Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction

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Being a fan of classic Sci-Fi I hadn't realized how many novels I had overlooked after reading Mr. Pringles definitive book. And it is definitive from the perspective of a true sci-fi literary fan. Serial novels (ie; Star Wars, Star Trek, etc) are omitted as they should be. If it weren't for this book I might not have ever read Mark Gestons dark novels nor Olaf Stapledons far reaching future history. Like any critic, Mr. Pringles opinions should be kept in perspective and NOT be construed as "the last word", nor does he come off that way despite what previous reviewers have said. As a guide for the layman looking to bypass the junk and get to the best of the genre this book has no peer.I have found it invaluable and truly regret that I cannot afford the expanded second edition which is now fetching $100+ at used booksellers.

I found this book at a used book store and after reading it I can see why it was there. The book brags about being the "ultimate" guide, but is full of mistakes and is badly researched, the author seems to think he is the last word on the subject when he is only a footnote. There are better books on the subject then this.

This is the first edition, which covers some 3000 titles. To the dedicated SF fan, much of this material is very familiar, as he covers a lot of well-known books and top authors in the field (I suspect there may be some hidden treasures yet to be discovered, but that's just my supposition). I haven't read much SF lately, and I was familiar with many of the books he reviews and rates. I would also quibble with the fact that this guide is arranged alphabetically by book title, making it somewhat difficult to gauge the worth of a particular author as a whole (and the path of his/her career) without going back and forth between the main text and the author index. Still, it is a handy and well-informed guide for the genre.