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justiceofkalr's review against another edition
4.0
A book of reviews of imaginary books. Starting with an imaginary review of the book itself. Most of the "reviews" were either lots of fun, presented interesting ideas, or (usually) both. One or two stories in the middle kind of bogged down for me, but for the most part I liked every one. The stories that did bog down were still interesting ides, I just wish they would have had a bit chopped out and been a bit more to the point instead of going on and on. Definitely looking forward to reading more by Lem after this.
vampirehelpdesk's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
I admit a few reviews in this book filled with criticisms of non-existing books went whoosh, right over my head. VERY cerebrally dense piece of meta fiction. Of the false books, I would absolutely read Being Inc., Les Robinsonades, Sexplosion, Gruppenführer Louis XIV (I even had a dream of this one), Idiota, and U-Write-It. Basically, all of the fiction ones. The false books on physics, philosophy, and mathematics really made my eyes glaze over but that doesn’t make this a bad book. Glad I read it!
depablos's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
En general, valoración positiva. Podría haber pasado sin el desprecio/prejuicio a la esctitura femenina.
Lem hace muy bien eso de construir su ficción sobre una base teórica que se mueve entre lo filosófico y lo científico (para lo que se presta muy bien el formato de Vacío perfecto). Muy interesante la continua aparición de reflexiones sobre la relación entre creación, soledad y naturaleza humana.
Lem hace muy bien eso de construir su ficción sobre una base teórica que se mueve entre lo filosófico y lo científico (para lo que se presta muy bien el formato de Vacío perfecto). Muy interesante la continua aparición de reflexiones sobre la relación entre creación, soledad y naturaleza humana.
rabbithero's review
5.0
Astounding. I was introduced to Lem through the Special Collections librarrian at UWM, as a means to formulate imaginary works (which is the cornerstone of my thesis). I am smitten. Lem writes with a Vonnegutian goofiness, a palpable delight in his ideas. Many of the works he describes sound SO interesting, but wholly impossible as realistic books. Furthermore, the theories of science and literature he puts forth are dizzying and mind-altering. For example, in The New Cosmogeny, Lem lays out a theory for the structuring of the universe via previous civilzations arising from a protouniverse, and that the laws of physics themselves are the creations of these socities! He goes on to suggest that the laws of physics are in fact alterable by these "beings", and that anomalies we see (I read this as, say, black holes) are the rsult of these beings changing the physics around us, or are the visual represenations of another protocivilizations physics in action! AMAZING!
At times his writing slips into a thick, almost imperceptible jargon. Nevertheless, its ideas resonate through even that prosaic haze, and startle the intellect. Marvelous stuff, and definately worth the effort.
At times his writing slips into a thick, almost imperceptible jargon. Nevertheless, its ideas resonate through even that prosaic haze, and startle the intellect. Marvelous stuff, and definately worth the effort.
edders's review
5.0
In this anthology Lem reviews books that have not been written (and might never be). It is a densely packed collection of the bizarre, improbable, comic... visionary or delusional, it is again like Borges and Dick collaborated with some physicists, anthropologists etc. etc. and tried to successively one-up each other.
Very engaging once you get into it, though perhaps esoteric.
Very engaging once you get into it, though perhaps esoteric.
loppear's review
4.0
Some of these short stories (as imagined reviews) are clever, inventive, or engrossing, but several are masterpieces.
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