I probably picked this up because I wanted to read some current short science fiction and saw that John Scalzi had an entry. Since I did not sit down and read it cover to cover, it looks like it took me about three years to get through it. As is typical for an anthology, some of the stories were pretty good, some not so much. I can't think of one that knocked my socks off. But most were worth the read. ( )

Really good collection of short stories that I read on and off between larger novels. Highly recommended to those who like stories that take place over grand stretches of time and space. ( )

The first few stories were so-so, but the stories themselves grew more interesting and entertaining as the book progressed. The last four or more were very entertaining. ( )

So, if you're not religious, here are some alternate eschatologies as well as some redefinitions of the human well before the end times, although in SF there is no end, just renewal. The New Republic, viewed 10/4/2014. Sophie McBain, The Scientists Preparing for the Apocalypse. "Studying the distant reaches of the universe has not only given [astronomer Martin] Rees an appreciation of humanity’s precious, fleeting existence—if you imagine Planet Earth’s lifetime as a single year, the 21st century would be a quarter of a second, he says—but also allowed him an insight into the “extreme future.” In six billion years the sun will run out of fuel. “There’s an unthinking tendency to imagine that humans will be there, experiencing the sun’s demise, but any life and intelligence that exists then will be as different from us as we are from bacteria.”" See also notes on Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction and the Fox series Cosmos. In that vein: Utriusque Cosmi / Robert Charles Wilson [machine & dark matter Rapture]; The Far End of History / John C Wright [apparently the 8th metamorphosis of "human"] -- To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves / Jay Lake -- Shell Game / Neal Ascher [bioengineering of humanoids]. In SF there is a sort of future for humanity; current speculation among some scientists in the TNR piece is that AI will replace peeps by the end of the century. Very hard-core astrophysics in between the fictional lines; behind the scenes commentary on the science would be interesting I'm sure. ( )

3.5 ( )