These interviews, collected for the first time in one book, plumb the depths of an extraordinary mind, one of the 20th and 21st century's most gifted visionaries, J.G. Ballard. This is a treasure for all Ballardians. The editors have done a great service. And what is also great it is not necessary to have read any of Ballards novels or short stories to enjoy this book, althogh you owe it to yourself to read any of Ballard's work because its an education in itself.

Ballard has always been one of my husband's favorite SF writers. This collection of interviews covering over 40 years fascinates him. He tells me that it has really helped him understand how Ballard thought and how he grew as a writer. My husband has not finished it yet, because it so good he does not want to finish it.

Forty years worth of conversation with a man who was as much a science fiction writers as he was horrifyingly foreseeing about this big blue spaceship we call our planet.

Ballard is extremely thorough and generous in his answers. He never has nothing to say about the conversation topics chosen by the interviewers and his thoughts are always razor sharp and informative. A few highlights:

- Saying the world would gradually phase out novels because our mass-mediatized reality is a fictional construction.

- Saying that everyone is going to call themselves "storytellers" in the future because it would a genuine part of their jobs.

- The inspiration anecdotes for his novel High-Rise that was 15 years in the making and that was based on several real incidents.

- The hilarious amount of explanation and justification he had to give for his novels The Atrocity Exhibition and Crash, which are two of his most iconic today.

The only major problem this collection suffer from is that he's getting asked the same questions over and over again in each interviews. They could've easily been edited out of it. I mean, how many times can he answer "what is science fiction for you?

It's great, though. If you love Ballard as much as I do, this is a must read

Hugely informative and interesting contents, providing the lifelong fan as well as the neophyte with plenty of insightful details on Ballard's work - from his own perspective. An excellent collection which I definitely recommend.

Well having only recently becoming interested in all things Ballard this a book that I really wanted to read.

I went for the Kindle version, which is really nicely presented...

Interactive Index, which I've seen a good few books lacked of late, clearly dated publication date and where it was published...

Brief background context pre each interview and spans the great writers career.

I've ravaged much of what there is of Ballard on yt, and while super interesting most of it dates after the publication of Empire of the Sun.

There's the short films he did for the Atrocity exhibition and Crash...

But really I was left wanting more.

There is something that makes reading Interviews contempary to book releases that allows the Myths and reputations that time may give to be stripped away and Ballard is once again alive and caught in moments of time.

Reading them is rewarding, he's an interesting man.

Also of note in the main, he's interviews ask pertinent questions ....

The whole experience has a weight to imo.

I have not finished reading the full volume yet, but as a counter balance read while reading other book, I am throughly enjoying my time with this.

Highly recommend reading.

It is wonderful to see the current roll out of republished versions of all these Ballard books. The introduction to this generous selection of interviews with JG Ballard argues that his interviews might even be better than his books, and the following interviews make a strong case for that being true.

Non Ballard fans are likely to find the book of sporadic interest, as Ballard casts an insightful eye over our strange ways, technology and their intersection. For Ballard fans it is interesting to see the books grouped into trilogies, and to hear how they were written. He acknowledges their repetition and lack of variation. There is a smattering about the films, and Ballard obviously knew a lot of interesting people, without getting into endless namedropping. Oddly I did not see any mention of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth but otherwise the commentary is incredibly well researched and insightful.

It might come as a surprise just how affable and well adjusted Ballard seems to be, but then I never read his books as being unduly dark and depressing, more of a cool look at something that we ought to think about about very carefully.

Here, a collection of interviews from a master of the medium. No reading of Ballard can go without also experiencing his free talking self articulately explaining how the world is and will be. J.G. has gone where others dared not to tread, has excavated an extreme wilderness of the inner self. It is a world that was establishing itself with the post war era. No other writer has delved more vigorously into what it means to be Modern, what it means to be surrounded by a spaghetti of highways all around, for all life to be evaporated by the sun, or drowned by the sea, or be crystallised into the forest - global warming, industrial landscapes, psychological transformation from the outer to the inner world, through media projections and the slow motion car crash. The new world creates endless possibilities - here explored by Ballard himself talking in a highly lucid and sometimes obsessed way about the way he sees the world. Well edited with helpful introductions giving the context for each interview.

Exhaustive collection of interviews Ballard gave during his career. From big publications to small SF zines. Ballard was a good talker and generous with his ideas. At times I had to put down the book after reading a page because it contains so many ideas you have to process slowly. A must-read for lovers of Ballard's fiction and the more adventurous science fiction reader.