Download or read book The Cosmic Carnival of Stanis aw Lem written by Stanisław Lem and published by New York : Continuum. This book was released on 1981 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of Lem's stories, ranging from the serious to the hilarious. Interspersed with these stories are the editor's notes on Lem's life, style, and philosophy, providing insight into the stories, characters, and author.
Download or read book The Cyberiad written by Stanisław Lem and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers.
Download or read book The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem written by Peter Swirski and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2006 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars examine the social and cultural significance of technology and science in the work of Stanislaw Lem, the author of Solaris.
Download or read book The Truth and Other Stories written by Stanislaw Lem and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twelve stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, nine of them never before published in English. Of these twelve short stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, only three have previously appeared in English, making this the first "new" book of fiction by Lem since the late 1980s. The stories display the full range of Lem's intense curiosity about scientific ideas as well as his sardonic approach to human nature, presenting as multifarious a collection of mad scientists as any reader could wish for. Many of these stories feature artificial intelligences or artificial life forms, long a Lem preoccupation; some feature quite insane theories of cosmology or evolution. All are thought provoking and scathingly funny. Written from 1956 to 1993, the stories are arranged in chronological order. In the title story, "The Truth," a scientist in an insane asylum theorizes that the sun is alive; "The Journal" appears to be an account by an omnipotent being describing the creation of infinite universes--until, in a classic Lem twist, it turns out to be no such thing; in "An Enigma," beings debate whether offspring can be created without advanced degrees and design templates. Other stories feature a computer that can predict the future by 137 seconds, matter-destroying spores, a hunt in which the prey is a robot, and an electronic brain eager to go on the lam. These stories are peak Lem, exploring ideas and themes that resonate throughout his writing.
Download or read book A Stanislaw Lem Reader written by Stanisław Lem and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 1997-11-12 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Lem Reader, Peter Swirski has assembled an in-depth and insightful collection of writings by and about, and interviews with, one of the most fascinating writers of the twentieth century.
Download or read book The Star Diaries written by Stanisław Lem and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1990-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: @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@@
Download or read book Microworlds written by Stanislaw Lem and published by HMH. This book was released on 2012-07-18 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Solaris critiques science fiction in a collection of provocative essays. Celebrated science fiction master Stanislaw Lem turns his always sharp and insightful pen to criticism in this bold and controversial analysis of the genre for which he is most known. In this collection of ten essays—ranging from an introspective examination of his own biographical and literary history to biting scrutiny of fellow authors and their works—Lem takes a keen look at the influence, shortcomings, merit, and importance of science fiction, touching on topics from Philip K. Dick (“a genius among the charlatans”) to time travel, cosmology, and Jorge Luis Borges. Whether deriding the genre’s tendency to adhere to well-worn patterns of adventure or lauding its ability to, when executed correctly, discover ideas that have not been thought of or done before, Lem’s quick wit, razor tongue, and impeccable insights make Microworlds a master class of scientific and literary analysis from one of the undisputed legends of science fiction.
Download or read book Mortal Engines written by Stanisław Lem and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1992 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher description: Translated from the original Polish text, and with an introduction by Michael Kandel. These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Stainslaw Lem's fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient machines can be. The first eleven stories, a cycle called "Fables for Robots," are set in a cosmos inhabited exclusively by machines. Revolving around an assortment of electroknights and cyberkings, the stories combine the timeless quality of fairy tales and parables with a twist that is unmistakably Lem.
Download or read book Short Story Index written by and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 958 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Science Fiction Literature in East Germany written by Sonja Fritzsche and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2006 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East German science fiction enabled its authors to create a subversive space in another time and place. One of the country's most popular genres, it outlined futures that often went beyond the party's official version. Many utopian stories provided a corrective vision, intended to preserve and improve upon East German communism. This study is an introduction to East German science fiction. The book begins with a chapter on German science fiction before 1949. It then spans the entire existence of the country (1949-1990) and outlines key topics essential to understanding the genre: popular literature, socialist realism, censorship, fandom, and international science fiction. An in-depth discussion addresses notions of high and low literature, elements of the fantastic and utopia as critical narrative strategies, ideology and realism in East German literature, gender, and the relation between literature and science. Through a close textual analysis of three science fiction novels, the author expands East German literary history to include science fiction as a valuable source for developing a multi-faceted understanding of the country's short history. Finally, an epilogue notes new titles and developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Download or read book The Utopia of Rules written by David Graeber and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the international bestseller Debt: The First 5,000 Years comes a revelatory account of the way bureaucracy rules our lives Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling out forms? And is it really a cipher for state violence? To answer these questions, the anthropologist David Graeber—one of our most important and provocative thinkers—traces the peculiar and unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy today, and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice…though he also suggests that there may be something perversely appealing—even romantic—about bureaucracy. Leaping from the ascendance of right-wing economics to the hidden meanings behind Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory in the tradition of Foucault and Marx, and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture that calls to mind Slavoj Zizek at his most accessible. An essential book for our times, The Utopia of Rules is sure to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule over us—and the better, freer world we should, perhaps, begin to imagine for ourselves.
