This collection of classic science fiction stories spotlights some of Stanislaw Lem's best work. Most of the stories focus on the robots Trurl and Klapaucius, famous constructors skilled at creating machines of impossible complexity, as they travel the universe doing good deeds, wrangling their way out of trouble, one-upping each other, and trying to get paid for their work.
The tales in this book mix hypertech science fiction with medieval fantasy -- Trurl and Klapaucius travel throughout the universe in spaceships and build amazing machines, but nearly every planet they visit is governed by a fantasy king living in a fantasy castle. They even battle dragons, even though everyone knows dragons are impossible!
In among all the science fiction and fantasy elements are some choice bits of philosophical musings -- everything you'd hope from a genius grandmaster of science fiction. It includes everything from the quest for perfect happiness to the evolution of society, as well as questions of romance, beauty, and the desire for knowledge and learning.
But even then, it's an extremely funny book. Many of the stories turn on absurdist and surreal humor, with perfect, advanced civilizations dedicated to lying around and not doing anything, tyrants who can only be defeated through farcically complex schemes, monsters that can be destroyed by aggressive illogic, and robot princes who try to disguise themselves as humans to appeal to robot princesses. There's a machine that can create anything starting with the letter "N." There's a machine that recites the greatest poetry in the universe, including a love poem told through algebra, thus driving all the other poets out of business. There's a chapter with the glorious title of "The Fourth Sally, or How Trurl Built a Femfatalatron to Save Prince Pantagood from the Pangs of Love, and How Later He Resorted to a Cannonade of Babies."
And there is so much wonderful wordplay in this book, too. Sometimes pages and pages of Lem having fun playing with language. Originally written in Polish, under the name "Cyberiada," the (extremely good) English translation is by Michael Kandel.
"The Cyberiad" is a long and daunting book, partly because of its reputation, partly because it's so impressively rich in the language it uses. But it still reads pretty quickly -- it's easy for the reader to get pulled along as Lem plays around with words, philosophy, humor, and genre twists. You should pick it up and give it a read.
for scifiquest