Stanislaw Lem Books

In my opinion, Fiasco is an even more damning statement of the folly and pretense behind space exploration than Solaris is, and thank God for that. I believe Stanislaw Lem is one of the most aware authors in the whole field of science fiction. What some readers seem to perceive as his cynicism is, I believe, nothing more than the deep disappointment of a sensitive and truly optimistic man who is sick to death of the evil that men do to each other through the agency of science. Yes, he appreciates scientific inquiry, but he also understands fully how the emotional coldness of scientific inquiry has had the undesirable consequence of freezing our hearts dead, doorknob-stiff.

Furthermore, I think that what righteously enrages Mr. Lem is his ruthless recognition of the fact that for mankind, the primary benefit of technological advancement has been the acquisition of power, and we sure can't get enough of THAT. The indisputable proof of his sensible, knowledgeable, and historically validated cynicism as regards man's rush to technological godhood is written in the blood-splattered pages of the history of this planet.

Christopher Columbus' expeditions to the New World were followed up by a holocaust that engulfed the North and South American continents in a firestorm of genocidal warfare and deliberately introduced disease, resulting in the near-extinction of the peaceful, innocently welcoming Indians that he `discovered' in 1492. In 1853-54, Commodore Perry on three visits to the Ryukyu and Bonin islands before going to Japan and while waiting for a reply from Japan, arrogantly dismissed the native's desire to be left the hell alone and made a naval demonstration by way of a volley of cannon-fire and landed his Marines twice. Of course, all of this preemptive violence was only to secure facilities for commerce, henceforth known as the "opening of Japan." Hurrah! So much for `free' trade. Makes you think about the attack on Pearl Harbor in a new and interesting light, doesn't it?

In Fiasco, Mr. Lem has the courage to state plainly the true reason why we want to run out to the stars: to conquer them, to steal them, and claim them as our property. Listen, just listen, will you, to the thoughts of Tempe, the main protagonist in Fiasco who, after landing his capsule on the planet Quinta, wanders over a landscape utterly devastated by the cataclysmic assault that was launched from the orbiting mothership, Hermes, to punish the Quintans for not welcoming contact with the Earth-men:

"It was not his belief that communication with the Quintans was senseless, based on false assumptions---it was not that which oppressed him, but the fact that they had entered into a game of contact where violence was the highest suit. This thought he kept to himself, because more than anything he wanted to see the Quintans. How could he, despite all his reservations and doubts, turn his back on such an opportunity? Arago (the priest onboard the mothership) had taken a dim view of their policy even before the phrase "show of strength" came up (and) had called a lie a lie, had repeated that they were entering into a contest of deceit; that they were pushing so forcibly toward communication that they were actually abandoning it; that they were covering themselves with masks and stratagems---safer thereby, perhaps, but more and more removed from any genuine opening up of a view into an Alien Intelligence. They jumped upon Quinta's subterfuges, struck at Quinta's every refusal, and made the goal of the expedition less attainable the more brutal the blows they used in its attainment."

The way I see it, if we ever get as far out into this universe as some of us would like, and if we ever encounter any form of life that could respond in any way to our presence, I hope to God almighty that they are advanced enough, powerful enough, and angry enough at our uninvited intrusion into their space to send us back here with the quickness, with our tails between our rocket exhausts, humbled and ready to look into the mirrors that Stanislaw Lem advises us to look deeply into, before we go slinging our slop all over the cosmos again.

Almost all of Lem's science fiction centers around one or two variations of one theme. The theme is "What is intelligence?" and the two variations are "What would robotic life be like?" and "What would a truly alien intelligence be like?" "Fiasco" is in the latter category. An expedition from Earth approaches and attempts to contact an alien race that does everything it can to avoid being contacted. The humans use their technological advantage to slowly escalate their efforts with ultimately catastrophic results.

"Fiasco" is a brilliant read on its own, and very approachable, but should really be considered part of Lem's larger set of works on this theme: "Solaris", "Eden" and "His Master's Voice" being the most obvious...with "Fiasco" being the most approachable, "Solaris" the best known and "His Master's Voice" the most challenging.

