Published half a century ago (or nearly - 1974), the stories in Mutants present some tales that heavily influenced what was to come. It also puts out some early stories from giants like Poul Anderson, Lafferty and Frederick Pohl - but Lafferty's story in this case isn't indicative of his talent. It also had Jerome Bixby's story "It's a Good Life" which was adapted into one of the best original Twilight Zone episodes (the one with the boy that could think things to happening) and I never knew that was originally a published short story. This collection is well-worth the read for any science fiction lover or even liker. ( )

I found this one in a local used bookstore and was smitten by the cover art as well as a couple of the names on the roster. I did like the majority of the stories, 8 out of 11, and for this type of anthology that's pretty good.
The stories I really liked were Hothouse by Brian Aldiss, Tomorrow's Children by Poul Anderson and F.N. Waldrop, and It's a Good Life by Jerome Bixby (the one a classic Twilight Zone episode is based on). These were the cream of the crop and really delivered on the theme of mutants and weirdness. Tomorrow's Children had a strange intense poisonous atmosphere and the realization of the main character, a guy who was traversing the globe in his jet plane, that all human births were mutant even to parents who were not directly exposed to the fallout of the world-ending war was pretty horrifying. Hothouse was the most impressive with an image that came to mind of the upper atmosphere where the darkness of space is visible through the transparent haze of blue. Here, I visualized the giant black spider-like plants floating upward and the silvery strands of their webbing whipping in the upper winds. This is definitely a story to track down.
Ozymandius by Terry Carr is a close runner-up to the top 3 and had a mixed, not inconsistent, tone that combined comedy and almost cartoonish mutants with horrifying violence that really reminded me of the movie Wizards by Ralph Bakshi. That along with the imagery of ancient pillaged titanic ruins as monuments to a long-vanished past really helped make for an interesting story. Let the Ants Try by Frederik Pohl also falls into this category mixing time travel with the horror of being attacked by human-sized evolved ants.
The stories I really did not like were The Mute Question by Forrest J. Ackerman (one of the names that prompted me to buy the book), Ginny Wrapped in the Sun by R.A. Lafferty, and Watershed by James Blish. All shared a similar problem, they were gibberish. The last one was the conclusion to a series of short stories not included in the book and I cannot help but think the others are necessary to understand what is going on in it. As a standalone story it just completely lost me, I still have no idea what it was about from reading it. The other two are just mashups of seemingly random imagery and situations with no true ending or even any kind of plot or character progression. R.A. Lafferty's work was mostly motor-mouth dialogue that reminded me heavily of the dialogue from an O.Henry hobo story, the kind I cannot stand.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book if you can pick it up for under 6 bucks, it was worth it to me. I would also recommend to not be shy when it comes to finding the better stories in this collection elsewhere. The stories I didn't mention (The Conqueror, Liquid Life, and The Man Who Never Forgot) were average for this type of collection and seemed of their time but were still an enjoyable read. ( )

MUTANTS edited by Robert Silverberg
1. Tomorrow’s Children—Poul Anderson’s first published story:
Post-war radiation induces world-wide mutations and the survivors decide to treat the freakish results as normal, rather than uselessly trying to destroy them all. Laudable, but simplistic.
2. It’s a Good Life—Jerome Bixby:
A very young child, Anthony, has the power to isolate his little village from the rest of the world and forces his own concept of good on the people by using his mental powers to horribly, and childishly, punish everyone who gainsays him as being bad. The intriguing part of the story is the challenge for the reader to come up with an argument that will allow Anthony to accept that just because he has the power he doesn’t naturally have the right to use it indiscriminately.
3. The Mute Question—Forest J. Ackerman:
A rather exaggerated, and trivial, examination of the pluses and minuses of various atomic war mutations. Fortunately a very short study.
4. Let the Ants Try—Frederik Pohl:
It’s obvious where this story is going…no surprises. The original aim was to create an opponent that would force humans to unite as a species to defend themselves against the ants…but it doesn’t work out.
5. The Conqueror—Mark Clifton:
A surprisingly peaceful, and useful, plant mutation that actually saves the world. I found myself waiting for the evil denouement that never occurs.
6. Liquid Life—Ralph Milne Farley:
At first the molecular chemical liquid creature is neutral, then it’s good, then it’s bad, and finally, just before it’s destroyed, it becomes good again. But too late.
7. Hothouse—Brian Aldiss:
The Earth has become a massive hothouse jungle with so many rabid animals and plants to avoid. Add to this that a monster of a spider-like plant has created a spider-like web that allows them to reach the moon…which then becomes the home for those humans who manage to reach it; where the humans mutate even further, etc. A bit confusing.
8. Ozymandias—Terry Carr:
Again, the remnants of an atomic war have developed a bizarre ritual that allows them to get close enough to pre-war rubble in order to scavenge for metals, etc. and finally discover a power switch that awakens a hibernating pre-war man…and then kills him. The premise is kind of logical, but the execution leaves one puzzled about the aim of the story.
9. The Man Who Never Forgot—Robert Silverberg:
A decent story, based upon Silverberg’s conception of the difficulties and trials of someone with eidetic memory. This is obviously before we found such people in normal life; and who demonstrate that it is possible to live a sane life in spite of never forgetting any part of it.
10. Ginny Wrapped in the Sun—R. A. Lafferty:
I prefer Arthur Clarke’s version of the concept (read “Childhood’s End”). Here a defunct offshoot of Homo Sapiens is restored and proves to be more resilient than Homo Sapiens.
11. Watershed—James Blish:
As a stand-alone story it doesn’t hold up so well…too preachy. But as part of “The Seedling Stars” is not so bad…well, it’s still too preachy. The complete collection of stories describing the seeding of human progeny, in various forms, throughout the galaxy is a much more powerful and entertaining saga than this story conveys. ( )

A fair anthology, but there are better out there.

Notable stories include:
It’s a Good Life | Creepy kid controls town. Also adapted for The Twilight Zone and frequently anthologized, this is one of the best in the bunch.

Let the Ants Try | This is generally considered an unwise use of a time machine. (I was hunting for this story.)

The Conqueror | Cultivating civilization, literally. Bonus points for having something other than humans being mutated.

Summaries of other stories:
Tomorrow’s Children | After nuclear war wrecks civilization, mutation is the factor of most concern.

The Mute Question | Two-pager little philosophical story; what the blind man didn't see, what the deaf man didn't respond to.

Liquid Life | Salt-water pond gains sapience.

Hothouse | Tropical hell eventually yields winged humans.

Ozymandias | Um? Monster-killing in pyramid, also computers involved? Honestly, I could barely skim this.

The Man Who Never Forgot | Eidetic memory is apparently a bitch, until one learns it's also heredity.

Ginny Wrapped in the Sun | Creepy child again, who has no time for the petty controlling of towns.

Watershed | Space-faring humans, by not mutating, have become the minority. ( )

Eleven stories of mutations