Product Description
The Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, whose works include Return from the Stars, The Cyberiad, A Perfect Vacuum, and Solaris, has been hailed as a "literary Einstein" and a science-fiction Bach. "The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem" offers an inter-disciplinary analysis of his influence on Western culture and the creative partnering of art and science in his fiction and futorology by American and European scholars who have defined Lem scholarship. Rather than analyzing Lem solely as a science fiction writer, the contributors examine the larger themes in his work, such as social engineering and human violence, agency and consciousness, Freudianism and the creative process, evolution and the philosophy of the future, virtual reality and epistemological illusion, and science fiction and socio-cultural policy. This unique collection also includes "Smart Robots," a previously unpublished essay by Lem. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Soon in paperback...
The paperback is coming out soon, so I want to say that without an index this book will not be of much use to people who want to read about Lem but are not experts and so need to look things up. Also I find that the second last chapter is really an extended summary of the content of a few polish films, useful for academics maybe and those who can find these polish films, but not to general readers. In sum, four stars only.

Worth waiting for
This is an intriguing, rich, challenging, multifaceted, interdisciplinary, eye-opening book.It begins with chapter by the editor, Peter Swirski, which summarizes Lem's career and provides a fascinating look at the writer's life as a writer. It is then followed by a chapter by Lem himself who discusses the subject of thinking robots with his characteristic dry wit. This in itself makes this collection outstanding.It is a coup to get Lem to write something new so late in his life (the author passed away in March 2006). Next come: a long chapter from Katherine Hayles on "The Mask" and volition, a long chapter from Swirski on "Return From the Stars" and social engineering, a few paragraphs from Michael Kandel on translatinf Lem's last novel "Fiasco", Peter Butko on "Summa Technologiae" and evolution, J Jarzebski on evolution, Paisley Livingston on Lem's philosophy of skepticism (if I understood it correctly), K Loska on film adaptations, and Swirski again on the novel "Solaris" and the film.My favourites are Lem, Swirski, Butko, and those parts of Livingston which fit my cup of tea.However, there is so much variety and difference between the individual chapters that every reader will find something to his or her liking. The contributors are from America and Poland which is very appropriate since Lem was Polish but has become a byword in the States from the seventies.

Finally, a bit of imperfection found in this collection: some of the essays are disappointingly short, no index (what was the publisher thinking of?), the quality is a bit uneven, and the current price for the hard cover is very high (please do get it out in paper pack ASAP). ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Hilarious but a little weird
Because of the very vivid storytelling, years after I have read these tales, recalling them still makes me laugh. Reading about these robots allows us to see ourselves in a new light. Robots with feelings. Robots with desires and dreams. Robots that love, lie, and struggle for a better life, made me gain a better appreciation for my own humanity. Some of the gags may seem familiar, like robots encountering a human and finding out that everything they imagined about humans is wrong. Styles vary from fairy tales to conventional short story, to parables. Not all of the stories are equally good; I didn't like the one about Honest Annie very well as it was too didactic for my taste.

"Fables for Robots," plus three "bonus" stories
The title of this assembly of stories is the translator's clever triple pun: an allusion to Othello, "mortal engines" are manmade, impermanent, and sometimes deadly machines--robots, to be exact. Included are all the tales from Lem's "Fables for Robots" and three other stories ("The Sanatorium of Dr. Vliperdius," "The Hunt," and "The Mask") that double the size of the book.

The fables are like--well, fables. That is, the prose style resembles Aesop or Andersen ("Once there lived..."); the narrative recounts long-ago events; and each tale presents a message--or, at least, a lesson for us humans disguised as a moral for them robots. These eleven shorts recall Borges (or even Poe) at his most playful, but read in sequence they tend to become a tad formulaic (several robots are sent on a mission; each fails, but the last one succeeds). And if you're a lover of science jokes, these stories will be your playground; Lem packs references to chemistry, physics, geology, computer science, and electronics--often in the same sentence: "self-motes came from distant lands, like the two Automatts, vector-victors in a hundred battles, or like Prostheseus, constructionist par excellence, who never went anywhere without two spark absorbers, one black, the other silver; and there was Arbitron Cosmoski, all built of protocrystals and svelte as a spire...."