Contrary to an impassioned and misplaced review Lem isn't arguing against space-travel, nor is he being morbidly sensitive about the death of traditional cultures. Lem is holding up a mirror of introspection about the human race and our technological future - the aliens the expedition sets out to contact are in many ways us, at least the collectivised Communo-Capitalist version of ourselves. The key to understanding is the "mini-novel" cleverly embedded in the main-story as a bit of VR entertainment for the crew. An expedition into an inhospitable African desert to find the control centre of the kingdom of the termites. And a centre that, in the end, doesn't exist. Lem has frequently pitted massive hulking machinery against techno-biological collectives, and usually the big machines fail. Bottom-up collective action defeats top-down command-decision hierarchies. But the collective doesn't make right either - Quinta's collectives are engaged in apocalyptic Cold-War, countering each other's espionage efforts so violently that the EM spectrum from the planet is full of noise and all space-vehicles are autonomous AIs. The planet is ruined and the populace seemingly enslaved to the war effort. The expedition is attacked by the machines, but instead of retaliation more vocal contact efforts are attempted. When contact is made the Quintans are too distracted to care about the newcomers. All that matters is countering the enemy, or so it seems. That's where the whole thing unravels. SETI and CETI become a fiasco when we don't fit in the mental space of the aliens. Yet Lem is really telling us about the futility of war, hot or cold, and the dangers of the collective, the hive, and technology that enslaves. He's written a book packed with ideas and new ones will stick in your head with each re-read.

One reviewer said it best when he said the book asked how we could ever hope to communicate with alien beings who have a completely different evolutionary history and psychological makeup. One of the worst aspects of some sci-fi is their justaposition of our value systems, wants and needs onto an entirely (forgive the word) alien culture.

Lem seems to delight in writing about these encounters and all the misplaced hopes, dashed dreams, incorrect assumptions and not so surprising outcomes. His irony is so thick one could spread it on morning toast. In the end, of course, the book is all about us and our nature.

The cover art has nothing to do directly with the story. Simply the artistýs idea of what the story was about in a metaphorical way.

What IS the story about? Set in a future when humankind finally acts on the basis of a scientific ideal not personal gain a planet is discovered in a distant solar system that has a high probability of supporting life. An expedition is sent and seemingly noble efforts are made to make contact with the inhabitants. The story illustrates, in my own opinion, that no matter how 'evolved' we think we are, no matter how noble and honorably we think we can be, our pride in ourselves and our accomplishments has a way of causing us to ultimately act in barbaric ways.

The beginning of the story is astonishing and relates the re-animation of a man frozen on Titan a century earlier. The scene painted by Lem of this manýs technique in saving himself, his death, and his eventual return to the living are all astonishingly well-written and full of imagery. Lem is a master at getting the reader to imagine a very realistic and plausible scenario. All of this takes place in the first few chapters. This introductory story also serves to acquaint us with the 'evolved' and noble human of the distant future. The human we all hope our childrenýs children become.

There is also a short description of manýs mastery of gravity and cybernetics. This is related in a short description of an ýsmartý probe vehicle and the probeýs independently deduced attempts to avoid capture by the planetýs inhabitants.

Iýve read other readerýs comments regarding Lemýs use of science as a tool only and that he is not a true science fiction writer. I completely disagree. Perhaps Lem does not display a firm understanding of science to some readers, but it is obvious to me that he not only understands the science behind his ideas he is capable of explaining that understanding in the way he can illustrate the possibilities and limitations of his machines.

Lem's stories are unusual in that there is rarely a happy ending or any ending at all. When the message is delivered the story ends often without a climactic scene. Also, it is rare (except for Ijon Tichy or Kris Kelvin) for Lem to make any of his characters more important than any others in a particular story.

I would love to see this story made into a movie. In fact I think this particular book is much better subject matter than Solaris for movie material. With the recent advances in CGI and special effects I think this could be done very well.

