The Truth and Other Stories

by Stanisław Lem, Kim Stanley Robinson (Foreword), Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

Twelve stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, nine of them never before published in English.

Of these twelve short stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, only three have previously appeared in English, making this the first "new" book of fiction by Lem since the late 1980s. The stories display the full range of Lem's intense curiosity about scientific ideas as well as his sardonic approach to human nature, presenting as multifarious a collection of mad scientists as any reader could wish for. Many of these stories feature artificial intelligences or artificial life forms, long a Lem preoccupation; some feature quite insane theories of cosmology or evolution. All are thought provoking and scathingly funny.

Written from 1956 to 1993, the stories are arranged in chronological order. In the title story, "The Truth," a scientist in an insane asylum theorizes that the sun is alive; "The Journal" appears to be an account by an omnipotent being describing the creation of infinite universes--until, in a classic Lem twist, it turns out to be no such thing; in "An Enigma," beings debate whether offspring can be created without advanced degrees and design templates. Other stories feature a computer that can predict the future by 137 seconds, matter-destroying spores, a hunt in which the prey is a robot, and an electronic brain eager to go on the lam. These stories are peak Lem, exploring ideas and themes that resonate throughout his writing.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy, Poland

340 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2021

About the author

Stanisław 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.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I wasn't already aware how good a writer Stanislaw Lem was before, this truly excellent collection would've easily persuaded me. Twelve stories, of which only three have been translated into English before, spanning a wide range of Lem's life (1956 to 1993), offered chronologically.

Only a couple of stories are merely okay, most are either excellent or truly excellent. My favourite story is probably The Friend, where a man keeps borrowing electrical parts and equipment for.. a friend. What truly impressed me was how this story quite suddenly changes perspective, in an almost post-modern way. To me it shows a storyteller in complete control.

Another of my favourites, Darkness and Mildew, is about a hermit having a chance encounter with a self-replicating bit of matter. The story includes a short prologue, basically explaining what the self-replicating thing is, and I do feel the story didn't really need it. That said, the story is still quite claustrophobic and threatening, in the way nature can be threatening.

Lem tries his hand at humour in some stories, and succeeds mostly, to my surprise (which is up to me - I think I cultivated an image of Lem in my mind as a surly East-European writer, based on nothing).

Whether you've read Lem before or not, this is an excellent place to start. Highly recommended.

Individual scores:

The Hunt - 4 stars
Rat In The Labyrinth - 4 stars
Invasion From Aldebaran - 3.5 stars
The Friend - 5 stars
The Invasion - 4 stars
Darkness And Mildew - 5 stars
The Hammer - 4 stars
Lymphater’s Formula - 4 stars
The Journal - 3 stars
The Truth - 4 stars
One Hundred And Thirty-Seven Seconds - 5 stars
An Enigma - 4 stars

(Thanks to MIT Press for providing me for an ARC through NetGalley)

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly interesting, different stories about possible beings on other planets and places we cannot even dream of, possible aliens, historically futuristic are the short stories written during the span of 1950 to 1990s by the author. One of those translated fiction done well and good.

*Contents:

1. The Hunt
4 🌟
*Got thirsty while and after reading this

2. Rat in the Labyrinth
4 🌟
*Of course, another planet like ours must exist
*Aliens? Hello.

3. Invasion From Aldebaran
4 🌟
*We are talking about inhabitants from the other planets

4. The Friend
4 🌟
*What have you done, my friend??!

5. The Invasion
3 🌟
*I want a better ending

6. Darkness and Mildew
4 🌟
*Claustrophobic read indeed

7. The Hammer
4 🌟
*Love it with all its details and uncertainty

8. Lymphater's Formula
4 🌟
*One of the best. Take your time reading this one.

9. The Journal
4 🌟
*Perfect little story as a story.

10. The Truth
4 🌟
*Too dystopian but never dystopian enough?

11. One hundred and thirty seven Seconds
4 🌟
*It cannot be forgotten easily.

12. An Enigma
4 🌟
*Love the crispiness and all the discussion. Theology as plot for discussion. Well done.

I just wish the stories have some more variety than most of them being about aliens and other planet like surroundings.

Thank you, authors, editor and the publishing team for the ARC.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stanislaw Lem was one of the greats of classic science fiction. This is a collection of twelve of his stories, most never before translated into English from the original Polish. These are dense stories filled with scientific jargon and will take a while to read. The best of the bunch are "The Friend" and "Darkness and Mildew."

