The Star Diaries

Ijon Tichy encounters bizarre civilizations and creatures in space, satirizing science, the rational mind, theology, and other icons of human pride. A space explorer travels undercover to a robot world, joining an organization to clean up world history through time travel. The universe may never be the same . . . "Tichy bumbles and stumbles around the cosmos running out of gas between stars, sneaking around in cybernetic drag on a planet of mad robots, trying to duplicate himself (in a tail-chasing time loop near a 'gravitational vortex') long enough to do a two-man rudder repair job, botching up the course of human events in a history-salvaging operation. Lem veers between joyous slapstick, freewheeling satire, and insanely involuted logical paradoxes—with surprisingly serious excursions into issues of will and faith. Funny, unexpected, tantalizing." — Kirkus Reviews "Part satire, part imaginative play, and part thought experiment, The Star Diaries is a collection of stories—voyages to be precise—telling of the space man Ijon Tichy's adventures and encounters across the universe and through time. Tongue in cheek throughout, it's only a question of how much the cheek bulges in each . . . hilarious, witty, and philosophical all at once." — Speculiction "Lem's Star Diaries have a special place among his story-cycles, since they span most of his career and reflect his changing concerns. Still, they have a common theme: the presumptuousness of the intellect." — Science Fiction Studies "Tichy's twelve voyages are told as a philosophical satire on technology, theology, intelligence, and human nature." — Inclover Magazine