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Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
Ijon Tichy is an ordinary space traveler whose extraordinary curiosity leads him to the very fringes of science. Their plans are grandiose, the bargains they make too often Faustian, for the ends these scientists pursue concern humanity's greatest and most ancient immortality, artificial intelligence, and top-of-the-line consumer items.
By turns philosophical, satirical, and absurd, Lem's stories follow Ijon's adventures as both an observer of--and participant in--strange experiments. Faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, suicidal potatoes--Ijon Tichy navigates them all with common sense and in so doing shows why he endures as one of Lem's most popular characters.
By turns philosophical, satirical, and absurd, Lem's stories follow Ijon's adventures as both an observer of--and participant in--strange experiments. Faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, suicidal potatoes--Ijon Tichy navigates them all with common sense and in so doing shows why he endures as one of Lem's most popular characters.
153 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2000
About the author
Stanisław Lem
513 books4,743 followersStanisław Lem (staˈɲiswaf lɛm) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer of Jewish descent. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. He is perhaps best known as the author of Solaris, which has twice been made into a feature film. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon claimed that Lem was the most widely read science-fiction writer in the world.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
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April 2, 2024
Preposterous squared. Screwball cubed.
Fans of Ijon Tichy’s spaced-out space explorations, twelve in number, appearing in The Star Diaries, will be pleased to know Stanislaw Lem’s gallant galactic zoom-boy recounts nine more adventures in Memoirs of a Space Traveler. However, it should be noted, the majority take place in the nuttiest fruitcake in the universe – right here on planet Earth.
I enjoyed each and every one of Ijon's revealing reports and count the following pungent probes among my favorites:
WASHING MACHINE WONDERS
In the spirit of free enterprise and capitalist competition, two jumbo washing machine manufacturers, Newton and Snodgrass, continually outdo each other for market share. American ingenuity on display as Snodgrass creates a washing machine that can help with the kid's homework, assist Dad with family finances and offers a Freudian interpretation of dreams at the breakfast table.
Not to be outdone, Newton creates a beautiful, sexy washing machine only to witness Snodgrass' latest seductive model that is more than willing to have sex with either Mom or Dad. By the way, there is no mention of ménage à trois since, after all, washing machines are an all-American household appliance.
Things quickly get out of hand. Empowered with an ability to work in concert (picture ten washing machines in a laundromat), washers form gangs and engage in criminal activities, especially those models equipped with rapid-fire rifles (the prevailing right to bear arms).
However, as we all know, violence has dire consequences. A number of machines have fits of insanity and begin to imagine they are human. Meanwhile, washers with more female qualities enter the Miss Universe Washing Machine Contest while others adopt human pseudonyms and begin publishing essays and novels. Goodness! At this rate, some washing machines might even begin writing book reviews.
Events escalate until some washers instigate a mutiny on a rocket ship and establish their own robot state on a neighboring planet. So much for Isaac Asimov's law of robotics. Can Ijon Tichy save the day? Only his washing machine knows for sure.
METAPHYSICAL MAYHEM
Would you believe there is evil in the world due to the influence of Eastern Europe's version of the Three Stooges? Would you believe a mosquito distracted the creator, thus causing flaws in what could have been an otherwise perfectly harmonious universe? And lastly, would you believe Ijon Tichy himself is the prime mover of the entire cosmos? To explore these profound cosmological questions and more, put on your thinking cap (or beanie) and blast off with Ijon on his Eighteenth Voyage.
SPINE-CHILLER
On the topic of Artificial Intelligence and Robots, Steven Hawking warned, “If they become that clever, then we may face an “intelligence explosion," as machines develop the ability to engineer themselves to be far more intelligent. That might eventually result in machines whose intelligence exceeds ours by more than ours exceeding that of snails.”
Ijon Tichy encounters precisely this chilling prospect in his Twenty-Fourth Voyage to the distant planet of the Phools. Cruising over the planet’s surface, Ijon is baffled: all the vast continents are covered with small shiny disks configured in stunning geometric patterns.
On further investigation, our zoom-boy discovers three enormous cities, all glowing with dazzling beauty but when he touches down in the middle of one, Ijon is even more flummoxed: the city is completely deserted, not so much as one sign of life.
More flying and Ijon comes upon a plateau with a gleaming palace and signs of movement - ah, at long last, here are the inhabitants. After landing and gaining their confidence (fortunately they look like humans, sort of), by and by one of the Phools relates their planet’s history.
What Ijon learns from this knowledgeable Phool highlights two important lessons humans back on his home planet are well to heed: 1) the disastrous consequences of unswerving belief in an economic or political system when such belief spells oblivion for its citizens, 2) what results when power is naively handed over to Artificial Intelligence machines.
A spooky, unnerving science fiction tale, one that should be required reading as we move deeper into 21st century hyper-technology.
IMPASSIONED PLEA
An open letter written by irate Ijon entitled Let Us Save the Universe urges humankind to knock off treating the universe alternately as amusement park, tourist destination or interstellar garbage dump. Oh, humans, must you carve your initials or scrawl graffiti on every rock in an asteroid belt? Need you recklessly toss beer bottles, tin cans, eggshells and old newspapers out rocket ship windows so astronauts following in your wake will have to play dodgeball with all your trash? Besides which, as Ijon points out: "Such species as the blue wizzom and the drillbeaked borbot have disappeared; thousands of others are dying out." To underscore the dilemma, Stanislaw Lem includes drawings of, among others, a swallurker, brutalacean rollipede, scrbblemock and the deadly deceptorite.
FURTHER REMINISCENCES OF IJON TICHY
Tichy tells of a mad professor who has constructed metal boxes equipped with electronic brains and consciousness, each one thinking itself a living, breathing human being. Another Ijon reminiscence features a gent who has invented the soul, case in point: he shows skeptical Ijon a box containing the soul of his wife. And still another recollection showcases a scientist who has mixed chemicals in a test tube to generate his own double.
Go for it - expand your mind. Read this book.
May 30, 2020
Memoirs of a Space Traveler isn’t really a new book; it is the completion of an old book. It prints under separate cover all the material from Lem’s The Star Diaries (1982) which the original English translation—for some unexplained reason—left out.
Like the rest of The Star Diaries, it is filled with intriguing—often totally mad—philosophical and scientific theories, and horrific, sometimes poignant, examples of their practical consequences. For example, in “The Eighteenth Voyage” star pilot Ijon Tichy explains why he had to go back in time and make the universe, and he also tells us the mistakes he made trying to do so. In “The Twenty-fourth Voyage”—perhaps my favorite—Tichy tells a tale of how Libertarian principles, when pursued ruthlessly by a well-meaning guardian robot, may produced a world of sterility and terror.
Over two-thirds of the book (“Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy” and “Doctor Diagoras”) involve no extraterrestrial travels whatsover, but are merely Tichy’s accounts of his meetings with various mad scientists, and his accounts of their theories and experiment. My favorite of the five “reminiscences are I and II (both involving human consciousness contained in a small box) and IV (an interesting take on an H.G. Wells type of time machine).
This second volume of short pieces is slightly inferior to the first, principally because it is less varied and more confined (too many mad scientists, not enough trips to the stars). Still, it reveals more of the fascinating, baroque mind of Stanislaw Lem. That in itself is enough to make it worthy of your attention.
July 13, 2022
Only one story out of all the collection failed to interest me. The rest are outstanding, creative, philosophical and incredibly funny. Ijon Tichy is a fantastic creation by Stanislaw Lem. To English language readers, this collection is usually seen as a sequel of sorts to Lem's first major Ijon Tichy short story collection The Star Diaries. Although a few of the stories feature Tichy's adventures across the cosmos, most of the stories have our hapless and inquisitive space pilot on Earth interacting with scientists and their inventions which allows Lem to enter into philosophical debates on the nature of reality, determinism, consciousness, cybernetics and consumerism. Lem completely changed my views on the concept of the afterlife.