Download or read book Stanislaw Lem written by Richard E. Ziegfeld and published by Frederick Ungar. This book was released on 1985 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Myth of the Eternal Return written by Mircea Eliade and published by Bollingen. This book was released on 1971 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This essay on humanity's experience of history and its interpretation begins with a study of the traditional or mythological view and concludes with a comparative estimate of modern historiological approaches.
Download or read book Between Literature and Science written by Peter Swirski and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2000 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Between Literature and Science Peter Swirski examines the true intellectual scope of Edgar Allan Poe and Stanislaw Lem. Using a genuinely interdisciplinary approach he shows that they propose far-reaching hypotheses in aesthetics, epistemology, cognitive science, philosophy of science, literary studies, and pragmatics as well as in cosmology, artificial intelligence, and futurology. Swirski argues that previous studies of their science fiction works, in neglecting these broader philosophical and scientific ambitions, have misrepresented Poe and Lem's artistic achievements.
Download or read book The Road to Science Fiction From here to forever written by James E. Gunn and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in Paperback The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology that covers the development of this genre from its earliest prototypes to the current day. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classrooms in the late 1970s, these volumes became mass-market sellers. Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 these and other key works are gathered together for the first time in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction. Volume 4 From Here to Forever covers the period from 1950-1992, illustrating how science fiction can be as concerned with language and character as much as traditional fiction and anything in the mainstream. Includes stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Matheson, C. M. Kornbluth, Jack Vance, and Pamela Zoline.
Download or read book The Modern Satiric Grotesque and Its Traditions written by John R. Clark and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Mann predicted that no manner or mode in literature would be so typical or so pervasive in the twentieth century as the grotesque. Assuredly he was correct. The subjects and methods of our comic literature (and much of our other literature) are regularly disturbing and often repulsive—no laughing matter. In this ambitious study, John R. Clark seeks to elucidate the major tactics and topics deployed in modern literary dark humor. In Part I he explores the satiric strategies of authors of the grotesque, strategies that undercut conventional usage and form: the de-basement of heroes, the denigration of language and style, the disruption of normative narrative technique, and even the debunking of authors themselves. Part II surveys major recurrent themes of grotesquerie: tedium, scatology, cannibalism, dystopia, and Armageddon or the end of the world. Clearly the literature of the grotesque is obtrusive and ugly, its effect morbid and disquieting—and deliberately meant to be so. Grotesque literature may be unpleasant, but it is patently insightful. Indeed, as Clark shows, all of the strategies and topics employed by this literature stem from age-old and spirited traditions. Critics have complained about this grim satiric literature, asserting that it is dank, cheerless, unsavory, and negative. But such an interpretation is far too simplistic. On the contrary, as Clark demonstrates, such grotesque writing, in its power and its prevalence in the past and present, is in fact conventional, controlled, imaginative, and vigorous—no mean achievements for any body of art.
Download or read book Infinity and the Mind written by Rudy Rucker and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dynamic exploration of infinity In Infinity and the Mind, Rudy Rucker leads an excursion to that stretch of the universe he calls the “Mindscape,” where he explores infinity in all its forms: potential and actual, mathematical and physical, theological and mundane. Using cartoons, puzzles, and quotations to enliven his text, Rucker acquaints us with staggeringly advanced levels of infinity, delves into the depths beneath daily awareness, and explains Kurt Gödel’s belief in the possibility of robot consciousness. In the realm of infinity, mathematics, science, and logic merge with the fantastic. By closely examining the paradoxes that arise, we gain profound insights into the human mind, its powers, and its limitations. This Princeton Science Library edition includes a new preface by the author.