If, like me, you prefer a little more story and a little less pun, you'll find that the gems of the book are the three bonus tracks. The last two, in particular, are among the best I've ever read by Lem, and have nothing in common with the fables other than the automaton theme. "The Hunt" is a rollicking adventure story featuring Lem's famous alter ego, Pirx the Pilot, on a mission to destroy a homicidal robot. "The Mask" may well be the best Lem story I've read: the haunting stream-of-consciousness of a robot who, like an otherworldly Tristram Shandy, narrates its own birth, consciousness, self-realization, metamorphosis, rebellion, and--above all--its futile pursuit of love. The opening pages have a deceptively languid pace, until the robot sheds its "mask" (in a surprisingly squeamish scene) and, during the ensuing chase, reveals its lethal assignment. These last stories are worth the price of the whole book.

Fairy tales for a modern age
The first dozen stories in this book are brief, amusing, and very clever. Most of them start in the traditions of fairy tales, with bold knights, beautiful princesses, powerful kings, and deadly dragons. As in traditional fairy tales, some describe great quests, while others narrate hubris and downfall. The difference is that every story is peopled (if you'll pardon the term) by robots. It creates a grand setting for Lem's adventures and warmly humorous inversion of all the old storytelling.

The final two stories, though, are the real gems of this collection. They are longer, they feature humans as well as robots, and are serious, even somber in tone. One is told by a human, part of the party that has to hunt down a dangerous robot across the stark surface of the moon. The teller finds the rogue in the end and fells it, but something in that last moment turns it from victory into completion of a much more ambiguous kind. The final story, "The Mask," is a sensitive look into a man-made mind. It conveys real complexity in the robot's sense of its own life. One of the story's many readings is a warning that, even if the feelings are carried in metal cases, they're as real to the minds feeling them as ours are to us. Creating a mind that can feel such feelings imposes a responsibility on the creator - a responsibility not met in this chilling story.

This is Lem at his best, and his best is very good. The happy satire of the first stories is some of Lem's most amusing. The conjecture in the last story is some of his darkest. The set as a whole shows Lem's range as a writer, even within the constraints that unify this wonderful collection.

//wiredweird

Pretty good, but not the best Lem.
Stanislaw Lem is one of my favorite writers and this book is a lot of fun to read, but it isn't the best Lem book (not all of his books can be 5 star masterpieces). Read Cyberiad first (if you like short, interesting and funny tales) since this book seems a little like left-overs in comparison.

5 stars are not enough!
This is surely one of the greatest collections of 'linked short-stories' ever written -- it matches Calvino's COSMICOMICS and Borges' LABYRINTHS. Lem is a total genius. A writer of playful little fables that are also philosophically profound (and logically consistent). This book is a brilliant companion to Lem's THE CYBERIAD, with which it shares many themes and ideas. Lem has a beautiful style: he can make engineering terms sound poetic. His rigorously modern metaphors are as original as those of J.G. Ballard, but more varied and lyrical. For Lem, the Periodic Table is an unwritten poem. This book is the final and true ode, and each line is a fantastic, fabulous, incredible story. I give this book 200,000,000 stars. And that's only because I'm not feeling so generous today. It probably deserves A GOOGOLPLEX (1 to the power of 100 raised to the power of 1 to the power of 100) of stars. At least. ... Read more

Product Description
In this bold and controversial examination of the past, present, and future of science fiction, Lem informs the raging debate over the literary merit of the genre with ten arch, incisive, provocative essays. Edited and with an Introduction by Franz Rottensteiner. Translated by Rottensteiner and others. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Unitas Oppositorum of Stanislaw Lem
Although the book in its entirety is highly recommended for fans of Lem, I would like to present some comments extracted from the essay entitled Unitas Oppositorum: The Prose of Jorge Luis Borges.

Lem states: "In each story we can find the same kind of method: Borges transforms a firmly established part of some cultural system by means of the terms of the system itself. In the fields of religious belief, in ontology, in literary theory, the author "continues" what mankind has "only begun to make." Using this tour d'adresse Borges makes comical and absurd those things which we revere because of their current cultural value."

"However, each of these tales has in addition another - wholly serious - hidden meaning. At base, his curious fantasy is, I claim, quite realistic.The author therefore has the courage to deal with the most valuable goals of mankind just as mankind himself does. The only difference is that Borges continues these combinatory operations to their utmost logical conclusions."

"Considered from a formal point of view, the creative method of Borges is very simple. It might be called unitas oppositorum, the unity of mutually exclusive opposites. What allegedly must be kept separate for all time (that which is considered irreconcilable) is joined before our very eyes, and without distorting logic. The structural content of nearly all of Borges's stories is built up by this elegant and precise unity."

"In the beginning he was a librarian, and he has remained one, although the most brilliant manifestation of one. He had to search in libraries for sources of inspiration, and he restricted himself wholly to cultural-mythical sources. They were deep, multifarious, rich sources - for they contain the total reservoir of the mythical thought of mankind.