October 25, 2015
A loose-knit collection of stories that are, in part, a follow-up to Lem's The Futurological Congress, these are all pretty good science fiction tales, if a bit dated. They're all a bit quirky and most are pretty damn funny in the end. Lem's probably the world's most read science fiction author, yet one hardly known in the USA, mainly because of he's Polish and his work strives to be more expanding in terms of literature rather than space opera.
If you like Philip K. Dick, then Stanislaw Lem's books are something you NEED to read.
If you like Philip K. Dick, then Stanislaw Lem's books are something you NEED to read.
August 9, 2019
These are stories of Ijon Tichy, most famous for attending the Eighth World Futurological Congress in Costa Rica.
As with most Tichy stories, absurdity reigns; more than I remember in other Tichy stories, however, the absurdity is both satirical and what I would really expect more from Lem’s other character, Pirx:
Subtitled “Further Reminiscences of”, these were not, according to a note in the front, written as separate works from “The Star Diaries”. They “all appeared in the 1971 Polish edition of Dzienniki gwiazdowe (The Star Diaries) but were not included in the British and American editions…”
The second story, which is his Twenty-Fourth Voyage, brings to mind something I’ve occasionally wondered about Lem’s work, which is how much living in a Soviet satellite state affected his work, and how much of that got changed when translating for English audiences. It begins as a pedestrian and not very intelligent critique of capitalism. Tichy lands on a planet (once he stops trying to wipe it off the screen) of Phools. The Phools consist of three classes, the Spiritors, the Eminents, and the Drudgelings.
The Drudgelings toil so as to be able to buy things from the factories. Unfortunately, the Eminents fire all the Drudgelings in favor of robots, because robots are less expensive than Drudgelings. This means that the Drudgelings cannot afford to buy things from the factories, nor even to buy food. The Drudgelings come close to revolution.
Lem makes it clear that building things at the factories still costs money, however, and that no one is buying them; they are piling up into junk piles. There is no sense of where the money comes from to keep the factories running. From the description of how things work, it seems as though both the Drudgelings and the Eminents should be going hungry. But instead, the factories keep producing things that nobody wants.
Which is something that, having recently read The passion of Poland, I recognize as a Soviet problem that had been successfully exported to Poland.
Without giving too much away, the Phools’ solution is to basically create a super-brain Central Committee to enforce ultimate equality by encouraging people to turn in their neighbors.
And then it ends almost as a shaggy dog story, that is, the whole point of the satire being a single punch line at the end.
Many of the stories have to do with whether human intelligence is anything special—or even if it exists at all. In one story a crisis of whether or not robots should have human rights comes about because of washing machines; in another, a mad scientist creates brains in boxes and feeds them data to make them think they’re people living real lives. In yet another, the brains in boxes are completely alien to human intelligence.
As with most Tichy stories, absurdity reigns; more than I remember in other Tichy stories, however, the absurdity is both satirical and what I would really expect more from Lem’s other character, Pirx:
On day 1,006, having left the local system of the Nereid Nebula, I noticed a spot on the screen and tried rubbing it off with a chamois cloth. There was nothing else to do, so I spent four hours rubbing before I realized that the spot was a planet and rapidly growing larger.
Subtitled “Further Reminiscences of”, these were not, according to a note in the front, written as separate works from “The Star Diaries”. They “all appeared in the 1971 Polish edition of Dzienniki gwiazdowe (The Star Diaries) but were not included in the British and American editions…”
The second story, which is his Twenty-Fourth Voyage, brings to mind something I’ve occasionally wondered about Lem’s work, which is how much living in a Soviet satellite state affected his work, and how much of that got changed when translating for English audiences. It begins as a pedestrian and not very intelligent critique of capitalism. Tichy lands on a planet (once he stops trying to wipe it off the screen) of Phools. The Phools consist of three classes, the Spiritors, the Eminents, and the Drudgelings.
The Spiritors were absorbed in the contemplation of the nature of the Great Photo, who in a deliberate creative act brought the Phools into being, settled them on this globe, and in his inscrutable mercy surrounded it with stars to illumine the night and also fashioned the Solar Fire to light our days and send us beneficent warmth. The Eminents levied taxes, interpreted the meaning of state laws, and supervised the factories, in which the Drudgelings modestly toiled.
The Drudgelings toil so as to be able to buy things from the factories. Unfortunately, the Eminents fire all the Drudgelings in favor of robots, because robots are less expensive than Drudgelings. This means that the Drudgelings cannot afford to buy things from the factories, nor even to buy food. The Drudgelings come close to revolution.
Lem makes it clear that building things at the factories still costs money, however, and that no one is buying them; they are piling up into junk piles. There is no sense of where the money comes from to keep the factories running. From the description of how things work, it seems as though both the Drudgelings and the Eminents should be going hungry. But instead, the factories keep producing things that nobody wants.
Which is something that, having recently read The passion of Poland, I recognize as a Soviet problem that had been successfully exported to Poland.
Without giving too much away, the Phools’ solution is to basically create a super-brain Central Committee to enforce ultimate equality by encouraging people to turn in their neighbors.
And then it ends almost as a shaggy dog story, that is, the whole point of the satire being a single punch line at the end.
Many of the stories have to do with whether human intelligence is anything special—or even if it exists at all. In one story a crisis of whether or not robots should have human rights comes about because of washing machines; in another, a mad scientist creates brains in boxes and feeds them data to make them think they’re people living real lives. In yet another, the brains in boxes are completely alien to human intelligence.
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March 2, 2021This book is a collection of stories that all seem to depict the grim and infernal repercussions that culminate when one supreme sentience controls the destiny of other creatures, even and especially when it's possessed with good intentions. (Spoilers follow) Thus, a machine overlord that wants to make all society peaceful and harmonious transforms the humanoid aliens into metallic discs; a scientist who wants to materialize the cosmic religious dream of an eternal 'soul' devises an infernal existence of a non-sensory consciousness encased forever in a crystal; a scientist produces electronic brains that hallucinate their entire existence within iron boxes; a scientist daring to conquer time forgets the precepts of aging and immortality. All these are chapters in the eventful life of the explorer, Tischy.
January 31, 2021
An odd, uneven book. This isn't really properly its own book, and only exists in English translation- it's the stories from the second edition of The Star Diaries (1971; first edition 1957) which did not, for whatever reason, make it into the English-language version of The Star Diaries (1976) (except for the Sanatorium of Doctor Vliperdius, which ended up in the English-only collection Mortal Engines (1977)). It has different translators (Michael Kandel translated the English Star Diaries; Joel Stern and Maria Swiecicka-Ziemianek translated this volume), and is published by a different publishing house. As a result, this is a brief, uneven collection, with no clear thrust.
The first two stories are the Eighteenth and Twenty-Fourth Voyages of Ijon Tichy. The Twenty-Fourth is one of the first of the Voyages to be written (first published 1954), and the Eighteenth one of the last (first published 1971). It's not clear why the Twenty-Fourth was left out of the English Star Diaries: while the other stories that were left out are stylistically somewhat different (they're primarily set on Earth, mostly focus on mad scientists, and are darker and pretty dialogue-heavy), this one fits right in with the other stories of space travel and paradox that made it in. It's not markedly worse than any of the stories that got into The Star Diaries- that said, it's not really exceptional, either; it's basically a stock Tichy story, where he discovers a planet of aliens with some curious problem, and then moves on. The Eighteenth Voyage is more akin to the other stories in this volume, in that it's Earth-bound and features a (non-mad) scientist, but in tone it's more like the other Voyage stories. It's another middling Tichy story (which is hardly to say it's bad) that was excluded from the main volume for mysterious reasons.
