Essentially this is the second "The Best of Robert Silverberg" and the funny thing is that there is no story in common with the first. The storie are taken from six collections -"Sunrise on Mercury"; "Parsecs and Parables"; "Dimension Thirteen"; "Sundance"; "Earth's other Shadow" and "Needle in a Timestack"-, and range from about the same period as the earlier 'The Best of', 1957-1971 in this case. The difference with the earlier 'The Best of' is that Silverberg does his own introduction here, and the stories are not seperately introduced. Most stories speak for themselves though, and the overall quality is just as high as with "The Best of Robert Silverberg".

No one is better than Silverberg in the realm of the science fiction novella or short novel. This slim book (now out of print) is one of his masterpieces.

Imagine a world of billions upon billions of people, most of whom live inside carefully-controlled, massive structures like high-rise apartments. Silverberg apparently took a theme from a concept design of the futuristic architect Paolo Soleri, who proposed a city consisting of a giant cube set on a corner, each side a kilometer long.

Giant "urbmons" (urban monads) are each a world unto themselves, and set in giant clusters such as Boswash, San-San, and Chipitts. Each set of floors is a city in itself, and there are customs, accents, foods, and social strata for each city. Of course, the higher you go, the more status, and...what's really strange, despite what would seem to be cramped quarters, people are encouraged, almost commanded, to have dozens of children. The world, in the urbmon economic system, can support them. It's a kind of utopia, with no hunger, no disease, no pain, and gratification of almost any kind of carnal desire.

Antisocial behavior is controlled by indoctrination, education, religion, drugs and free sexual activity amongst any and all. Denying someone what they desire would be selfish, would lead to friction and that would be unblessed. But is everyone blissful in this utopia? Or is it a dystopia?

"The World Inside" follows a number of memorable characters, and traces their acceptance or rejection of their world. Fascinating, funny and tragic--and very creative. This is one of my "top-ten" sci-fi short novel favorites.

A chilling look at life in a possible urbanised future. Silverbergs Urbmon society is a horrific construct of social stratification, repression of individuality, and the supression of self-determination. Each of the books characters embodies aspects that both give support to acceptance of the system, yet rails at the boundaries existing around their contained existences. This is not how I want the future to be, but as a book I just couldn't put it down. Unmissable.

Imagine the Earth in the year 2381. Imagine a society in which sexual frustration and jealousy and psychological hang-ups have all been eliminated by happiness drugs and universal sexual availability. Imagine that everyone sees all life as God's blessing and success is judged by how many children you've produced. Welcome to Robert Silverberg's Urban Monolith, a thousand-story building that houses 800,000 of Earth's 75 billion people.

Silverberg presents his ostensibly utopian future through the Faulknerian technique of dramatizing just a few seemingly random episodes in the lives of a small, but representative grouping of loosely interwoven characters. The story opens as a social scientist revels in the joy of a perfectly ordinary morning. The young man who slept with his wife is still there, an immediate indication of the sexual freedom that compensates residents for the total lack of privacy they must accept as part of the overcrowding. The young man is Siegmund Klumer, an up and coming 14 year old, who seems destined to become one of the Urbmon's leaders, and the novel is essentially his story, told indirectly by people who know, or respect, or at least share sexual partners, with him. But the real star of this show is the society itself, and the insidious way it provides for the needs of thousands of people, even while robbing them of their essential humanity.

As the story moves from one character to another, we are introduced to such marvels as automated child-care, futuristic rock concerts, and pleasure-giving drugs, but we also gradually begin to see the cracks in the façade of utopian perfection, and the terrible price the residents sometimes pay. Universal sexual availability helps drain off frustrations and aggression, but sex quickly becomes monotonous, meaningless, and emotionally unfulfilling. The drug-induced highs lead to inevitable comedowns, marital fidelity is socially unacceptable, and personal freedom has more limits than at first appears. People mature early, in their early teens, and begin working, having sex, and producing children as soon as possible. Of course such a close-knit society must have order, and since no one is ever alone, it follows that someone is always watching. Variation from accepted behavior is viewed by the authorities as threatening, and the punishment is always either re-education or death. And as with any controlled society, all social institutions are geared toward convincing people that they are happy, even though there are many more unhappy people than is commonly admitted.