But in our age they are on the decline, dying off as far as their power to interpret and explain a world undergoing further changes is concerned. In his paradigmatic structures, and even in his greatest achievements, Borges is located near the end of a descending curve which had its culmination centuries ago. Therefore he is forced to play with the sacral, the awe-inspiring, the sublime, and the mysterious from our grandfathers. Only in rare cases does he succeed in continuing this game in a serious way. Only then does he break through the paradigmatically and culturally caused incarceration which is its limitations, and which is quite contrary to the freedom of artistic creation he strives for. He is one of the great men, but at the same time he is an epigone. Perhaps for the last time. He has lit up - given a paradoxical resurrection to - the treasures transmitted to us from the past. But he will not succeed in keeping them alive for any long period of time. Not because he has a second-rate mind, but because, I believe such a resurrection of transitory things is in our time quite impossible. His work, admirable though it may be, is located in its entirety at the opposite pole from the direction of our fate. Even this great master of the logically immaculate paradox cannot "alloy" our world's fate with his own work. He has explicated to us paradises and hells; but in his books Borges knows nothing about them."

"If Schopenhauer had never existed, and if Borges presented to us the ontological doctrine of "The World As Will," we would never accept it as a philosophical system that must be taken seriously; we would take it as an example of a "fantastic philosophy." As soon as nobody assents to it, a philosophy becomes automatically fantastic literature."

Lem argues for intelligent sci-fi
I found this book totally by accident, while browsing the sf&f shelves of one of the big bookstores without much hope, and I'm glad I did, because Lem's essay, "Science-fiction : a hopeless case - with exceptions", really crystallised a lot of the things that concerned me about science fiction, and showed that at least one other person thought that sf should at least try to be literature. (Although written in 1970, and from the isolated position of Communist Poland, this essay is still depressingly accurate - although things have improved since his time.)

The guy is a heavy thinker, and come from a European tradition of taking science fiction seriously as a literature of ideas (Lem wrote the classic Solaris, which was made into a Russian movie). He is quite readable, however, and is obviously passionate about his subject. This book is essential for any academic study of science fiction, and for any reader who takes the genre's potential seriously.

For SF writers who want to be real writers
One of the essays in this book got the author's honorary membership of the American SF Association revoked. Or rather, some of it did, in a way. "Science Fiction - A Hopeless Case with Exceptions" was published in the US in a mutilated "translation" under the tactful title "A Scientist's Choice of the World's Worst Writing", and Lem was unceremoniously booted out of the organisation. The essay in question is in fact a harsh, but in its essentials accurate, dissection of the deplorable state of science fiction and science fiction criticism as compared with the rest of literature, and deserves serious attention. (The exception discussed, by the way, is the work of Philip K Dick, and a detailed review of Dick's Ubik, justifying its claim to be taken as serious fiction, also appears in Microworlds.) There is also a fine review of the Strugatsky brothers' extraordinary novella Roadside Picnic, which was the basis for Andrei Tarkovsky's equally extraordinary though somewhat different film Stalker; an interesting essay on Jorge Luis Borges, noting the unique qualities and the limitations apparent in his stories; and, perhaps most valuably, a couple of long essays on what science fiction could be if it could only kick its maleficient Star Wars-style good-guy/bad-guy simplemindedness. Lem is precise, logical, detailed, cantankerous and fascinating. The world's greatest writer of grown-up science fiction and fantasy is once again pointing the way for the rest of us. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (15)

Excellent, Ambiguous, Thought Provoking
I just finished reading "Return From the Stars" for the second time.It's a fascinating, but highly ambiguous book. This books is ideal for those who enjoy more speculative and philosophical science fiction.Don't expect a lot of action or alien creatures.The story is essentially about man and society, and it is only because the story Lem wished to tell could not be placed anywhere but in the future that this book must be classified as science fiction at all.

As I said, the book is ambiguous, and each time I've read it, it has left me with problematic feelings.Lem poses questions that are difficult to contemplate, much less answer.I have to say I'm a little surprised at the monochrome interpretations that some of the other reviewers here seem to have, such as the feeling that the book is primarily about the contrast between the "sissified" future with the "manliness" of the past, embodied in Bregg.While of course this does make up a large part of Bregg's difficulty re-assimilating into Earth society, never did I feel that Lem was attempting to advocate one way of life over the other.

