Indeholder "Introduction --", "1. The Origins of the Species: Mary Shelley", "2. 'A Clear-Sighted, Sickly Literature': Edgar Allan Poe", "3. Pilgrim Fathers: Lucian and All That", "4. The Gas-Enlightened Race: Victorian Visions", "5. The Man Who Could Work Miracles: H. G. Wells", "6. The Flight from Urban Culture: Wells' Coevals", "7. To Barsoom and Beyond: ERB and the Weirdies", "8. In the Name of the Zeitgeist: Mainly the Thirties", "9. The Future on a Chipped Plate: The World of John W. Campbell's "Astounding"", "10. After the Impossible Happened: The Fifties and Onwards, and Upwards", "11. The Stars My Detestation: Yesterday and Tomorrow", "Envoi", "Critical Bibliography", "Index".

"Introduction --" handler om ???
"1. The Origins of the Species: Mary Shelley" handler om ???
"2. 'A Clear-Sighted, Sickly Literature': Edgar Allan Poe" handler om ???
"3. Pilgrim Fathers: Lucian and All That" handler om ???
"4. The Gas-Enlightened Race: Victorian Visions" handler om ???
"5. The Man Who Could Work Miracles: H. G. Wells" handler om ???
"6. The Flight from Urban Culture: Wells' Coevals" handler om ???
"7. To Barsoom and Beyond: ERB and the Weirdies" handler om ???
"8. In the Name of the Zeitgeist: Mainly the Thirties" handler om ???
"9. The Future on a Chipped Plate: The World of John W. Campbell's "Astounding"" handler om ???
"10. After the Impossible Happened: The Fifties and Onwards, and Upwards" handler om ???
"11. The Stars My Detestation: Yesterday and Tomorrow" handler om ???
"Envoi" handler om ???
"Critical Bibliography" handler om ???
"Index" handler om ???

Det her er vist den engelske bog, hvor jeg har skullet slå flest ord op i en ordbog. ( )

Billion Year Spree started out as my 'bathroom book' -- usually a work of non-fiction interesting enough to keep me from terminal boredom there, but not one I want to read straight through to the end. By chapter two, I knew this book wasn't going to stay in that category.

Mr. Aldiss' history includes authors whose works weren't actually science fiction, but contain elements of that genre, or influenced it. Some of those authors I've read (or read about), some I haven't. I agree with that choice. I've often felt the advantage of growing up with my mother passing on her historical romances after she read them and my father passing on his science fiction. I feel that it's helped widen my perspective.

Most of the book I enjoyed even when I disagreed with the author's assessment of a writer. I thought the last two chapters dragged a little, but they cover the 1950s and 60s, the decades in which I was born, spent my childhood, and most of my teens. Perhaps a reader who wasn't around then might enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the earlier chapters.

John W. Campbell's opinion of BEMs (Bug-Eyed Monsters), quoted in chapter nine, made me laugh aloud. (That same chapter has what I think must be a typo on p.238 of my edition: shouldn't that be the paper shortages induced by World War II, not 'I'?)

There's an unintentional chuckle in Mr. Aldiss' opinion of Orwell's Animal Farm. Yeah, we'll still be using microfiche by the time we're capable of reaching Pluto. Even in the late 1990s the only reason my small Army medical library had a microfiche reader was that soldiers still had microfiche copies of their records. Oh, well, Mr. Aldiss voiced a low opinion of sf as prophecy.

If you prefer your history to be considerably more entertaining than the dry-as-dust school of writing, and you're interested in science fiction history prior to the 1970s, you'll want to read this book.

David November is the artist for the black cover with the title in yellow letters with a hint of pale green with light beams radiating from it. The subtitle is in much smaller, white letters, the first three words to the left of the 'Y' and the last three words to its right, above the 'EAR'. The author's name is in deep sky blue letters at the bottom of the dust jacket, in line with the title. ( )