This is a finely crafted book, with its subtle characterization, carefully integrated social milieu, and bold yet understated technique. The late 60's influence of hedonistic sexuality and drug taking makes this book unsuitable for younger readers, but it is not so shocking as to be offensive to most adults. Most of all, Silverberg sends a potent warning that over-population, short sighted thinking, and rampant pleasure seeking all make a populace vulnerable to authoritarianism - a warning that looms just as tall today as it did 30 years ago.

The stories are great, and they add a historical perspective to Lord Valentine's Castle. I love Inyanna Forlana's story and the story of the Pontifex Arioc. Robert Silverberg is a master storyteller, and if you liked this one, try "The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party" or any other collection of Silverberg's short stories.

I have read this book at least 5 times. I keep going back to it because it is so rich and vivid. It is made up of several stories from different time periods on Silverbergs planet, Majipoor. Some characters are alien & some are human, but each story has a universal truth to it that is haunting. Parts of this book just stayed with me. It is truly beautiful. Robert Silverberg is a great writer and this is a masterpiece.

Robert Silverberg's world of Majipoor is an incredibly rich setting for his stories, sending the reader's imagination to new and wonderful places. The scope and detailed history Silverberg has created for this world is breathtaking. Other authors might bog the reader down with useless detail, but Silverberg inspires awe rather than boredom.
For readers who have been initiated through "Lord Valentine's Castle", "Majipoor Chronicles" takes you further into Majipoor with a collection of stories covering thousands of years of the planet's history.
An excellent book. Compares extremely favorably to Asimov's "Foundation" series, but even better in some ways.

This book exemplifies what is best about science fiction. Most people evoke images of spaceships battling it out in space or aliens who want nothing more than to invade our planet Earth. But if one truely wants to read an example of what science fiction is all about, then read this book!

How does humanity react when its own creation decide that it wants its own independence? What does it mean to be human? A question that is always on our minds... Please read this book. It is a great story of one questioner who dared to ask "Why Not Me?" instead of accepting the status quo.

Read The Positronic Man. It is a story that pulls you into it and makes you truly care about a robot named Andrew. This book really works your imagination. After you read the book, go see the movie "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams and the little girl from the Pepsi commercials. It is one of the best literature to screen adaptations I have ever seen.

Asimov and Silverberg have written a masterpiece. Andrew's perseverence is something that we should all admire. Definitely read it if you are an "I Robot" fan. But when reading it be prepared for a very deep, and somewhat sad ending.

I hate some of the stories in this book; the remainder leave me gibbering with awestruck, overwhelmed delight. The specific stories a reader might revile or adore (or both) will vary. It's a huge, manifold collection of shorts by one of the best writers in English from...

OK, I'm hesitant to say, "the last century" or "the century recently passed", partly because that's awfully goofy, and partly because I'm not near well-read enough to make such claims with authority. I'm gonna say it anyway. I stumbled upon a copy of a long out of print and svelter collection of Davidson's work (Or All The Seas With Oysters...) at fourteen and I've never been quite the same. He's not the writer whose works I wish I could have written: he is the writer whose works I would have wished I could have written had I been the writer I wished I could have been.

(we see why a writer I am not, Yoda knowingly says)

Davidson had a dear whimsy, a weariness, and a bite that was, dare I say it, very Jewish. When I (re)read his stories I feel as if I (an agnostic Gentile) have magically been allowed to understand & overhear the Yiddish folk yarns the kindly, crusty grandfather spins for the kids while the middle generation shouts in the background.

Davidson wrote as well as Singer. Perhaps better, at his best. No small praise; I know what I am claiming. Do not allow my muddy writing dissuade any reader from buying and luxuriating in this important collection.

As a long-term reader of science fiction and an admirer of the writings of Avram Davidson the publication of this particular book was, for me, a noteworthy event. I was able to renew my acquaintance with some of the delightful stories I had first read ten to twenty-five years ago. Each story is preceded by a thoughtful introduction by author friends of the late Mr. Davidson. I found these short essays generally very helpful since most of the writers maintained a correspondence with AD and could provide personal insights and biographical data related to the stories. The 38 stories are grouped chronologically by the decade in which they were published; Fifties to Nineties. I noticed that the excellent Ray Bradbury afterward had been used as an introduction to another out-of-print AD collection, Strange Seas and Shores, Doubleday, 1971. My only grouse is that I wish the editors had included a listing of the titles of AD books, novels and short story collections. Thank you editors Silverberg and Davis, a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to "one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language"...Robert Silverberg.