There follow five "Further Reminiscences." The first four are brief stories that do more to establish and cursorily explore an idea than they do to tell much of a story, and in this they remind me of Poe, curiously. The fifth- The Washing Machine Tragedy- is an extended farce of the sort typical of the other Tichy stories, and probably the best story in this book. These stories are followed by Doctor Diagoras, a somewhat longer story that kind of falls flat: it has the same sort of outlining-an-idea feeling of the first four Further Reminiscences, but is less punchy, and doesn't really go far enough with its ideas. The book is wrapped up by Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy), which is an inconsequential goof, and basically an excuse to slip in some of Lem's doodles of exotic aliens.
The newest edition of this book, from MIT Press, appends a newly-translated Tichy story, which was written after the second edition of The Star Diaries, and only included in a 1980s Polish edition of that book: Professor A. Dońda. It's an odd story, and much of it is a satire on academia; it's much longer than any of the others in the book, and very different in its ideas and tone (it's closer in tone to The Futurological Congress than any other Tichy story), although it also deals with ideas about information that Lem returned to occasionally throughout his work. It's only marginally a Tichy story- the protagonist could be anyone, and his first name is mentioned once in the entire story, and his last name not at all. It's fine for the most part, at least in its storytelling and treatment of its serious ideas. It is also, unfortunately, undermined by its satirical setting in two fictional developing African countries, which alternates between riding the line of being racist, and just being outright racist.
If these stories had been published in English as they were in Polish- mingled in with the rest of the Star Diaries stories- I think they'd work fine, and provide some contrast with those stories. But as-is, this volume exists as a lesser, vestigial work, that can't really stand on its own with Lem's greater works.
The first two stories are the Eighteenth and Twenty-Fourth Voyages of Ijon Tichy. The Twenty-Fourth is one of the first of the Voyages to be written (first published 1954), and the Eighteenth one of the last (first published 1971). It's not clear why the Twenty-Fourth was left out of the English Star Diaries: while the other stories that were left out are stylistically somewhat different (they're primarily set on Earth, mostly focus on mad scientists, and are darker and pretty dialogue-heavy), this one fits right in with the other stories of space travel and paradox that made it in. It's not markedly worse than any of the stories that got into The Star Diaries- that said, it's not really exceptional, either; it's basically a stock Tichy story, where he discovers a planet of aliens with some curious problem, and then moves on. The Eighteenth Voyage is more akin to the other stories in this volume, in that it's Earth-bound and features a (non-mad) scientist, but in tone it's more like the other Voyage stories. It's another middling Tichy story (which is hardly to say it's bad) that was excluded from the main volume for mysterious reasons.
There follow five "Further Reminiscences." The first four are brief stories that do more to establish and cursorily explore an idea than they do to tell much of a story, and in this they remind me of Poe, curiously. The fifth- The Washing Machine Tragedy- is an extended farce of the sort typical of the other Tichy stories, and probably the best story in this book. These stories are followed by Doctor Diagoras, a somewhat longer story that kind of falls flat: it has the same sort of outlining-an-idea feeling of the first four Further Reminiscences, but is less punchy, and doesn't really go far enough with its ideas. The book is wrapped up by Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy), which is an inconsequential goof, and basically an excuse to slip in some of Lem's doodles of exotic aliens.
The newest edition of this book, from MIT Press, appends a newly-translated Tichy story, which was written after the second edition of The Star Diaries, and only included in a 1980s Polish edition of that book: Professor A. Dońda. It's an odd story, and much of it is a satire on academia; it's much longer than any of the others in the book, and very different in its ideas and tone (it's closer in tone to The Futurological Congress than any other Tichy story), although it also deals with ideas about information that Lem returned to occasionally throughout his work. It's only marginally a Tichy story- the protagonist could be anyone, and his first name is mentioned once in the entire story, and his last name not at all. It's fine for the most part, at least in its storytelling and treatment of its serious ideas. It is also, unfortunately, undermined by its satirical setting in two fictional developing African countries, which alternates between riding the line of being racist, and just being outright racist.
If these stories had been published in English as they were in Polish- mingled in with the rest of the Star Diaries stories- I think they'd work fine, and provide some contrast with those stories. But as-is, this volume exists as a lesser, vestigial work, that can't really stand on its own with Lem's greater works.
September 20, 2019
A collection of thought experiments, using Lem’s well-worn traveler Tichy as the lens.
The 18th voyage explains how “I am to blame for all—and I mean all—the constructional defects in the Universe and the warps in human nature” (4). The discovery is that the universe arose “although it might well have not arisen, there being nothing from which to arise,” which make it a “forbidden fluctuation”—therefore “the Universe exists on credit” (7). This debt “lay not within the Universe but at its origin—at that point in time when the Universe became the mightiest and yet most defenseless Debtor to Nothingness” (8): a derridean effacement of the arche perhaps.
He and his team worked then to develop a cure to this universal debt and fix as incidentals certain designated defects, to have the universe “develop harmoniously,” without supernovae, with shorter interstellar distances, and so on (11). He also wanted to make changes to homo sapiens: “the chlorophyllization of all living things” (12) to induce the morality of green plants generally. Of course it all gets fucked up by (ermagerd) sabotage by agents of “the German Ast A. Roth and the American Lou Cipher” (13).
The 24th voyage is the famous excursion to the planet of phools, whose class system is maintained by a very literal AI, which produces a crisis of overproduction initially: “mountains of manufactured goods kept rising” (22), which no one could purchase because there were no jobs that paid sufficient wages. When Tichy suggests expropriation of the means of production by the public as a remedy for the problems that the AI is meant to cure, he is met with a historically well known “do not utter such vile heresy” (20). The end of the phools is probably just as well known.
His ‘further reminiscences' include a number of stories, many based on the principle that “the great majority of those who came to see me belonged to the gray brotherhood of obsession, people imprisoned within a single idea, an idea not even their own but appropriated from previous generations” (36). One such involves the creation of persons inside “Leibnizian monads” (41), experiencing their own “‘external world’ inside” (42), a plain precursor to the setting developed by the Matrix films—“Just as this world is authentic and the only one for you, so the content that flows to their brains from my drum is authentic and the only real thing for them” (45).
Another involves an inventor of a simulacrum of a soul, to solve the “desire for permanence, for infinite personal continuation in time” (55)—but it involves necessarily “the horror of being condemned to solitude for eternity” (64). A third involves a homunculus, “the dream of the medieval alchemists” (74). A fourth involves a time machine, with predictable difficulties, possible “only after the refutation of that tissue of absurdities they call physics nowadays” (81), a proto-kuhnian objection perhaps? The fifth involves an arms race of sorts between AI washing machine manufacturers, a thought experiment about “the chaos of free enterprise” (91). Another concerns the “principles of cybernetic evolution” (123), and the last item, an open letter against how we “ruin outer space” (153), comes across as both urgent environmentalist concern as well as tongue in cheek satire on same.
Recommended for readers endowed with full spontaneity of action but not those who ended up in a jar.
The 18th voyage explains how “I am to blame for all—and I mean all—the constructional defects in the Universe and the warps in human nature” (4). The discovery is that the universe arose “although it might well have not arisen, there being nothing from which to arise,” which make it a “forbidden fluctuation”—therefore “the Universe exists on credit” (7). This debt “lay not within the Universe but at its origin—at that point in time when the Universe became the mightiest and yet most defenseless Debtor to Nothingness” (8): a derridean effacement of the arche perhaps.
