Audiobook
$0.00
with membership

Hardcover
$53.94

Paperback
$12.66

Buy used: $12.66

$3.99 delivery February 13 - 16. Details

Or fastest delivery February 9 - 13. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by * Pinecone Bookshoppe *

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Stanislaw Lem

Follow

The Cyberiad Paperback – December 16, 2002

by Stanislaw Lem (Author)

4.2 697 ratings

See all formats and editions

A brilliantly crafted collection of stories from celebrated science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem

Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. Over the course of their adventures in The Cyberiad, they travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their unsuspecting employers. Playfully written, and ranging from the prophetic to the surreal, these stories demonstrate Stanislaw Lem's vast talent and remarkable ability to blend meaning and magic into a wholly entertaining and captivating work.

About the Author

Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) was the most widely translated and best known science fiction author writing outside of the English language. Winner of the Kafka Prize, he was a contributor to many magazines, including the New Yorker, and the author of numerous works, including Solaris.

Print length

312 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Mariner Books
Publication date

December 16, 2002
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0156027593
ISBN-13

978-0156027595
See all details

Stanislaw Lem
507
Paperback
66 offers from $8.84
Stanislaw Lem
4,977
Paperback
59 offers from $6.17
Stanislaw Lem
354
Paperback
59 offers from $8.99
Stanislaw Lem
540
Paperback
48 offers from $3.87
Stanislaw Lem
138
Paperback
60 offers from $10.59
Stanislaw Lem
40
Paperback
28 offers from $3.68

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; First Edition (December 16, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0156027593
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156027595
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,221,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,992 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #6,656 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #8,002 in Exploration Science Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.2 697 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Stanislaw Lem

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

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 was a contributor to many magazines, like the New Yorker, and he is the author of numerous works, including "Solaris".

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

697 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Josh Mauthe

A wonderfully comic, inventive trip through robots, inventions, and the universe

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

If, like me, your only real exposure to the works of Polish science-fiction author Stanislaw Lem is Solaris, The Cyberiad will likely throw you for a bit of a loop. Solaris is a moody, philosophical, complex work about human longing and loss, using the trappings of science-fiction to tell a story about love and death. So when it turns out that The Cyberiad is a collection of comedic, goofy stories about robots and inventors - and that they're not only genuinely funny, but wildly and comically inventive - well, that wasn't what I expected. But it certainly didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying every wonderfully weird page of this collection.

The stories in The Cyberiad revolve around Trurl and Klapaucius, two of the greatest inventors of the universe, and their various competitions, journeys into the universe, rivalries, and more. What this allows Lem to do is make a wide variety of stories, all of which touch on rich ideas about cybernetic intelligence and the nature of self, all within deeply comic, even silly frameworks. In one, Trurl makes the dumbest computer of all time, and then has to run from it when it refuses to believe that 2 and 2 don't make 3; in another, Trurl and Klapaucius encounter the famed "PHT" pirate, only to discover that he's actually a PHD pirate who wants knowledge, and demands the inventors make him something that can feed his desire for more information.

Trying to convey the plots of any of these stories is a fool's errand, to put it mildly; the closest thing I can sometimes compare this to is Voltaire's Candide, where the sheer inventiveness of the silliness can provide its own joy, even as it sometimes makes the plots wonderfully incomprehensible. And while The Cyberiad isn't as insightful as Candide (or Solaris), that doesn't mean that the collection doesn't have a lot to say. Whether it's exploring man's desire to dominate others through technology or the appeal of stories or wondering what the Highest Possible Level of Development of life in the universe can be, Lem has no shortage of ideas and thoughts about the world, and his stories allow him to play around with his ideas in ways that encourage thought while still focusing on just having fun. And if you can't appreciate a world in which someone creates a machine that can make absolutely anything, as long as it begins with the letter "n," well, I don't know what to tell you. But it was a genuinely fun read, and a different side of Lem than what I knew existed.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lisa Shea

Kudos to the Translator

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2011

Verified Purchase

The Cyberiad is one of those novels that it's dangerous to do anything but give five glowing stars to. There are people who are avid fans of this book who feel a dark rage if even the slightest hint of imperfection is offered.

I adore sci-fi novels. I was recommended this book by friends who also adore sci-fi. So I came into reading this with an appreciation of sci-fi and fantasy. I adore Philip K. Dick. I'm happy with books that are quirky and strange. So this was - theoretically - right up my alley.

The main thought that ran through my head while reading this collection of short stories was that the translator must have been amazing. The book was initially written in Polish, and a great deal of it involves complex word play. There's a six line rhyming poem where all words begin with the letter S. There's all sorts of fascinating descriptions. I would love to read an entire book about the translator and how much he directly translated and how much he had to extrapolate. Surely, for example, the poem couldn't have been directly translated and retained its beauty.

In terms of the book, though, maybe given the other books I've read my bar was simply raised too high. Certainly the book is *fun*. The two main characters have a rivalry and go gallivanting all over the universe to have adventures. But I wouldn't call them sci-fi adventures. They seem quite securely in the fantasy camp. The use of scientifically based words is often quite random and thrown out in piles of gobbly-gook. The two show up on a planet, they do something unseen in a back room, and then they pop out with a perfect solution.

