An anthology with the stories voted by the members of the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) as the best SF short stories before the start of the Nebula Awards (up to 1964). Only short stories allowed (no novellas) and only one story allowed per author gets published.

The result is a delightful anthology, filled with strong classic SF stories. Some of them are mind-blowing masterpieces. Others feel a bit dated (we are talking about really old stories here) but still have something special that would make professional writers vote for them as some of the best stories in the genre: powerful ideas, emotional impact...

If you have any interest in the history of science fiction then this is as close to required reading as it gets. Even if you don't particularly care about the history of the genre this anthology is too good to miss.

Contents (I'll use spoiler tags when commenting on the stories, but it's mostly mild spoilers giving a general description of the story):

Stanley G. Weinbaum, "A Martian Odyssey" (1934): On the first expedition to Mars, one of the astronauts has an accident while exploring and must return on foot. On his way, he meets several life forms native to the planet. The story is told by the returning explorer to the rest of the team when he finally rejoins them. While the general idea is very simple, I was impressed by how in a 1934 story the author explored concepts like the aliens having different kinds of intelligence, so that communication with humans would be difficult not because of lack of intelligence on any of the two interlocutors, but because of how differently they reason. It's a tragedy that the author would die from cancer only a year after publishing this story, at 33 years old.

John W. Campbell, "Twilight" (1934): : Another story told by one of the characters in conversation form. In this case the character is telling how he met a person who claimed to be a time traveler. The traveler himself is from several centuries in the future, but claimed to have traveled several million years to his own future, and on his return had miscalculated and traveled back to the 20th century. The point of the story is not the details of how the time travel is possible, but it's mostly about setting a mood of how humanity would reach great heights but then decline due to a loss of their own curiosity and will to explore and progress. There is clearly some H. G. Wells influence here.

Lester del Rey, "Helen O'Loy" (1938): A couple of scientist build a robot to take care of household duties, but they make it too human. The gender roles are of its time, but the questions the story asks about the boundary between human and artificial intelligence, and the emotional implications, are thoroughly modern.

Robert A. Heinlein, "The Roads Must Roll" (1940): In this version of the future, public transportation is done through moving roads. All the economy depends on them, so if the workers were to strike, it could be a disaster. Quite an interesting story. This mode of transportation has not come to pass, but that's not the point. The story remains relevant for its sociological content, and it also has action with typical Heinlein heroes.

Theodore Sturgeon, "Microcosmic God" (1941): A scientist creates a civilization of fast-living intelligent beings and forces them to generate scientific progress. Another awe-inspiring original idea that since then has had more modern remakes (see Sandkings by George R. R. Martin, for example), but this is the original.

Isaac Asimov, "Nightfall" (1941): ...

A. E. van Vogt, "The Weapon Shop" (1942): ...

Lewis Padgett, "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" (1943): ...

Clifford D. Simak, "Huddling Place" (1944): ...

Fredric Brown, "Arena" (1944): ...

Murray Leinster, "First Contact" (1945): ...

Judith Merril, "That Only a Mother" (1948): ...

Cordwainer Smith, "Scanners Live in Vain" (1948): ...

Ray Bradbury, "Mars is Heaven!" (1948): ...

Cyril M. Kornbluth, "The Little Black Bag" (1950): ...

Richard Matheson, "Born of Man and Woman" (1950): ...

Fritz Leiber, "Coming Attraction" (1950): ...

Anthony Boucher, "The Quest for Saint Aquin" (1951): ...

James Blish, "Surface Tension" (1952): ...

Arthur C. Clarke, "The Nine Billion Names of God" (1953): ...

Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life" (1953): ...

Tom Godwin, "The Cold Equations" (1954): ...

Alfred Bester, "Fondly Fahrenheit" (1954): ...

Damon Knight, "The Country of the Kind" (1955): ...

Daniel Keyes, "Flowers for Algernon" (1959): ...

Roger Zelazny, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (1963): ... ( )

My paperback versions are in two volumes.

From the first volume of 15 stories:
Most of these stories are now over 80 years old.
I find it amusing that the authors are imaginative with technology and other things, but tend to still have an old fashioned sexist view of family units and relationships.

Asimov's Nightfall I have read before and rate really highly.
Likewise Heinlein's The Roads Must Roll
Of the others,
Leinster's First Contact, Sturgeon's Microcosmic God & Brown's Arena were probably my favourites.

So, I have now read the 2nd volume with the second set of 15.
Between 75 - 60 years old. Generally enjoyed them more than the older 15 stories.
Cordwainer Smith's Scanners live in Vain,
Kornbluth's Little Black Bag,
Blish's Surface Tension,
Clarke's Nine Billion Names for God,
Godwin's Cold Equations,
Bester's Fondly Fahrenheit,
Keyes' Flowers for Algenon, and
Zelazny's Rose for Ecclesiates
were all really ggod. ( )

Good collection ! ( )

this is somewhat of a mixed bag, and a few of these stories i've read before, but it's fascinating to read some of the stories i've never even heard of, especially those that are less-well-known inspirations for other, later stories, and those that are just emotionally intense. a few i actually detested, so there's that, too, but it's worth it for the rest. ( )

Don’t ask me to quote a thing from this or name a single story since I read it in the dark ages and just marked it as “liked” then in the pre-internet age. I kept a paper list in a wire wound notebook of every book I ever read going back to the late sixties, eons before the perfect place like goodreads existed, but I merely marked each one as liked or disliked (I’m not a detail guy generally). However I do recall not liking it as much as Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison which was then, and will forever be, a solid five stars, so hence the four stars. ( )