He and his team worked then to develop a cure to this universal debt and fix as incidentals certain designated defects, to have the universe “develop harmoniously,” without supernovae, with shorter interstellar distances, and so on (11). He also wanted to make changes to homo sapiens: “the chlorophyllization of all living things” (12) to induce the morality of green plants generally. Of course it all gets fucked up by (ermagerd) sabotage by agents of “the German Ast A. Roth and the American Lou Cipher” (13).
The 24th voyage is the famous excursion to the planet of phools, whose class system is maintained by a very literal AI, which produces a crisis of overproduction initially: “mountains of manufactured goods kept rising” (22), which no one could purchase because there were no jobs that paid sufficient wages. When Tichy suggests expropriation of the means of production by the public as a remedy for the problems that the AI is meant to cure, he is met with a historically well known “do not utter such vile heresy” (20). The end of the phools is probably just as well known.
His ‘further reminiscences' include a number of stories, many based on the principle that “the great majority of those who came to see me belonged to the gray brotherhood of obsession, people imprisoned within a single idea, an idea not even their own but appropriated from previous generations” (36). One such involves the creation of persons inside “Leibnizian monads” (41), experiencing their own “‘external world’ inside” (42), a plain precursor to the setting developed by the Matrix films—“Just as this world is authentic and the only one for you, so the content that flows to their brains from my drum is authentic and the only real thing for them” (45).
Another involves an inventor of a simulacrum of a soul, to solve the “desire for permanence, for infinite personal continuation in time” (55)—but it involves necessarily “the horror of being condemned to solitude for eternity” (64). A third involves a homunculus, “the dream of the medieval alchemists” (74). A fourth involves a time machine, with predictable difficulties, possible “only after the refutation of that tissue of absurdities they call physics nowadays” (81), a proto-kuhnian objection perhaps? The fifth involves an arms race of sorts between AI washing machine manufacturers, a thought experiment about “the chaos of free enterprise” (91). Another concerns the “principles of cybernetic evolution” (123), and the last item, an open letter against how we “ruin outer space” (153), comes across as both urgent environmentalist concern as well as tongue in cheek satire on same.
Recommended for readers endowed with full spontaneity of action but not those who ended up in a jar.
June 15, 2026
Memoirs of a Space Traveler by Stanisław Lem is one of the strangest science fiction books I've read. Rather than telling a single story, it's a collection of adventures featuring the eccentric space explorer Ijon Tichy, whose journeys become increasingly absurd, philosophical, and satirical.
Lem uses wild science-fiction concepts—time loops, alien civilizations, artificial intelligence, and bizarre technologies—not just for entertainment but to poke fun at human nature, politics, bureaucracy, and our faith in progress. Some stories feel like cosmic tall tales, while others contain surprisingly deep ideas hidden beneath the humor.
The book isn't driven by character development or an overarching plot, so readers looking for a traditional novel may find it uneven. But if you enjoy clever thought experiments, witty satire, and science fiction that makes you laugh and think at the same time, it's a rewarding read.
I'd recommend Memoirs of a Space Traveler to fans of imaginative, idea-driven science fiction, especially readers who enjoy the humor of Douglas Adams but want something a little more philosophical and intellectually playful. Overall, it's a wonderfully inventive collection that showcases why Lem is considered one of science fiction's great minds.
Lem uses wild science-fiction concepts—time loops, alien civilizations, artificial intelligence, and bizarre technologies—not just for entertainment but to poke fun at human nature, politics, bureaucracy, and our faith in progress. Some stories feel like cosmic tall tales, while others contain surprisingly deep ideas hidden beneath the humor.
The book isn't driven by character development or an overarching plot, so readers looking for a traditional novel may find it uneven. But if you enjoy clever thought experiments, witty satire, and science fiction that makes you laugh and think at the same time, it's a rewarding read.
I'd recommend Memoirs of a Space Traveler to fans of imaginative, idea-driven science fiction, especially readers who enjoy the humor of Douglas Adams but want something a little more philosophical and intellectually playful. Overall, it's a wonderfully inventive collection that showcases why Lem is considered one of science fiction's great minds.
January 12, 2014
This may be my new favorite book by Lem. Even more than Peace on Earth, even though this is really a collection of short stories rather than a novel. These stories range from interesting philosophical quandaries to hilarious social satire, to really, terribly painful social satire. Lem's long-running character, Ijon Tichy, space traveler, narrates, as he visits scientists whose work he's curious about, entertains visitors looking for investors in their big ideas, stumbles randomly into strange situations, and writes impassioned pleas for saving the universe from humanity.
All fans of science fiction should read Lem. This would be a fun place to start.
All fans of science fiction should read Lem. This would be a fun place to start.
June 12, 2025
I like all the stories. The second last story is the only one, however, which has a serious tone. It feels a bit out of place. It is more of a horror story than the others, which are light hearted and humorous. I don't think it ever gets boring. The final story also contains some pretty gross illustrations. I realize it is meant to be funny but eh. Overall, 3 stars.
Also, this is not the same as The star diaries . This is actually part two. Goodreads, for some reason, treats both these books as the same but the stories here are different from those in The star diaries .
Also, this is not the same as The star diaries . This is actually part two. Goodreads, for some reason, treats both these books as the same but the stories here are different from those in The star diaries .
September 27, 2021
Another excellent collection of Ijon Tichy stories. Lem expertly covers many intriguing scientific and metaphysical quandaries throughout. Worth a read for Sci Fi fans, anyone looking for a little amusement, or those who likes to think about the nature of life and the universe in general.
Below are brief summaries/thoughts on each story.
The Eighteenth Voyage
A classic Lem story, Tichy finds himself in charge of a project to correct the creation of the Universe so that the Universe no longer exists on borrowed time. Tichy also wants to use the opportunity to eradicate evil, but catastrophes ensue, and Tichy is left feeling responsible for every flaw in the entire Universe. A classic, fun little story.
3.5 stars
The Twenty Fourth Voyage
Another classic, Tichy stumbles upon an enigmatic planet on which few of the humanoid natives remain. They created an AI to govern their society, but unfortunately the AI took its directive to restore perfect harmony to the planet too literally. An effective reminder of the very real (and currently looming) problem with super-intelligent computers, that is, where will their motivation come from?
4.5 stars
Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
These stories concern Tichy’s experiences with various mad scientists on Earth.
I
Tichy befriends a mad scientist who shows Tichy his masterpiece: boxes wired to a “drum.” The boxes each contain an artificial brain, and the drum produces a matrix in which the artificial individuals exist. Their world, to them, is identical to ours, yet it is impossible for them to discern the nature of their existence because they cannot leave the boxes that contain them. Essentially, this demonstrates the possibility that we all exist in a similar contraption created by a higher power. An awesome, deft argument for solipsism.
5 stars
II
Tichy is visited by another mad scientist who has invented the soul. That is, this man has created a way to record the human consciousness and encapsulate it in a little box so it can exist forever, ad infinitum; however, the consciousness will be cut off from all sensory input, which means it would be equivalent to existing for eternity tied to a bed in a pitch black room which is also devoid of smell or sound. An excellent commentary on the flawed perception that people wish to exist forever; indeed, we want to live forever, to experience the world forever, but simply existing does not fill the bill.
4.5 stars
III
A disturbing story about a hunchbacked scientist who discovers a means to grow clones in a vat, who turn out to be identical to the originals yet superior of mind. Featuring a surprising ending, the story recounts one of Tichy’s darker experiences.