In fact, Lem's presentation is disturbingly ambivalent.Betrization and the society based on it holds obvious distaste to men of our--and Bregg's--age, and this is clearly how Lem wanted it.Yet, the positive aspects of it are also undeniable, and if you read between the lines, Lem does not seem to put any clear value judgments on it. Bregg himself even makes comments assenting to the obvious benefits of betrization, even as he simultaneously feels stifled by the atmosphere it has created.As ridiculous as the betrizated humans seem, Bregg also comes of as foolish, and honestly feels shame at his actions.It is clear his character is not merely based on machismo, but that he reverts to it in exaggerated reaction to the situation he's been dropped into.It's a natural reaction, described skillfully by Lem to show how disoriented Bregg has become.

I do not think that Lem intended the novel to be a straightforward dystopian vision, nor was he merely writing a simplistic treatise against extreme forms of feminism by extrapolating current trends in emasculation, as some have suggested.He was rather attempting to envision developments in our social structure that could make society truly alien to a man from the past, and to show the difficulties such a man would have placed into such a society.He does that extremely well, and it makes for a very enjoyable, deeply layered and forceful book.

You can't go home again - or can you?
This is a relatively contemplative work by Lem - he saved his blatant humor for other works. Instead, it's a relatively sober story about how thoroughly isolated one can be, even in the midst of a crowd.

The "one" in this case is Bregg, an astronaut returned from an interstellar misson. Perhaps he never hoped to be a hero upon return, but it never occurred to him that no one would care. In the hundred-plus years since his departure, humankind had remodeled itself into a people that could not understand why anyone would venture into space, after an era in which such trips were declared pointless expenses. The returning voyagers are welcomed by their gentle hosts, but largely ignored.

The first part of Lem's story imagines Bregg's utter disorientation in the physical world, filled with unfamiliar words, sounds, and sights; where even a wall isn't necessarily a wall. He's intelligent and adaptable, so moves on to the second level of disorientation: simply having no idea how to have a conversation when so very few concepts or values are shared. This isolation appears most clearly in his attempts at inimacy. Betrization, the process that made this world the gentle idyll that it is, makes him seem like a ravenous beast to the generation around him, an object of fear no matter what he does or says. The danger inherent in his un-betrizated state appeals to some, of course, but it's an appeal that Bregg does not want to hold. After a time, he finds a woman of this brave new world that can accept him. Then, the deepest level of his isolation surrounds him: he simplay has no place in this society. There is no need for his skills, no interest in the heroism and tragedy of his star travel, and no job that he's competent to do. One or two personal ties are simply not enough to anchor him in this alien place.

The very end has a different tone, one that I'll let you discover for yourself - I'll just say that I found it worth the wait. The trip there passes through Lem's evocative writing, including a poetic moment describing the peace and permanence to be found in studying mathematics: "New roads arise, but the old ones lead on. They do not become overgrown." There's also an oddly prescient desciption of Emil Mitke, "... a crippled genius who did with the theory of relativity what Einstein had done with Newton." Back when this book was written, there was no way to forsee Stephen Hawking, today's asymmetric icon of scientific brilliance.

This might not be the best intro for someone new to Lem. I'd recommend his lighter writing to start with. Still, it's a good one.

//wiredweird

Lem himself
For all those readers who may have difficulties penetrating the complexity of Lem's book, I would like to recommend a chapter in Peter Swirski's The Art and Science of S Lem which talks about Return From the Stars in a way that made me see this story from a startlingly different perspective that bears on the most intimate aspects of today's world. By the way, the Art and Science of S Lem is an international collection of essays in which everyone is bound to find something to their liking, also it includes a previously unpublished chapter by S Lem himself!

Also can be viewed as another of Lem's "Contact" novels
The other reviews have rightly commented on this books concerns with gender relations.However, in the context of all of Lem's works it can also be viewed another way."Solaris", "Fiasco", "Eden" and other books are about how alien a new world would appear to human eyes...a far deeper if more pessimistic vision than the typical science fiction where aliens are just funny looking people.Starting from this perspective "Return from the Stars" could be an account of how alien the future would appear.For example, in the beginning of the book the returnee wanders through a gigantic, many-levelled structure of moving ramps, trying simply to find his way out.After awhile the reader realizes Lem could be describing the experience of a medieval person dropped into a modern major airport.

Stranger in a familiar land
Hal Bregg returns to Earth after a journey that spanned 10 of his years and 100 years at home to find a world unrecognizable from the one he left.He and his crew embodied the loftiest aspirations of a society willing to take risks, even fatal ones, in the pursuit of exploration, discovery, and advancement. Sound familiar? But society in the intervening century now has expunged all possibility of risk. To achieve this, humanity accepts a narcotized solution in the form of betrization--a socially engineered necessity.Hal, full of passion and vigor, is thus a living anachronism and unsure how he will fit in.

