Ballantine's Science Fiction line in 1960

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Let's take a look at the ad for Ballantine's science fiction line that resides on the last page of my 1960 copy of Algis Budrys's The Unexpected Dimension.  I have read or own so many of the listed books that the ad makes me feel like some kind of SF grognard, full of grumbling complaints and reminiscences of "the old days!"

I read Childhood's End as a kid and then as an adult (though before this blog rose from my tortured psyche to haunt the interwebs) and I guess I thought it was OK for one of those aliens-are-going-to-tell-us-what-to-do-and-we-should-welcome-it things--it is also one of those collective consciousness things, like Ted Sturgeon's Cosmic Rape AKA To Marry Medusa.  Back in my New York days I read Robert Crane's Hero's Walk, which is an even more irritating take on the we-should-welcome-alien-imperialism theme and I thought it was abysmal--tedious as well as insulting.  (Nice cover, though!)

Speaking of Ted "Killdozer" Sturgeon, More Than Human is apparently an expansion of "Baby is Three," a long story I didn't think much of when I read it--Joachim Boaz thinks More Than Human is a masterpiece, however.  On the plus side, I liked Sturgeon's "A Way of Thinking," a story about friendship and black magic which is included in the Sturgeon collection E Pluribus Unicorn, and "Microcosmic God," which is reprinted in Caviar.  (Check out the classic Powers cover on Caviar.)

In 2015 I wrote about John Wyndham's Re-Birth (AKA The Chrysalids) which I found mediocre and interpreted as a collectivist and feminist attack on Christianity and the written word.

I read the 1942 novella version of Nerves by Lester del Rey and thought it boring (our man tarbandu read the novel version in 2009 and penned a pretty hostile review.)  Like "Nerves" and "Baby is Three," C. M. Kornbluth's "The Marching Morons" is an inductee of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame that I have expressed doubts about, Kornbluth's famous tale being full of lame jokes and exhibiting (or satirizing?) the elitism lamentably common among SF writers and fans.     

I own a copy of Bright Phoenix (Joachim Boaz donated it to the MPorcius Library--check out his 2012 review!) but have not read it yet.  I own Sometime, Never (we were just talking about it on twitter!) but have not read that yet, either.

I wrote about Philip Jose Farmer's The Green Odyssey positively back in 2014.  I should reread Jack Vance's To Live Forever, current editions of which bear the author-preferred title of Clarges.

One candidate for the best book listed here is the Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore collection No Boundaries.  This collection contains "Vintage Season" and "Two-Handed Engine," both of which I think are great.  Another candidate is Ray Bradbury's The October Country, which includes such classic horror tales as "The Small Assassin," "Skeleton," and "The Man Upstairs."

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If you have opinions about any of the books or authors on this 1960 list feel free to unburden yourself in the comments!  Don't be afraid to tell me that I'm all wrong and "Nerves" is brilliant and The Green Odyssey is a pile of junk!