 Many people have called "E for Effort" classic, though some have limited the description to "a minor classic".Fletcher Pratt cited it as an example of "a brilliantly original concept" with "no story at all... the science is dandy, but there is no fiction", so a reader would not reread it and would give it no more than a qualified recommendation.Algis Budrys called it "a coherent, logical, entertaining, believable" story.