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Book Review: The Instrumentality of Mankind (Cordwainer Smith)

I have a soft spot for old-school science fiction. It is always interesting to see how people in the past thought about the future, and to think about how our current vision of the future will be similarly distorted. This book is actually a collection of short stories, most of which take place in the same universe, although they span about 13,000 years. The stories definitely have their ups and downs, but I think the author's perspective as a diplomat for the U.S. during the 1950's helps some of the stories have an interesting perspective on how things might turn out. There is also an interesting theme of undescribable feelings and the manipulation of human perception through technology running throughout several of the stories. Overall, I think the collection was interesting, but it only seemed to hint at even greater stories that existed in the author's unique setting, or in his later writing.