Themes in Science Fiction

I first became aware of this book back in 1975. It was dog-eared and written in with suggestions and drawings based on the stories. I remember the summer of '75 for the music, the movies, but most vividly for this book. These were the following stories that were in it, and the ones that affected me the most: The Last of the Romany · Norman Spinrad The Total Experience Kick · Charles Platt Shortstack [Willy Shorts] · Walt & Leigh Richmond Far from This Earth · Chad Oliver Maelstrom II · Arthur C. Clarke Founding Father · Isaac Asimov Holdout · Robert Sheckley The Cold Equations · Tom Godwin The Father-Thing · Philip K. Dick The Silk and the Song · Charles L. Fontenay Eyebem · Gene Wolfe Puppet Show · Fredric Brown Look, You Think You've Got Troubles · Carol Carr Young Girl at an Open Half-door · Fred Saberhagen The Man Who Came Early · Poul Anderson Soldier ["Soldier from Tomorrow"] · Harlan Ellison The Good Provider · Marion Gross A Message from Charity · William M. Lee Witch War · Richard Matheson Gomez · C. M. Kornbluth Muse · Dean R. Koontz The World of Myrion Flowers · Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth X Marks the Pedwalk · Fritz Leiber EPICAC · Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The Last Command [Bolo] · Keith Laumer Lost Memory · Peter Phillips The Survivor · Walter F. Moudy The Post-Mortem People · Peter Tate The Travelin' Man · Leo P. Kelley One Love Have I · Robert F. Young Who Shall Dwell... · H. C. Neal These many stories opened my eyes to the world of science fiction. They dealt with issues of war, life and death, the crush of the future against the memories of the past, anger, fear, self-preservation and so much more. The stories that affected me the most was "The Cold Equations," "The Father-Thing", "Soldier", "A Message From Charity", "Gomez", "X Marks The Pedwalk", and especially "The Survivor." "The Survivor" tells the story of a boy who goes the the War Games (kinda like the Olympics) between the United States and Russia, solving their conflict in a domes arena, and comes back the sole survivor of what I can tell is the very first instance of "reality television" in science fiction. The story reads powerfully, and the ending is even more powerful. This book was created by McGraw-Hill in 1972 for high-school students. I read it and re-read it and re-read it until I knew each story by heart. This book is essential for anyone who wants to really understand the Golden Age of science fiction as most of these were written in the late 50s and early 60s. Many of the stories in this book have been adapted into films and TV episodes, from "The Outer Limits" to "The Twilight Zone". If you have one volume of science-fiction short stories that you will enjoy and definitely cherish, pick this up. You'll be so very very glad you did.