Avram Davidson died in 1993. He was, as so often said, one of the great originals. His writing was elegant and complex: always adapted to the voices of his narrators and characters, always at some level humorous even when telling a dark story. He was one of those writers whose stories were always enjoyable just for wallowing in the prose: for its sprung rhythms and fine, out of the way, images. And his stories were enjoyable for wallowing in the atmosphere: for its evocation of exotic place-times, whether it be late '50s New York City or early '70s Belize or turn of the century Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania or far future Barnum's Planet, and for its evocation of exotic world-views, and the packing and repacking of wondrous, seemingly inconsequential (though rarely truly so) tidbits of history and unhistory into the backgrounds. And his best stories took these characteristics and harnessed them in the service of well-honed themes or (sometimes) clever plots.

This collection is organized as a retrospective, with the selections placed in order of first appearance. This is, I think, an excellent choice for any collection of this magnitude in that it allows the interested reader to try to track evolutions in the writer's style and thematic concerns over time. (I would suggest, perhaps, that the older Davidson was more prone to explorations of esoterica than the younger, and less often openly angry. Throughout his career he was ready with the comic touch, even in the midst of a darker context. His style was always special, but perhaps grew more involved as he grew older.)

Another feature of this collection is the introductions, by many of Davidson's friends: mostly fellow authors and editors, but also his bibliographer, Henry Wessels, and his son. This represent a significant chunk of "value added": they include some personal reminiscences, some analyses of the work, some elegiac passages. I'll add that the book is nicely and elegantly put together, and that editors Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis (as well as Tor in-house editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden) deserve thanks and applause for working to bring us this book.

But, of course, there is no Avram Davidson Treasury without the stories Avram Davidson wrote, of which 38 are assembled here. And the stories are the only real reason to buy and exult in this book. I'm a big Davidson fan, make no mistake: I come to this review not at all objective, and having reading all but a few of the stories already, many of them several times. At least one, "The Sources of the Nile", is firmly on my personal list of the best SF stories of all time.

There is not space to discuss the delightful stories herein contained. Suffice it to say that this collection is big enough, and varied enough, to whet the appetite of any reader whose ear can be tuned to catch the strains of Davidson's voice. And even this large collection inevitably leaves out many fine stories (the other Eszterhazy and Limekiller stories, "The Lord of Central Park", many more), to say nothing of his engaging collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, in which he discusses at length many obscure legends, and their possible bases in fact. So buy it and read it, and very likely you will find yourself searching out the out of print and small press books which house the rest of his work (for now), and very likely too you will be hoping with the rest of us Davidson lovers for a few more treasures to be dug from his papers.

Isaac Asimov is, in my opinion, the greatest modern science fiction writer. His crowning achievement, the Foundation series, is widely aknowledged to be one of the greatest Sci-Fi series of all time. The series, Prelude to F-, Foundation, F- and Empire, Second F-, F-'s Edge, and finally Forward the Foundation, is the consummate of some 40 years of intermittent "dabbling" in the series. For this reason, there are, as can be expected, some continuity problems with the plot line. However, Asimov's skill as a storyteller through the characters is unparalleled in the genre. He is able to weave from words great characters such as Salvor Hardin, Hober Mallow, Lethan Devers, Bayta and Arkady Darrell, Stor Gendibal, Sura Novi...chracters as human as they are fictional. His greatest character, however, is Hari Seldon. Forward the Foundation represents Hari Seldon. It continuies the job of tying together all of Asimov's major novels begun in Foundation's Edge, and gives a sense of resolution, while only describing events that occur 500 years prior to those in Foundation's Edge. This book is not without flaws...though for it's insight into one of the greatest fictional characters of all time, I highly recommend it.

