This is an impressive collection of short stories by Brian Aldiss. I find this one hard to classify, so I'm offering a shortened quote from one of my favourite stories instead to start with:
"I tried to plan out a science fiction story about a race of men who had only subconsciouses. their consciousnesses had been painlessly removed by surgery. They moved faster without their burdening consciousnesses, wearing lunatic smiles or lunatic frowns. Directly after their operations, scars still moist, they had restarted World War II, some assuming the roles of Nazis or Japanese or Yugoslav partisans or British Fighter pilots in kinky boots [...] When a concentration camp was set up, it was rapidly filled: people have a talent for suffering [...] few people were left alive. They voted themselves second-class citizens, mostly becoming Jewish Negroes or Vietnamese. There was birching between consenting adults. These good folk voted unanimously to have their subconsciousnesses removed, leaving only their ids."
Other than that, the story that stood out most was "Heresies of the Huge God", a brilliant exercise on faith, fear and sacrifice.
I can recommend this collection, though not all stories will appeal to everybody.
