Lem is my favorite author, his work is so imaginative and thoughtful. I especially like his short stories. I really like Mortal Engines and the Cyberiad, which read like fairy tales. I had a similar idea setting-wise but Lem takes it to a higher level. And I also have to acknowledge the English translator Michael Kandel, who translated a math-themed love poem from Polish, preserving rhyme and meter. The final story in Mortal Engines, The Mask, about a monster who realizes she’s programmed to love and kill the same man, really moved me. Star Diaries is amazing too, it’s surprisingly funny at times but at other times philosophical, and its continuation was full of stories that felt like they belonged in the horror section more than science fiction. Lem definitely got a lot of mileage out of the Ijon Tichy character. The lesser known Pirx the Pilot collection is worth a read too, it’s some of the most thought-provoking and genuine robot-centered sci-fi I’ve read. And in terms of non sci-fi, The Chain of Chance is a mystery novel about the power of coincidence, a quick read but absolutely fantastic. Right now I’m reading Eden, I’m only a few chapters in but I love it already. Solaris is great, I’ve been recommended the 1972 Soviet movie based on it, but I haven’t watched it yet. Everyone on this website, read Stanislaw Lem.
What is this?
It’s a classic novel by Stanisław Lem about a group of scientists stationed at an extraterrestrial research facility on a planet known as Solaris. The plot revolves around the crew trying to comprehend an ocean-like entity on the planet that appears to possess consciousness and intelligence. It’s probably one of his most renowned pieces, so definitely worth a read.
I thought that was a Tarkovsky movie
that’s based on the book :)
TIL the soviet film of the same name came from a book.
I read this for the first time last year, the English translation by Bill Johnson. Never seen any of the adaptations.
I wouldn’t say I love this book. I will say that I was captivated by it. I read that, with the planet ocean, Lem was trying to describe something truly alien. How could you not agree that he succeeded? The ocean’s inscrutable motives, if you could say the ocean had motivation at all, and actions were so fucking bizarre. I loved that.
I think a lot of sci-fi authors and filmmakers try to do this. The Engineers in Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise come to mind. But there’s some sense of human logic to what they do. Some others that get close might be Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and Blindside by Peter Watts.
