For Whom The Book Tolls - Episode 4: Solaris & The Spittle Of Zimolax
In the latestedition of For Whom The Book Tolls, Ken Ford Powell and I pitch a couple ofrecent must-read books to each other. Ken talks about The Spittle Of Zimolax, a between-the-wars mystery featuringan intrepid female sleuth working for MI5 in pursuit of a tantalisngly well-imaginedMcGuffin.
And I pitch toKen the great Polish sci-fi novel ‘Solaris’ by Stanislaus Lem (1921 – 2006). Much-filmed, Solaris is that rare thing – abook that contains multitudes of other books, a sort of Borgesian multibrary. It’s not ‘just’ science fiction, it’s a ghoststory, a heartbreaking love story, a political satire, an enquiry intoknowledge and how we think about the world, an exploration of consciousness, awarning on the dangers of AI – virtually everything that disturbs us about ourcontemporary world is contained within it, and it was first published in 1961.
It alsoprovides the cultural missing link between George Clooney, a visionary Russianfilm director, and the Sex Pistols . . .
How,exactly? You’ll have to listen to thepodcast . . .
