A review by abrswf
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 by Robert Silverberg

3.0

Narration is superb for this extensive collection of science fiction stories from the 1940s and 1950s, but the stories themselves are very uneven in quality. There are standouts from Asimov, Bradbury and Arthur C Clarke, plus the masterpiece in heartbreak, Flowers for Algernon, but the majority were good, not great, and more than a few were tedious slogs. The racism, sexism, stress on Christianity, complete absence of LGBTQ characters and general assumption that only white American men count are to be expected, I suppose, but grate nonetheless. There’s also a surprising lack of imagination about the future as well — anachronisms like pencils, pads of paper, newspapers, microfiche and giant computers that are limited to numerical calculation abound. In short this is a long, long listen with just a few gems to be found on the way.