This novel begins eight years after Prelude to Foundation, and it is chronologically the second novel in the seven that Asimov wrote. I think this just might be the best novel Asimov wrote, and it happened to be completed just before his death.

The novel consists of four parts, each separated by about ten years. This is really about Seldon, and the path his life takes. In the first part, many things are simliar to Prelude, the Empire is falling to pieces, an old friend from the Robot series is the person functionally running the empire, and psychohistory is still just a fledgling science. He and his wife, who is his protector (appointed by Daneel Olivaw), have adopted the young boy they encountered in Prelude. The events of this first part see the departure of Daneel, with Seldon being unexpectedly elevated to fill his position.

Part two deals with Seldon's life as a political functionary, running the dying empire while trying to hammer out psychohistory so that he can save humanity. Again, a major character exits the scene, but not quite as one might expect. This results in Seldon exiting politics and focusing solely on his work in part three. Governmental authority has been assumed by the military, and psychohistory is finally able to make some predictions. Hari loses an old friend and his family uncovers a plot to kill someone, they think Hari is the target. While the plot twists a bit in this part are VERY well done, the end is really tragic. This time Hari lost the most important person in the galaxy to him.

In part four, Hari is essentially all alone, with only his granddaughter remaining of all the friends and family he once had. His son and daughter-in-law each meet unfortunate fates, while the capital planet Trantor is now feeling the decay that the empire as a whole has felt for some time. Hari is forced to make some decisions that enable the second foundation to be created, though it also costs him someone dear.

The ending is as one might expect, the death of the great one, as readers of the series would know. He manages to wrap things up in time, at least enough to set things on the track that psychohistory saw fit, and that the second foundation can steer.

I really think this was a story of Asimov himself in many ways. It deals with a brilliant man, recognized as such during his own lifetime, who deals with the loss of his friends and family as he outlives them all. But still he works. And he dies while working. Asimov himself said that he identified with Seldon more than any of his other characters, and after chronicling the life and death of Seldon, Asimov himself died. He is already sorely missed.

This was Isaac Asimov's last novel; he died in April of 1992. This book, a part of Asimov's noted Foundation series, concerns events taking place between "Prelude to Foundation" (1988) and "Foundation" (1951) and helps pull together those two books. It consists of a series of four stories, each taking place at a different time in the life of the mathematician Hari Seldon. The first story ("Eto Demerzel") begins about eight years after the end of "Prelude to Foundation." Seldon's work on his mathematical theory of psychohistory is going slowly. He finds that he has to assist the First Minister of the Empire, Eto Demerzel, in defeating a populist demagogue. (A new Foundation trilogy was begun in 1997. "Foundation's Fear" by Gregory Benford takes place between the first and second stories in "Forward the Foundation." Greg Bear's "Foundation and Chaos" and David Brin's "Foundation's Triumph" also take place within the time frame of "Forward the Foundation") The second story, "Cleon I", takes place ten years later. Seldon is now First Minister of the Empire and he finds that he and his adopted son, Raych, must defeat the remnants of an opposition group and stop an assassination attempt. In the third story, "Dors Venabili", occurring about ten years later, Seldon and his wife, the historian Dors Venabili, must quelch the designs of a ruthless military junta that is governing the Empire as well as detect and stop someone within the psychohistory project from taking it over. In the last story ("Wanda Seldon"), about six years later, Seldon and his granddaughter Wanda must find a way to obtain funding to continue the research after Hari Seldon dies. He soon comes up with the idea of two, independent Foundations whose goal it is to return the Galaxy to his former glory after the upcoming millennia of dark ages. In addition to these four stories, there is a short Epilogue that takes place two years after the end of Part I of "Foundation" (1951). This series has had an enormous impact in the history of science fiction and all serious students of science fiction literature should be familiar with all of the books in the series.

This book is about political prisoners who are exiled back in time a billion years to the cambrian period in a place called Hawksbill Station. There is nothing but solid rock, no plants or animals on land, only in the sea. The story alternates between the cambrian and the present. Most of the men at Hawksbill are losing their minds because of the deprevation. I found those chapters interesting. The chapters from the present time focused on what landed the main character in Hawksbill. They aren't all that interesting, unless you like reading ca. 1960's political subversion. The writing is great, typical Silverberg, and a well told story. But I didn't like it enough to give it 5 stars.

