I must confess, I didn't finish this collection. I guess I am just more a fan of his novels than short stories. Many of these stories seem anecdotal and undeveloped and are consequently less engaging than his classic longform writing. For people new to Wells, start with The Time Machine and War of The Worlds. Other authors (such as John Wyndham) develop many of the ideas in this anthology better. One for completists.

A great collection of short stories by H.G. Wells.
My favourites -

1) The Empire of the Ants - he comments on the sociobiology of ants. Anticipates the work of E.O. Wilson.

2) The Land Ironclads - he predicts tanks, how they will be constructed, what will be the temperament of tank commanders. Remarkably prescient. Also describes gunsights, conning towers and pedrails in amazing detail. Overall a beautiful pacifist piece.

3) The Country of the Blind - just a beautiful story

4) The Man who Could Work Miracles

5) The Truth about Pyecraft

6) The Star

7) The Valley of the Spiders

8) The Door in the Wall - a story for lost childhood

9) The Jilting of Jane - memorable quote - "We all have our sorrows, but I do not believe very much in the existence of sorrows that never heal"

10) The Star - "All the familiar continental markings and the masses of the seas remain intact, and indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (supposed to be frozen water) round either pole. Which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles."

11) The Valley of Spiders

“I stuffed a nigger once.”

n  The Time Machine and Other Storiesn
The Time Machine 4⭐
The Empire of the Ants 5⭐
The Vision of Judgement 4.5⭐
The Land of Ironclads 3.25⭐
The Beautiful Suit 4⭐
The Door in the Wall 5⭐
The Pearl of Love 5⭐
The Country of the Blind 5⭐

n  The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidentsn
The Stolen Bacillus 5⭐
The Flowering of the Strange Orchid 4⭐
In the Avu Observatory 3.25⭐
The Triumphs of a Taxidermist 3.25⭐
A Deal in Ostriches 4⭐
Through a Window 4.5⭐
The Temptation of Harringay 4⭐
The Flying Man 4⭐
The Diamond Maker 4.5⭐
AEpyornis Island 4.5⭐
The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eye 4⭐
The Lord of the Dynamos 4.25⭐
The Hammerpond Park Burglary 3⭐
The Moth 4⭐
The Treasure in the Forest 4.25⭐

n  The Plattner Story and Othersn
The Plattner Story 3.5⭐
The Argonauts of the Air 3⭐
The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham 5⭐
In the Abyss3.25⭐
The Apple 5⭐
Under the Knife 3.25⭐
The Sea Raiders 5⭐
Pollock and the Poroh Man 5⭐
The Red Room 5⭐
The Cone 4⭐
The Purple Pileus 2.5⭐
The Jilting of Jane 2⭐
In the Modern Vein: An Unsympathetic Love Story 2.5⭐
The Catastrophe 3⭐
The Lost Inheritance 4⭐
The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic 3⭐
A Ship Under the Microscope 3.5⭐

My Reconciliation 5⭐
My First Aeroplane 4⭐
Little Mother Up the Morderberg 3.5⭐
The Story of the Last Trump 3.5⭐
The Grizzly Folk 3.5⭐

n  Tales of Space and Timen
The Crystal Egg 4.25⭐
The Star 5⭐
The Story of the Stone Age 4.5⭐
The Story of Days to Come 4.5⭐
The Man Who Could Work Miracles 5⭐

n  Twelve Stories and a Dreamn
Filmer 2.75⭐
The Magic Shop 3.5⭐
The Valley of Spiders 4.25⭐
The Truth About Pyecraft 3.5⭐
Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland 3.5⭐
The Inexperienced Ghost 4⭐
Jimmy Googles the God 4⭐
The New Accelerator 5⭐
Mrs. Ledbetter's Vacation 5⭐
The Stolen Body 5⭐
Mr. Brisher's Treasure 4⭐
Miss Winchelsea's Heart 3.5⭐
A Dream of Armageddon 4⭐

A truly amazing collection of works showing many varying styles by H G Wells, covering a plethora of none science fiction books that will truly astound you Wells wrote them.

Like most anthologies the stories in this one were hit or miss. I generally like HG Wells inventiveness and enjoy those stories where his God given sense of wonder are on display; while avoiding the stories that overtly push his aesthetic or anti-Catholic views. Some of the stories in this book weren't that great.

If you think H. G. Wells and what we called as science fiction only talks about machine and machine, you should revise that and try to read this collection. It is suggested to be the complete short stories of H. G. Wells and interestingly it contains both versions of one revised short story of H. G. Wells: "The Country of the Blind". Well, revising a story after its publication is not something common, but an apology written by Wells in the end of the book (it appears as an introduction to the revised version) is a valuable resource to be considered: how if the story is composed in the better way....?

