I've read "Cyberiad" for the first time as a boy of 9, maybe 10. I found it as funny and adventure story/stories (the tale about a giant machine trying to kill its creators was kinda horror for a child). Then I have re-read it many times through getting more and more mature, discovering "deeper layers" of it - scientifical, philosophical, political etc. Utopias intended to bring happiness and prosperity, but all they brought were misfortunes even worse than the ones preceding them - haven't we seen it with our eyes, don't we still see it? Deamon of Second Kind - don't some Internet search engines work quite similarly? And don't many of us get lost in artifficial virtual worlds, and not such realistic and sophisticated like those Lem described? If you want something like "Cyberiad" - well, there's nothing quite like this. "Fables for Robots" (look for it, if it's not included in your edition of "Cyberiad") explore the same universe. Some of this vibe you'll find in the "saga" about Ijon Tichy, beginning with "The Star Diaries", continuing through "The Futurological Congress", "Observation on the Spot", "Peace on Earth" and many shorter stories. The same with "Solaris", which is apogee of the trend in Lem's works it represents. Anyway I recommend "Eden", "The Invincible", maybe "His Master's Voice", "Fiasco". And there's more "classical" SF series of short stories "Tales of Pirx the Pilot", also asking many important questions about differences between human mind and artifficial intelligence, human perception, possibilities of contacting aliens, role of untuition, superiority of perfection or imperfection etc. Good luck!
One poetic story of Lem's that is way under rated is "The Mask", which is the final story in the book "Mortal Engines". It deals with free will and identity. I agree with other commenters who suggest "The Star Diaries" and "The Futurological Congress". A comment about "The Star Diaries": there is one story in the collection, "The Twenty-First Voyage" that subsumes massive amounts of science fiction, whole genres are annihilated in mere paragraphs. After reading that story, one become aware of the utter poverty of imagination that comprises so much science fiction. Edit: Oh, and I think Lem is absolutely five star for both Solaris and The Cyberiad.
Thanks, i’m going to read the cyberiad. It’s a coincidence I just finished Blindsight, it’s not very well written, it lacks coherence, I never got a good impression of what was going on and to whom. But the ideas are amazing I read the afterword and it’s amazing I need to read it again although as a novel it’s not enjoyable. The idea that consciousness is a fluke and that it’s unnecessary is crazy (it makes sense) but that means that if there is no one in the universe to acknowledge it’s existence, and therefore it does not exist?
I've read "Cyberiad" for the first time as a boy of 9, maybe 10. I found it as funny and adventure story/stories (the tale about a giant machine trying to kill its creators was kinda horror for a child). Then I have re-read it many times through getting more and more mature, discovering "deeper layers" of it - scientifical, philosophical, political etc. Utopias intended to bring happiness and prosperity, but all they brought were misfortunes even worse than the ones preceding them - haven't we seen it with our eyes, don't we still see it? Deamon of Second Kind - don't some Internet search engines work quite similarly? And don't many of us get lost in artifficial virtual worlds, and not such realistic and sophisticated like those Lem described?
If you want something like "Cyberiad" - well, there's nothing quite like this. "Fables for Robots" (look for it, if it's not included in your edition of "Cyberiad") explore the same universe. Some of this vibe you'll find in the "saga" about Ijon Tichy, beginning with "The Star Diaries", continuing through "The Futurological Congress", "Observation on the Spot", "Peace on Earth" and many shorter stories.
The same with "Solaris", which is apogee of the trend in Lem's works it represents. Anyway I recommend "Eden", "The Invincible", maybe "His Master's Voice", "Fiasco". And there's more "classical" SF series of short stories "Tales of Pirx the Pilot", also asking many important questions about differences between human mind and artifficial intelligence, human perception, possibilities of contacting aliens, role of untuition, superiority of perfection or imperfection etc. Good luck!
"return from the stars" (powrot z gwiazd)
One poetic story of Lem's that is way under rated is "The Mask", which is the final story in the book "Mortal Engines". It deals with free will and identity. I agree with other commenters who suggest "The Star Diaries" and "The Futurological Congress". A comment about "The Star Diaries": there is one story in the collection, "The Twenty-First Voyage" that subsumes massive amounts of science fiction, whole genres are annihilated in mere paragraphs. After reading that story, one become aware of the utter poverty of imagination that comprises so much science fiction.
Edit: Oh, and I think Lem is absolutely five star for both Solaris and The Cyberiad.
With The Cyberiad style there is
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_for_Robots
Known also as Mortal Engines
The Invincible - one of the best scify book of Lem. Im strongly recomending you ;)
Thanks, i’m going to read the cyberiad. It’s a coincidence I just finished Blindsight, it’s not very well written, it lacks coherence, I never got a good impression of what was going on and to whom. But the ideas are amazing I read the afterword and it’s amazing I need to read it again although as a novel it’s not enjoyable. The idea that consciousness is a fluke and that it’s unnecessary is crazy (it makes sense) but that means that if there is no one in the universe to acknowledge it’s existence, and therefore it does not exist?
Is there illustrations in this edition of cyberiad?
Yep, about one for every story.
I can recommend Fiasco ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiasco_(novel) )
but its top heavy w. detail ( info dumps ? ) , and seems aimless , admittedly ive only read half so far, but one needs to feel a goal is in sight !