This was one of the free books I acquired when I first joined the SFBC back in 1960 (or so). And, after all these years, it's still one of the best compilations I've ever read. While only one of the stories is mediocre the rest are well in the range of exceptional sociological studies on the human condition. ‘Re-Birth’ by John Wyndham has been published in other collects since then, but is still a concise answer to how/why mankind can hope to survive Armageddon. ‘The Shape of Things That Came’—by Richard Derming--shames us in our failure to appreciate what humanity has accomplished in just a few years. And only ‘The Weapon Shops of Isher’ by van Vogt could end the book by providing a reasonable solution to the Creation Story.

For all of the woe in the world today—and especially taking into account Ray Bradbury’s elegy to the loss of all our fears : ‘Pillar of fire’—this is one “feel-good” collection.

A classic anthology of science fiction, featuring longer works such as “Waldo” and "The Weapon Shops of Isher." ( )

Rebirth by John Wyndham (1955); The Shape of Things That Came by Richard Deming (1951); Pillar of Fire by Ray Bradbury (1948); Waldo by Robert Heinlein (1942); The Father-Thing by Philip K. Dick (1954); The Children's Hour by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore (1944); Gomez by C. M. Kornbluth (1954); The [Widget], The [Wadget], and Boff by Theodore Sturgeon (1955): Sandra by George P. Elliott (1953); Beyond Space and Time by Joel Townsley Rogers (1938); The Martian Crown Jewels by Poul Anderson (1958); The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van Vogt (1951)