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Solaris  By  cover art

Solaris

By: Stanislaw Lem,Bill Johnston - translator
Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani
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Editorial Reviews

This fine, new, direct-to-English translation of Solaris allows listeners a new opportunity to marvel at the way Stanisław Lem managed to pack so much into such a compact story. As well as being a gripping sci-fi mystery, his novel stands as a profound meditation on the limitations of knowledge and the impossibility of love, of truly knowing another: how a vast, cold galaxy can exist between two people. In how many relationships does the other turn out to be a projected hologram? At the book's heart is the dark and mysterious planet of Solaris: working out what it means is half the fun of the book. One thing is clear: the possibility it offers of alien contact represents "the hope for redemption", a Schopenhauerian longing to be rid of the endless cycle of want, need, and loss. In one passage, the main character notes with a touch of envy that, "automats that do not share mankind's original sin, and are so innocent that they carry out any command, to the point of destroying themselves". The motivating forces that have traditionally sustained mankind - love, relationships, belonging - are exposed as so much space debris. In a book that contains one of the most tragic love stories in modern literature, the idea of a love more powerful than death is "a lie, not ridiculous but futile".

Alessandro Juliani is a veteran of television's Battlestar Galactica, though here it's a young, pre-parody William Shatner-as-Captain Kirk that his performance sometimes evokes: the same cool, clipped delivery and occasional eccentric choice of emphasis. If he occasionally under-serves the book's dread-filled poetry, his character studies clearly carry the wounds of their earlier lives: at first, his Kris is an opaque tough guy, coolly removed from the unfolding, terrible events, until he touchingly gives way in the end to an overwhelming sense of loss. His performance as Snout is a mini-masterpiece in feral intensity, an intelligence crushed by the immense weight of limbo. As Harey, caught in "apathetic, mindless suspension", he manages to make his voice unfocussed and passive, as if distilling the bottomless sadness of her self-awareness of her own unreality. It's also a strong tribute to his performance that he can carry the pages and pages of philosophising, argumentative theology, and semi-parodic scientific reports without coming across as didactic. What could easily drag the story to a standstill is, in this recording, compellingly conveyed as an essential part of Lem's heartfelt investigation into the painful limitations of human knowledge. — Dafydd Phillips

Publisher's summary

At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available - just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation - complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation.

In Solaris, Kris Kelvin arrives on an orbiting research station to study the remarkable ocean that covers the planet’s surface. But his fellow scientists appear to be losing their grip on reality, plagued by physical manifestations of their repressed memories. When Kelvin’s long-dead wife suddenly reappears, he is forced to confront the pain of his past - while living a future that never was. Can Kelvin unlock the mystery of Solaris? Does he even want to?

©1961 Stanislaw Lem. Translation © 2011 by Barbara and Tomasz Lem (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Few are [Lem's] peers in poetic expression, in word play, and in imaginative and sophisticated sympathy." (Kurt Vonnegut)
"[Lem was] a giant of mid-20th-century science fiction, in a league with Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick." ( The New York Times)
"Juliani transmits Kelvin’s awe at Solaris’s red and blue dawns and makes his confusion palpable when he awakens one morning to find his long-dead wife seated across the room. Juliani’s performance is top-notch." ( AudioFile)

Featured Article: The best audiobooks about aliens for curious humans


Throughout the history of storytelling, we humans have been curious about the possibility of worlds beyond Earth and its inhabitants. Thanks to our endless fascination with extraterrestrial life, there is a mountain of literature, from novels to memoirs, exploring the potential outcomes of interacting with creatures from other planets. Without further ado, here are 20 of our favorite listens about alien life.

What listeners say about Solaris

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A comment on negative reviews

I tend to read reviews before I buy a book if it's something I'm not sure about. I've been wanting to read Solaris for ages, so I didn't bother with reviews when this became available. If I had read the reviews, I might have skipped it. While many are positive, there are also a number of negative reviews with some pretty consistent criticisms.

