Regular marked price: $16.00Discount Price: $14.40
Cost Savings: $1.60 (10%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.8537
EAN num: 9780156849050
ISBN number: 0156849054
Label: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 286
Printing Date: June 26, 1985
Publishing house: Harvest Books
Sale Popularity Level: 99542
Studio: Harvest Books
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Ijon Tichy, Lem's Candide of the Cosmos, encounters bizarre civilizations and creatures in space that serve to satirize science, the rational mind, theology, and other icons of human pride. Line drawings by the Author. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
This book has held a spot in my top ten favorite sci-fi books ever since I very first read it as a teenager. I was amazed by the divergent thinking Lem uses in his wide variety of space tales. One of my favorites now (although it was too disturbing when I was younger) is the story of the computer/robot monastery, on a planet where every doctrine had been stripped away by scientific discoveries. The monks' reaction to this situation is described so poignantly that even Tichy is humbled. At the other end of the spectrum is the slapstick humour when Tichy enters the time vortexes and finds himself multiplied. I consider this Lem's finest work and I'm so glad it was translated into English!
Rated by buyers 
-
-- and again, and again. Not quite a novel, but more than anthology, this book assembles twelve travels of the peripatetic Tichy. These voyages are numbered sporadically from 7 to 28. The numerical order of their presentation has nothing to do with the dates of their writing, however. Members of this collection come from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and their non-chronological order of writing reflects the time machine mixups in which Our Pilot has found himself.
If you've never read Lem, then start here. His tone approaches Douglas Adams's combination of the mundane and absurd. The self confident mood is just the opposite of Adams's bafflement and hard-earned paranoia, however. So, when the space spuds attack (voyage 25), our hero and his associates fly boldly out to take on the tubers of terror, on their home turf. The educated, thoughtful tone (voyage 21) creates a startling comment on the nature of pure belief. Slapstick sensibility (voyage 7) parodies "in one door and out the other" humor, using time travel instead of doors and one actor instead of many. Maybe that's one actor taking the roles of many, sequentially and concurrently.
No matter, it's a fine collection, mixing philosophy and comedy in ever-varying parts. I recommend it to readers across a wide range of interests.
-- wiredweird
Rated by buyers -
The best book from Ijon Tichy series. The set of stories is the best I read from this series. The stories, written in various years, show how diverse Lem is. Some of the themes he touches here are very serious, e.g.planet with the 'water cult', planet with 'no identity' people, religious monk/robots, etc. Some are masterpieces of sci-fi humour (multiplication of Tichy on the ship is just the best), some are just a simple fun (twentieth voyage with the endeavor to fix the past from the future with the outcome that anything significant that happened to the human race is because of mistakes in trying to fix the history). Highly recommended to anyone (not only sci-fi fans). And by the way - it is totally different from 'Solaris'.
Rated by buyers -
If you want to have fun - read this book
PS: Did the english translation include 'The Profit from a Dragon' (not sure about the translation) that was an exeptionally funny one (not the best though)
Rated by buyers -
Whether he is infiltrating a planet of rogue robots whose ire against humans shows little restraint or, debating theology with Dichotican monks, Ijon Tichy is almost always willing to go to the ends of the universe for new adventures. (I found it amusing that, in the novel, Baedecker's was still printing travel guides, even for the far reaches of space).
One time, however, his future self visits Tichy to enlist him in heading the THEOHIPPIP effort (this acronym stands for Teleotelechronistic-Historical Engineering to Optimize the Hyperputerized Implementation of Paleological Programming and Interplanetary Planning). Tichy is a bit reluctant to take on this monumental project of reworking history so that man will be a better human in the future. Using a chronocycle, those spearheading the undertaking would travel through time to set things right, so to speak. Tichy finally agrees, and there begins his frustration. Many of the historical engineers start using the project for their own grandiose schemes and things quickly run amok. For example, Harry Bosch, who was supposed to be working on perfecting intelligence in earthly species, decided instead to dabble in the formation of all manner of fantastical creatures whose brain power was getting nowhere fast. Ijon had little choice but to strand Harry, and others who had strayed from the goal, in past times. It is there that they used their imagination in other endeavors; Harry took to painting.
The above is just a small part of one of many adventures Ijon writes about in his space journal.
Stanislaw Lem covers many themes in this book and there is much to think about as varying species in the universe voice their views on all kinds of subjects. Every once in awhile, one of the stories might get a bit bogged down in ornate explanation. Then again, there are other moments when some things are left unexplained. But, when our intrepid star traveler has to leave a planet quickly in order to save his life, some things must fall by the wayside.
Find other books like this one:
