a new sub-series called Bookworms World Stories, which are collections of short stories written in English from around the world. She has also written original stories for the English Today Readers and Storylines series. Jennifer is series co-adviser, with H.G. Widdowson, of the Oxford Bookworms Collection, volumes of unadapted short stories for advanced learners.

Reviews

[Rose the Book Mouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection (with varied themes) from classic sci-fi authors for genre fans and newbies, alike.

It's hard to choose, but, my favourite of this book is Jerome Bixby's "It's A good Life", which is absolutely chilling! Such a creative and mysterious story, it left me thinking about it for days afterwards. I liked it even better than the Twilight Zone adaptation, which is an episode that always stuck with me. I will definitely look for more of Bixby's work.

The weakest link for me is Arthur C. Clarke's "Hammer of God", which has an inventive story and some beautiful passages (so nice I read them twice), but his overall style was not my taste. The narrative felt more like a collection of sketches for a larger work in progress. In a short story, I prefer a more streamlined narrative. Although I wasn't a fan, I can recognise why Clarke is well-loved by many readers.

Each story starts with a nice mini bio of the author (with mentions of some of his notable works), and finishes with a dictionary of particular vocabulary and exercises on comprehension and creative writing for foreign language readers.

[Namiko]

There are nine short stories (not simplified!):

Zero Hour: Ray Bradbury
The Star Ducks: Bill Brown
Human Is: Philip K. Dick
It's a Good Life: Jerome Bixby
The Machine that Won the War: Issac Asimov
Who can replace a Man?: Brain Aldiss
Stitch in Time: John Wydham
The Sound Machine: Roald Dahl
The Hammer of God: Arthur C. Clarke

I enjoyed most of the stories, especially "It's a Good Life," by Jerome Bixby. I first read Roald Dahl's short story. It was not bad. However I didn't follow "The Hammer of God." I need a simplified version.

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly good collection of short sci fi stories - I'm not sure why we have it around the house, seeing as nobody here needed a book specifically aimed towards learning English, but I'm glad we do.

Each story has something to recommend it, an interesting twist, a chill down the spine, that sort of thing. They're fun, they're short, they're interesting. I'm not sure how good the activities for English-learning are, because I entirely skipped them, but it's a fun book to pick up otherwise.

[Mss Sunrise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5/ 5.

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"These stories (sci-fi ) send us travelling through time and space, confronting us with new dangers, new uncertainties, new dilemmas. Above all, they remind us that human beings are only very small pebbles on a very big beach."

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Thoughts and feelings:

🍁I still remember the time I received this book. I was not a reader yet. My professor at the university invited my classroom to her office in case we wanted to get some books for free. She wanted us to get into reading because that's how one can survive being a student at college. She had put these three huge boxes full of books on the floor near her desk and told us to take as many books as we wanted. That's every reader's lifetime dream, lol! But, by then, it felt like a chore. We were desperate to improve our English so we did take some books. I did take 7 books. This one was one of them. Most of the books I read years ago, except for two, one of which is this story collection. I'm glad I didn't throw them away because they mean a lot to me. They sparked my love for reading and storytelling. They also contributed to developing me as a writer. I owe it to Ms. Sam. She's the best🥲✌️

🍁Anyway, this was such a delightful and great read. I enjoyed most of the stories included in this book. The collection is designed as a college study tool with literary questions and stuff after each story. I merely read the stories because I'm doing this for pleasure, not for school. Some of the stories left me mouth-widely-open, and some of them were okay. I also dnfed the last story since I didn't vibe with it. It's about a machine god or something, and I'm not into that tbh.

[Ireniam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.33/5
Esta es una antologia de cuentos de ciencia ficcion escritos por autores clasicos de ese genero. Lo lei por curiosidad, quiero leer un poco fuera de mi zona de confort ya que en estos ultimos meses no he encontrado ninguna lectura que me enganche o impresione.

Los cuentos son bastante variados ya que los autores tienen estilos distintos, si algunos se me parecian a capitulos de The Twilight Zone debido a que como fueron escrito por esa epoca (50's, 60's) tenian ese aire.

Mis favoritos fueron:
-Human is de Philip K. Dick
-The Machine that Won the War de Isaac Asimov
-Stitch in Time de John Wyndham

[Adam Marischuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of nine shot stories from important sci-fi authors, but not necessarily their best, nor necessarily the best authors. What I mean by this is that, take Asimov for instance: undoubtedly one of the greatest sci-fi writers every, but his story "The Machine that Won the War" is far from his best. Or, despite their perennial popularity, I cannot for the life of me understand why Bradbury and Dick are popular. And I'm not too certain why Roald Dahl made the cut, other than for name recognition, as his story "The Sound Machine" is...an interesting choice to say the least.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection features some of the best sci-fi stories ever written. I actually really enjoyed the extra tidbits and discussion questions after each story. They may be intended for English learners, but they promoted me to think more deeply about each story. Science fiction at its best reveals deep truths about humanity and the universe— and this is science fiction at its best!

[Lina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I read a collection of short stories. And I think my first experience with Sci-fi genre. I thoroughly enjoyed this, they're short and sweet and the book gives you a brief about the author and the story along with some activity questions at the end for discussion.

[Eduardo Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, yet varied and entertaining collection that'll help sci-fi beginners point in the right direction for their personal taste.

Exercises in-between stories help the reader identify sci-fi concepts to use even in one's writing.

[Elie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduced me to amazing authors. The stories were exquisite. One of the best books a sci fi fanatic should read.

[Erman Celik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did read this book while I was 14 years old. This was an awasome experience. I want to say thanks to my english teacher for chosing that book for us. This was a super chose for kids imagination.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories I loved and some I just thought were okay but I am glad this was my first short story collection I have read.

[Kevin Ayres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5
All good stories but none were amazing.

Finished 29 September 2024

[Milly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I try my best to write spoiler-free reviews so I'll just keep it short.
As a whole I'm a huge sci-fi fan so I was very happy to see Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Roald Dahl in this. Even though it was more of a homework and we had to focus mostly on vocabulary, I enjoyed most of the stories. Which is good, learning languages using something enjoyable is good. Not all stories were what belongs in the so called "my cup of tea", but it was nice to have something pleasant among all the grammar exercises.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

Is a collection of 9 scifi short stories by Ray Bradbury (zero hour), Bill Brown (the sar ducks), Philip K. Dick (human is), Jerome Bixby (it's a good life), Isaac Asimov (the achine that won the war), Brian Aldiss (who can replace a man?), John Wyndham (stitch in time), Roald Dahl (the sound machine) & Arthur C. Clarke (the hammer of god), each with their thought provoking tales...

This particular book adds notes to explain specific words but also invites the reader to answer a few questions regarding the stories and to imagine consequences, sequels and so forth.

[Maria Longley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had only read one of the short stories in this collection before (the one from Roald Dahl) and it was good to read something different from some of the featured authors. This edition has a short intro to each author and story (as well as some very school-like questions after each one) which were pretty interesting too and gave some useful context. The stories were pretty old though which is perhaps why there weren't any female views on the universe?

[Tazar Oo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selection of excellent science fictions. My preference is 'Who can replace a man?" it's cool.

[Bernadette]

More reading for work.

[Aster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good, with some solid good short stories. I specially liked the creepy ones.

[Nikolay · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting selection of stories, enjoyed all of them
also provides a good overview of the authors