In response that there are long periods of technical description that serve no purpose to the story: I can understand where that sentiment is coming from, but I think these sections are necessary and serve the story in the following ways. For one, they perpetuate the mystery of the planet. Whenever this would happen, I would try to imagine what they were describing. If you've ever stared out at the ocean in awe of the size and mystery of it, this is the type of feeling these sections evoke. It also acts as foreshadowing. The first part that describes the unique properties of Solaris also sets the stage for the paranoia and strange encounters the main character deals with when he first lands on the station. The following descriptions of strange phenomona on the planet hint at the bizarre circumstances on the station, etc. It's subtle, but for me it definitely shaped the way I thought about what was happening in the story. If it wasn't there, one might think this was a ghost story, or a hallucination.

In response to the criticism that the characters do not react realistically, or like scientists: While this is true at times, I think the reviewers are dismissing the environment that these people are in. Like I mentioned above, the characters are experiencing such bizarre events that the first thoughts one might have are that they are hallucinating or dreaming. Two characters have been living like that, the other is suddenly thrust into it. I don't think it's fair to criticize their reactions as being unrealistic when what they are experiencing is irrational.

Also, I wish I could give 6 stars to the narrator, Alessando Juliani. He gave a magnificent performance, especially with the wife, Harey. I'm always nervous when male narrators attempt female voices, but this was done masterfully.

This story is about humans trying to interact with something that is so utterly alien that we can't even understand how it exists. It's about relationships, specifically the complicated one between Kelvin and his wife, but also between humanity and Solaris. Can you even assign motives to such a being? Is it even alive? I was genuinely surprised by the finesse and emotional depth of this book. I was also frequently swept up in the majesty and fear of the living ocean as described in the book. It was a truly unique experience, and a real treat to listen to. If any of this sounds interesting to you, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

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313 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Profound

I watched the film adaptation with George Clooney a few years ago, but wasn’t overly impressed. I probably would have skipped the book, but Luke at the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast recently convinced me it was worth reading (listening to), and I’m glad I did.

Forget the movie -- the original novel has more dimensions and more subtlety. It’s a work of science fiction at its most cerebral, full of challenging questions about the nature of higher order beings, mind, consciousness, morality, and meaning.

Compared to Lem’s vision, most novels about contact with aliens are downright pedestrian. Here, the “living ocean” that covers the world called Solaris is entirely incomprehensible, despite years of study by scientists. All anyone really knows about it is that it’s beyond human understanding, and defies all human expectations of how an advanced being might behave. Is it a conscious creature? A physical process too complex to understand? Something godlike?

Lem leads us into these questions through the planet’s interactions with a scientist who travels to a research station there. Not long after arrival, he finds himself haunted by an apparition of his dead wife, who seems to have been generated from his own memories, and understands little about herself (the gender dynamics are a bit dated, but whatever). Is she human? Alien? A conscious attempt at contact by Solaris, or an unconscious projection of the scientist’s own psyche?

The plot has a sparsity that puts the primary focus on the protagonist’s inner voice. There are other characters on the station, but they spend a lot of time withdrawn into dealing with their own apparitions, and are present in the story only enough to suggest actions and add a layer of madness (and/or clarity) to Kelvin's psychological drama. In fact, we learn more about the physics of the weird structures that form out of the ocean than we do about these companions (though I found that part strangely fascinating).

I can see why this book has remained so influential -- it explores some profound questions at a depth few other science fiction writers have come close to, even fifty years later. Lem leaves his answers tantalizingly ambiguous, allowing readers to find their own subtexts. Depending on how you read it, this could be a work about the idea of contact with aliens, or it could be about contact with others, period. It could be about guilt and regret. It could be about existential loneliness, man’s search for God, or the limitations of our ability to understand the universe, or even ourselves. There are many intertwining themes.

Obviously, a novel this philosophical isn’t for everyone, but if you appreciate science fiction that gets you to ponder, it’s not a long read, and I think it’s worth your time.

The “definitive” audiobook production is excellent. The actor Alessandro Juliani, who played Lt. Gaeta in the most recent Battlestar Galactica series, has a soft-spoken but firm voice that suits the text very well.

