Larry Eisenberg (1) (1918–2018)

Setting aside the disappointing casual racism and sexism that sometimes seems inseparable from mid-century sci-fi (and additionally setting aside that this came out in 1971, so it's maybe a little late to still be so blatant), this anthology has some nice, if slight, stories with an endearing from-the-scientific trenches perspective. Eisenberg was an actual biomedical engineer and his wry looks at the academic and research communities provide much of the drive for this collection. Many of these stories feature Professor Emmet Duckworth, Eisenberg's most beloved character, and are told through the admiring eyes of Duckworth's Watson-like computer programmer friend, and those are probably the strongest of the bunch. While this one never quite lived up to its admittedly amazing cover, it does scratch a certain Kurt Vonnegut meets science fiction itch.… (mais)