Okay, that is interesting enough to be discussed, but i also wants to reveal one interesting point for Indonesian reader: several short stories contains (or minimally mentions like Moby Dick) Indonesian region. "In the Avu Observatory" for example use the setting in Borneo, there is the story about Dyak (Dayak) and something called as Big Colugo or Klangutang. Maybe it is only my personal interest but i think it is always interesting to know that several great writers have used their available knowledge to use Indonesian region for their inspiration: Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Conrad (of course,

Long descriptive writing style but so much imagination. There were so many stories in this rather thick book but some of my favorites were The Time Machine, The Country of the Blind, The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic and A Dream of Armageddon.

5/10. No me gusta como trató el paso del tiempo a los relatos de Wells, ni por el estilo ni por contenidos. Vale lo de la retrasnmisión de "La guerra de los mundos" y que fue un innovador en su tiempo, pero no me encanta el Sr. Wells.

Had never read anything by H.G. Wells and, based on the movie version of "The Time Machine," I expected his stories to be very dated and kind of corny. Some of them were a little bit, but mostly they were really well written, and some even had serious points. (I thought they would all be adventure stories like Jules Verne's -- whose stories I also know only through movies.)

High 3.

Difficult to rate something like this... It is the complete works of H.G. Wells and he was rather prolific. With more than 80 stories in this collection and even a few novellas, one can hardly expect each and every one to be amazing.
There are some fairly average stories, and a few that haven't aged particularly well or hold little for a reader of today, but the good stories are really good (some trumping any of his novels, in my opinion) and most of the collection is worth reading purely in terms of the ideas and how they have influenced film and literature.

Somewhere down the line (I've been working my way through this since December 2013) I started listing highlights. Below is a general list of what I consider to be the best of the collection, with what I consider to be the best of the best in bold:

The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes - 4
The Story of The Late Mr Elvesham - 4
The Moth - 3.5
The Apple - 3.5
Under The Knife - 3
Pollock and the Porroh man - 3.5
The Red Room - 4.5
The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic - 4
The Star - 3.5
A Story Of Days To Come - 3.5
The Man Who Could Work Miracles - 4
The Truth About Pyecraft - 3
Mr Skemersdale In Fairy Land - 4
The Door In The Wall - 3.5
Empire Of The Ants - 3.5
The Pearl Of Love - 5
The Country Of The Blind - 4.5
The Story Of The Last Trump - 4
The Devotee Of Art - 4
Wayde's Essence - 3.5
The Wild Asses Of The Devil - 3.5
The Presence By The Fire - 4
An Answer To Prayer - 4
The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper - 3

I started making this list about half way through the collection, and it's quite possible that a few more would be added following a 2nd read. Therefore I have listed (as my memory vaguely serves me) some Honorable Mentions:

The Stolen Bacillus - Didn't stand out for me but I remember it being an amusing read.

The Flowering Of The Strange Orchid - Possibly influenced Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers.

The Triumphs of A Taxidermist/A Deal In Ostriches - An amusing read from what I recall.

Through A Window - Think Hitchcock's Rear Window.

The Temptation of Harringay - An early draft of The Devotee of Art. Decent enough but I preferred the revised version.

The Diamond Maker - I can't remember this one very well but I remember enjoying it.

A Slip Under The Microscope - I personally didn't think much of this story, but it is considered one of Wells finest, purely due to the questions it raises on certain moral issues.

The Man With The Nose - Short, amusing story about a man's dissatisfaction with his nose.

Our Little Neighbor - Tragic, mildly horrific little story. Reminded me of that episode of The Twilight Zone with the gremlin.


As I have already said, most of the stories are worth reading, if not for the purpose of entertainment then for the ideas they contain or for their uncanny prophetic nature (as Wells is often noted for).
The Land Ironclads, for example; I didn't particularly like it as a story, but it does predict what are essentially tanks, and in chilling detail. There are also plenty of stories concerning airplanes or similar contraptions which were written before such things had even been produced.

Other things of note:

The story "The Star" reads like an early version of n  In The Days of The Cometn. Those who have read and enjoyed the novel may find that an interesting read.

Both The Last Trump and An Answer To Prayer contain similar themes to n  The Soul of A Bishopn and were possibly early precursors to the writing of the novel.

A Story of The Days To Come is set in the same future society as n  The Sleeper Awakesn.

This collection (2011 Gollancz edition) contains both the original and revised versions of The Country Of The Blind. I personally prefer the original and would recommend reading that first, but the revised is also worth a read.

All in all, a very worthwhile collection. If you are a fan like me, then you'll find the majority of this collections material a very worthwhile read. If you are merely interested in dipping in for a few gems, then I believe most of Well's most popular/famous stories should be either in my list of favorites or the honorable mentions.

This gets a 5 star not because I loved every story, but for "The Truth about Pyecraft." Had all his other stories been wretched, the rating would have been the same as this story would redeem them all.