A good collection of stories (3.47), mostly sf, with some fantasy, and just enough to round it up from its really 3.75 quality to 4, as far as the half-star ratings go.

The highlights are the first two, and the four star fantasies later.

Best of Henry Kuttner : Mimsy Were the Borogoves - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Two-Handed Engine - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Proud Robot - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Misguided Halo - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Voice of the Lobster - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Exit the Professor - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Twonky - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : A Gnome There Was - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Big Night - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Nothing But Gingerbread Left - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : The Iron Standard - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Cold War - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Or Else - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Endowment Policy - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Housing Problem - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : What You Need - Henry Kuttner
Best of Henry Kuttner : Absalom - Henry Kuttner

A technology discovery is beyond the adults, but definitely not the children, with unforeseen results.

4.5 out of 5

Fury killing.

4 out of 5

Bootleg theatre botsense.

3.5 out of 5

Wrong Tibet.

3 out of 5

Intergalactically dodgy punter.

3.5 out of 5

Hogben flight.

3 out of 5

Radio rule.

3.5 out of 5

Underground transformation organisation against the head egg man.

4 out of 5

I'm a hyper ship man.

3.5 out of 5

Astounding influence.

3 out of 5

Digging at the static Venusian economy.

3.5 out of 5

Blockhead Hogben hex.

3 out of 5

Just stop shooting, you two.

3.5 out of 5

M-Power same job.

3 out of 5

Pixie cage.

4 out of 5

World timeline guidance.

3.5 out of 5

Mutant moral control.

3 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/07... ( )

How can you not enjoy a book whose introduction contains: If you have arrived at this book and look to Kuttner for religious instruction, secular improvement, or moral renovation...you had best retreat to forms of literate navel-lint plucking with which the sophomores of the world bug each other? ( )

A bit of a mixed collection from Henry Kuttner. While I enjoyed a few of them a lot, others felt quite dated. Most are built around intriguing ideas, in some cases ideas that later authors would come back to and build on (e.g., "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" and "The Twonky"). Several of them are quite funny. My favorite was "The Misguided Halo" an exceedingly funny story about a man who has been mistakenly made a saint. It's been a long time since a sixteen-page short story made me laugh uncontrollably at least three times. I also particularly enjoyed "The Big Night," an adventure tale set in a time when a romantic era of space travel is being supplanted by new technology, and "Absalom" about a brilliant parent who faces the prospect of being eclipsed by his even more brilliant son. My least favorite was "The Proud Robot," which was no doubt a groundbreaking "man-robot relationship" tale of its day, but which failed for me on multiple levels.

The strangest thing about this book (and the forward by Ray Bradbury) is its complete avoidance of any acknowledgement that virtually everything Kuttner wrote after 1940 was co-authored with his wife, C.L. Moore. ( )