This is a handsome, limited edition collection of the best work by one of the finest short fiction writers in science fiction. There are 14 stories in all, ranging from straight SF to tales that stray into the fantasy and horror genres. Of special note is the title story, which earned the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and a 1996 Nebula Award nomination. But all of the stories are excellent in their own right. An insightful forward by James Patrick Kelly's friend and sometimes collaborator John Kessel (Corrupting Dr. Nice) leads off the collection and explores Kelly's somewhat underrated career.

From School Library Journal
YA?A unique collection of short stories that explore what it is to be human in the technological age, new scientific discoveries, and the dawn of space travel. The selections, representing a 20-year writing career, are easy to read and enjoyable even for non-science-fiction readers. The title story is set on a planet inhabited by intelligent dinosaurs who have discovered the secret of instantaneous space travel and who teach the protagonist to think like a reptile. Some stories are futuristic; in "Pogrom," the generation gap has swelled to violent proportions. Other stories appear, at first, to be contemporary fiction, but there is always a little twist to make readers shudder and realize this is NOT normal. "Big Guy" explores the implications of a future high technology world where people rarely meet face to face and everything is done via virtual reality.?Susan McFaden, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Kelly, whose last novel was Wildlife (1994), is actually better known for his short stories, which blend literary sensibilities and compassion with innovative themes. "Think Like a Dinosaur," a Hugo winner last year and probably the best story here, involves space travel of a sort: you travel to another planet using a method rather like being faxed, leaving your old, living self behind to be disposed of by the sad technician in charge. Wonderful, but all these stories are. "The First Law of Thermodynamics" evokes the 1960s and then transforms an ignorant, would-be radical into the woebegone academic he was always destined to be. "Pogrom" chillingly sets the boomer generation against their progeny, who must support them in their old age. "Heroics," hardly science fiction at all, details a dream that comes true, of a man saving the passengers on a burning boat. Thoughtful, beautifully written stories, just a few degrees north of realism. John Mort

From Kirkus Reviews
From the author of Look into the Sun (1989), etc., a first story collection of 14 tales, 198497, including the Hugo Awardwinning title piece about the moral and ethical complications that ensue when intelligent space-traveling dinosaurs introduce a teleportation device to Earth. Also noteworthy: ``Faith,'' a love story involving a man who talks to plants; ``Breakaway, Breakdown,'' a witty, discerning piece consisting of responses given by a spacewoman--readers have to supply the questions for themselves; ``Crow,'' an effective post-nuclear chiller; ``Monsters,'' wherein a grotesque hunchback who turns out to be an angel drives a potential psycho-killer back to sanity; and the famous ``Mr. Boy,'' a sort of techno version of Philip Jos‚ Farmer's return-to-the-womb classic, ``Mother.'' The remainder feature variations on: life on the future dole; fathers and daughters; dreams, impotence, and salvation; cybersex; adulterous guys becoming unpersons; the '60s generation; and a rodent drug courier. An admirably diverse set of themes: readers attuned to Kelly's singular attitude and approach should find much to appreciate. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
This first major retrospective collects Kelly's finest short fiction from a 20-year career and includes a dazzling array of work, from hard science fiction and Twilight Zone-inspired fantasies to stark futuristic horror. The grim fable "Pogrom" presents a near-futuristic scenario in which internecine warfare has broken out between the aging boomer generation and a youthful dispossessed proletariat who must support them. The landmark novella "Mr. Boy" is the wildly inventive tale of a genetically stunted 12-year-old who literally lives inside his mother, who has turned herself into a three-quarter-scale model of the Statue of Liberty. "The First Law of Thermodynamics" is a remarkable evocation of the psychedelic sixties-the time of Vietnam, Kent State, and acid rock-in which, like that era itself, nothing is what it appears to be. The now-famous title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur," is a tale of a transporter beam maintained by aliens, through which humanity can visit the stars.

About the Author
James Patrick Kelly is the author of Strange but Not a Stranger, Wildlife, Heroines, Look into the Sun, Freedom Beach, and Plant of Whispers. He has won the World Science Fiction Society's Hugo Award twice. He writes a column on the Internet for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. He lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This first major retrospective collects Kelly's finest short fiction from a 20-year career and includes a dazzling array of work, from hard science fiction and Twilight Zone-inspired fantasies to stark futuristic horror. The grim fable "Pogrom" presents a near-futuristic scenario in which internecine warfare has broken out between the aging boomer generation and a youthful dispossessed proletariat who must support them. The landmark novella "Mr. Boy" is the wildly inventive tale of a genetically stunted 12-year-old who literally lives inside his mother, who has turned herself into a three-quarter-scale model of the Statue of Liberty. "The First Law of Thermodynamics" is a remarkable evocation of the psychedelic sixties-the time of Vietnam, Kent State, and acid rock-in which, like that era itself, nothing is what it appears to be. The now-famous title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur," is a tale of a transporter beam maintained by aliens, through which humanity can visit the stars.