1. The Hunt (Late 1950s) is a story told from the point of view of something not human, something possibly mechanical in nature, who is being hunted for sport through forests and mountains. It is a poetic story, which brings to life the environment he is running through.

2. Rat in the Labyrinth (1956) is a first contact story and, as it so often goes, first contact with aliens is nothing like we ever imagined. Here, it is an episode so odd and different than almost anyone expected. This one starts out slowly, but you have to stick with it to get to the good stuff. It may indeed feel more like an endless labyrinth than a flying saucer.

3. Invasion from Aldebaran (1959) is another first contact story, but it flips the Rat in a Labyrinth story on its head by viewing the first contact from the point of view of the many-tentacled aliens. The oddness with which they understand Earth is just how odd we would find an alien world out there.

4. The Friend (1959) revisits the theme of First contact and, once again, it is nothing like you imagined. Leg starts this terrifying take slowly with a stranger visiting a shortwave radio club. But, see, the stranger has s secret friend who is quite out of this world.

5. The Invasion (1959) is a hard science look at first contact. It starts out just peaceful out in the field. A tough, awkward read. Interesting thing is how Lem anticipated three-d printing.

6. Darkness and Mildew (1959) is for a change of pace not exactly a first contact story and it'd also my favorite so far. Think Dr. Frankenstein meets Dr. Doolittle. Think deeply before you watch another episode of "Hoarders." Lem's quirky sense of humor is also at play here.

7. The Hammer (1959) is a tough one to follow, but it's a real early look into the nature of artificial intelligence.

8. Lymphater’s Formula (1961) starts out as a difficult read, but ultimately is a very satisfying tale. If you thought Dr. Frankenstein appeared in an earlier story, you ain't seen nothing yet. Evolution slowly progresses.

9. The Journal (1962) is a technically-rich story written in the form of an entry to a scientific journal. Thus, the title.

12. The Truth (1964) explores the idea of what is life and what is intelligent.

11. One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Seconds (1976) - another dense hard sci-fi tale.

12. An Enigma (1993) is about predictions and intelligent thought.

[Ola G · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 stars

My full review can be found on my blog.

Stanisław Lem is one of my absolutely favorite SF authors, as you probably already know from here and here. His brain really seems to have been wired differently, perceiving correlations and consequences and possible outcomes that not many others – or none – had seen. He’s also a very pessimistic writer, at least when it comes to humans and human cognitive and moral abilities – and reading Lem is a bit like gazing into a very unflattering mirror, one from Andersen’s tale The Snow Queen. In our times full of wilful denial and escapist pleasure, though, I contend that Lem’s passionate critique is something sorely needed.

This collection gathers stories from different periods of Lem’s life, from 1956 to 1996. Many of them have never been translated to English before. This anthology offers a great opportunity to acquaint oneself with the key themes and topics of Lem’s writing: artificial intelligence, first contact, human psychology and cognitive limitations, ethical problems inherent in human perception of the world. Even though some of these stories are nearing their seventieth year, apart from the odd outdated technological detail they seem as bold and fresh as written today by the greatest in the field. Lem was particularly preoccupied with the concept of Otherness – and this, maybe more than any other theme, makes his writing so enduring and important to his day.

As usual, I’ll present a short review of each story and offer a quick summary and rating of the collection at the conclusion of my post.

The Hunt 10/10

This is a very Lem story; and one so deeply rooted in his personal experiences that without the context might seem too pessimistic. Alas, for all its SF accoutrements it’s a WWII story about the meanings and definitions of “humanity.” The Hunt is one long exhalation, a violent gut punch, and its message is enhanced by a very visceral, visual and dynamic storytelling. It reminds me of Tales of Pirx the Pilot, both in terms of themes and execution, and I find it hard to believe this story is almost 70 years old – it feels so fresh and rabid and desperate. I knew what to expect, and yet I still hoped for a different ending.

A very strong opening to the collection.

Rat in the Labyrinth 7/10

A preparatory sketch to Solaris; interesting but not surprising, with Lem exploring various concepts that will later find their way into the novel. I appreciated the time loop twist, it was well done and lent the whole a suitably nightmarish feel, but the overarching metaphor was a bit too blunt.

