Stanislaw Lem dies at 84

[Tobias]

Stanislaw Lem died today. Certainly one of the best writers ever in the SF genre, or maybe rather a genre on his own. Another hero of my youth gone away.

Regards,

Tobias

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Man, that is lame... He was brilliant!

 

[JAFARR]

I recgonize the name, but can't seem to tie it to any specific work. Can you name a few?

 

[Starviking]

Ah! Another great gone. The copy of his "Battleship Invincible" in my old school library was very well thumbed (mostly by me). It concerned the adventures of the crew of a Socialist 'USS Enterprise'!

I recall he got a 'Grand Masters' Hugo award, and then got it snatched for dissing Robert A. Heinlein.

BTW Andy, his more famous works were "Solaris" and "Tales of Prix the pilot" (I kid you not!).

Good but weird stuff.

Farewell Stanislaw...

Starviking

 

[Tobias]

Solaris. The Invincible. Star Diaries. The Cyberiad. Tales of Pirx the Pilot.
Lem has written both "serious" hard SF and excellent satyrical, cynical works. If "Solaris" rings a bell and you only know the atrocious Soderbergh movie, do yourself a favor and seek out a copy of the book.
However, as a starting point for someone who has never read any Lem I would recommend the excellent "Invincible". I cannot say anything about the plot without heavy spoiling, but it is an early example of one of Lem's great strengths: Scientific mysteries. Better don't read any reviews or even the back cover text - they usually give away too much.

Regards,

Tobias

 

[Merxiless]

Definitely the book Solaris was much better than the film.

 

[Pickles]

Ah, no ... Pirx the Pilot was the inspiration for almost every Scout I ever played in Traveller. The end of a Grand Master.

 

[Bob Weaver]

I also am not familiar with Lem's work although I've heard the name. He is now added to my list of writers to check out. That's the great thing about working in a library - I can get almost any book I want, usually without having to pay for it.

Thanks for the tip,

Bob W