This set of stories from the Delphi Classics edition of the Complete Works of H G Wells is a bit of a misnomer, as half of the stories also appear in my single volume "Complete Short Stories of HG Wells" published in 1966 for the author's centenary (meaning, of course, the other half do not, so that wonderful book's title was a misnomer also). I was specifically prompted to read this now as it contains the story "The Chronic Argonauts", which contained Wells's first ideas that later went into "The Time Machine". The other highlights are a revised version of the author's classic "The Country of the Blind", with a more dramatic ending; and "The Land Ironclads", in which, in 1903, Wells predicted military vehicles that are effectively tanks (albeit larger than any real world tank). The other stories are mostly fairly lightweight and humorous, but also include a couple of stories depicting early humans, which reflect the state of science and assumptions of their time. All in all, not a classic collection, but the above mentioned titles make it worth a look. ( )