Political prisoners are sentenced to exile one billion years in the past, before the appearance of the first land-dwelling lifeforms. The story alternates between the exiles in the past, ageing and battling mental illness brought on by their isolation, and the activities that resulted in their sentences. The primary character, Jim Barrett, struggles to maintain his deteriorating community while investigating the puzzle of a new prisoner who is unlike any of the others. The end is a bit unsatisfying--merely a conversation that wraps up the various plot points. Published in 1967, this novel nevertheless includes some startling predictions of later political developments, including an inconclusive presedential election that had very unfortunate results!

Out of all the Silverberg books (or the classic ones at least) this has to be the most direct and least complex out of all of them. The plot is fairly simple, a rigid Earth government sentenced all its dissidents to a station billions of years in the past and with the way technolongy is, they can only move time in one direction, that being back. So they're all stuck there. The leader of the camp, Barrett, isn't the first one there but has been there the longest but recently was crippled, making him doubt his continued usefulness. The character of Barrett is fleshed out remarkably well, showing both how such a man became a political activist and how he holds up against the pressure of being stranded forever. Silverberg also showz us everyone else in the camp, and shows how they didn't take the pressure so well. If Silverberg had just stuck with the stories on Hawksbill Station then the book would be little more than highly entertaining genre SF but because of his deep delving into the characters he manages to make several pointed political comments in general that aren't the least bit dated, which is the point. Definitely lacks some of the intensity of his later works, as well as some emotional involvement but still stands head and shoulders above a lot of what is out there today.

I am currently finishing up Virtual Unrealities and this is the first time I've read Bester's work. I am astonished about his current readability, it's like it was written tomorrow. His preoccupation with nuclear holocaust aside, the works are fresh, not to politically correct so as to be consciously annoying. I love short fiction but sadly most of the new stuff out there leaves me bored, disappointed or I just don't finish it. Honestly NOT his best but still way ahead of a lot of other people out there. SF readers forget that there is a strong heritage for this genre.It's a shame it's goes to waste. Like an author? Find out who influenced them and you will be in for a treat. That's how I found out about Bester, through J Micahel Strazynski (sp?)honoring him on B5 with a character name. I'm eternally glad he did. Maybe in 30-50 years someone will refer to the current author your reading like that and they will be enlightened.

This is a collection of some of the most unorthodox short stories even by the standards of science fiction. One can never tell where these will take us, and even then we are surprised at the results. Reading this will change everything, because afterwards very few things will seem weird. Many of these are tour de force of writting to show of the fact that the author could get away with something, that would be considered bad in writting of lesser carliber, but Bester's power-writting simply cuts through the rules, and gives us some truly out-of-this-world stories, which overpower the reader. In some it is the idea that is the main thing, and elsewhere it is the presentation, which is allpowerful, but each and every time we are left surprised, amazed by the end result. Some of these could be called parodies of classical sciece fiction cliches. (Besides Bester invented some things, that has become cliches since, and yet in his prose they are still powerful, and not cliched at all.) Some are funny, and some are sad, and most are weird, but they are all memorable.

I've read a lot of short stories...from Vonnegut to Kafka, H.G. Wells to Neil Gaiman. But none of those remotely compare to what you'll find in Bester's short stories. His stories are all fast-paced, and he gets his meaning across. He doesn't have to put in a lot of nonsense just to take up space. If his story is three pages long, so be it! He doesn't add another 15 pages just for the sake of having a long story. If he gets his message across, he ends his story. I think a lot of authors nowadays should take note!

But just in terms of science-fiction, it's easy to see why Bester has had so much influence on the sci-fi community. His ideas are so awesome. He was like so many other science-fiction authors: ahead of his time! What I like most about his short stories is how we get a glimpse of characters that appear in Bester's larger works. For instance, some of the characters from "The Stars My Destination" appear in some of these short stories. I just think it adds to the fun.

I can't even say a coherent statement about this book, and I apologize. I'm just still in shock. I think that if you like science-fiction, Alfred Bester in particular, or just like to read, you NEED to read at least one of Bester's short stories. After that, you'll be hooked.

