Far Futures [Paperback]

Gregory Benford (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor Books; aFirst Edition First Printing edition (1995)
• ASIN: B000OTPXT0
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grappling with the Ungraspable, November 29, 2002

By 

Emil L. Posey (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Far Futures (Hardcover)

Science fiction abounds with stories dealing with the great questions of how the known universe began and why we came to be. There is a growing body of cosmological theory and evidence as well as religious belief upon which to base such stories. Far Futures, though, deals with another set of great questions: humanity's ultimate destiny, and how it will all end. These are not tackled nearly as often.

Benford has pulled together five novellas, all by first-rate science fiction writers, to provide different views. Since this is truly the unknown, these are speculations of the highest order. They must be read as much for their broad concepts as for their scientific, entertainment or literary value. Their concepts are fascinating, to be sure, in particular Greg Bear's and Charles Sheffield's. But by its very nature, this subject is beyond competent conjecture. Nonetheless, this is a good read that gets one to thinking about the (as yet, at least) unknowable.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best anthologies ever published, August 25, 1997

By 

Geoffrey Kidd (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Far Futures (Hardcover)

I'm beginning to suspect that the Kirkus review service pays its people by the mudball. Two of the stories in this book, Anderson's and Haldeman's, ended up in Dozois' "Best SF of the Year" anthology. Hardly a downcheck for the writing. For myself, I enjoyed the Anderson and Sheffield stories muchly for their breadth of scope and sense of the immense reaches of time that stretch before us. Most of all, however, Kingsbury's contribution is a dazzling, awesome, pyrotechnic refutation of the ironfisted tyranny that has always lain within the velvet glove of Asimov's ostensibly gentle "psychohistory." The book is worth its entire weight from this story alone. In addition, Haldeman's "White Hill" contributes tragedy of cosmically moving proportions. I purchased this volume in hardcover *after* reading it from my local library. That's not something I often do

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quite Good, April 19, 2007

By 

Tom Perkins (Huntersville, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Far Futures (Paperback)

A life-long lover of SF, especially hard SF and the far future, I expected to like this book. Indeed I did, the only exception Joe Haldeman's "For White Hill" which lacked suspense. The stories were imaginative and well written, but I sadly realize I will not want to read any of them again, and will give the book away.