Finally, Lem is a science fiction writer like no other. No one in the west comes close and Michael Kandle's translations are absolutely the best.

From lowbrow to Nobrow is a great book in terms of content and style. The author describes nobrow as a fusion between highbrow and lowbrow, provides a thorough theoretical and historical analysis, and shows that nobrow culture and literature occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century. In every argument, he provides statistical data and evidence to support his points. This book will help you to know more about the connection between literature and popular culture.

You would never forget such an impressive book cover, as it implies there is a need to turn over a new leaf in popular literature. As an English teacher with linguistics background at the University of Hong Kong, From lowbrow to nobrow, a recent bestseller, has enlightened me as to the crucial role of popular literature that has escaped most of the attention of both academic and general readership. While there is still widespread assumption that, popular literature (though the dominant art in our times) neither can be art nor would be so popular, From lowbrow to nobrow has set the scene for the rise of novel literary-cultural formation.

The author, Peter Swirski, is Honorary Professor of American Literature at the University of British Columbia, and Associate Professor and Head of American Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Swirski is a brilliant literary critic and has written nine books in American Literature and Culture, and has contributed more than fifty articles in various places. Swirski's works have been highly praised by numerous scholars and literary critics. In From Lowbrow to Nobrow, you will see why Swirski deserves wide recognition as a scholar in American literature, in the way he writes clearly, quotes intelligently, argues provocatively, approaches his portrait of nobrow culture with originality ...

What makes this book original and praiseworthy is Swirski proposes that both highbrow and lowbrow literary cultures have been interpenetrating each other from at least the early in the twentieth-century, i.e. decades before what John Seabrook proposes in Nobrow (2000). Swirski begins with some groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, defending with sound arguments an innovative way of viewing it as `artertainment'. He then moves on to give a history of popular fiction publishing with the support of some recent statistical data, followed by an insightful analysis of "nobrow aesthetics." As the heart of the book, Swirski evaluates three 20th-century novels, which have almost escaped the attention of both academic and general readership, to demonstrate they have innovatively established a wide spectrum of aesthetic qualities of popular culture. And pages in, you are amazed by the original mix of soul searching and thought provoking popular literature, as represented in Karel Capek's War with the Newts, Raymond Chandler's Playback and Stanislaw Lem's Chain of Chance.

From lowbrow to nobrow definitely is influening the way we look at popular culture. After reading, I recalled some popular fictions or movies, and started to realise they could have the nature of nobrow aesthetics, as Swirski proposes. Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, caused much debate in 1994 after winning six Oscars, but it is a portrayal of life, conveying a message that any person, no matter how seemingly stupid, can change any person's life, no matter their stature. Some Chinese popular fictions written in Ming dynasty, such as Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), also play a significant part in ancient Chinese literary art, appreciated by everyday people not only in Ming dynasty but over centuries till now. The Last Mimzy (2007), starring Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson, that is based on the acclaimed 1943 science fiction short story, Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Lewsi Padgett is an insipration and discovery of humanity's future ... Instead of "colour[ing] a colourless day" (p. 177), popular literature can lead us to a real discovery of life and culture. As Swirski argues, in many cases far from thoughtless pulp, "popular literature expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers" (p.6).

Read From lowbrow to nobrow OR it's your loss!

Peter Swirski is on a mission!

Peter Swirski's book From Lowbrow to NoBrow is a compelling and ambitious work in the area of literature studies. As has been mentioned, Swirski's main argument lies in the fact that he is trying to "wipe the brow" (pun intended) of distinction amongst works of literature, essentially calling for the banishment of the title "lowbrow" for those books deemed "not sophisticated enough for serious academic study". Swirski contends that while there are many books out there that don't warrant said serious academic study, there are just as many that do, and should be examined through an academic framework.

