More Tales of Pirx the Pilot

Pirx, the bumbling astronaut who won widespread critical acclaim in Tales of Pirx the Pilot , here faces a new series of intriguing adventures—in which robots demonstrate some alarmingly human characteristics.

These five stories, all deftly blending playfulness and suspense, reflect Lem’s preoccupation with the technology of the future and his fascination with the artificial brain. The skeptical, commonsensical Pirx, one of the most endearing characters in Lem’s universe, wrestles every step of the way with his mixed feelings about robots, beings that fill him with mounting suspicion and apprehension. One robot Pirx encounters in his interplanetary travels comes to grief by developing a human trait: gratitude. Another is so affected by the example of his human companions that he totally succumbs to the lure of mountain climbing—and pays for it dearly. Pirx finds that it is indeed a fine line that separates a robot robot from a human robot. Or is there one?

In Lem the cold and aloof technology of the future is studded with deep humanity and high lyricism. Each story, you might say, is a perfect constellation.