With this scenario that seemingly could go anywhere Lem would like, it oddly becomes something of a romance. Please though don’t surmise that this a standard love story. The book contains the classic Lemmian effulgence of realities that presciently evoke some of our own: reals (simulated encounters with danger); betrization (aforementioned); an enslaved workforce of robots; electronic books; etc.Without revealing more, the ending confirms Lem’s place among the pantheon of superb literary artists. ... Read more

Product Description
These wickedly authentic introductions to twenty-first-century books preface tomes on teaching English to bacteria, using animated X-rays to create "pornograms," and analyzing computer-generated literature through the science of "bitistics." "Lem, a science fiction Bach, plays in this book a googleplex of variations on his basic themes" (New York Times Book Review). Translated by Marc E. Heine. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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Customer Reviews (8)

Interesting, but uneven
I find this one of Lem's more philosophical works, lacking in the frnezied bafflement that drives so many of his more amusing works. Instead, this presents itself as a set of introductions to books that were never written, abstracting writing-about-writing almost wholly away from the writing itself. (To complete the delightful illogic of his approach, Lem includes an introduction to these introductions.)

The first two pieces describe a book of X-ray pornography and another about bacteria trained not only in language, but in foretelling future events. These apply Lem's straight-faced humor to the entire genre of over-intellectual intros, which sometimes seem almost parodies in themselves. The next pseudo-intro welcomes the reader to a study of writings by computer intelligences. Lem uses this vehicle to speculate on the ways that machine minds might differ from our own, and on the gaps that seem sure to arise between our differing kinds of thought processes.

That chapter turns out to be a bridge toward a series of lectures delivered by one of those electronic thinkers. As this second half of the book progresses the dry humor dries up, replaced with a genuine sense of wonder. What would constitute growth or personal (if I may use the word) development for such beings? Would any points of intersection with human experience even remain?

I suspect that Lem put more into this book than his translator was able to extract. Golem's discussion of thinking about thinking echoes Goedel's famous theorem on the limits to the knowable, something I'm sure lay within Lem's range but possibly not in the translator's. I can't complain though. The translation, on the whole, comes across as lively and engaging, and seems to preserve a lot of the wordplay that the original must have contained. The original Polish is a closed book to me, so I'm grateful to see Lem's work in English at all.

-- wiredweird

Imaginary solitude
No so good as A Perfect Vacuum, Imaginary Magnitude is nevertheless a very interesting books. I love comments on imaginary books, an in this field Stanislaw Lem is a master. The difference with Borges reviews on imaginary books (see Fictions) is that Stanislaw Lem recurs to science and locate most of his visionary plots into the future, where humankind is often not human and sometimes not kind.
I recommend this book but also recommend the reader to first (or afterwards) read A Perfect Vacuum.

LEM: CAPTAIN OF SCIENCE FICTION
"Imaginary Magnitudes" is a forceful, blackly humorous introduction to the irreducible mystery that powers Stanislaw Lem's work. Composed of introductions to works of non-fiction and literature to appear sometime in the coming century, one can only marvel at the breadth of imagination involved as well as the smoothness and cleverness of the translation from the Polish. The lectures of GOLEM XIV are the diadem of this collection, adumbrating most of the earlier prefaces in one vast, misanthropic razz of humankind by a very advanced (but still very humanlike), very disillusioned defense-management computer -- sort of a HAL9000 without the homicidal (or genocidal) impulse. I never have a copy of this book because I always give it away to people -- it is that good. Like most of Lem's work, it is where literature and SF become indistinguishable. Lem ranks with Clarke, Asimov, Herbert and Dick in the SF pantheon.

Overly ponderous
"Imaginary Magnitude"'s value as entertaining literature is essentially nil. Only occasionally does it lapse into readability - otherwise it is an undiluted philosophical treatise. To be sure, this is Lem at his most intellectual - it just doesn't lend the writing the same measure of livelihood his more straightforward pieces do. The format is quite something conceptually - a set of introductions to not-yet-written books. "Imaginary Magnitude" showcases four - plus "GOLEM XIV", which, being a separate piece of literature altogether, is included only for the sake of its similar spirit.