Invasion from Aldebaran 7/10

Unfortunately, satire ages quickly; and here it wasn’t helped by the noticeably clunky translation. I must say that in general the translation of the stories in this collection is really good, so hats off to Antonia Lloyd-Jones – but here, she simply didn’t manage to catch the subtexts and contexts, and somehow lost the delicious irony of the tale. The premise and plot are funny, but their acerbic humor stems mainly from the utter believability of the situation – in fact, this story is a satire on Polish rural culture in the 50’s more than anything else. It avoided censorship because it was clad in an iridescent SF cloak, but really, it’s a viciously accurate reportage from Polish boondocks. It’s still spot on, actually.

The Friend 10/10

Wondrously creepy, twisty and dark, The Friend is one of the highlights of the collection. A feeling of constant oppression, infiltration, and fear permeates this tale that starts like a noir detective story, turns into a morality tale, and switches gears again to become a tour the force in empathy and imagination, with a finishing touch of body horror. Once again, this story seems as if it was written today, not in the 50’s. Perfect.

[...]

The Truth 10/10

Wonderfully imaginative, vividly descriptive – a fascinating account of unacceptable knowledge born from tragedy. It’s also absolutely, unapologetically crazy, in that rabbit hole way that hooks you in and drags you ever deeper. Mad scientists feature heavily in this collection; for a lot of reasons. Censorship, be it political or academical, is usually born out of fear and personal/institutional interest, and Lem was well acquainted with political censorship in 1950s and ‘60s in Poland. But he also points out to Kuhn’s concept of the structure of scientific revolutions, where new knowledge is usually rejected at first only to be accepted later on under the weight of new evidence and growing consensus.

One Hundred and Thirty Seven Seconds 10/10

All right, Lem did it again.Led me on a merry chase through physics, macro and quantum, the nature of time, the nature of consciousness, only to end with a gallows humor and a knowing wink to the audience. A lovely story, much in the style of The Saragossa Manuscript or Decameron, or other oral tales fit to be told by the campfire, it showcases the strengths of both Lem’s writing skill and his amazing capacity for applying knowledge.

An Enigma 8/10

A wonderfully ironic trifle, a perfect lightweight dessert at the end of a very filling eleven-course meal. It shows Lem’s other face, that of a wise jester, inviting us to laugh wholeheartedly with him at our own expense. Reminiscent of Cyberiad, this tiny story makes a perfect conclusion to the collection, imploring us to keep an open mind and be curious, always.


All in all, this was a real pleasure. Not all stories are equally wonderful, as usual with anthologies, but there’s an unusually high percentage of great stories in this collection. They are all thought-provoking, bold, unapologetic, and ruthless in their unrelenting seriousness with which Lem approached everything, and which KSR so aptly describes in his foreword. A word about the foreword: I think that it should rather be read as an afterword – Robinson not only shares his appreciation for Lem’s work in general and the influence it had on his own writing, but also discusses some of the stories from this collection.

I will be coming back to some of these stories. Their superb quality, their clinical poetry of structure and image, is haunting. While I obviously prefer the original Polish version of Lem’s works, I am surprised, really, to have enjoyed them so much in translation – which is a testament to both Lem’s enduring skill and breadth of vision, and to the faithful translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

Very highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher MIT Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

These twelve stories from Stanislaw Lem were written between the 1950s and 1993, the date of the wonderful final story, “Enigma.” I have heard of Lem from time to time and decided that this collection would be a great way to learn a bit about his work. He obviously was a very forward thinking man, positing ideas during the mid 1950s that I imagine would have been ahead of their time. Science fiction with a strong emphasis on the science. I occasionally became a little lost in the scientific details before Lem opened each story up into the ramifications, and often weird events, that intrigued his characters. And each story does open up, so those who get confused/dazed or whatever when physics or computer connectivity issues, etc take over need not worry. The monsters, if there are any, are somewhere in the machine or the people or…or…or… The concept of aliens and other worlds is addressed in different ways. One thirty-seven seconds deals with the possible “other” capability of an IBM computer!

And you must read “Enigma” which I found a perfect way to end this collection.