This inexpensive yet fairly voluminous collection of short stories by an acknowledged master in the genre of science fiction, Robert Silverberg, is just the thing for introducing users of Pocket PCs to the world of e-reading. Stories from every nook and cranny of Silverberg's obviously far-traveling mind leaves something online for every reader enjoying Science Fiction, and if it happens to be one of the first choices for the downloading e-reader, they no doubt are now firmly hooked; keep producing books of this quality for e-readers and simply continue to reel them in. :-) What a thorougly enjoyable way to read a good book! Both this specific book, along with the used-to-be-science-fiction reading process, are highly recommended.

Silverberg is terrific, whether in short form or when writing novels such as Lord Valentine's Castle. Highly recommended!

This is one of the finest "Best Of" short story collections that I know of by a major science fiction author, and it should be essential reading for any serious S-F reader.

Silverberg's brilliant first story in this collection, "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another," alone makes this e-book worth buying; but the fact that it also includes such classics as "The Secret Sharer," "Waiting For the Earthquake," "The Iron Star," and "Our Lady of the Sauropods," (...)

I did not care for the e-book format of this collection - call me old-fashioned, but give me a good old printed book any day! However, this preference of mine is trivial compared to the dirt cheap price of this collection, the fact that Amazon.com delivers it to your PC within MINUTES of ordering, and (most important) the fact that no other "Best Of" collection of Silverberg's short stories is in print right now.

Skillfull story-telling nearly overcomes a plot which is a hard sell from the beginning. It involves four mostly intelligent college students who embark on a cross country journey to investigate an ancient mysterious site believed to contain secrets of immortality. The four students are very different in personality, and their interactions and thoughts are superbly described. Silverberg was able to convince me of how they could be motivated to participate in this journey. I ultimately could not buy into the great extent to which they went, however, to discover the truth. Perhaps this was no fault of Silverberg's, as the flaw with this book is the distance one's imagination must be stretched to accept the premise. It's ironic that Silverberg's skill in presenting four very believable characters actually increases the difficulty of the reader to accept the events they get involved in. This said, there is enough intelligent exploration of the subject of immortality to warrant a read by any sci-fi fan. Just concentrate on those ideas and the characters, and try to overlook the actual events that unfold. I put this book in the middle range of Silverberg's quality work.

'The Book Of Skulls' is an ancient manuscript detailing an ancient sect who offer immortality in return for human deaths. Silverbergs' novel, first published in 1972, is a gripping yet horrifying journey from Manhattan to the Arizona desert. The journey is made by 4 US students of equally different backgrounds: Eli, an 'uptight Israelite', who discovered the manuscript leading them to Arizona; Timothy, an impatient rich boy; Oliver, a troubled farm boy from Kansas; and gay Ned, a 'depraved choirboy'. Accordingly, each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the 4 students. Silverberg defines and exposes the characters through his use of the first person. None of the students are perfect. Each describes their darkest secret before the Ninth Mystery is performed: two must die in order for the other two to live forever. Fantastic novel, buy it immediately.

I agree with the reviewer below. It is a crime that this book is out of print. I found a very old third- or fourth-hand copy in the back of a used bookstore. I had no idea what it was about, but the cover looked interesting, so I read it just for the heck of it. I was shocked. Although it's quite dated (the book was written in the early 70s, and it shows in some of the lingo and cultural attitudes) this is easily one of the greatest fantasy novels ever, and that's not an exaggeration. I've never read anything like it; there's nothing you can read that will prepare you for this book. The plot, briefly: Four college students travel out west on a search for immortality, after one of them uncovers a mysterious manuscript called "The Book of Skulls." The tale of their journey alternates between the points of view of the four students. Along the way, we are treated to a searing and sensitive look at human psychology and the the mysterious innerworkings of the soul and spirit. I've read this book several times, and can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't enormously popular. It truly captures the spirit, the problems, the contradictions of the modern human condition, and in a way that's accessible to nearly everyone. It ought to be a classic. If you ever find a copy of this book, read it immediately. It will stay with you forever. This book has an honored place on my shelf; it's one of the reasons that I love reading, and as a wannabe-author myself, it's the kind of book that I've always wished I might someday be able to write. Very highly recommended.