The short pieces themselves aren't particularly exciting. This is Lem's chance to preach his views, and he does so extensively. "Necrobes" piqued my interest with its laconic treatment of creatively-posed x-ray nudes as art. "Eruntics" was even partially plausible - it deals with evolving a genome which is, basically, word-processing software. And then the bateria begin predicting the future. The "Extelopedia" lacked any sort of real structure - it is an encyclopedic dictionary of purely prognosticated words. The introduction includes a "Proffertinc" - a prognosticated offer, and a sample page of words that begin with "prog-". The following introduction to a treatise on bitic literature - that is, books written by non-human authors - is an excellent piece of short fiction dealing with epistemological topics. The summary traces the development of artificial thinkers through several stages - from cladogenesis, where computers generate random meaningless words, through mimesis, where a computer formulates the mathematical basis of books, allowing perfect translations, and even creating entirely new works in the author's exact style, and to transhuman apostasy - works generally incoprehensible to humans - from incredibly complicated math to elaborate works on cosmogony.

Then the reader gets to "GOLEM XIV", and the book takes a nosedive. Even despite the warning, the superhuman, impersonal intelligence within the computer seems snobbish, patronizing, and the text of its lectures - overly elaborate and peppered with metaphors. Likewise, the leading points of the two lectures - on man and on itself - coincide: the evolution is an asymptotic blunder; it has reached the maximum level of complication in its creations, and further random "progress" is impossible; man has reached his potential ceiling and is drowning in his civilization, etc. Like most of Lem, taken piece by piece this is profound theorizing, but as a work of creative, non-academic literature it is ornate and unreadable.

Indispensable for Lem fans
Whereas with "A Perfect Vacuum" Lem wrote reviews of fictional books, here he writes introductions to different fictional books.You get some of his more straightforward philosophy with "Golem XIV,"typical Lem cleverness with "Necrobes" and sheer, amazing,mind-blowing virtuosity with "Eruntics," probably his single mostimpressive piece of short fiction.This "story" alone is worththe price of admission.Ranking near the Tichy stories, with plenty ofdistance between "The Cyberiad" on one side and"Solaris" on the other, on the fun and ponderousnness scales. Among his best. ... Read more

Product Description
In this sequel to The Star Diaries, Ijon Tichy, space traveler of future centuries, discovers that "out there" isn't very different from "down here." Throughout these nine wild adventures, surprise follows witty surprise. Line drawings by the Author. Translated by Joel Stern and Maria Swiecicka-Ziemianek. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A delightfully warped work of sci-fi
"Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy," by Stanislaw Lem, has been translated into English by Joel Stern and Maria Swiecicka-Ziemianek. The main text is preceded by a publisher's note, which declares that contents of this book (my review refers to the Harvest edition published by Harcourt, Brace & Co.) appeared in the 1971 Polish edition of the book entitled "The Star Diaries," but not in the British and American editions with the same title. Thus this book could be seen as the second volume of Lem's original Polish "Star Diaries." Despite all this, I believe that this book works fine as a stand-alone literary work, so go ahead and ignore the publisher's note if you like.

The book is divided up into several sections, each of which could stand alone as a short story. Each piece is told in the first person by space traveler Ijon Tichy. He discusses his voyages beyond the Solar System and his encounters with an assortment of eccentric scientists on Earth.

"Memoirs" is a delightful, pungent blend of science fiction, philosophy, satire, and horror. Witty and haunting, funny and frightening, it's spiced by clever wordplay.

Lem deals with such topics as artificial intelligence, time travel, environmental exploitation, the nature of the human soul, and the origins of the universe. He describes many whimsical extraterrestrial species, such as the foul-tailed fetido and bottombiter chair ants. Overall, this wacky, surreal book shows Lem to be a soul brother to Edgar Allan Poe, Dr. Seuss, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Target: Ageless questions of humanity... Bullseye!
If you have never read a Lem story before, then I highly recommend this novel as a starting point.In this book of short stories, Lem is at at his artful best.Startlingly simple and surprisingly shrewd, the stories expound upon many of the ageless questions which humanity as a whole have attempted to deal with since the beginning of consciousness i.e. genesis of man, existence of spirit/soul, man's primal instinct to destruct etc. In short, this collection of stories serve as a delicious sample of the smorgasboard of creative delights that Lem is known for.His acerbic wit, intellectual prowess, and devastatingly entertaining drollness are all apparent within this collection.A great read written in true Lem "virtuoso" form.Indeed, if one were so inclined, this is the place to start looking for answers to the 'meaning of life'.And even if you do not find the 'ultimate' answer within the pages of this novella/collection of works, at least you can be sure of being entertained!

