Robotic Fun

Stanislaw Lem wrote many serious novels and essays, with deep literary impact about communication, aliens and idealized societies.

The Cyberiad isn't one of those.

A collection of mostly humorous (if more than slightly geeky) tales about the famous "constructors" Trurl and Klapaucius living in a robotic/cybernetic world. Despite the technological society, the setting is somewhat Medieval...kings, knights, pirates, the occasional dragon, even a few (robotic) princesses. In this context, Trurl and Klapaucius are knights-errant, using their skills to solve problems, meet challenges and occasionally mess things up royally.

It's a fun set of stories, keying on the friendship-cum-rivalry of the two constructors.

Scott Aiello's narration was very good.

9 people found this helpful

If Dr. Suess Wrote Science Fiction...

Any additional comments?

This is the first book I have read by Stanislaw Lem, so I'm not sure he always writes in this style, but there was something about this book that strongly reminded me of the style of Dr. Suess. Lem often refers to objects in the future by names in which sound nothing like modern day items. The result is a world full of Zitts, Zotts, Orplaws & Rooses (often with no explanation to what a "Zott" might be).

The book itself was a collection of highly entertaining futuristic fables that follow around two inventors of robots/machines as they do everything they can to one-up the other. Each story is different from the last and seems to be JUST the right length for what it is.

I really look forward to my next Stanislaw Lem book to see if it stacks up to this one. If it does, he may soon become one of my favorite sci-fi authors.

9.2 / 10

8 people found this helpful

Baroque science-fantasy comedy

If you could sum up The Cyberiad in three words, what would they be?

Picaresque baroque comedy

What other book might you compare The Cyberiad to and why?

The style is similar to Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" series in its tongue-in-cheek picaresque mix of satire and adventure.

What does Scott Aiello bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voice of Klepaucius is hilarious.

3 people found this helpful

Top notch translation and narration

I'm a big fan of Staslaw Lem and have read The Cyberiad in two translations other than English. I first thought that listening to it in a language far from the original Polish will be a downhill experience as Lem's writing style often ties together linguistics and context [see the example below]. Boy, was I wrong! Once again I was captivated by this book as this translation feels as Lem as the other two and the narration style of Scott Aiello is just superb! Thank you for making this available.

[example]: In the first fable the machine that makes anything starting with "n" is asked to make, among other things, "nature". However, in the original it is asked to make "nauka" which translates from Polish as "science".

2 people found this helpful

not just for children!

such a great set of stories, and a nice translation. although the Polish version is longer. they’re full of humor and not just for children, definitely revealing of human nature itself. i loved it. and the narrator is excellent!

2 people found this helpful

fantastic short story SF

What did you like best about this story?

This is one that i keep in my library to re-read.

Any additional comments?

This collection of stories of the adventures of these god-ish constructors is a delight. Easily available to any audience, but each tale deeper than face value. Lem is brilliant and made me laugh out loud on a few occasions. The stories are simple but available to wonderful analysis and philosophical pondering. Perfect for fans of the Hitchhikers Guide series who like witty SF with fantastically developed characters and incredible situations. Easily the best thing I have found since the HHTTG BBC series.

2 people found this helpful

Narration nonpareil

Never has a narrator so nimbly nudged such nonsensical natterings into nicely notable, nay, noble nuance. Neglecting this nugget of narrative necromancy would be naive.

1 person found this helpful

It's Aesop's Fables for Robots

This is one sci-fi book I never, ever tire of reading and re-reading (or listening to in this case). Short stories, read and "acted" by the narrator with personality and verve, each with a hidden (or not so hidden) moral, word pun, math puzzle, or general exposé on the vagaries of human (and robot) folly.

1 person found this helpful

A fantastic introduction to Stanislaw Lem

The Cybriad was my first introduction to Lem and also the first audiobook to really make me appreciate audiobooks. The Cyberiad's whimsical yet mind-twisting tales of sci-fi fairy tales and fables are wonderful to read as prose but its clever colorful wordplay comes to life when read aloud. Listening to Cyberiad is a whole new experience, especially with the excellent pacing and tone of Scott Aiello

1 person found this helpful

I wanted to like this, I really did

I was recommended this book on reddit and unfortunately it fell short of my expectations. whilst I understand this is a book of fables, too often the story and the foibles of the author make this a hard read. oftentimes seems like the author just wants to monologue vs narrate

pros:
--some funny parts
--imaginative in odd, new ways

cons:
--lack of depth in the stories or characters, which leads to it being
--boring, for the most part
--settings are intergalactic yet feudal (like, what?)
--said settings are not really elaborated on (common in sci fi) bbuuutt then author proceeds to use technical and cybernetic jargon native to the setting without explaining it. context clues only help so much
--characters whom are presumably hyper intelligent fall into the same "trap" (i.e. king: make me something, character: without knowing payment? sure!---king then tries to kill them).

honestly wouldn't recommend