ISBN 0-09-919110-5 (UK pbk, 1978)

"There's a belief still current among British schoolchildren that you could stand the entire human race on the 147-square-mile Isle of Wight, elbow to elbow and face to face.

"Well, that may have been true around the time of World War I (maybe in 1918) although nobody was keeping records accurate enough for us to be certain. However, right now in the 1970s you would have a tough job packing us on the 221-square-mile Isle of Man.

"And by 2010 -- the time this book takes place -- you would need an altogether larger island, something like the 640-square-mile surface of Zanzibar.

"By 2010 there are more than seven billion people crowding the world. A world of acceleratubes, intelligent computers and mass-marketed psychedelics. A terrifying world of human machines where a quiet man can be programmed to kill." [jacket blurb, UK pbk, 1978]

"A message from our sponsors: This non-novel was brought to you by John Brunner using Spicers Plus Fabric Bond and Commercial Bank papers interleaved with Serillo carbons in a Smith Corona 250 electric typewriter fitted with a Kolok black-record ribbon." --John Brunner.