The stories as a whole I rated 4 while Enigma rated 5 for its wit. Nine of these stories have not been published before.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

To the SF enthusiast, Polish writer Stanislaw Lem is often regarded in a similar way a reader of mundane fiction might consider Joyce or Proust. A writer that you may well never have read, but you know that they are amongst the greats because the literati tell you so. I was pretty much in that category - I'd attempted to watch the 1972 Tarkovsky film of what's often regarded as Lem's masterpiece, Solaris, but I'd never ventured into what felt like writing that was bound to be obscure and impenetrable.

As a result, when I noticed that, to mark Lem's 100th anniversary, MIT Press had put out a collection of Lem short stories, I leapt at the chance to explore his writing in a relatively painless way. The collection spans much of Lem's writing career, beginning with a piece from the late 50s and coming up to 1993. Unfortunately, of the 12 stories in the book only two worked well as a piece of fiction, and one of those had problems with the science.

The early stories suffered from something that Kim Stanley Robinson admits in the effusive introduction - Lem seemed not to have paid much attention to existing SF writing and reproduced many themes that by the 50s were fairly well trodden. Unfortunately he didn't bring anything new, other than dragging out what probably only deserved to be a couple of thousand words to four or five times the length with interminable unnecessary text. Sometimes this is in the form of dire dialogue such as 'Mind you, opinions are divided - some people think contact with another world would bring us benefits, and others think it would bring on the "war of the worlds.' Which side are you on?'

Robinson tells us that part of Lem's appeal is his sense of humour, but it's hard to spot that in these stories. Mind you, Robinson's example of a typical Lem quip is 'Measured by the yardstick of Dick's black pessimism, Schopenhauer's philosophy of life seems to be real joie de vivre,' so I suppose it's too much to expect a laugh out loud result.

Broadly the stories seem to fit into three categories. The earlier ones have a fairly straightforward plot, obscured by the shaggy dog story length of the lead ups to the conclusion. A good example would be The Friend from 1959. It's 50 pages long, most of which consists of a stranger describing his requirements for an electronic device in an intensely elliptical and frustrating fashion. In the last handful of pages we get a rather Stephen Kingesque denouement, but the build-up is tedious in the extreme.

We then get into what seems to be an obscurantist phase, where the language is not very helpful. Here's the opening to the 1962 story The Journal: 'And so we are seized by a new desire for investigation, and we meet the preliminary condition: to limit ourselves, without which we can do nothing, for we are everything. Here, plainly, everything and nothing mean one and the same thing, for only he who is everything can do nothing: in perfection, which is a persistent attribute of ours - unless we should wish, as in the present case, to suspend it - there is room for any kind of aspiration, because it is an end point...' and so it goes on. I didn't get very far with this one.

Finally, there are a couple of later pieces that return to some degree of readability. For me, by far the most interesting stories are The Truth and One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Seconds. The first of these features a really interesting concept, but is sadly rather distorted by the fact that Lem clearly has no idea what plasma (something central to the story) is like. He seems to have thought that a plasma is basically a nuclear explosion waiting to happen, something uncontrollable, vastly energetic and potentially devastating. It's probably a good thing he never owned a plasma TV or knew that there's plasma in a candle flame. The second story is entertaining, though it's really fantasy rather than science fiction.

Altogether, then, not a great experience. If you are a Lem fan, I'm sure you will want to add this to your collection, as it contains nine previously untranslated stories - but I'm afraid it hasn't usefully demonstrated to me what all the fuss is about.

[Simona B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond words. And as far as I'm concerned, if you have never read Lem, you simply have never read actual science fiction.

[Bagus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year 2021 is celebrated as the centenary of the birth of Stanisław Lem. It’s declared as the Year of Stanisław Lem (Rok Lema) in Poland, following the resolution passed by the Sejm, the lower house of the parliament of Poland on November 27, 2020. I think it’s a really nice decision for MIT Press to finally publish Lem’s stories coinciding with this moment. Lem is known to English-speaking audiences mainly through Solaris, which was first published in 1961 and stirred sensation both in Poland and outside Poland with its unorthodox view of interaction with extraterrestrial beings. Most science fiction from Lem’s era imagined aliens as intelligent creatures with features similar to human beings, something which could be said as too anthropocentric for lack of better terms. Solaris explores how aliens might or might not look like human beings, how communication might or might not work, and established Lem as a forerunner in the philosophical rethinking of technology.