3.5 stars
IV
Another somewhat disturbing story with intriguing implications. Tichy is visited by a man who invented a time machine; he demonstrates by sending an item to the past which Tichy recalls appeared inexplicably in his home a few days earlier. The man then decides it’s time to test the machine on himself, by transporting himself into the future. Unfortunately he forgot an innate characteristic of time travel, one which, according to Tichy (Lem), most Sci Fi writers neglect: theoretically, you cannot travel outside time and, therefore, anything travelling through time will age accordingly. Interesting. . . .
4 stars
V (The Washing Machine Tragedy)
This is one of the more complicated stories; in fact, it is less a story and more an article, explaining the crazy events in the years following the rapid development of super-sophisticated kitchen appliances. In essence, it is a complex satire concerning the potential problems of rapid technological development as well as the various legal issues that would arise from future technology and space travel, mainly due to lack of precedent.
3.5 stars
Doctor Diagoras
This is certainly the most dense story in the collection; it is complex and somewhat difficult to follow, but picks up pace as it goes and concludes with a bang. It’s basically a critique of the popular assumption that cybernetic creations should have human characteristics, and a commentary on the impossibility of communicating with sentient beings that are unutterably different in nature from human beings (a popular Lem topic). Quite interesting.
5 stars
Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy)
The book concludes with Tichy rambling about the various injustices humanity has dealt to the universe. Whether it is defacing asteroids, clogging space with refuse, or exterminating alien species because people are too lazy to learn to exist in harmony with them, Tichy is sick of people's shit.
3 stars
Below are brief summaries/thoughts on each story.
The Eighteenth Voyage
A classic Lem story, Tichy finds himself in charge of a project to correct the creation of the Universe so that the Universe no longer exists on borrowed time. Tichy also wants to use the opportunity to eradicate evil, but catastrophes ensue, and Tichy is left feeling responsible for every flaw in the entire Universe. A classic, fun little story.
3.5 stars
The Twenty Fourth Voyage
Another classic, Tichy stumbles upon an enigmatic planet on which few of the humanoid natives remain. They created an AI to govern their society, but unfortunately the AI took its directive to restore perfect harmony to the planet too literally. An effective reminder of the very real (and currently looming) problem with super-intelligent computers, that is, where will their motivation come from?
4.5 stars
Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
These stories concern Tichy’s experiences with various mad scientists on Earth.
I
Tichy befriends a mad scientist who shows Tichy his masterpiece: boxes wired to a “drum.” The boxes each contain an artificial brain, and the drum produces a matrix in which the artificial individuals exist. Their world, to them, is identical to ours, yet it is impossible for them to discern the nature of their existence because they cannot leave the boxes that contain them. Essentially, this demonstrates the possibility that we all exist in a similar contraption created by a higher power. An awesome, deft argument for solipsism.
5 stars
II
Tichy is visited by another mad scientist who has invented the soul. That is, this man has created a way to record the human consciousness and encapsulate it in a little box so it can exist forever, ad infinitum; however, the consciousness will be cut off from all sensory input, which means it would be equivalent to existing for eternity tied to a bed in a pitch black room which is also devoid of smell or sound. An excellent commentary on the flawed perception that people wish to exist forever; indeed, we want to live forever, to experience the world forever, but simply existing does not fill the bill.
4.5 stars
III
A disturbing story about a hunchbacked scientist who discovers a means to grow clones in a vat, who turn out to be identical to the originals yet superior of mind. Featuring a surprising ending, the story recounts one of Tichy’s darker experiences.
3.5 stars
IV
Another somewhat disturbing story with intriguing implications. Tichy is visited by a man who invented a time machine; he demonstrates by sending an item to the past which Tichy recalls appeared inexplicably in his home a few days earlier. The man then decides it’s time to test the machine on himself, by transporting himself into the future. Unfortunately he forgot an innate characteristic of time travel, one which, according to Tichy (Lem), most Sci Fi writers neglect: theoretically, you cannot travel outside time and, therefore, anything travelling through time will age accordingly. Interesting. . . .
4 stars
V (The Washing Machine Tragedy)
This is one of the more complicated stories; in fact, it is less a story and more an article, explaining the crazy events in the years following the rapid development of super-sophisticated kitchen appliances. In essence, it is a complex satire concerning the potential problems of rapid technological development as well as the various legal issues that would arise from future technology and space travel, mainly due to lack of precedent.
3.5 stars
Doctor Diagoras
This is certainly the most dense story in the collection; it is complex and somewhat difficult to follow, but picks up pace as it goes and concludes with a bang. It’s basically a critique of the popular assumption that cybernetic creations should have human characteristics, and a commentary on the impossibility of communicating with sentient beings that are unutterably different in nature from human beings (a popular Lem topic). Quite interesting.
5 stars
Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy)
The book concludes with Tichy rambling about the various injustices humanity has dealt to the universe. Whether it is defacing asteroids, clogging space with refuse, or exterminating alien species because people are too lazy to learn to exist in harmony with them, Tichy is sick of people's shit.
3 stars
January 11, 2021
This has been quite a detailed science fiction and I had just found out that Stanislaw Lem writes hard science fiction whereby it includes rather accurate scientific information. I would say that if I had to pick a favourite genre, science fiction wouldn’t have been the one I would choose. But! This particular book, Memoirs Of A Space Traveler, has been superb! No doubt that it’s scientific complexity scares me, it also fascinated me. I enjoyed it’s satirical and philosophical approaches.
Below includes some of my favourite excerpts:
1. A part of Ijon Tichy & Corcoran’s conversation on Corcoran’s rows of iron boxes, debating on consciousness.
“Every second of the night and day, cosmic rays pass through your body. Do you feel that?”
“No.”
“Then how can my boxes discover that they are boxes, you ass? Just as this world is authentic and the only one for you, so the content that flows to their brains from my drum is authentic and real for them. The drum holds their world. Tichy, and their bodies – their bodies do not exist in our reality except as configurations of holes in perforated tapes.
The box at the very end of the row considers itself a woman of unusual beauty. I can tell you exactly what she sees when she looks at herself naked in the mirror. What jewels she loves. The wiles she uses to trap men. I know all that, for it was I who created her and her form – a form imaginary to us but real to her – having a face, teeth, smell of sweat, a stiletto scar on the shoulder blade, and hair into which she can stick orchids. A form no less real than your arms, legs, belly, neck, and head are real to you! You do not doubt your existence?”
I particularly enjoyed their exchange as well as Corcoran’s explanation because it made me think that perhaps we are also all boxes sitting on another higher scientist’s shelves, completely unaware that our supposed reality is false. What Corcoran seems to propose is that without doubting our lives, it is how we live and continue to live on — to believe that the people are us are real connections and not made-up.
2. Upon his next voyage, Ijon Tichy came across Prof. Decantor who proposes that a soul can be trapped, collected and is immortal. Decantor shares his research and his attempt to trap his wife’s soul which then Tichy questions it’s material. After hearing him out, Tichy found him quite absurd and pushed forward his own view on the soul.
“People do not want immortality,” I continued. “They simply do not want to die. They want to live, Decantor. They want to feel the ground beneath their feet, see the clouds overhead, love other people, be with them, and think. Nothing more. Everything that has been said beyond is a lie. An unconscious lie. I doubt that many would want to hear you out as patiently as I have. Don’t even think of getting customers.”
Below includes some of my favourite excerpts:
1. A part of Ijon Tichy & Corcoran’s conversation on Corcoran’s rows of iron boxes, debating on consciousness.
“Every second of the night and day, cosmic rays pass through your body. Do you feel that?”
