5 ms·

Stanislaw Lem (one of his books is on the list) is a fantastic author. If you are a logophile, I highly recommend reading "The Futurological Congress". Polish

by cl42 5y ago

Stanislaw Lem (one of his books is on the list) is a fantastic author. If you are a logophile, I highly recommend reading "The Futurological Congress". Polish is a language where you can conjugate everything into something else (nouns into verbs, verbs into nouns, nice words into curse words), and Lem wrote a book that plays off of this linguistic peculiarity in a way that is hilarious. ... what's even MORE beautiful is the translator had to take that and translate it into similar wordplay in English. Huge respect for the translators doing this work.

yakubin 5y ago
Paradoxically, I've never brought myself to like Lem's science-fiction books, but enjoyed his two non-science-fiction books (one of them even non-fiction): 1. Hospital of the Transfiguration: <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251632.Hospital_of_the_Transfiguration https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251632.Hospital_of_the_T...> 2. Highcastle: A Remembrance: <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251630.Highcastle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251630.Highcastle>
- Sosh101 5y ago
  Have you tried 'Fiasco'? I've reread that a couple of times.
  - scandox 5y ago
    A great book.
- gambiting 5y ago
  So Hospital of Transfiguration is an absolutely incredible - if haunting - book, and as much as I love Lem's Sci-Fi, that one is a masterpiece as well. Also I have no idea if they are even available in English, but the two follow ups to it, "Wśród umarłych"(Among the dead) and "Powrót"(Return) are also worth reading, even though Lem never agreed to republish them, as he only agreed to write them to get around the communist censorship. I think from the perspective of time it's easy to see throught the pages written clearly to appease the communist censors, and end up with a worthy follow up to the first book.
zebraflask 5y ago
Lem is easily one of my favorites for the sheer ingenuity of the stories.
lelandfe 5y ago
> Polish is a language where you can conjugate everything into something else (nouns into verbs, verbs into nouns, nice words into curse words), and Lem wrote a book that plays off of this linguistic peculiarity in a way that is hilarious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms_of_Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms_of_Stanis%C5%82aw_L...

by cl42 5y ago

yakubin 5y ago

Paradoxically, I've never brought myself to like Lem's science-fiction books, but enjoyed his two non-science-fiction books (one of them even non-fiction): 1. Hospital of the Transfiguration: <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251632.Hospital_of_the_Transfiguration https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251632.Hospital_of_the_T...> 2. Highcastle: A Remembrance: <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251630.Highcastle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251630.Highcastle>

Sosh101 5y ago
Have you tried 'Fiasco'? I've reread that a couple of times.
- scandox 5y ago
  A great book.
gambiting 5y ago
So Hospital of Transfiguration is an absolutely incredible - if haunting - book, and as much as I love Lem's Sci-Fi, that one is a masterpiece as well. Also I have no idea if they are even available in English, but the two follow ups to it, "Wśród umarłych"(Among the dead) and "Powrót"(Return) are also worth reading, even though Lem never agreed to republish them, as he only agreed to write them to get around the communist censorship. I think from the perspective of time it's easy to see throught the pages written clearly to appease the communist censors, and end up with a worthy follow up to the first book.

zebraflask 5y ago

Lem is easily one of my favorites for the sheer ingenuity of the stories.

lelandfe 5y ago

> Polish is a language where you can conjugate everything into something else (nouns into verbs, verbs into nouns, nice words into curse words), and Lem wrote a book that plays off of this linguistic peculiarity in a way that is hilarious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms_of_Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms_of_Stanis%C5%82aw_L...