Published in 1989, this anthology is one of the best introductions to the first six decades of science fiction short stories and novellas ever compiled. The fifty-two stories gather authors from around the world, including classic SF authors such as Le Guin, Delany, Vonnegut, Sturgeon, Clarke, Lem, Bester, Heinlein, Sheckley, Niven, Pohl, Asimov, Wolfe, and the Strugatskys, along with those more associated with literary (if fantastic) fiction such as Ballard, Calvino, Borges, and even Updike.
Arranged in non-chronological order, the World Treasury offers a sampling of all the most important highlights of science fiction eras until the end of the 1980s, from the Golden Age to New Wave and Feminist, and includes hard (technical) science fiction, soft, and surreal.