Turn Left At Thursday is a collection of three novelettes and three stories, although I’d call the “novelettes” short stories as well. The longest clocked in at 43 pages.

These stories go beyond the usual golden age sci-fi fare. Rather than just setting adventure stories in space, Pohl used some mind-warping points of view to shed a dystopian light on the world.

The best part of reading mid-twentieth century science fiction is the light it sheds on the culture of that day. You can learn a lot about people’s history by reading their dreams (and nightmares) for the future. The last story, “I Plingot, Who You” is particularly telling. In it, an alien exploits cold war tensions to attempt to bring earth to the point of nuclear annihilation.

Even though the quality of some of the shorter stories was lacking, this was an interesting set of tales.

Pohl, Frederik. Turn Left at Thursday. Ballantine Books, 1961.