John Brunner. Time Jump (1973)

     John Brunner. Time Jump (1973) Brunner specialises in SF satire. Like Pohl, he has a sharp eye for ironic miscalculations, such as the Martians in The Warp and the Woof Woof. They are so sure of their mental and technological superiority that they fail to realise that they are much smaller than humans, whom they despise as semi-intelligent primitives at best. They make nice mouse-sized snacks for the “most intelligent” dweller at the house of the astronaut who is scheduled to arrive at their planet pretty soon. They also failed to pay enough attention to the habits of humans, so that they pick up the dog instead of the man, who has gone out with his wife for a farewell celebration. Darker miscalculations drive the plot of Nobody Axed You, in which a gruesome TV show inspires people to kill each other, and so helps reduce the population. A nice collection of bite-sized tales. **½ (2010)