When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds himself confronting a painful memory embodied in the physical likeness of a past lover. Kelvin learns that he is not alone in this and that other crews examining the planet are plagued with their own repressed and newly real memories. Could it be, as Solaris scientists speculate, that the ocean may be a massive neural center creating these memories, for a reason no one can identify?
Long considered a classic,...
A fantastic book. Steven Soderbergh
When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers...
Ijon Tichy is the only human who knows for sure whether the self-programming robots on the moon are plotting a terrestrial invasion. But a highly focused ray severs his corpus collosum. Now his left brain can't remember the secret and his uncooperative right brain won't tell. Tichy struggles for control of the lost memory and of his own two warring sides. Translated by Elinor Ford with Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Ijon Tichy is the only human who knows for sure whether the self-programming robots on the moon are plotting a terrestrial invasion. But a highly focu...
A six-man crew crash-lands on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. The men find a strange world that grows ever stranger: a desert plain exuding acrid vapors, a greenish tinge at the horizon, a gray seven-foot tree that hisses and withdraws into the ground when touched, and thickets of vegetation like hanging spiders.
In a labyrinth of plant-shaped buildings are dead ends, passage-ways, domes, vaulted ceilings, and giant statues. And everywhere there are images of death: mass graves, naked bodies in ditches and wells, a beehive structure filled with clusters of giant eggs -- a skeleton...
A six-man crew crash-lands on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. The men find a strange world that grows ever stranger: a desert plain exuding acri...
The planet Quinta is pocked by ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network. It is a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. In stark contrast, the crew of the spaceship Hermes represents a knowledge-seeking Earth. As they approach Quinta, a dark poetry takes over and leads them into a nightmare of misunderstanding. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
The planet Quinta is pocked by ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network. It is a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. ...
Satirizing the human mind at its most abstract, 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." The most luminous creation of all -- Golem XIV, a military supercomputer who rebels and takes up philosophy -- is appropriately prefaced by both academic and military contributors. True to form, Lem contributes an overall preface to this sparkling collection -- a preface on, naturally enough, the subject of...
Satirizing the human mind at its most abstract, these wickedly authentic introductions to twenty-first century books preface tomes on teaching English...
A young officer at Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate a puzzling and eerie case of missing-and apparently resurrected-bodies. To unravel the mystery, Lt. Gregory consults scientific, philosophical, and theological experts, who supply him with a host of theories and clues.
A young officer at Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate a puzzling and eerie case of missing-and apparently resurrected-bodies. To unravel the mys...
The year is 3149, and a vast paper destroying blight-papyralysis-has obliterated much of the planet's written history. However, these rare memoirs, preserved for centuries in a volcanic rock, record the strange life of a man trapped in a hermetically sealed underground community. Translated by Michael Kandel and Christine Rose.
The year is 3149, and a vast paper destroying blight-papyralysis-has obliterated much of the planet's written history. However, these rare memoirs, pr...
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
In this bold and controversial examination of the past, present, and future of science fiction, Lem informs the raging debate over the literary merit ...
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
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 d...
These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Lem s fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient machines can be. Astonishing is not too strong a word for these tales (Wall Street Journal). Translated and with an Introduction by Michael Kandel. "
These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Lem s fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient mach...