Sometimes you have to wade through an entire page of fairly meaningless word piles to get back to the plot, and I did find that a bit tedious after a while. I enjoy word play but when it has a purpose, like with Douglas Adams, not when it's just noun after noun after noun.

I completely understand how some people see great insight in some of these story lines. There are stories that deal with how we handle pleasure, how we handle stress, how we handle boredom. They're told in a fun way. Still, I think the stories fall short of a glowing level of perfection. They're fun - but they can become meandering. They're fantasy - but there was such amazing potential there for the "science fiction" part that was missed out on. A story can catch you up and then something happens which makes you stop and think, "that makes no sense at all." It seems in many cases that the author wasn't sure how to make something work out logically so he pulled a twist out of a hat and changed the rules. Why use those cheats?

We are certainly not at a loss for fantastic science fiction books out there. There are stacks and stacks of them on our shelves. If we want books that delve into the nature of relationships, into the intricacy of emotions, we have those books. The Cyberiad is fun, but I wouldn't put it in the high perfection category of some of those other books.

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

L. Milligan

Fantastic, funny and true; a very enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023

Verified Purchase

Once upon a time in a far off land....These are the adventures of the most human like inventor robots (constructors) I have ever encountered (which of course are not many) who travel throughout the Galaxy. Lem has created almost fairy tale worlds located on various planets in outer space, complete with kings and all their vassals and science! : science which is so advanced that it seems more like magic. Human like robots, a feudal past, an advanced scientific future, located among castles and kings in outer space; you might ask yourself why, why this mix of out-of-sync creatures and genres are the ingredients of sophisticated satire with an added touch "Bullwinkle"? King Genius explains when he says to the constructor Trurl, "Go then in peace, my friend, and continue to hide your truths, too bitter for this world, in the guise of fairy tale and fable."

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Deep in the woods

Review of the MP3 CD audio version.

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

I first read this book many years ago and greatly enjoyed it. It is a five star book. This audio version performed by Alello wasn't so great. At times I found the narrator's voice rather annoying. When changing voices for different characters it sometimes sounded rather childish. The quality of the narration varied greatly from one story to the next. The best ones were performed when little or no effort was made to change voice.
If someone is interested in reading some of Lem's shorter works The Cyberiad is a fabulous book. Think of it as the Arabian knights going philosophical. Lem was one of the greatest Science Fiction writers ever. He should have been mainstream.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Dylan Werner-Meier

Un chef d'oeuvre

Reviewed in France on November 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Ce livre n'est pas considéré comme un classique de la science fiction. A tort ! Je le recommande vivement.

Translate review to English

PChandra

Fabulous meditation on technology

Reviewed in India on January 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

Lem's "fables", as his short stories should be called, are a formidable critique of everything. They are commentaries on human intellect - its rationality and irrationality - objectified in their own constructions or machines. The technology that we "construct" are results of our own aspirations but the possibilities that they create are immense - both intended and unintended. The hilarity, horror and beauty that characterise these stories are results of Lem's meditation on technology and human creativity in the world hegemonised by Atrocitus, Ferocitus and others. Even if this status quo defines the explicit immediate purpose of technological "construction", the possibilities that it brings are beyond their control.

2 people found this helpful

Memphys Blue

I was mistaken that that this was a post apocalyptic ...

Reviewed in Canada on September 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

I was mistaken that that this was a post apocalyptic nightmare depressing story. Its not, Its hilarious, enjoyable, a collection of short stories about our difficulties with ourselves as we try and solve those problems with technology. Well worth the read.

2 people found this helpful

ANON

Entertaining robot stories, both tongue-in-cheek and polemical

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2007

Verified Purchase

A great book by Lem, with his usual, fascinating word-play; reading some of the stories is like having 'jewels in the mouth' (to quote Frank McCourt). I did find some of the tales, particularly those towards the end, got a bit laboured (similar plot ideas, etc), but the penultimate story (Altruizine)should be required reading in all schools. Basically it's about forcing happiness onto other civilisations and the horrible consequences that come from such a policy (Iraq, anyone). Those races that have reached HPLD (the Highest Possible Level of Development) think otherwise and basically sit around in the sand all day, completely indifferent to the fate of other peoples and other worlds, because they have reached the apex of their evolution, and through a millenia of making altruistic mistakes have come to the realisation that interfering in other cultures, espcially those still developing (as we see in Africa) ultimately produces more evil than good; ie. people must be allowed to learn from their own mistakes and hence develop accordingly. I think there's a lesson in 'Altruizine' for all those do-gooders out there who produce so much bad out of being good. Why do humanitarians often make such lousy humans? But the idea of telling people to look away when half of Africa is starving is simply something most people can't comprehend. Another poignant tale in The Cyberiad concerns a planet with such massive over-population that the value of its citizens effectively becomes zero, up to the point where they are even used as confetti at weddings. Perhaps the aesopic style of writing, which Lem, like Solzhenitsyn, frequently employs to get his difficult message across really does slip by many readers. I'm sure there are many who would read 'Altruizine' and not understand the full implications of what it is trying to say. A great, great, book, but its irrationality will be best appreciated by the rational among you.

5 people found this helpful