A delightful collection of short stories (the second half of the English translation of The Star Diaries) full of whimsy, philosophy, fantasy, science, and plenty of satire -- of politics, of the scientific community, of the morality of governments and markets.

If this is at all your thing, I highly recommend "The Washing Machine Tragedy" if you can find it online (it was published in the New Yorker in 1981). Especially the first half -- it reads rather like two related stories that transition midway from one to the other -- is some of the most outrageous, laugh out loud writing I have read in years, and a great satire of reckless capitalism to boot.