The 12 stories included in this volume, 9 of which was previously inaccessible to the Anglophone world, also explore Lem’s thoughts in more recurring details. Some stories are merely okay to me, but there are also wonderfully-thought stories that changed the way I see technologies around me or amazed me with how precise Lem’s predictions of the future, despite the fact that most of the stories included are written in the 1950s and 1960s when Lem was most productive. The theme of the impossibility of communication with extraterrestrial beings in Solaris is also present in Rat in the Labyrinth (1956) and The Invasion (1959) in which the main characters tried to establish contact and communicate with the creatures which arrive on earth, something which is deemed impossible to understand by merely likening our modes of interactions with anthropomorphism.

Lem seemed to be fond of artificial intelligence as well and how it could affect our way of life. The Hammer (1959) pretty much summarizes how AI will behave and the logic behind it, something to be commended given the context it was written in 1959. In Lymphater’s Formula (1961), Lem discusses the evolutionary progress of humans, how human’s progress will eventually lead to a state of decay and ultimately to its own doom. Progress here is being likened to catalysts in chemical reactions. The use of catalysts indeed fastens the reaction, but the end of the chemical reaction itself will be something entirely different compared to the chemical substances that formed it. Ultimately human’s progress might end with something entirely different from our current state of beings.

Lem’s stories are intriguing and philosophical. While they don’t offer that much in terms of character developments or the usual conflicts in three-act structures, they bring many inquiries about technology that stay relevant up to date. As our reality has moved primarily online, it might be the right moment to question if we indeed prefer an omnipotent and omniscient state of being as opposed to the limitation set by our real-life situation in which we live inside the prison of flesh. Digital technology is pretty much present in our daily life, with close to an unlimited flow of information. If we think about it again, there is probably much more information available online than what we could digest in our lifetime. If you haven’t read any of Lem’s works, then I could guarantee that some of his stories will convince you to change the way you see technological inventions and how we should approach them.

I’d also like to praise the translation of Mrs Antonia Lloyd-Jones which always sounds good. Previously, I’ve read her translations of Olga Tokarczuk’s works and Profesorowa Szczupaczyńska crime fiction series which is written by Jacek Dehnel and Piotr Tarczynski under the pseudonym Maryla Szymiczkowa. Seeing how precise Stanisław Lem’s words are in this volume, I’m convinced that Mrs Llyod-Jones would be able to handle any type of works. Whether you are a fan of science fiction or interested in works by Polish authors, this volume will be enjoyable to read and provide more insights related to the philosophical points of view on technologies.

[Sherron Wahrheit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection (or if you ask P. K. Dick, “anthology” might be a better term) is being released at the right time for me, as I’m trying to read more classic sf. Of the twelve stories, only three have been previously released in English, so this volume is recommended for both long-time fans and for newbies alike.

It turns out, I haven’t read a whole lot of Stanislaw Lem. According to Wikipedia, 2021 is the year of Stanislaw Lem in Poland, and I’m glad to do my part catching up on as many SL novels I can find, albeit from the USA, and many thanks to NetGalley and MIT Press for access to this ARC in return for my opinion here.

This collection is organized chronologically by publication date, and these short stories show a wide variety of treatment—from horror to humor and always with a satisfying dollop of science—to a fairly unified set of themes around otherness, understanding others, artificial intelligence, and being, to mention a few.

I understand the Lem was quite the wordsmith playing with language, and after reading these and other stories, I feel it’s a shame that though he spoke English, he chose to never write in that language. It’s a shame to not have first-hand access to his work and a bitter shame his relations with American sf writers were like chalk and cheese. I don’t speak Polish, so much nuance is probably lost on me. Of course, translation may affect an inflection here, a word-choice there, but overall I got the impression of strong, well-written, clear and direct prose. The only inkling I had regarding translation was some British phraseology.

In “The Hunt” a figure runs through the woods away from the humans hunting him. As he runs, he thinks about life, about thinking (and not), about his overheated body, about escape—to the moon where humans can’t follow his metal footsteps, and all the while he suffers exhaustion, fear, and worst of all, the gullibility of unearned trust. And another story about perspective is “Rats in a Labyrinth.” Are we the makers of the maze … or are we the rats?

“Invasion from Alderbaran” was very funny. Two aliens on a reconnaissance trip to a takeover a planet suffer defeat due to language differences and their making completely wrong inferences. It’s a storyline and theme I’m learning was a favorite of Lem’s and one I’ve not seen pursued so thoroughly.

