Customer Reviews

The Best of Frederik Pohl

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The Best of Frederik Pohl, which came out in 1975, was issued in hardcover by the Science Fiction Book Club under their Nelson Doubleday imprint, then in mass paperback by Ballantine. I have been collecting the SFBC/Ballantine series for years, and every volume has been a gem.

This book collects 19 of Pohl's best stories, as judged in 1975. Astonishingly, he is still writing today, but if this book were issued today it would still include most if not all of these stories. They are that good (and, Pohl mostly writes at novel length these days).

Contents:

Introduction, "A Variety of Excellence," by Lester del Rey

Stories by Pohl:

The Tunnel Under the World

Punch

Three Portraits and a Prayer

Day Million

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus

We Never Mention Aunt Nora

Father of the Stars

The Day the Martians Came

The Midas Plague

The Snowmen

How to Count on Your Fingers

Grandy Devil

Speed Trap

The Richest Man in Levittown

The Day the Icicle Works Closed

The Hated

The Martian in the Attic

The Census Takers

The Children of the Night

Afterword: What the Author Has to Say about All This, by Frederik Pohl

Due to Pohl's other careers as both a literary agent and a SF magazine editor, Pohl didn't achieve the same amount of output as his contemporaries Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. This is our loss, since Pohl really excelled in the short form (not that he is any slouch at novel length). This "best of" collection is an excellent starter for anyone unfamiliar with Pohl's short stories. There's not a clinker in the bunch.

I'm having a blast reading through the stories in this book. If you're looking for quick and easy to read sci-fi stories then this is THE book. Right now I don't have the time to delve into a full novel, so these short stories are perfect.