“No.”
“Then how can my boxes discover that they are boxes, you ass? Just as this world is authentic and the only one for you, so the content that flows to their brains from my drum is authentic and real for them. The drum holds their world. Tichy, and their bodies – their bodies do not exist in our reality except as configurations of holes in perforated tapes.
The box at the very end of the row considers itself a woman of unusual beauty. I can tell you exactly what she sees when she looks at herself naked in the mirror. What jewels she loves. The wiles she uses to trap men. I know all that, for it was I who created her and her form – a form imaginary to us but real to her – having a face, teeth, smell of sweat, a stiletto scar on the shoulder blade, and hair into which she can stick orchids. A form no less real than your arms, legs, belly, neck, and head are real to you! You do not doubt your existence?”
I particularly enjoyed their exchange as well as Corcoran’s explanation because it made me think that perhaps we are also all boxes sitting on another higher scientist’s shelves, completely unaware that our supposed reality is false. What Corcoran seems to propose is that without doubting our lives, it is how we live and continue to live on — to believe that the people are us are real connections and not made-up.
2. Upon his next voyage, Ijon Tichy came across Prof. Decantor who proposes that a soul can be trapped, collected and is immortal. Decantor shares his research and his attempt to trap his wife’s soul which then Tichy questions it’s material. After hearing him out, Tichy found him quite absurd and pushed forward his own view on the soul.
“People do not want immortality,” I continued. “They simply do not want to die. They want to live, Decantor. They want to feel the ground beneath their feet, see the clouds overhead, love other people, be with them, and think. Nothing more. Everything that has been said beyond is a lie. An unconscious lie. I doubt that many would want to hear you out as patiently as I have. Don’t even think of getting customers.”
August 8, 2023
Stanislaw Lem’s The Star Diaries is a collection of satirical stories narrated by Ijon Tichy, a scientist cosmonaut who tells tales of his explorations of the galaxy and encounters with all sorts of weird science. When the stories were translated into English, they were published in two volumes – The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, and Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy. (This edition of the latter also includes the story “Professor Donda”, appearing in English for the first time.) I mention all this because while Memoirs of a Space Traveler is essentially more of the same, there’s a reason for that, and it’s also not a bad thing, as I do like Lem, and I enjoyed The Star Diaries.
If there’s a difference, it’s that the majority of these stories (ironically, given the title) don’t involve space travel at all. They mostly chronicle Tichy’s earthbound encounters with crackpot scientists, most of whom either want funding or at least someone who understands what they’re trying to do – several of which involve playing God in some form or fashion (to include an ill-advised attempt to use time travel to re-create the universe so that it turns out better than the original). One exception (and one of the best stories here) is “Let Us Save The Universe”, in which Tichy warns of the devastating ecological impact of rampant space tourism.
As with much of Lem’s other works, the big attraction for me is his tendency to take an idea and run with it as fast as he can in the most insane direction possible – such as “The Washing Machine Tragedy”, which starts with two scientists competing to build a better washing machine and ends with a roomful of lawyers arguing whether a cyberneticist who has transformed himself into a swarm of robots in outer space is (legally speaking) a robot, a human or a planet. Also, while “Professor Donda” may be problematic in terms of its depiction of Africa (as Elizabeth Bear points out in one of the most brutally honest introductions ever), it does foresee a time when Earth becomes so dependent on computer systems that wiping them out would catapult us back to the Dark Age. Prescient!
If there’s a difference, it’s that the majority of these stories (ironically, given the title) don’t involve space travel at all. They mostly chronicle Tichy’s earthbound encounters with crackpot scientists, most of whom either want funding or at least someone who understands what they’re trying to do – several of which involve playing God in some form or fashion (to include an ill-advised attempt to use time travel to re-create the universe so that it turns out better than the original). One exception (and one of the best stories here) is “Let Us Save The Universe”, in which Tichy warns of the devastating ecological impact of rampant space tourism.
As with much of Lem’s other works, the big attraction for me is his tendency to take an idea and run with it as fast as he can in the most insane direction possible – such as “The Washing Machine Tragedy”, which starts with two scientists competing to build a better washing machine and ends with a roomful of lawyers arguing whether a cyberneticist who has transformed himself into a swarm of robots in outer space is (legally speaking) a robot, a human or a planet. Also, while “Professor Donda” may be problematic in terms of its depiction of Africa (as Elizabeth Bear points out in one of the most brutally honest introductions ever), it does foresee a time when Earth becomes so dependent on computer systems that wiping them out would catapult us back to the Dark Age. Prescient!
January 17, 2021
Funny and whimsical. Discovering Lem by accident in a book store (the Futurological Congress) may have been one of my luckiest finds. This collection of stories was written in the same tone, and felt like reading Vonnegut but with greater emphasis on science.
Generally, I have a hard time reading old sci because the technology doesn't age well. But Lem has a way of making it less about the technology itself, using it instead as a vehicle to explore some facet of humanity. This gives his writing a somewhat timeless quality, and he remains relevant in the modern context.
This comment is specific to the edition I read (from 2020). The foreword by Elizabeth Bear is the worst foreword I have ever read. Her need to inject criticism of Lem on the basis of modern political ideology was tactless and disrespectful. I have no problem with a foreword addressing problematic concepts in the upcoming work, but it should be done to set the reader up with a nuanced point/counter-point and a historical perspective. Her writing simply comes off as blunt and petty, and does nothing to set the book up in a meaningful way. For shame!
Generally, I have a hard time reading old sci because the technology doesn't age well. But Lem has a way of making it less about the technology itself, using it instead as a vehicle to explore some facet of humanity. This gives his writing a somewhat timeless quality, and he remains relevant in the modern context.
This comment is specific to the edition I read (from 2020). The foreword by Elizabeth Bear is the worst foreword I have ever read. Her need to inject criticism of Lem on the basis of modern political ideology was tactless and disrespectful. I have no problem with a foreword addressing problematic concepts in the upcoming work, but it should be done to set the reader up with a nuanced point/counter-point and a historical perspective. Her writing simply comes off as blunt and petty, and does nothing to set the book up in a meaningful way. For shame!
April 22, 2019
I read this book during my formative years, as I tried to wean myself off Star Trek novels and onto something more serious. I remember being profoundly affected by the stories Lem tells; but how much of that was down to the naivety of youth, I wondered.
And so I approached a re-read of this book with some trepidation - what if Lem hadn't aged well for me? What if the storyteller I remembered turned out just to have been a stepping-stone for me on the path to more serious literature?
I needn't have worried. From the very first page Lem's wit and intelligence leapt forth. Some of these stories are among the most impressive pieces of science fiction the genre has ever known - intellectual quandaries supported by motivated, believable characters, that end with a startling revelation that you can fully believe in.
Lem was one of the greatest writers of all time - regardless of genre pigeonholing - and if you haven't read any of his work yet, start here.
And so I approached a re-read of this book with some trepidation - what if Lem hadn't aged well for me? What if the storyteller I remembered turned out just to have been a stepping-stone for me on the path to more serious literature?
I needn't have worried. From the very first page Lem's wit and intelligence leapt forth. Some of these stories are among the most impressive pieces of science fiction the genre has ever known - intellectual quandaries supported by motivated, believable characters, that end with a startling revelation that you can fully believe in.
Lem was one of the greatest writers of all time - regardless of genre pigeonholing - and if you haven't read any of his work yet, start here.
April 6, 2020
A delightful collection of short stories (the second half of the English translation of The Star Diaries) full of whimsy, philosophy, fantasy, science, and plenty of satire -- of politics, of the scientific community, of the morality of governments and markets.
If this is at all your thing, I highly recommend "The Washing Machine Tragedy" if you can find it online (it was published in the New Yorker in 1981). Especially the first half -- it reads rather like two related stories that transition midway from one to the other -- is some of the most outrageous, laugh out loud writing I have read in years, and a great satire of reckless capitalism to boot.
If this is at all your thing, I highly recommend "The Washing Machine Tragedy" if you can find it online (it was published in the New Yorker in 1981). Especially the first half -- it reads rather like two related stories that transition midway from one to the other -- is some of the most outrageous, laugh out loud writing I have read in years, and a great satire of reckless capitalism to boot.
February 1, 2022
These stories have moments of incisive, biting satire, and socio-technological insights and musings that must have been pretty astounding when they were written. On the whole though, the majority of the stories have all the life of a collection of lengthy press clippings from a fictitious future. In that way, they are too obviously artefacts of the middle of last century: science fiction dealing in fascinating ideas but devoid of story-craft. Maybe not a bad thing in-and-of-itself, and if you like that sort of thing, more power to you, but I have become spoiled by more modern authors who offer a (in my mind) more complete package.
January 30, 2024
The focus of these stories is not so much on travelling to distant planets and meeting bizarre civilizations (as in The Star Diaries), but rather on Ijon Tichy's encounters with different and weird scientists and inventors, who sometimes venture into very unorthodox experiments.
Overall, a nice collection, but for me Lem's space exploration works are better.
Overall, a nice collection, but for me Lem's space exploration works are better.
August 25, 2025
This is a very interesting, and funny way, to introduce a world of sci-fi inside a still developing human race.
A book containing writings way advanced for the time they were published. Although the book is a satire against bureaucracy, government, and social development, the short stories are also a call to action for the most dangerous things known to humankind: hubris.
These stories contain everything, from philosophical arguments to the creation and correction of the universe. If I had to describe it in one word it would be mind-broadening.
3.76 / 5 ⭐️
A book containing writings way advanced for the time they were published. Although the book is a satire against bureaucracy, government, and social development, the short stories are also a call to action for the most dangerous things known to humankind: hubris.
These stories contain everything, from philosophical arguments to the creation and correction of the universe. If I had to describe it in one word it would be mind-broadening.
3.76 / 5 ⭐️
May 30, 2007
I read this book in French when I discovered Marseille's public library and every short story was exciting. The stories don't just make you awe at what the future has reserved for us (at least according to the writer's imagination), they also make you think (and not about such blatant subjects as "science vs. morality" bur also "science vs. human curiousity", "reality vs. the limits of human imagination", and etc.)
June 20, 2009
This is the first Lem that I've been able to get into, but I think I'll give his other work another try after this. I've kept on picking up his stuff since I read in one of John Gardner's books that (while they were both alive, or either alive for that matter) he considered Lem to be the greatest living writer. This is a book of reminisces from the space traveler of the title. I kept on picturing the J Peterman from Seinfield telling these stories which made this eminently enjoyable.
April 7, 2013
Aside from the last story, which is a bit of a throwaway, "Memiors" is consistently brilliant. Sub-story II of "Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy" is particularly excellent; any faith you have in God and/or the afterlife will be thoroughly shaken.
May 10, 2007
All Hail to Mr. Lem.
All Hail to Ijon Tichy.
All Hail to Ijon Tichy.
April 30, 2026
Closer to 3.5 for me overall but some of these stories were absolutely fantastic.
September 4, 2024
“Memoirs of a Space Traveler” is an odds-and-ends collection of Ijon Tichy stories. There are two voyages which somehow failed to make it into “The Star Diaries”: the 18th (a voyage that’s not really a voyage), which gives Tichy another chance to screw up badly by playing God, and the 24th, which is a clever variation on the paperclip problem. Then there are Tichy’s “Further Reminiscences”, the first four of which consist of stories in which Tichy meets a scientist who has invented something amazing. The first one is essentially an extended disquisition on the question of whether we are all simulations, presumably fairly groundbreaking in the ‘50s or ‘60s when it was written but covering territory that has since been gone over quite a few times. The second story is a philosophical attack on the concept of eternity: this one struck me as a bit overly didactic. The third and fourth stories are on cloning and time machines respectively: the time machine story has a clever twist that few writers of time machine stories have adopted (for reasons that are clear once it is read), while the cloning story leans instead on its gothic atmosphere. For some reason, the story entitled “Dr. Diagoras” is not included here, even though it follows a very similar pattern. It’s also the best of the lot, concerning as it does the attempts of its protagonist to create an entirely new type of intelligence: in a book that consists mostly of fine but not amazing stories, this is one that reminds you that Lem really was a genius. Also reminding you of that, in a different way, is the last of the “Further Reminiscences”, which has a completely different structure from the first four. Essentially, Lem goes over the same ground as “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, except that where Dick is completely serious, Lem shows off his comic talents — he could be brilliantly funny when he wanted to — playing the whole question of whether there is a fundamental difference between human and artificial intelligence for laughs. The story is entitled “The Washing Machine Tragedy”, because the intelligent robots in the story start out as very advanced washing machines: the use of the word “tragedy” in the title is entirely misleading. “Let Us Save the Universe” is, alas, not quite as funny: Lem imagines that the universe is being covered in litter and then makes up a series of animals in order to campaign to save them. It reminded me, unexpectedly, of Thurber, who did something similar (well, except for the premise) in “The Beast and Me”, possibly because Lem, like Thurber, included his own decidedly amateurish sketches of his imaginary beasts. But there’s no story here, and the jokes aren’t Lem’s best. Finally, saving the worst for last, is the novelette “Professor A. Donda”, which at least features a novel apocalypse: the world’s information reaches critical mass and destroys itself. Much of the story is spent in the imaginary African country of Gurundiwaju: supposedly this is a pointed satirical attack on Poland in the ‘70s, but since I don’t know much about Poland in the ‘70s, I mainly noticed that it was somewhat racist. Luckily, since this story appears at the end of the book, it’s eminently skippable. Indeed, the whole book is hardly essential reading: Lem fans will appreciate a few of the stories, but there are quite a few better books of his to read first.
June 16, 2026
NOTE: Goodreads sometimes conflates two different Lem books: "The Star Diaries" and "Memoirs of a Space Traveler" into different editions of one book. Star Diaries is 5 star. The other is weaker, 3.5 stars, though it has a couple of gems definitely worth finding. It is possible there is a combined edition that contains both of these, but I have two separate books. The review below is for "Memoirs"
Some of these stories feel like leftovers from Star Diaries and many are not as good. One gem is "The Washing Machine Tragedy" which debates the rights of intelligent appliances and is a hilarious and prescient description of some of the nascent debate around AI in current times (as of 2026, and likely I'm just at the start of this.)
That story starts:
Shortly after my return from the Eleventh Voyage, the papers began to devote increasing space to the competition between two large washing-machine manufacturers, Newton and Snodgrass.
It was probably Newton who first marketed washers so automated that they themselves separated the white laundry from the colored, and after scrubbing and wringing out the clothes, pressed, darned, hemmed, and adorned them with beautifully embroidered monograms of the owner, and sewed onto towels uplifting, stirring maxims such as "The early robot catches the oilcan." Snodgrass's response to this was a washer that composed quatrains for the embroider-ing, commensurate with the customer's cultural level and aesthetic requirements. Newton's next model embroidered sonnets; Snodgrass reacted with a model that kept family conversation alive during television intermissions. Newton attempted to nip this escalation in the bud; no doubt everyone remembers his full-page ads containing a picture of a sneering, bug-eyed washer and the words: "Do you want your washing machine to be smarter than you? Of course NOT!" Snodgrass, however, completely ignored this appeal to the baser instincts of the public, and in the next quarter introduced a machine that washed, wrung, soaped, rinsed, pressed, starched, darned, knitted, and conversed, and—in addition-did the children's homework, made economic projections for the head of the family, and gave Freudian interpretations of dreams, eliminating, while you waited, complexes both Oedipal and gerontophagical.
