Tales of Pirx the Pilot Book

I remember reading a bunch of Stanislaw Lem quite a while ago. "Tales of Pirx The Pilot" was certainly one of them and it was with some fondness that I picked up another copy while looking for another specific book. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed. This book is a solid "4.0".

These stories of Pirx are an odd amalgamation of interesting science and young/juvenile action-adventure, but done in a very readable and convincing way. Without revealing too much, I found that Lem's testing of the cadets to be a rather obvious requirement for any real deep-space or extended isolation mission even though he does it in a highly imaginative and unorthodox way. Great stuff. And the character of Pirx is appealing, too. He's an everyman training to become a leader, with all of the doubts and foibles that ordinary men and women have. Despite the space background these stories are ultimately about the character and his development in each of the tales.

Although I probably won't buy any further copies, this slim volume has rekindled my appreciation for the works of Mr. Lem. I'll be re-visiting more of his works in the future. If you've never read any of his works then youo have missed some very good writing. While the stories are short and superficially simple, they are clever and show a deep understanding of human psychology. I strongly recommend them.