I read through all of these stories once without taking notes, and then before I knew it—the book was archived. This is the sort of book that if you like it now, you will like to read it over again later. I hope to read this book again in the future.

[Jason Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many good stories with concepts that were ahead of their time. It is nice to see that some of Lem's work that had not been previously translated into English is finally being printed.
There are elements of cosmic horror, and existential dread scattered throughout the book.
Many of the stories hint of grand themes in the universe that man is on the brink of uncovering or does not have the senses and capabilities to properly express.
My previous exposure to Lem was through his big works such as Solaris.
One of the few books that I will consider rereading to see what subtle things I may have missed on this first read.
I am going to have to haunt the bookstores looking for more Lem work that I have not yet read.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The Truth and Other Stories” is a collection of 12 short stories by Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem, a legend in the sci-fi community (in English he’s best known for “Solaris”). These are written from the 1950s though 1990s, covering a large swath of cold war and Eastern European modern history, which helps put some of these stories in context.

For the most part these are hard core science fiction stories, focusing on the science part of sci-fi. Mr. Lem throws out the notion of cuddly friendly aliens who are similar to us in any way whatsoever. Instead, he tends to focus on the otherness, the alien aspects of first contact. It is arrogant of us to think that aliens will be anything like us, that we could understand their motivations, their ways, their technology. For most of the stories, first contact does not go well, either for them or for us.

There’s an assortment here: two friends trapped on an alien spaceship, a creature being hunted through the woods, a man collecting parts for “a friend”, and many more. Some of them twist in unexpected directions, some of them will make you smile, all of them will make you think.

I really wanted to like these more than I did, but these are very dense and difficult stories to enjoy. I can understand why people love these, but I guess I’m not sci-fi enough to appreciate the intricacies.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from The MIT Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Graham Stull · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read the title short story with tremendous thanks due to a Polish friend of mine, who recommended it to me.

Humbly and with embarassment for my anglocentricity, I am forced to admit I would otherwise never have read Lem, nor was I even truly aware of his existence as a writer - despite his having written the book behind the classic sci fi film Solaris.

Yet The Truth, in its execution and in the concepts it evokes, is as deserving of a place among the great works of 20th Century sci-fi as anything written by Bradbury, Asimov or Clark.

Nor does the genius of the story repose entirely on the ideas. Lem uses the common narrative device of an unreliable narrator to bring the deeper philosophical question addressed into the story down to a personal level, creating a perfect mirror between the metaphysical and the psychosocial.

Of course, in the end, it is the ideas that are the lasting mark of this story's greatness. And here we come back to humility - in under ten thousand words, Lem manages to construct a plausible hypothesis that challenges our most basic assumptions about the universe and our place in it.

This story deserves more than five stars. It deserves all of them.

[Goran Lowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels kind of crazy to read “new”, never-before-translated works by one of the greats like Lem. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going in since this is mostly a collection of unconnected short stories, but what I got in the end is the typical thought-provoking, creative and a delight for any Lem fans.

Some of these are quite heavy reads, and I had to re-read some parts multiple times. Interestingly, as much as there is no main theme, you can expect many of the themes Lem always returned to in his career, perhaps most notably in this collection the exploration of what alien intelligence would look like. Because these stories were all written independently over the span of multiple decades, you can see a clear evolution/change in his writing style and habits.

Feels like classic SF, and classic Lem!

I would like to thank NetGalley and MIT Press for this ARC.

[Ka Ming Wong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish. Read Rats in the Labyrinth, The Friend, The Invasion from Aldebaran, and a lot of The Truth. A NYer profile of Lem got me interested originally and I can appreciate what he means for a lot of people from that and the foreword here, but the writing is too oblique and full of commas for me to enjoy. Interesting ideas

[aidan · Rating 3 out of 5]

best-of: the hunt, invasion from aldebaran, the hammer (darkness and mildew)

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading anything from Stanislaw Lem other than a skim through of The Invincible years ago, which I honestly have mostly forgotten. I wish I had realized then what an amazing hard, science-fiction writer Lem was. Well, some of the stories are a bit dated as far as specific technologies go, they are still interesting and thought-provoking.

