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Solaris / Chain of Chance / A Perfect Vacuum
3 novels in one.
543 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
25 people want to read
About the author
Stanisław Lem
508 books4,573 followersStanisław Lem (staˈɲiswaf lɛm) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer of Jewish descent. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. He is perhaps best known as the author of Solaris, which has twice been made into a feature film. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon claimed that Lem was the most widely read science-fiction writer in the world.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 16, 2018
This is not my cup of tea. The first story was more of a situation sketch with little to no resolution. The second story was okay, but a bit much tell don't show. The third was actually an anthology of fictive book reviews. I don't like reading book reviews, so fictive book reviews are something I couldn't even finish reading.
May 7, 2024
This is a collection of three works and I think it's only fair to review them individually and then give my overall score as an average of the three. Solaris is obviously the most famous novel by Lem, so perhaps it should hold more weight but the inclusions here are relatively similar in length.
Solaris
Humanity have discovered a planet called Solaris, which is almost entirely covered in a gelatinous living ocean. In an attempt to make contact with this unusual life-form, a space station is suspended in orbit around the world to study it and conduct various experiments. We follow a scientist who arrives on the station, only to discover that things have gone awry in seemingly inexplicable ways.
From the very first chapter, Stanisław Lem establishes a creepy and atmospheric setting, gradually folding in more unsettling elements. The planet looms in the distance and you're constantly reminded of it as the bizarre events unfold within the station. It's a shame then that Lem insists on the inclusion of long chapters describing the experimentation, writings and theories of scientists of the past. These sections made me feel like I was reading a textbook at times and were a waste of words in such a short novel.
⭐⭐⭐
The Chain of Chance
I rolled straight over from Solaris into this one and knew nothing about it. I found it difficult to understand at first but it reveals itself as a detective story, only detailing the nature of the case after about forty pages. This story was meandering, bizarre and boring. A complete slog to get through despite only being 150 pages or so. Hated it.
⭐
A Perfect Vacuum
In A Perfect Vacuum, Lem adopts different monikers to review non-existent books. It's an interesting premise but ultimately a real mixed bag and more of a literary exercise than anything else.
⭐⭐
Solaris
Humanity have discovered a planet called Solaris, which is almost entirely covered in a gelatinous living ocean. In an attempt to make contact with this unusual life-form, a space station is suspended in orbit around the world to study it and conduct various experiments. We follow a scientist who arrives on the station, only to discover that things have gone awry in seemingly inexplicable ways.
From the very first chapter, Stanisław Lem establishes a creepy and atmospheric setting, gradually folding in more unsettling elements. The planet looms in the distance and you're constantly reminded of it as the bizarre events unfold within the station. It's a shame then that Lem insists on the inclusion of long chapters describing the experimentation, writings and theories of scientists of the past. These sections made me feel like I was reading a textbook at times and were a waste of words in such a short novel.
⭐⭐⭐
The Chain of Chance
I rolled straight over from Solaris into this one and knew nothing about it. I found it difficult to understand at first but it reveals itself as a detective story, only detailing the nature of the case after about forty pages. This story was meandering, bizarre and boring. A complete slog to get through despite only being 150 pages or so. Hated it.
⭐
A Perfect Vacuum
In A Perfect Vacuum, Lem adopts different monikers to review non-existent books. It's an interesting premise but ultimately a real mixed bag and more of a literary exercise than anything else.
⭐⭐
April 2, 2011
Solaris
Just finished reading Solaris yesterday. A very curious and well written SciFi novel. It got me thinking and began many conversations with my husband as to what the 'ocean' was. What made me laugh though was the library mentions. Lem used his imagination to create future reaches of science but you can tell he is firmly stuck in the '60s with mentions of microfilm, microfilm readers and 'automatic librarians' (early computer catalogues).
Chain of Chance
For those who love spy/crime stories, this is a great read! It truly is a chain of chance ... So - what organisation would use such a method?
A Perfect Vacuum
Who has written a review of this book of reviews? (cue laughter here) If you are reading the classics and just couldn't read Ulysses or Finnegans Wake, or had difficulty with Robinson Crusoe, you must read this!!!
Just finished reading Solaris yesterday. A very curious and well written SciFi novel. It got me thinking and began many conversations with my husband as to what the 'ocean' was. What made me laugh though was the library mentions. Lem used his imagination to create future reaches of science but you can tell he is firmly stuck in the '60s with mentions of microfilm, microfilm readers and 'automatic librarians' (early computer catalogues).
Chain of Chance
For those who love spy/crime stories, this is a great read! It truly is a chain of chance ... So - what organisation would use such a method?
A Perfect Vacuum
Who has written a review of this book of reviews? (cue laughter here) If you are reading the classics and just couldn't read Ulysses or Finnegans Wake, or had difficulty with Robinson Crusoe, you must read this!!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews