The Best of John W. Campbell

John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910-1971) was more than just one of the greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth century. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction from 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with being the primary shaper of the Golden Age of science fiction. He tutored such giants in the field as A. E. van Vogt, Theodore Sturgeon, and Robert A. Heinlein. Campbell's fiction featured spaceships and aliens, (which are thought of today as typical sci-fi tropes), but he was philosophically focused on big technological and scientific ideas and their ramifications. Writing as Don A. Stuart, Campbell's stories often seem interested in scientific ideas for their own sake, while nevertheless addressing the consequences of the applying them. His fiction explores human nature by contrasting human relationships with technology, or evolution, or aliens, and interrogates other cultural tropes -- specifically what counts as a flourishing civilization, the idea of "progress," and the notion of science as "beneficial."