The Jack Vance Treasury

By Jack Vance

Book Overview

Nebula and World Fantasy Grand Master Jack Vance is one of the most admired and cherished writers of science fiction and fantasy in the world, and is one of the truly important and influential... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596060778
• ISBN13: 9781596060777
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Subterranean Press
• Length: 633 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

brilliant

I had a love hate relationship with this book, because many of his ideas were so much larger than a short story. Most should have been their own book, and many should have been series of books. What I liked most was his use of ontology. Many authors today take for granted that every alien civilization would have the same sort of logic we would have. However, we have been granted a way of thinking passed to us directly from Socrates. How would an alien race think? Would we be able to communicate, even if we learned their language because their way of thinking would be so different. He also explores the question of what makes sentience. Can a species be intelligent in a completely different way than we are? Can there be a different understanding of the universe that is not based upon Greek platonic logic? A logic which gave us empirical science, and is now being unraveled by quantum theories? Is it possible that we need a new type of logic in order to reach the next level of understanding of the universe? Just a few of my thoughts as I read it

Fabulous Collection, Especially for those New to Vance

This collection has a great selection of stories if you're a newcomer to Vance. Shame on Subterranean for the small print run. I would rather Mr. Vance have gotten his share of my purchase instead of the used book dealer*. * - She was a very nice used book dealer...

Jack Vance Variety

This collection of 18 short stories/novelletes provides a good sample of the variety of stories that the Grand Master put out. Two of the stories were Hugo Winning novelettes (which I had first read in the early 70's in first THE HUGO WINNERS anthology), THE DRAGON MASTERS(1963) and THE LAST CASTLE(1966). I just reread these two stories, and they are actually BETTER than I had remembered them - both of these stories are absolutely top notch. Many of the other stories are more fantasy oriented, and not really my cup of tea. There are eight pure SciFi short stories - almost all of which are worth reading. I especially liked THE KOKOD WARRIORS(1951). THE MOON MOTH(1961), THE SECRET(1966) and THE NEW PRIME(1951) were also enjoyable. Those four all hold up better to time than SAIL 25(1962), and are more enjoyable than THE GIFT OF GAB(1955), NOISE(1951), and THE MEN RETURN(1957). If you haven't read THE DRAGON MASTERS, THE LAST CASTLE, or THE KOKOD WARRIORS, you really must get this book and read these three stories. They all hold up extremely well to time, and are true far-future SciFi classics. These three stories, and THE FACE (1979, from THE DEMON PRINCES series), show that when Jack Vance is good, he is VERY good.

Wonderful Vance collection!

Great collection of some of Vance's work, which can be hard to find.