Today’s #scifijuly post is also appropriate for this month’s #readtheworld21 challenge — as Stanislaw Lem was Polish. . . As it says on the cover of PEACE ON EARTH, Lem is most well-known for SOLARIS, which was adapted into two movies. But he wrote A LOT of books — both novels and collections of short stories. Again, those pictured here represent only those I both own and have read. Though this time, all of my favorites are in the picture. . . SOLARIS is his most famous for a reason, a classic in the vein of exploring the furthest reaches of the universe only to be confronted with having to deal with your own mind. . . In PEACE ON EARTH, Lem’s unlucky cosmonaut Ijon Tichy, who appears in many of his books, has his corpus callosum severed, and his right and left brains can no longer talk to each other. This results in some amusing slapstick as the two sides of his brain literally fight each other while agents from East and West also fight to find out what only he knows but can’t remember about a possible threat on the moon. . . MEMOIRS OF A SPACE TRAVELER is my favorite collection(so far!) of Ijon Tichy stories. There are many such collections, some heavier on quantum physics and higher math humor, some exploring the line between reality and hallucination. In this one Tichy observes (and sometimes participates in) experiments in intelligence and consciousness — both organic and artificial. Some of the Tichy stories I find quite dry, but this collection has an enjoyable blend of the satirical, philosophical, and the absurd. . . So if you are into scifi and/or translated fiction, I think any of the three above would be good jumping in points. If you have read Lem before, what did you think? What were your faves? . . #scificlassics #stanislawlem #translatedscifi #thecyberiad #memoirsofaspacetraveler #peaceonearth #solaris #thefuturologicalcongress #ijontichy #scifi #sciencefiction https://www.instagram.com/p/CDAFbL3ggDv/?igshid=13pof2msqadt2
