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Liked It “Fun, whimsical stories about 2 robots who can build literally anything. Personal favorite is the angry adding machine.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Fun, whimsical stories about 2 robots who can build literally anything. Personal favorite is the angry adding machine.”
Ian A wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A completely contained universe populated by sentient robots. Humorous and surreal. Fans of the Futurama cartoon would really enjoy this.”
Leif wrote this review Sunday, September 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“love this book! who knew a love poem written in the language of pure mathematics could be so moving.”
katycoyote wrote this review Thursday, August 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“crazy stories,briliantly written... read this years ago,dint figure out T. and K. where robots,wich made it even better!”
analog wrote this review Tuesday, October 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Fairy tales for robots.”
Jenn S wrote this review Friday, May 9 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book is very deep; behind all the funny stories are complex philosophical ideas. The only thing which could be a problem for an English-speaking reader: this book was written in Polish. I've read it in Russian; the translation from Polish must be straightforward; many words are very similar in Russian and Polish and the grammar doesn't differ much. BUT: I have no idea how it's possible to translate all the wordplay in this book to English...”
Alexey V wrote this review Tuesday, April 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“lem is a genius Polish cyberhistorian who also happened to write science fiction. I was introduced to Lem by my Bacterial Oceanography instructor, who has a wit and instructed the class to read the foreward to a book titled “Eruntics” that details the breeding, training, and eventual end of a race of premonitory prokaryotes. Needless to say… So I picked up a couple of his books. I flew through “Solaris” (at one time a blockbuster hollywood movie!) and most of the way through the Cyberiad during a couple of plane flights but then lost track of it. Since the book is a series of semi-unconnected short stories revolving around two great constructors, Klapaucius and Trurl, it is easy to pick up and leave off, although the stories-within-stories-within bullshitting robot stories can get complicated. Selected quote from the second to last story (’Altruizine, or, A True Account of How Bonhomius the Hermetic Hermit Tried to Bring About Universal Happiness, and What Came of It’):
Eric C wrote this review Sunday, February 17 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“‘Bestowing happiness by miracle is highly risky,’ lectured the machine. ‘And who is to be the recipient of your miracle? An individual? But too much beauty undermines the marriage vows, too much knowledge leads to isolation, and too much wealth produces madness. No, I say, a thousand times no! Individuals it’s impossible to make happy, and civilizations — civilizations are not to be tampered with, for each must go its own way, progressing naturally from one level of development to the next and having only itself to thank for all the good and evil that accrues thereby. For us, at the Highest Possible Level, there is nothing left to do in this Universe, and to create another Universe, in my opinion, would be in extremely poor taste. Really, what would be the point of it? To exalt ourselves? A monstrous idea! For the sake, then, of those yet to be created? But how are we obligated to beings who don’t even exist? One can accomplish something only so long as one cannot accomplish everything. Otherwise it’s best to sit back and watch…’””
“I read a 1974 print I bought used at used book shop Brand Books in Glendale. Translation by Michael Kandel from the Polish and hilarious illustrations by Daniel Mroz. It is a collection of short stories (one "Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius" is quite a long short story and the best in the book) featuring the hilarious and outrageous adventures of Truel and Kaplaucius, wondrously inventive constructors of machines from "algorithms of demoniacal derivation" and "psychoanalytic ferocity," and which are made "impervious to polynomial blows." But these two soul brothers are themselves machines. They weirdly reminded me of They are constructors of the nth degree, indeed. It is a fun read and a mind tease. ”
Shiri wrote this review Saturday, January 19 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The Cyberiad was a cleverly humorous book that caught me by surprise. What is truly amazing is that it was all written in Polish and translated to English. This is Science fiction writing for the better educated reader, as many of the wittiest humor requires a passing (but certainly not in depth) knowledge of mathematics, physics and general science jargon. The book is made up of several short stories about two constructors – robots that create machines for various rulers and royal persons throughout the universe. Each story is a bit more outlandish than the one previous, but all have subtle commentaries on people in power – much like Machiavelli’s ‘Prince’ but without the ruthlessness and with robots that seem more human than the ‘palefaces’ that created them. Overall grade: B+”
Keneti wrote this review Wednesday, January 9 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
