The Star Diaries : The Star Diaries

The Star Diaries : The Star Diaries
ISBN: 9780241240021
Publication Date: 1 March 2016

'What I had taken for a soft drink vending machine turned out to be the deputy chairman of the Rhohch delegation in full regalia'

The cosmic voyages of space traveller Ijon Tichy take him on strange adventures in a vast stellar wilderness - encountering clones, crazed mutinous robots and tiny beings, meeting his future self in a time loop, avoiding interplanetary diplomatic incidents and dealing with an orbiting piece of beef sirloin. Playful, absurd, irreverent and philosophical, The Star Diaries hold a satirical mirror up to humanity to examine freedom, technology and existence itself.

Translated by Michael Kandel

About the Author

Polish writer Stanislaw Lem is a world famous science fiction author whose books include Eden (1959) and Solaris (1961). Born and raised in Lwów, Poland (now Lvov, Ukraine), Lem turned to writing after studying and working in medicine. He first wrote realistic stories and poems, but in the 1950s he turned to writing science fiction. Lem's books frequently use sarcastic humor and philosophical themes to explore the relationship between humans and machines.

In the 1980s several of his books were published in English and he wrote essays for American magazines, and his reputation grew as one of the greats in the genre of science fiction. His other books include Cyberiada (1965), Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1968) and Okamgnienie (2000). His book, Solaris, has been made into a movie twice, first in 1972 by Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, then again in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh.