The Ascent of Wonder : The Evolution of Hard SF

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resourse, a wonderful read.
Review: "The Ascent of Wonder" should be on the shelf of any reader, and especially any writer, of science fiction. There are enough stories packed inside to keep any fan, new or old, drifting through the myriad universes that some of the best minds in the genre could concieve.

Rating:
Summary: Great authors, so-so editors
Review: This book presents a massive collection of excellent "hard" science fiction stories. (The precise definition of "hard" s-f is left as an exercise to the alert reader.) While the stories are unimpeachable, the introductions and section headings written by the editors range from merely dull to painful. Buy the book, love the book, read the stories, skip the editorial matter.

Rating:
Summary: From HG Wells to David Brin, such scope!
Review: This weighty tome, is absolutely packed with some of the definitive stories of hard science fiction. The introductions to the stories illustrate the trends from the late 19th century to today. Although there is an annoying misuse of the word 'affect' for 'effect', the story reviews are illuminating as to the great authors and their stories. To have read this book is to have gained an overview of the evolution science fiction, to see where it all came from, to see the stories that started the subgenres, to know what IS the core of SF, hard SF.