This collection of stories showcases the work of George Zebrowski, one of science fiction's masters and a writer Hugo and Nebula Award winner Robert J. Sawyer has called "one of the most philosophically astute writers in science fiction." Like the writers Olaf Stapledon, Arthur C. Clarke, and Stanislaw Lem, Zebrowski explores the "big questions"-the expansion of human horizons, and the growth of power over our lives and the world in which we live.
In the title story, scientists push the boundaries of human mentality to keep pace with ever-evolving AIs. In "The Eichmann Variations,"a finalist for the Nebula Award, exact copies of captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann stand trial for his crimes against humanity, while in "The Word Sweep," all speech must be rationed because spoken words take on physical form. In "Wound the Wind," another Nebula Award finalist, unchanged humans roam freely until captured by those who know what's best for them, and in "Stooges," a visiting alien hijacks the persona of Curly Howard. From hard science fiction ("Gödel's Doom") to alternate history ("Lenin in Odessa") to first alien contact ("Bridge of Silence"), and with an introduction by renowned physicist/writer Gregory Benford, this collection presents one of the most distinctive voices writing in the field of science fiction today.

George Zebrowski's more than forty books include novels, short fiction collections, anthologies, and a collection of essays.

His short fiction, articles, and essays have appeared in Omnimagazine, Asimov's Science Fiction, Amazing Stories,the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Interzone, Science Fiction Age, Nature, the Bertrand Russell Society News, and many other publications. "Heathen God" was nominated for a Nebula Award in 1972.

Brute Orbits (1998), an uncompromising novel about the future of the penal system, was honored with the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and Stranger Suns (1991) was a New York Times Notable Book.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• The Writer as Philosopher
• The Word Sweep
• Author Notes to The Word Sweep
• Starcrossed
• Author Notes to Starcrossed
• The Eichmann Variations
• Author Notes to the Eichmann Variations
• This Life and Later Ones
• Author Notes to This Life and Later Ones
• The City of Thought and Steel
• Author Notes to The City of Thoughts and Steel
• Gödel's Doom
• Author Notes to Gödel's Doom
• Lenin in Odessa
• Author Notes to Lenin in Odessa
• Sacred Fire
• Author Notes to Sacred Fire
• Stooges
• Author Notes to Stooges
• Bridge of Silence
• Author Notes to Bridge of Silence
• Swift Thoughts
• Author Notes to Swift Thoughts
• The Idea Trap
• Author Notes to The Idea Trap
• Behind the Night
• Author Notes to Behind the Night
• Wound the Wind
• Author Notes to Wound the Wind
• Rope of Glass
• Author Notes to Rope of Glass
• In the Distance, Ahead in Time
• Author Notes to In the Distance, Ahead in Time
• Lesser Beasts
• Author Notes to Lesser Beasts
• The Number of the Sand
• Let Time Shape
• Author Notes to The Number of Sand and Let Time Shape
• Shrinkers & Movers
• Author Notes to Shrinkers & Movers
• Augie
• Author Notes to Augie
• The Last Science Fiction Story of the 20th Century
• Catch the Sleep Ship - The First Science Fiction Story of the 20th Century
• Author Notes to The Last Science Fiction Story of the 20th Century, Catch the Sleep Ship - The First Science Fiction Story of the 20th Century, and The Holdouts
• The Holdouts
• About the Author
• Copyright