John's review
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Despite my inhibitions at being seen on the NYC subway reading a book whose cover bears a picture of George Clooney making smoochie with some woman, I soldiered through this interesting but somewhat cold novel with a curiosity mainly for the ideas, less so for the characters and their predicament.
The story of a scientist who has joined with two others at an observation satellite orbiting the planet Solaris, whose ocean is a form of intelligent life, the book is full of long and (to my tastes) very interesting musings on the history of research about this planet, and on nature and meaning of intelligent life when describing the ocean. Lem’s imagination conjures some great stuff, from the various formations and shapes made by the ocean, to the “beings” created by the ocean from deep, dark regions in the scientists’ memories which continually haunt them on the ship despite every attempt to destroy them.
However big on ideas, the plot is not exactly thrilling, its purpose...more
The story of a scientist who has joined with two others at an observation satellite orbiting the planet Solaris, whose ocean is a form of intelligent life, the book is full of long and (to my tastes) very interesting musings on the history of research about this planet, and on nature and meaning of intelligent life when describing the ocean. Lem’s imagination conjures some great stuff, from the various formations and shapes made by the ocean, to the “beings” created by the ocean from deep, dark regions in the scientists’ memories which continually haunt them on the ship despite every attempt to destroy them.
However big on ideas, the plot is not exactly thrilling, its purpose...more
