Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy

by Stanislaw Lem, Elizabeth Bear (Foreword by)

Overview

Meet Ijon Tichy—a space age adventurer who encounters faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, and other puzzling phenomena—in this collection from a science fiction legend.

Memoirs of a Space Traveler follows the adventures of Ijon Tichy, a Gulliver of the space age, who leads readers through strange experiments involving, among other puzzling phenomena, faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, and suicidal potatoes. The scientists Tichy encounters make plans that are grandiose, and strike bargains that are Faustian. They pursue humanity’s greatest and most ancient obsessions: immortality, artificial intelligence, and top-of-the-line consumer items.

By turns satirical, philosophical, and absurd, these stories express the most starkly original and prescient notions of a master of speculative fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262357746
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Series:	The MIT Press
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	896 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006), a writer called “worthy of the Nobel Prize” by the New York Times, was an internationally renowned author of novels, short stories, literary criticism, and philosophical essays. His books have been translated into forty-four languages and have sold more than thirty million copies.

Table of Contents

The Eighteenth Voyage
The Twenty-fourth Voyage
Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
     I
     II
     III
     IV
     V
     (The Washing Machine Tragedy)

Doctor Diagoras
Let Us Save the Universe
(An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy)

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Philosophy to me is just another genre; religion another; in the end we only have stories. And in this realm Lem never failed me, and never failed science fiction. There was never a dull Lem book, and at their best they are superb.”

—Kim Stanley Robinson

Editorial Reviews

The late Lem (1921–2006) demonstrates his mastery of satirical science fiction in this witty collection of six stories . . . This classic collection will appeal to readers who like their science fiction light and effervescent.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
“The release of these new volumes seems to expand the possibilities of what a university publisher can do.”
—LitHub

“Fourteen years after his death, the universe is still struggling to catch up with the vast creative force that was Stanisław Lem. And for my money, it won't be surpassing him anytime soon . . . Enjoying the genius of Lem requires readerly dexterity and a willingness to go wherever the author takes you . . . These marvelous, absorbing and often hilarious books make our weary universe seem pale and undistinguished by comparison.”
—The Washington Post

From the Publisher