This is a collection of short stories by a single author. Wyndham was British, and he was no fan of space opera, or of the heavily techno-crazy tales being spun im the 1950's on this side of the Atlantic. This collection is a fast forward to the "New Sci-Fi" of the 1960's with a lot of character development and thoughtful asides. ( )

First published in 1956 this book brings together a collection of ten short stories that features comedy, horror, romance and even occasionally social commentary. There's no real common theme, however three of the stories are based on Mars and time travel also features heavily as does a warning for men not to under-estimate women especially the quiet ones. Each story is individual rather than being part of a whole.

Normally I'm not a great fan of short stories, I usually find that whilst some are good others are less so, but here I found the standard was generally high. Wyndham is a great storyteller and the variety in this book allows him to show off his versatility. It is hard to pick a favourite but if I were pushed to do so I would probably plump for 'Pawley's Peepholes' in which the people of the future visit the present and treat it like a theme park, turning up in the most unexpected and unwanted places. A comedy with a satirical edge. In contrast I felt that 'Opposite Number' was probably the most dated and the final story 'Wild Flowers' probably the weakest.

This is a great introduction to Wyndham's writing for anyone who hasn't read his more well known novels and as such I would highly recommend it. ( )

This is a short story collection that is, I dare say, much less famous than Wyndham's novels. It is, however, worth hunting down if you like those novels. As is often the case with short story collections, The Seeds of Time shows greater range than all of the author's novels together (although Wyndham was just one of several pseudonyms used by this author and I haven't read any of the others).

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See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/921319/the-seeds-of-time-john-wyndham

Satisfying collection of well-crafted short stories from a master story teller of the 1950s. Some are humorous, some lyrical, and some disturbing, but all are tightly written and most have female characters who express opinions, take action, and generally act like humans rather than cardboard cutouts. Enjoyable. ( )

Some interesting Welles-like time travel and Clarke-like space travel stories, rather jarringly pervaded by Wyndham's sexism and the attitudes of the time. Pleasant enough. ( )