Hardcover, 199 pages
English language
Published Nov. 8, 1983 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
The last thing you would probabley want to read by Lem.
While being a very brave investigation about the nature of miscommunication and separateness (not just in language but ontologically), this book drags on endlessly and is, all things considered, quite boring.
The good:
- Great idea - a message from the stars
- a major installement of Mr Lem's theme: we incorrectly think of aliens as psycologically human.
- enjoyable to read
- lots of other good ideas along the way
The not so good:
- too much philosophy, a too low philosophy:action ratios.
- to me, it just kinda finished. "Oh, that's the end?". Yes, our hero had understood something, but there was really much more.
This book reminded me a lot of Solaris. Where Solaris had chapters about the academic history of the study of the sea, this had philosophizing.