It is my belief that Swirski is correct in this line of thinking; it is sad and indeed flippant to dismiss a novel and reserve academic study of it, because it is considered "genre fiction" or simplistic. There is a great distinction in the halls of academia concerning what is studied and what is not, what is worthy and what is worth glossing over or not covering at all. Swirski is saying, and indeed proving with his examples, that many previously glossed over works, which would be looked at with disdain, and more than a little contempt, need to be truly examined, and not simply pushed to the side because of their sources or content. It is a very provocative idea indeed to challenge the academic snobbery that is present in the study of literature, and even more admirable to submit that not only should the "canon" be studied, but things like genre fiction, at that, should be examined also, expanding the scope of investigation and getting a look at the whole picture, not just a segment of it. This is a rather bold idea, and Swirski, armed with his examples, wit, a wealth of knowledge about what he is writing about, and a little bit of attitude, tries to prove this to the reader.

Swirski blazes forward with his contention that genre fiction, whatever type it may be, may stand on its own merit, should not be considered "lowbrow". In fact, wait for it - the study of literature should not pit "highbrow" versus "lowbrow", and in the end, we should have "nobrow", simply evaluating books on their own strengths and weaknesses, not placing labels on them.

It is my opinion that Swirski takes a wonderful swipe at the "looking down the nose" of academia, and that he is successful at his attempt. By no means can this book cover all arguments and examples in terms of this debate, but it exerts a valiant effort to do so, and to change people's minds. "Leveling the playing field" in literature is a tall order, and Swirski has shown that he is more than up for the challenge. I highly recommend this book - prepare to have a shift in your "brows"!

Call me cynical but I've never thought that the book which examines the blurring phenomenon between "brow" cultures and the emergence of the "nobrow" space could ever stir my emotions in such a powerful way! Who said that social trend setting should be reserved only for sociologists, psychologists, marketers and futurists? The author, who certainly does not belong to the circle of conventional thinkers, alerts us to a powerful social change that emerges from the popular literature. This book helped me realise that wherever it is that we are going, it is mass literature, which conveys the values and attitudes of its readers, shapes the full character, behaviour and lives of its audience. What amazes me is the fact that the change that emerges from this ocean of mainstream thinking still remains somehow unnoticed and not because of its movement but because of the impact it makes on its audience. It is brilliant book that strangles many orthodox ideas in the periphery of their thinking!

From the back cover: "This superb book will make all previous studies in popular culture moot. Swirski demonstrates that in cultures there are no brows whatsoever. This book must be owned by all libraries and cultural studies scholars," Ray B. Browne. That about sums it up.

Throughout a dozen or so stories the reader is confronted with an evolution of sorts. Pirx, initially a cadet in some sort of a space pilot school, later becomes a full fledged 'space-man' with experience that others can safely and often rely on. Not much of his personal life is shown since the stories concern itself more with a particular plot of the moment. Because of that, Pirx sometimes appears to be a bit alien and emotionless and although what he does can be considered heroic by many standards the book underplays this aspect very well

Pirx is confronted with different problems (on earth and in different locales in the solar system), which he has to resolve or help to resolve. Some of them very mundane, some comical, the others quite heavy with ethical meanings.

Although the setting can be assumed to be far in the future, when space travel has become almost as common as a ride on a bus, the technology often seems like it's on a level of a steam-powered locomotive. The ship computers are mentioned, on-board nuclear reactors abound but all that somehow seems so amazingly ordinary and `everydayish' as an old car or a kitchen gas oven. It gives the stories quite a transcendent feeling

The ending of this sequence of vignettes hit me like a sledgehammer. Pirx strikes me as a typical guy working in the space service. Several years ago I met a former cosmonaut and I had a much deeper understanding of whom I had met upon reading this book this year. The banality of evil is one theme in Lem's 1970's work, in Communist Poland with its official worship of technological progress as the justification for that now defunct regime. The ending of the book (which I won't give away) screamed at me that being dumb and numb is no excuse, even for a space jockey with "the right stuff." A couple decades ago, my Polish language teacher mentioned that in his opinion, Lem was the best writer in contemporary Polish fiction. Lem addresses the dark side of humanity as a constant in society with an ever-increasing level of technological complexity. More technology simply gives us more opportunities to confront who we are along with the responsibility to be prepared to think about what we are doing and what choices we will make.