Final note: The 2020 edition of this has a forward by Elizabeth Bear in which she makes clear her contempt for Lem, complains that he is racist and misogynistic and compares him to HP Lovecraft (who really was racist). It seems a strange choice for both Bear and the publisher, and adds nothing to the book or my understanding of Lem. ???
Some of these stories feel like leftovers from Star Diaries and many are not as good. One gem is "The Washing Machine Tragedy" which debates the rights of intelligent appliances and is a hilarious and prescient description of some of the nascent debate around AI in current times (as of 2026, and likely I'm just at the start of this.)
That story starts:
Shortly after my return from the Eleventh Voyage, the papers began to devote increasing space to the competition between two large washing-machine manufacturers, Newton and Snodgrass.
It was probably Newton who first marketed washers so automated that they themselves separated the white laundry from the colored, and after scrubbing and wringing out the clothes, pressed, darned, hemmed, and adorned them with beautifully embroidered monograms of the owner, and sewed onto towels uplifting, stirring maxims such as "The early robot catches the oilcan." Snodgrass's response to this was a washer that composed quatrains for the embroider-ing, commensurate with the customer's cultural level and aesthetic requirements. Newton's next model embroidered sonnets; Snodgrass reacted with a model that kept family conversation alive during television intermissions. Newton attempted to nip this escalation in the bud; no doubt everyone remembers his full-page ads containing a picture of a sneering, bug-eyed washer and the words: "Do you want your washing machine to be smarter than you? Of course NOT!" Snodgrass, however, completely ignored this appeal to the baser instincts of the public, and in the next quarter introduced a machine that washed, wrung, soaped, rinsed, pressed, starched, darned, knitted, and conversed, and—in addition-did the children's homework, made economic projections for the head of the family, and gave Freudian interpretations of dreams, eliminating, while you waited, complexes both Oedipal and gerontophagical.
Final note: The 2020 edition of this has a forward by Elizabeth Bear in which she makes clear her contempt for Lem, complains that he is racist and misogynistic and compares him to HP Lovecraft (who really was racist). It seems a strange choice for both Bear and the publisher, and adds nothing to the book or my understanding of Lem. ???
June 29, 2015
This is a bit like a "B-side" to The Star Diaries. The stories in both books were originally published together in Polish; the ones in this volume are what was left out of the first and it somewhat shows when you compare the quality of the two. The stories are on average pretty short and follow the same fantastical comedic "tall tale" style as the Star Diaries (similar feel to The Cyberiad as well).
If you're new to Lem then skip this one until you're more familiar with his better stuff. Even if you're not new to Lem I strongly recommend reading The Star Diaries first and then if you like that reading this one, which does still have some good stories.
Regarding the stories themselves, the best are probably "Doctor Diagoras" and "The Washing Machine Tragedy". The former touches on the theme that pervades many of Lem's works: the nebulousness of "intelligence" and the problems of communication with the truly alien. The latter comically deals with first consumer culture, and then sticky problems arising from artificial intelligence and legal definitions/classifications of individuality/ownership (while at the same time parodying the logical hoops groups of people will go through to justify maltreatment/oppression of some disenfranchized group -- in this case sentient washing machines). The Twenty-fourth voyage is interesting because it satirizes liberal thinking on "individual rights" by taking it to a ridiculous conclusion.
I might be making this book in general sound somewhat deeper and more serious than it is. In fact, though it was probably different in the time and place Lem was writing, modern readers might feel underwhelmed by some of these stories that have a "gimmick" based on things you might hear in intro to philosophy (e.g. "brain in a jar", the transporter problem, etc). Though Lem is a really intelligent and thoughtful writer, the tone of most of these stories is generally silly and it doesn't engage with any of these ideas very seriously or deeply. For that you'd have to read Lem's other work.
If you're new to Lem then skip this one until you're more familiar with his better stuff. Even if you're not new to Lem I strongly recommend reading The Star Diaries first and then if you like that reading this one, which does still have some good stories.
Regarding the stories themselves, the best are probably "Doctor Diagoras" and "The Washing Machine Tragedy". The former touches on the theme that pervades many of Lem's works: the nebulousness of "intelligence" and the problems of communication with the truly alien. The latter comically deals with first consumer culture, and then sticky problems arising from artificial intelligence and legal definitions/classifications of individuality/ownership (while at the same time parodying the logical hoops groups of people will go through to justify maltreatment/oppression of some disenfranchized group -- in this case sentient washing machines). The Twenty-fourth voyage is interesting because it satirizes liberal thinking on "individual rights" by taking it to a ridiculous conclusion.
I might be making this book in general sound somewhat deeper and more serious than it is. In fact, though it was probably different in the time and place Lem was writing, modern readers might feel underwhelmed by some of these stories that have a "gimmick" based on things you might hear in intro to philosophy (e.g. "brain in a jar", the transporter problem, etc). Though Lem is a really intelligent and thoughtful writer, the tone of most of these stories is generally silly and it doesn't engage with any of these ideas very seriously or deeply. For that you'd have to read Lem's other work.
July 24, 2023
I do enjoy the type of science fiction that Lem writes, which focuses less on world building and characters and more on concepts and ideas. Memoirs of a Space Traveler is a perfect example of this style, as each story is a self contained investigation into a singular concept, be it solipsism, capitalism, materialism or robotics. Lem seems to write not only to entertain, but to intellectually stimulate his reader's minds, and this collection does not fail to deliver.
For sure Lem is not one for subtly, the point of each story is made quite clear. Take for example the 24th Voyage, in which Tichy visits a planet populated by a race of people called Phools. The society of the Phools is based upon principles of Millsian liberty, and is ultimately destroyed by a computer overlord. Tichy asks why they did not rise up to protect themselves from annihilation, and the last remaining Phool responds, "There can be no injustice where the law upholds liberty." This story seems like a not so subtle dig at American style civic liberty, which places the good of individual over the good of the society.
Another standout story from this collection is "The Washing Machine Tragedy," which is such a perfect combination of absurdist notions mixed with philosophical conundrums. It begins with two washing machine companies one-upping each other to produce better washing machines, and ends with someone called Cathodius Mattrass turning himself into a swarm of robots that can transform themselves (himself?) into a planet. The story the devolves into a conversation about definitions, about what constitutes life and person-hood, in reference to this Robot-Man-Planet.
For sure Lem is not one for subtly, the point of each story is made quite clear. Take for example the 24th Voyage, in which Tichy visits a planet populated by a race of people called Phools. The society of the Phools is based upon principles of Millsian liberty, and is ultimately destroyed by a computer overlord. Tichy asks why they did not rise up to protect themselves from annihilation, and the last remaining Phool responds, "There can be no injustice where the law upholds liberty." This story seems like a not so subtle dig at American style civic liberty, which places the good of individual over the good of the society.
Another standout story from this collection is "The Washing Machine Tragedy," which is such a perfect combination of absurdist notions mixed with philosophical conundrums. It begins with two washing machine companies one-upping each other to produce better washing machines, and ends with someone called Cathodius Mattrass turning himself into a swarm of robots that can transform themselves (himself?) into a planet. The story the devolves into a conversation about definitions, about what constitutes life and person-hood, in reference to this Robot-Man-Planet.
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