This is a book of short stories based around the idea of a machine that accurately prophesies the deaths of its users, though in a particularly Delphian or Shakespearean fashion. That is, the predictions are entirely accurate and cryptically useless. Since the stories are by a variety of authors, the descriptions of the machine and its function vary somewhat. The variety of angles examined is mind-blowing and inspired more than one pang of mortality in me. The only problem is that, with the given subject matter, each new story promises at least one more death. It started to get to me after a while. That being said, I enjoyed the stories enough that I kept reading anyway!

I was really impressed with Machine of Death. As with any short story collection written from multiple authors, the stories ranged from decent to impressive, from funny to sad, and even from heartwarming to scarring. But they tended to make you think and wonder, and they were all a great read. Now I'll have to go read the follow-up book.

Some stories are very good and thought-provoking. Others are meh. The book definitely keeps you thinking about a deep and uncomfortable topic for a long time. I've decided I don't want to know how or when I will die. Just live each day to the fullest, as they say.

Hilarious, thoughtful, and depressing. All at the same time.

Normally with compilations you have some good stories and some bad, but these were all quite good. Some were silly, some were serious, nearly all were philosophical in some way. A few didn't really follow the idea of the machine being vague, which bothered me a bit, but overall I highly recommend the book.

Some really great short stories, some were "meh" and a few were just odd and uninteresting. Mostly, though, very enjoyable foray into the world of "What if there WAS a machine that could, only with ambiguity, tell you how you would die?"

What if you knew how you were going to die? An interesting collection of short stories about people who find out how they will die.

What a fun concept for a collection of short stories (disclaimer: I occasionally have odd ideas of fun). What if there exists a machine that can tell you how you will die? And what if that machine is available to everyone? What will that do to both the individuals, and the societies they exist in? And, how will it feel when it seems like the machine has a warped sense of humor that seems to take joy in taunting you with that information? Some people will find it morbid, to be sure, but I enjoyed the different ideas each author had about how this would play out. There was the occasional disjointedness between stories, such that I wish they would have developed the history of the machine a bit more thoroughly so the stories played nice with each other a bit better. But once I got past the occasional contradiction most stores were very engaging and enjoyable, though not always satisfying (but sometimes, unsatisfying is ok, it makes you think about it a bit harder). Sidenote: I was quite happy when I discovered that one of the stories was written by Randall Munroe, author of xkcd, and it certainly has shades of what you'd expect from him based on some of the more philosophical comics he's written.

I'm not normally into short stories. I get too committed and they're over. This was different; because they kept a consistent theme, it didn't feel that way. Very fun stories, I solidly approve.