Tales of Pirx the Pilot, and More Tales of Pirx the pilot are two excellent sci-fi books! What is unique is that there is such a strong psychological edge to them. And the fact that Pirx is such an everyman - kind of unsure of himself, and from the outside, unassuming and apparently not especially competent. But Lem does something amazing with Pirx - with each story, he gains experience, confidence, cynicism, and most importantly, judgement and wisdom. Make sure to read the Pirx books, as well as The Invincible, and Solaris.

Lem's Pirx is compelling and cool. The science is barely fictional and always thought provoking. The plots, however, are a little more predictable than the sequel. If you're going to read one of these, I'd recommend "More".

This collection of stories by Lem is based around a chubby cadet by the name of Pirx. The character is plucky and gets into all sorts of fixes. I found the first short story the most surprising and fun to read. It's most vivid antagonist are two insects, and it's wildly creative. Another very good story is this one about a robot re-living over and over the last few hours before the death of an entire ship (this was before Pirx's time). A very haunting tale. Overall, a great collection!

The invincible is a great story about a ship, the invincible, that has a crew of about 80 people, armed to the teeth with nukes and superior shields. It is on a mission to Reigis III to find out what happened to their sister ship, the condor. Part of the story has to do with exploring the barren planet that contains some seas and metalic ruins, finding the condor and then dealing with what happened and why. Lem is a great writer of hard SF, trying to be very factual and makes sense. The book has been written some time ago though so some points are a little dated such as the warship the invincible being a huge rocket, but this really doesn't detract from the whole story. What happened to the mighty sister ship the condor? This may have been the first book to deal with this type of enemy! Very advanced for the time of this book. Great chapter on the theory of how this enemy evolved on the planet. Recommended!

and I must say that it's a good book. It was also my first and
last Stanislaw Lem book. Mr. Lem has a spaceship stranded on a desert planet with most of its crew dead. How
did it get there? Nobody knows. The reader's left in the dark.
Of course, the book's a short one. It's only 100 pages long.
Still, if you want a good introduction to foreign science fiction, this is the one for you.

This is a great book by the famous eastern European sci-fi author Lem. An Earth spacecraft explores a previously unknown world and finds a very alien presence. Lots of science here, and evolutionary theory applied in an unusual manner, as humanity tries to understand the exotically alien universe (a major Lem theme throughout his works). A good adventure story as well. I read it as a teenager and occasionaly reread it- it was a mind-expander.

I have read this book twice, once several years ago and again very recently. It's a bit more viscerally exciting and not nearly as abstruse as the other Lem novels and stories I have read. It was originally published (if memory serves) in the 60's and so I suppose it's a relatively early work (it certainly has a strong early-60s flavor). The story concerns a powerful space warship sent to a remote planet to learn the fate of an identical ship which disappeared there. The central figure of the book is Rohan, the ship's navigator (and first officer, more or less); Lem's usual attention to the psychology of his characters is evident in his excellent treatment of Rohan's uneasy relationship with his commander and his observations on the scientists and spacers who make up the crew. However, the book is not as psychologically complex as the other Lem novels I have read.

The tone of the book starts out in a very '60s hard-sf vein, veers towards horror a bit in the middle, then eventually focuses on the technical and moral dilemma faced by the crew as they try to avoid their predecessors' fate. The main theme of the book is the futility of humans' hubristic attempt to conquer (or at least understand) the universe which surrounds them; the quality of the writing (just) saves it from being heavy-handed.

It's a pretty good read and more approachable than some of Lem's other books (an interesting contrast for fans, I would say), such as _Solaris_, which draws on some of the same ideas. Try to find a version which was translated directly from Polish if you can (one US edition was translated from an earlier German translation!). Might be a good book to get someone with an interest in hard sf into Lem's work.

I just read "The Invincible" and found it to be the most imaginative and profound science fiction I have ever read. I can see ... but I don't want to give away the story.

