As of December, 1981, Skinner has published 173 papers and books...Fifteen of the papers are included in this collection. Why these?
The short autobiography that begins the book needs no justification, I suspect. Each of the other papers tends to be widely cited and is representative of some important aspects of Skinner's work. The first section of the book includes four papers that should give you some idea of the range of Skinner's laboratory work. The second paper, "A Case History in Scientific Method," includes a fairly remarkable record of some of Skinner's early discoveries.
The second section includes five papers that will introduce you to Skinner's theories in several domains: behaviorism, freedom and control, phylogeny and ontogeny, cognition, and creativity, respectively. One theoretical area in which Skinner has made important contributions was omitted from this section (and hence, from the book as a whole)--verbal behavior. Material on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior can be found in his book by that title, published in 1957, or in Notebooks, published in 1980.
The last section includes a sampling of applications of Skinner's science in child rearing, animal training, education, and so on.
Each chapter begins with an Editor's note and concludes with a postscript Skinner has written especially for this volume. Each note refers you to related works Skinner has written or to other relevent literature and summarizes the paper before which it appears. Skinner's postscript updates the piece for you; it gives you his current perspective on a piece he may have written decades ago. A complete listing of Skinner's published works and a detailed index appear at the end of the book.
[From the Introduction of Skinner for the Classroom(1982). Champaign, IL: Research Press.]
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