First published in 1978, this collection of nineteen of Ballard's best short stories is as timely and informed as ever. Tales of the human psyche and its relationship to nature and technology as viewed through a strong microscope, they were eerily prescient, and now shed great perspective on our computer-dominated culture. Ballard's voice and vision have long served as a font of inspiration for today's cyberpunks, the authors and futurists who brought the information age into the mainstream.