Take a trip through time and space with the greatest writers of science fiction…

Robert A. Heinlein
“And He Built a Crooked House”

James Blish
“Surface Tension”

Arthur C. Clarke
“The Deep Range”

Lester del Rey
“The Day is Done”

Isaac Asimov
“Pate de Foie Gras”

…and many others!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? is a unique collection for the true lover of science fiction. Edited and annotated by the master of science fiction, Isaac Asimov, it takes the reader on a never-to-be-forgotten excursion into the vast world of fantasty…and fact.

I am enormously fond of this anthology. The fact that I bought it a year or two after it came out and read it and reread it avidly perhaps half a dozen times before I could drive doesn’t hurt—but the fact is that this is a fairly unique anthology. The stories, for one thing, are generally very good—but it’s also the use Asimov has made of the stories. This book is intended to be a science teaching tool; the goal here is to illustrate Asimov’s dictum that good sf makes for good scientists by stimulating curiosity about nature. Even if the science is wrong, finding out why it’s wrong can be a lot of fun. To prove this, Asimov has appended to each story some scientific commentary and a series of questions intended to guide the reader into exploring a key idea of science found in the tale.

As for the stories themselves, I have few objections. Asimov includes his own “Pâté de Foie Gras,” which is among my very favorites. There’s also Heinlein’s delightful “And He Built a Crooked House” and A.J. Deutsch’s equally funny “Subway Named Mobius” (two math stories in the same book, wow!). We’ve also got Stanley G. Weinbaum’s classic “Martian Odyssey,” and other delightful tales such as Hal Clement’s “Proof,” Jerome Bixby’s “Holes Around Mars,” and Larry Niven’s “Neutron Star.” Several of the other stories are a little to maudlin for my taste (Don A. Stuart’s “Night” or James E. Gunn’s “Cave of Night”), and somehow Arthur C. Clarke’s “Deep Range” has never done much for me (although I would agree it’s a good choice for the anthology). Still, there are enough stories in here that are among my favorite reading in all of sf to make this anthology more than worth getting if one can manage it.

Contents

“Pâté de Foie Gras”