The Invincible
Published on 18. February 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-262-53847-3 (ISBN)
Description
A space cruiser, in search of its sister ship, encounters beings descended from self-replicating machines.
In the grand tradition of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible tells the story of a space cruiser sent to an obscure planet to determine the fate of a sister spaceship whose communication with Earth has abruptly ceased. Landing on the planet Regis III, navigator Rohan and his crew discover a form of life that has apparently evolved from autonomous, self-replicating machines-perhaps the survivors of a "robot war." Rohan and his men are forced to confront the classic quandary: what course of action can humanity take once it has reached the limits of its knowledge? In The Invincible, Lem has his characters confront the inexplicable and the bizarre: the problem that lies just beyond analytical reach.
In the grand tradition of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible tells the story of a space cruiser sent to an obscure planet to determine the fate of a sister spaceship whose communication with Earth has abruptly ceased. Landing on the planet Regis III, navigator Rohan and his crew discover a form of life that has apparently evolved from autonomous, self-replicating machines-perhaps the survivors of a "robot war." Rohan and his men are forced to confront the classic quandary: what course of action can humanity take once it has reached the limits of its knowledge? In The Invincible, Lem has his characters confront the inexplicable and the bizarre: the problem that lies just beyond analytical reach.
Reviews / Votes
"Mr. Lem was a giant of mid-20th-century science fiction, in a league with Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Philip K. Dick."-New York Times- The release of these new volumes seems to expand the possibilities of what a university publisher can do.
-LitHub Fourteen years after his death, the universe is still struggling to catch up with the vast creative force that was Stanislaw Lem. And for my money, it won't be surpassing him anytime soon...Enjoying the genius of Lem requires readerly dexterity and a willingness to go wherever the author takes you...These marvelous, absorbing and often hilarious books make our weary universe seem pale and undistinguished by comparison.
-The Washington Post
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
241 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-53847-3 (9780262538473)
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Persons
Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006), a writer called "worthy of the Nobel Prize" by the New York Times, was an internationally renowned author of novels, short stories, literary criticism, and philosophical essays. His books have been translated into forty-four languages and have sold more than thirty million copies. N. Katherine Hayles is Professor of English and Design/Media Arts at the University of California at Los Angeles.