Stanisław Lem: The cyberiad (1976, Avon)
236 pages
English language
Published 1976 by Avon.
OMG I can't believe there's no description for this - but then I can because this book defies description. Stanislaw Lem is a genius and your minds will be expanded to bursting when you begin this journey into a world where machines are the dominant species. It is hugely entertaining, inventive, witty, and above all, laugh out loud funny. The book concerns two "constructors" - Trurl and Klaupacious who build machines, and who are in fact machines themselves. Find out what happens when Trurl builds the world's stupidest computer, and Klaupacious' machine that can do "anything in N" nearly ends the universe.
However they managed to translate this into English, something was lost in the process, most likely the humor (although that might also be a generational thing). He has quite the imagination, though, and I think I understand better now why the Culture Minds and drones are so whimsical.