Should've been combined with the "Diaries"
For the love of all that is decent, I don't know why "Further Reminiscences" hasn't been combined with "The Star Diaries" to make one handy volume. First of all, thdestinction is essentially artificial - "Further Reminiscences" contains two journeys which were dropped, for one reason or another, from the American edition of the Diaries, a selection of Earthside "reminiscences", a short called "Doctor Diagoras", and the fantastic "Let Us Save the Universe", all of which were present in the original Polish edition. Even the books' sizes favor an omnibus re-issue (250 and 150 pages, respectively).

The two "new" journies found in this book are the eighteenth and the twenty-eighth. The 18th is essentially a shorter, more readable version of the 20th (found in the parent volume), and the classic, oft-reprinted 28th deals with personal freedoms (the Phools and the Master Machine that was created to mediate their conflicts - and thus decides to refabricate them in stone to stop their chaotic quarrels).

The five "further reminiscences" are essentially humorless essays, each dealing with a specific philosophical idea. In each, Tichy comes into contact with some sort of scientific visionary (be it Corcoran, Decantor, Zazul, or Molteris), and, after ascertaining that they aren't insane, listens to their wild stories: Corcoran constructs mechanical brains whose lives and fate are mere recordings in a large steel drum; Decantor wants to immortalize the soul by encasing it in crystal; Zazul tells the gruesome story of his attempt to clone himself; Molteris produces a functional time machine, and, without examining the possible consequences, tests it on himself. It is apparent that these were written at the same time as the journeys, since the 20th has a direct reference to Molteris. "Doctor Diagoras" is not a certified "reminiscence", although it is essentially identical in spirit, the topic of debate being artificial intelligence (the fifth reminiscence is very similar to the 11th journey, only in reverse and with more legal issues).

The volume closes with "Let Us Save the Universe", which is a detailed petition to conserve intergalactic flora and fauna, with several quite hilarious examples of how we foul up the planets, and how some species manage to retaliate.

In a nutshell? A worthwhile read - far from a worthwhile purchase.

memoirs of a space traveler
A sequel to The Star Diaries, we visit once again with Ijon Tichy in more amusing (mis?)adventures.Is it as good as the prequel? Unfortunately, no--but it comes mighty close.And where else could you find answers to questions such as: Just who created the universe and why'd they foul it upso miserably? Why haven't they gotten all the bugs out of this time travelbusiness? How come clones are so touchy? What does Doctor Diagoras have inthose vats anyway? And, perhaps the Eternal Question we've all askedouselves at one time or another: How do we know we're all not just brainskept in a box by a mad scientist who's feeding us sensory data of what webelieve to be the real world? Hmmm. The words themselves are a sheerpleasure to read.(I'm determined to work "entelechy" sometimeinto a conversation.) There are puns and other word-plays of the kind onlyLem does so easily. Even if you've never read a work by Lem, I'm sureyou'll enjoy this one. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

A trip into the surreal
The symbolism and philosophical insight in this book is astounding. The setting is Poland, following the Nazi invasion, but it seems that by starting a new job in an insane asylum, the protagonist escapes the outside world and his "lost motherland" only to join an alien landscape where deranged and yet fascinating people live.You can almost see that even in his first book Lem was already thinking science fiction by reading some of the case histories of the patients.The story almost carries you to another world and until the last chapter you seem to forget the reality of the precarious situation that mental patients faced during Nazi occupation.While I truly enjoyed the story and the dialogues between Stefan and Sekulowski, this book lacks a coherent plot, and suffers from detailed focus into inconsequential details, such as the appearance of a graveyard in the winter and the rays of sunlight shining through the window of a room.

I don't know what the other reviewers read, but...
I loved this book.Lem's partially auto-biographical Transfiguration is set in a WWII era insane asylum in Poland.He tells a compelling story of a time and place when you had to look hard to tell the difference between the doctors and the patients.

one of lem's best
Though some of it is a little fluffy, over all i found this book to be intresting and spellbinding.

Not his best
This is one of his earliest, and it kinda let me down. A guy working in an insane asylum. Kinda haunting at times, not terribly interesting though. It sounds as if Sekulowski is supposed to be saying some really neat stuff,but it all sounds like a bunch of fluff to me.Not the greatest, but it'sLem. ... Read more

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Commander Pirx, who drives space vehicles for a living in the galaxy of the future, here faces a new series of intriguing adventures in which robots demonstrate some alarmingly human characteristics. Translated by Louis Iribarne, assisted by Magdalena Majcherczyk and Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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In the future our jobs will be cool, and we'll still hate them
Lem's vision of the future is probably closer than what we'd see from most other writers.When other authors envision grand spires rising into the stars and sleek spaceships careening through the void, captained by dashing pilots and heroic crews, Lem seems to realize that when we get there, the future will be populated by people.People like us, who will be mechanics and engineers and scientists, whose job will be to make sure all these complicated pieces of equipment that send us shakily climbing into the stars won't fall apart or go haywire.It will be scary and boring and exhilarating and mundane.Just like your job now.

