Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy [Paperback]

Stanislaw Lem (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156028298
• ISBN-13: 978-0156028295
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,891,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanislaw Lem is the most widely translated and best known science fiction author writing outside of the English language. Winner of the Kafka Prize, he is a contributor to many magazines, including the New Yorker, and he is the author of numerous works, including Solaris.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ijon Tichy rules!, March 14, 1998

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences Of Ijon Tichy (Paperback)

My understanding is that the three books featuring space traveller Ijon Tichy were originally published in Polish in a single volume (THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS, THE STAR DIARIES, and MEMOIRS OF A SPACE TRAVELLER). If so, I would insist that that has to be one of the ten greatest science fiction books ever published. The highpoint of the Tichy tales is THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS, which is published as a separate book in English, but the stories in THE STAR DIARIES are very nearly as good (the remnants were published in the MEMOIRS). Essential reading. They come across as some demonic blend of Italo Calvino, Escher, and Groucho Marx. Most sci-fi writing is deeply derivative from previous writers, but Stanislaw Lem is possibly the most original sci-fi writer of the past forty years. I am one of those who believe that Lem should have received serious consideration for a Nobel Prize.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best!, May 14, 2005

By 

Vahania63 (Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences Of Ijon Tichy (Paperback)

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 humor (multiplication of Tichy on the ship is just the best), some are just a simple fun (twentieth voyage with the attempt 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'.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, January 10, 2003

By 

Nina Shishkoff "mycologist" (Mount Airy, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences Of Ijon Tichy (Paperback)

If you like Lem, this is one of his best. It's not really science fiction, it's the discharge of neurons in a fireworks display.