This is Masamune Shirow's first work, and as you might expect, it's far from his best. It's a series of semi-connected short stories that are supposed to take place within the same universe, with a set of shared characters that pop up from time to time. The setting is a weird mix of semi-hard and really soft science fiction, with some very badly defined magic/ESP thrown in to confuse things.

The overall plot is basically incomprehensible. There is a prelude and and epilogue that try to bookend the series, but they have no obvious connection to the rest of the story. And the epilogue really doesn't make sense even on it's own terms.

The best story by far is the one where special forces soldiers take on some androids. Boiled down and with the magic element stripped out, it would go on to become the fun little anime OVA of the same name.

The only reason I'd recommend reading this is as manga history. You can see the elements that would be put to better use in Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, and get an idea of how Shirow's concepts evolved over time.