In this second volume of Pirx stories, our hero is the same and not the same.Where in the first volume we met him as a bumbling pilot learning the ropes and discovering solutions by bucking conventions and not accepting what he was told, here he's a seasoned and established pilot, much calmer than before, with none of the awkwardness of his earlier self.It feels like a whole different character at times and the stories have changed slightly, to more cerebral mysteries that don't have easy answers, like if Isaac Asimov had started to get really cryptic.All of these tend to revolve around robots or technology.In two of them, Pirx and company go hunting for a robot, and while the stories themselves are slight, there's a haunting atmosphere to it, as Pirx discovers that just because you program something doesn't mean you understand it.

The other two are puzzles, with one showing Pirx under review for a run gone poorly . . . in that he's faced with the fact that one of his crew is a robot and may be trying to sabotage things.The other has him investigating a crash (and the slow motion destruction of the ship while the ground crew watches helplessly is both more dramatic and eerie than any Star Wars special effect) . . . these tales mostly revolve around talk as he debates ideas with different characters before either the solution presents itself or we discover what Pirx knew all along.

This is not exciting, action packed SF, but it is thought provoking and worth it just for the feel alone, of a future feel of grit and errors and dust and failure and people who are just cashing a paycheck so they can get to the weekend.Perhaps a bit flatter than the first volume (nothing really comes close to the robot banging out the Morse code last words of a crew) but still worth a read if you're a Lem fan or want to discover how realistic science-fiction isn't necessarily an oxymoron.

An Excellent Collection of Short Stories Featuring Our Old Friend Pirx
Makes for a great read. Each story is strong on its own, and most are short enough to read in one sitting. In these tales we see Pirx has matured from a bemused rookie into a somewhat world-weary expert pilot.

Pirx's adventures take him from the vastness of space to the colonies on mars and on the moon, as well as to an uninhabited earth-like planet who's rocky spires beg to be conquered.

The focus of most of the stories is artificial intelligence gone awry and man's over-reliance on technology. All are written with Lem's trademark humor, technological realism, and eye for human character traits. A must-have for Lem fans, and a great buy for sci-fi lovers in general.

Cannot keep it on my bookshelf
As a teacher of reluctant readers, I cannot keep copies of this book on my shelves.I used to introduce Stanislaw Lem to the students first, but this intimidated them.After I changed to letting the stories hook them first, I have found all of his books disappearing.They are fascinated by irreverence and humour in quality writing.I cannot complain about the books disappearing; they are reading.

Pirx and the nonlinear
Through the eyes and mind of the now more experienced Pirx, Lem draws conclusions of future's hold on human & android relations, philosophical and psycological attachments included.
For a quick, classic Lem read, this is one of the tops.The collection starts with a few shorts, though deep contemplation, and finishes with two superb longer stories.My two favorites are 'The Accident' (short) and 'The Inquest' (long).

Lem is best read in Polish.
This book is great, although I'm not too crazy about the translation. Realistically though, if you're not planning on learning to speak Polish fluently anytime soon, you should get this copy. It's not that bad. Lem is a great, realistic, down-to-earthy (no pun intended) Science Fiction author. Also get Solaris,...and Fiasco. ... Read more

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Excellent primer on the world's most widely read SF author
"Carnival" is an entertaining and fascinating journey into the imagination of one of Science Fiction's true literary geniuses, edited and annoted by someone who has been there.Editor Michael Kandel, who has translated many of Lem's works, offers the reader a broad sample of Lem's stories, ranging from the serious (Return from the Stars) to the hilarious (Cyberiad).Interspersed with these stories are the editor's notes on Lem's life, style, and philosophy.For those who are already fans of Stanislaw Lem, the notes provide insight into the stories, characters, and author.For those who are not yet fans, this collection provides a great introduction to an author who will soon become a personal favorite.If you can find this book, buy it at any price ... Read more

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Top-Notch Lem Criticism
This book has a brief, one-chapter biography, and the rest is top-notch literary criticism on Lem's work up to 1985.This is solid stuff science fiction fans, get a copy now! ... Read more

Product Description
A sequel to "Return from the Stars". Ijon Tichy, space traveller of future centuries, discovers that "out there" isn't very different from "down here", especially when he finds a galactic society of Phools, presided over by the Plenum Moronicum, which appoints as ruler a ruthless machine. ... Read more