Last month I decided to reread my Lem collection. Started Solaris yesterday. (I’ve read it three or four times before.)

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub is one of my favorite books ever. It’s Lem’s sci-fi retelling of Kafka’s The Castle.

  • Deebster@beehaw.orgEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I’ve never read any of his stuff. Clearly, you’d recommend them. Are they all standalone, and readable in any order?

    • davefischer@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      All standalone. Lem wrote in two styles: half of his books are serious & dense, the other half are lighthearted and a bit absurdist. (Arguably, Douglas Adams got the idea for the improbability drive from a Lem story.)

      I think “The Futurological Congress” is a really good starting point. Funny & absurd at times, a little more serious in other sections. If you’re looking for more straight “hard SF” then I’d recommend “The Invincible”.

      • Deebster@beehaw.orgEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        I read plenty of hard sci-fi already,so I’d probably go for other half of his writing to start. I love Douglas Adams, so if it’s good enough for him it’s good enough for me 👍

        • davefischer@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          The story with the improbability generator is in the short story collection “The Cyberiad”.

          Adams said something to the effect of: I’m certainly aware of that story now, but I wasn’t when I wrote HHGTTG, it was a coincidence.