I was about half way through the book, while reading Darkness and Mildew, that I started to notice he wrote in such a way that the main theme/antagonist/etc behind the story is technology agnostic to a point. And his forethought on artificial intelligence & Vonn Neumann theory is honestly quite astounding for the time these were written. Those were extremely next level topics at the time, and I am sure his fiction helped inspire many of the advances we’ve seen in complex systems, AI and ML.

One comment thread I found in several of his stories that really caught my attention was the notion that alien life will most likely be so vastly different from intelligent life on earth that 1) we may not even know they are here, 2) that our species will be so different based on our evolutionary paths that we cannot communicate as we understand communication, 3) not all life may actually be organic life or wholly organic life, and 4) that our first contact from another intelligent species may not be with organic life.

While some of this definitely feels dated, it is definitely entertaining and holds up to this day as what I would consider absolute classics in hard science-fiction. This was probably the best re-introduction I could have had to Lem.

https://astrogeek.wixsite.com/localgr...

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that I should join in the celebration of the Stanislaw Lem centennial by reading at least one of the new editions of his work being published this year. My favorite Lem book by far is The Futurological Congresses which out-Matrixes The Matrix, but I am also very fond of Memoir Found in a Bathtub, Solaris and the Cyberiad. Lem was a visonary with a wonderful imagination and a good writer of vivid prose.

I had never read his short stories, so this was a treat. These stories are all enjoyable, though I thought not quite on par with his best work. The opening story is Lem's take on the old human hunting genre a la Most Dangerous Game. This genre has been done better, but the story has a nice twist at the end. Among the others, my favorites were the ones about artificial intelligences becoming smarter than their masters. There's one where evil AI wants to take over the world and enslave humans to its will; there's one where the AI thinks that it is god but turns out to be something less; there's one where the AI just wants to be friends (but on terms that its human companion doesn't not like so much) and then one where the AI just sees people as insects beneath its contempt. It's enough to scare even Nick Bostrum. But in all of these stories, whether through luck, cleverness or stubborness the humans manage to win out. There is a core of optimism and humor about humanity in all of Mr. Lem's work even when we are doing stupid self destructive stuff. This is one of the things that I like about his writing that keeps bringing me back for more.

[Geve_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lotta first contact stories, including a practice run for Solaris, but each took a different approach. Was interesting to read these different takes. I was really impressed with and intrigued by how thoughtful and modern a lot of these stories were. Intelligence, humanity, life, identity, reality, all things covered in these stories, to varying effect. And oh Stan, why did you put in a story that includes how actual evidence is nothing in the face of a scientific ego. Reality is not reality, evidence isn't evidence, if someone with more power and ego than you thinks their own ideas are more important.

I would say I particularly liked the first story (the hunt) and the last story (the enigma), which was short and sweet and really great way to end this collection that was at times, overwhelming in detail. I also enjoyed the friend, which was a bit creepy at times.

Overall I would say I enjoyed several of these quite well, some of them dragged a bit for me, and some were a bit repetitive. I really like Lem as a thinker and author and will for sure read more of his work.

3.5 stars rounded up

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having never read Stanisław Lem, but certainly having heard of his work, I was eager to pick up this collection when I saw it available (thank you MIT Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC). Inevitably I enjoyed some stories more than others but overall, the stories are thought-provoking and, in some instances, laugh aloud funny at times. I’m happy to have finally gotten to read this classic author, and can see myself returning to this collection to read a few of the stories again. I appreciate the inclusion of the dates for each story’s composition as this gives a sense of the trajectory and development of Lem’s work over the course of his writing career. Overall, an interesting collection I’d happily recommend to fans of classic science fiction.

[Michael Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the world's greatest science fiction writer, these 12 stories abound with humor, horror, and lots of deep dives into the intersection of physics, technology, and philosophy. Sometimes reading Lem is like being bullied by the biggest brainiac in highschool, but the stories almost always pay off. From the brutal "Hunt," in which robots replace rabbits as human sport, to the hilarious "Enigma," in which mechanical monks discuss the blasphemous theories of biological reproduction, these stories entertain and provoke as only Lem can.

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag (as the writer of the foreword notes), this is as much a reference document for Eastern European sci-fi as it is a story collection. Some are wonderful, some are confusing, and some seem like half-finished thoughts. As I noted in a review of another of his works, this may frustrate some American readers. But if you like Dostoyevsky or Kafka, and want to see them write Sci-Fi, then pick it up :).

