{"title":"Stanis Aw Lem","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the mind-bending science fiction of StanisÅ‚aw Lem, a visionary author exploring philosophical themes through captivating narratives. Perfect for readers who enjoy Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick. Start your interstellar journey here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hospital-of-the-transfiguration-book-stanis-aw-lem-9780151421862","title":"Hospital of the Transfiguration","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49535853232401,"sku":"GOR008061329","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49859100508433,"sku":"CIN0151421862G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49942081929489,"sku":"CIN0151421862A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50514760040721,"sku":"GOR013981169","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51331527606545,"sku":"CIN0151421862VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0151421862.jpg?v=1750812114"},{"product_id":"el-breviario-de-los-robots-book-stanisaw-lem-9788402097422","title":"El breviario de los robots","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49598420386065,"sku":"GOR013028318","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8402097421.jpg?v=1751128659"},{"product_id":"summa-technologiae-book-stanislaw-lem-9780816675777","title":"Summa Technologiae","description":"The Polish writer Stanislaw Lem is best known to English-speaking readers as the author of the 1961 science fiction novel Solaris, adapted into a meditative film by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972 and remade in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh. Throughout his writings, comprising dozens of science fiction novels and short stories, Lem offered deeply philosophical and bitingly satirical reflections on the limitations of both science and humanity.   In Summa Technologiae-his major work of nonfiction, first published in 1964 and now available in English for the first time-Lem produced an engaging and caustically logical philosophical treatise about human and nonhuman life in its past, present, and future forms. After five decades Summa Technologiae has lost none of its intellectual or critical significance. Indeed, many of Lem’s conjectures about future technologies have now come true: from artificial intelligence, bionics, and nanotechnology to the dangers of information overload, the concept underlying Internet search engines, and the idea of virtual reality. More important for its continued relevance, however, is Lem’s rigorous investigation into the parallel development of biological and technical evolution and his conclusion that technology will outlive humanity.   Preceding Richard Dawkins’s understanding of evolution as a blind watchmaker by more than two decades, Lem posits evolution as opportunistic, shortsighted, extravagant, and illogical. Strikingly original and still timely, Summa Technologiae resonates with a wide range of contemporary debates about information and new media, the life sciences, and the emerging relationship between technology and humanity.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49731454796049,"sku":"NGR9780816675777","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50763201118481,"sku":"CIN0816675775G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50933191147793,"sku":"CIN0816675775VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51008254771473,"sku":"NIN9780816675777","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51681873264913,"sku":"GOR009948383","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0816675775.jpg?v=1764844461"},{"product_id":"perfect-vacuum-book-stanis-aw-lem-9780810117334","title":"A Perfect Vacuum","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Perfect Vacuum,\u003c\/i\u003e Stanislaw Lem presents a collection of book reviews of nonexistent works of literature--works that, in many cases, could not possibly be written. Embracing postmodernism's \"games for games' sake\" ethos, Lem joins the contest with hilarious and grotesque results, lampooning the movement's self-indulgence and exploiting its mannerisms.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Beginning with a review of his own book, Lem moves on to tackles (or create pastiches of) the French new novel, James Joyce, pornography, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky, while at the same time ranging across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers. The result is a metafictional tour de force by one of the world's most popular writers.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49772953043217,"sku":"CIN0810117339G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50364462596369,"sku":"CIN0810117339A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0810117339.jpg?v=1751264730"},{"product_id":"highcastle-book-stanis-aw-lem-9780156004725","title":"Highcastle","description":"Jin Wang starts at a new school where he's the only Chinese-American student. When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn't want to be associated with an FOB like him. Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he's in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee's annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny's reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again. The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. He's ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven. But there's no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other? They're going to have to find a way--if they want fix the disasters their lives have become.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51112092467473,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51112094728465,"sku":"GOR006959193","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52097340244241,"sku":"CIN0156004720G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0156004720.jpg?v=1750940611"},{"product_id":"playful-lem-book-stanis-aw-lem-9781603297578","title":"The Playful Lem","description":"Classic speculative fiction with a comedic approach  Conjuring worlds in which robots are kings and Earthlings exist on the fringes of the universe, Stanisław Lem's anachronistic fairy tales and science fiction parables envision knights who fight for the favor of a mechanical princess, a computer that can create anything (so long as it begins with the letter n), and a human astronaut who goes undercover on a planet ruled by robots. In celebrated translations by Michael Kandel and with a new introduction by Bożena Shallcross, the stories in this volume highlight age-old human weaknesses—vanity, jealousy, cowardice, and cruelty—while tickling the reader with layered humor ranging from satire to wordplay to slapstick.  Lem's oblique approach to indicting aggression and totalitarianism helped him avoid censorship while living under a restrictive government during the Cold War. Originally published in Polish in the 1950s and '60s, the stories collected here both evoke the concerns of the era and foresee today's technological capabilities as well as society's response.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53218258157841,"sku":"NGR9781603297578","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53656925274385,"sku":"NIN9781603297578","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781603297578.jpg?v=1772839557"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-stanis-aw-lem.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}