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His best stuff is right up there with Borges and Calvino. But in the Pirx tales it is the adventure story he puts to use. And he handles it with the ease of Jack London.(-San Francisko Chronicle)

Reviewer: A reader from Tokyo

Lem, as always, comes through. In some of his other work he takes on philosophy, science, religion, usually with a humorous strain; in this book, and its predecessor, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, he chooses to write straight hard SF. However, the image usually conjured up by 'hard' SF is Asimov, Heinlen, and so on, meaning writing anchored on scientific devices and with generally far less time spent on character development. Pirx is a welcome antidote. He is an engineer and pilot, grounded in a reality made up not of quantum-physical theories but of nuts and bolts. He's a professional and strictly blue-collar. REading this book might give you an idea of what the future REALLY will be like.

About the author:

Stanislaw Lem, author of books translated into nearly thirty languages, now lives in Cracow, Poland. He is widely praised for elevating science fiction from genre to literature.