[Quin Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stuff, the stories get better/more conceptual as they go along. One Hundred and Thirty Seven Seconds is very prescient, kinda predicting the connection between word predictive software, AI, and the internet (but ofc pushing its possibilities further). Always a dry sense of humor and mystery that culminates in an answer that’s very bizarre but (with its set up) seems entirely feasible, pointing to even greater mysteries.

[Glenn Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly a 5...a few stories aren't quite as strong. But for the most part these sci-fi stories mostly from the 50s and 60s by Polish author Lem hold up remarkably well and don't feel dated and still hold lots of valuable insights on topics like artificial intelligence and what aliens might actually be like. There's humans fighting off an alien invasion with booze breath, a pre-2001 Hal-9000 sentient spaceship computer that is the opposite (kinda) of murderous, an insightful take on what it would be like for a computer to take over a human body from the human perspective, an updated Jonah and the whale story, and maybe the best story, 187 seconds, foreseeing both the Internet and the bizarre way AI tries to imitate human communication while speculating that humans might exist in a different time frame from computers altogether. Highly recommended for any speculative sci fi short story buffs.

[Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some thing of a mixed bag (I suppose like most short story collections)

The Hammer and The Invasion are a bit spare and unfocused, but they are a minority.

Standouts are The Friend, The Hunt and Rat in the Labyrinth; all of which explore concepts made famous in Lem's Solaris (human facsimiles, fluid time, disembodied intelligence).

The best is the next to last story, One Hundred and Thirty Seven Seconds. Written in 1976, this so perfectly describes AI and Large Language Models it could have been written tomorrow.

[Odysseas Ladopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it. It's such a pleasure to finally have new Lem stories translated and these ones are all excellent. Any fan of Lem or sci-fi will enjoy this book.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all great, Lem really hates the computers

[Scott Lines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional, for any sci-fi reader who wants to see how one of the best science fiction authors envisioned humanity may develop.

[Genna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really sure about this one. I definitely didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but the last few stories were really interesting.

[Anjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a few months ago but with the reviewing break, I took, its review got pushed. I then wanted to talk about each short story briefly to give a better picture of the entire collection (as I usually do). This time, however, there was the slight issue that the stories were not hyperlinked in my review copy and I did not take notes. This late in the game, it would take me forever to produce the kind of review I was hoping to do. That is not to say that I have not tried. After a few attempts and a delay of yet another month, I realised I am not doing the book justice and decided to put forward the best compilation review I can.

I am not a big Sci-fi fan. I have read a few, even the older ones and the ones I like, I really enjoy. It thrills me to see that over decades and even a century, before the advent of science as we know it, people from all across the world were thinking along certain lines (with a few deviations) of what it would mean to have interplanetary movement or have scientific exploration be the centre of everything. How new improved inventions would control us (in myriad ways) is also a very well-explored territory. This book was fascinating for all the above reasons. I am rating it at a 3 because once again I really enjoyed one half and the other I struggled with. Not all the stories are of the same ilk but taken for the time they were written, and the translation being top-notch helps bring the excitement of it forward.

Each story tackles a different aspect of the Sci-fi genre. Many of them come under the broad strokes I mentioned in my brief summary above. The stories range from those written in 1950 to something closer. The foreword (as with books like these), provides a lot of information to put the entire future reading experience into perspective. I strongly encourage that it be read in its entirety before stepping into the actual book (in case one is not in the habit of doing so).

These stories stir a lot of talking/debating points and even if they took a while to get through, I am glad I gave them a shot. It widened my horizons in this genre. I would recommend it to fans of this genre who are yet to pick up anything written by the author.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most stories are fun, in a way, scary & depressing too. But most are from the '50s and it shows. One tiresome example is the "people and women" perspective. If for no other reason except for clarity of who's who, there should be some 'she said' mixed in with the 'he said.'

Obviously I can't know how it compares the original, but I really did enjoy the translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. It's clear, appealing, graceful, and in just the right level of the vernacular.

In the story "One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Seconds" we can see predictions of the current LLM AI. It has been fed lots of data, and has the skill to select related words & phrases to correspond, but it doesn't actually understand what it is presenting.

I can't recommend it, and I wish I'd spent my time on other books. Hence, two stars only.