Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction

Offers a historical look at science fiction as a genre in literature, films, and television

Few adolescent males of the 1960s were immune to the creepy, punning charms of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Ackerman, the magazine's editor, houses a 300,000-item collection of fantasy memorabilia in his Hollywood "Ackermansion," and he has raided it for this elaborate, nostalgic scrapbook on the history of horror's slightly more mature cousin, science fiction. With 300 mostly color photos and evocative commentary by "4SJ" himself, the volume traces sf's development from Verne and Wells (Ackerman actually met and befriended the latter) to the pulp magazines to genre masters like Asimov and Bradbury. Plenty of attention is lavished, of course, on big-and small-screen sf, from Melies' three-minute Trip to the Moon (1899) to Star Wars and The X-Files. Di Fate's Infinite Worlds offered a tonier look at sf art, but Ackerman gives us the collection that appeals to the inner 12-year-old boy in readers of all ages and both genders. Gordon Flagg