I read the German translation of this book in school (I'm from Germany), and found it so thought-provoking that in the following years I read many more books by this author. Search for Stanislaw Lem, not for Stanislav, and you will find them. He is not always easy to read, but the most original SF author I have ever found, and I have read hundreds of SF books. For example, have you ever heard of the "Brain Potato"? (I don't remember its exact scientific name.) This potato variety is so intelligent that, growing up, it understands the whole senselessness of life, roots itself up and commits suicide. It's from Lem's list of endangered species - one of many species listed. I think this is from "The Star Diaries", a collection of some of Lem's truly mindboggling stories. As for this book: Mankind has progressed and started to explore the cosmos. The powerful starship "The Invincible" is sent after her sister ship, which was sent to explore an unknown planet and did not return. "The Invincible" arrives in orbit around the planet and has no problem locating the missing ship. It stands as it landed, seemingly untouched, on one of many lifeless plains of an almost lifeless planet. Under the highest security precautions the ship lands and discovers most of the missing crew dead. The ship has been vandalized by its own crew, who seem to have gone mad collectively. Several are not found, they have wandered off into the plain and the mountain range beyond. The search for the missing men reveals an extraordinary truth: The planet once was full of life and inhabited by an advanced civilization. All of which was wiped out by conflict - a war in which machines got out of hand. And many of them are still around, fighting each other. "The Invincible" is caught in the fight. She may not lose, but she can't win either... Although it has a strong touch of space opera, this book develops to ask profound questions about technological development and where it may go, and about the ability of intelligent beings to control it. The characters are no heroes, they have their problems, but they are acting mostly professional. Stanislaw Lem doesn't write science fiction soap opera, he writes to ask questions. You want to broaden your intellectual horizon, this is the author to read. And when you read this book, remember that it was written in Poland in 1964.

I read russian translation of this book. It was one of the best sci-fi novels I read. A treat for imagination.

very very good, no jargon, analytical, no genuflection to postmodernist shibboleths, packed with ideas,

A model of interdisciplinary/literary scholarship. The prose is lucid and informative, the ideas innovative, and the overall effect of a densely packed but readable study.

"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

It's amazing that people can judge a book by reading excerpts on the net. Critical Theory and Science Fiction is not an easy read but CT never was or will be. You don't have to agree with the Marxist theories of Bloch and Adorno, Carl Freedman uses to make his various points, to appreciate his insights and the challenges he throws at the reader. That is what academics are supposed to do and not to wallow in old cliche's and easy answers. The "excursuses" (his term) into classic SF novels such as Stanislaw Lem's SOLARIS, Ursula Le Guin's THE DISPOSSESSED, Joanna Russ' THE TWO OF THEM, Samuel Delany's STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SANDS and the greatest SF writer, Philip K Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE are lessons every SF reader and writer should make their own. At least Freedman is raising the level of SF discourse beyond Star Trek Convensions or Star Wars hype.

Stanislaw Lem's writing is beautiful in this brief work. Fans of his science fiction will surely want to read this to get behind the artifice and learn about the writer. But those who are not familiar with his work will also enjoy this as a meditation on memory, growing up in Poland, and this writer's power to evoke meaning. I read it mostly before falling asleep and it gave me wonderful dreams.

The invincible is a great story about a ship, the invincible, that has a crew of about 80 people, armed to the teeth with nukes and superior shields. It is on a mission to Reigis III to find out what happened to their sister ship, the condor. Part of the story has to do with exploring the barren planet that contains some seas and metalic ruins, finding the condor and then dealing with what happened and why. Lem is a great writer of hard SF, trying to be very factual and makes sense. The book has been written some time ago though so some points are a little dated such as the warship the invincible being a huge rocket, but this really doesn't detract from the whole story. What happened to the mighty sister ship the condor? This may have been the first book to deal with this type of enemy! Very advanced for the time of this book. Great chapter on the theory of how this enemy evolved on the planet. Recommended!