Stanislaw Lem is an almost criminally underrated Sci-Fi author, and translations of his books are rare in the US. I grew up reading him, though, so it's nice to revisit the classics. He tells stories of space travel that are cerebral, but that also raise some interesting issues of emotion and what it means to be human. His ongoing Pirx the Pilot novels are great--and I'm glad I have this one. ( )

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would at first (I guess I was basing my judgment on the cover...). At any rate, this has made me a Lem fan and I want to read some of his other work. ( )

The book contains 5 short stories:
1. Pirx's Tale

2. The Accident- Painful details of mountain climbing

3. The Hunt-entertaining tale of a mining robot that suffers a bump on the head and becomes a Doomsday machine on the Moon. I especially liked the way Lem incorporated significant Moon landmarks into the story ie Torricella crater. I found that I liked to look at pictures of the Moon.

4. The Inquest- Decent story which could have been much better. A tale of Pirk piloting a ship with a crew that contains some higher functioning robots. As Lem sometimes does, he goes off on a seriously long winded tangent about man v machine morality which is a buzz killer for me. It is arranged in a somewhat awkward manner, which is acceptable to me in this case. It addresses the implications of increased use of robotics.

5. Cpt Queeg does computer simulations for Mars landing, my favorite ( )

Pirx... simpleton or genius?... in these tales Lem treats us to a thoroughly engaging character in Pirx the Pilot who is a bit like the Good Soldier Schweik if he were to be sent into space. ( )

Lem wrote a lot of short stories, and his recurring characters, such as Ijon Tichy elsewhere, and Pirx the Pilot here, are entirely compelling creations. What I like the most is the innate wisdom of our friendly pilot - sure, he develops as a character as the stories progress, but the reader is never stuck with an inexperienced or naive companion. ( )