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91 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Yes, it is one of the all-time greats in Sci Fi

I just never realized that anyone else thought so.

I have read the original, bad translation two or three times, have seen the original movie about five times, and the "has little to do with the book or original movie" remake more times than I'd like to admit (one).

It is outstanding that a new read and translation has been done. Listened to an hour so far; love both the translation and the narrator.

Thank you, Audible, for bringing this one to us.

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As good as it gets

If one could rate Lem's descriptions of the planet Solaris and its ocean as stylistic invention, I would have to give the author 5 stars. In Snuff, one of Terry Pratchett’s characters asks another who we presume is Jane Austen (personification) how she could be “a successful author if all the words in the language have already been invented and only their order could be different.” Well, that is kind of the magic of good writing isn’t it? Lem concocts words from those that are familiar but that is not his magic. It is how he strings these inventions into the strings of narrative and description that add a vision to and beauty of a story that I found hard to compare to anything that I have recently read or listened to.

I love science fiction. It is certainly in my top three favorite genres. I probably read more SF/fantasy than any other. However, I always feel the need to fall back to the classics of literature for a fix of human depth, love and relationships, three ingredients that seem to be less than fully satisfying in SF. They were not lacking in Solaris. For some readers, these might have been for them a central focus. If the book was at all character-driven, for me, it would have to have been for as much the character of the human protagonist as it was for that of the alien. And what is so incredible, we know almost nothing about this indescribable alien except for how it manifests itself in the form of the protagonist's deceased wife.

The relationship between the protagonist and his deceased wife/alien-embodiment is beautifully and tenderly rendered. The relationship is a fluid one. In the beginning it is one so adversarial our hero tries to kill her embodiment and later he is willing to die for her [sic]. Both the descriptions and narrative could be tumultuous and serene at the same time. It is this fluidity, including if not especially of that of the changes in the ocean of the planet, that continually adds interest, suspense and mystery to the story. It has been a long time since I have really cared about a character in a book. In fact, it was years ago when I almost stopped reading beyond the first book of the Game of Thrones because all the good characters kept getting killed off and it was downright depressing. How astonishing that I cared at least as much for the alien of Solaris as I did for its hero.

The story is as much a thrilling ghost story and gripping psychological drama as it is science fiction. One need not be a nerdy lover of SF to appreciate Solaris. The book is hauntingly elegant and intelligently written by any standard. It is the story of love, love lost and remorse. It is an exploration of our humanity and the failure at times to find it.

The dialogue was totally credible and, with its sense of time and place, made the story that much more believable. Lem’s descriptions totally transported me to the quiet and loneliness of the orbit above Solaris and its sentient ocean below. While its emotive range never really conjured up much in the way of wit or humor, the story plumed the depths of my soul for almost every other emotion. This is not a story fraught with gratuitous violence and excitement for the sake of what sells many books. And yet, the story is exciting from the very beginning. I did not want it to end. While one was left with more questions than answers, the ending was most satisfying. In fact, it was perfect.

This story is half a century old and still, it not only holds up well in contemporary SF, it stands up head and shoulders above much of what is written today in any fictional genre. This is a masterpiece. I could not recommend a book more highly.

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61 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Thus Spoke Lem

I've heard of Stanislaw Lem but never read his work until now. Solaris is 50 years old but could have been written last summer. With the exception of some basic terminology, it's just as fresh as anything written by my other favorites, Robert Charles Wilson and Peter F. Hamilton. Wow! Wow! and Wow! Brainy stuff for thinking people. Shout out to Alessandro!: BSG rocked the world, my friend!-- Thanks for some all too rare great television. You read the book very well, especially Snaut. Here's hoping for more Audible gigs.

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SF at it's best.

A great story, well read.
This was my First Contact with Lem Stanislaw. No long slow introductions, just docking to the Station and we are in. Good writing..
The story jumps right in with a puzzle and ends with another question. It is not so much the technical toys but more the assumptions of science, human rationalism, human response to the wonder of discovery and a person's darkest fears/doubts that comes under scrutiny.It keeps this story as fresh as tomorrow. Thanks Audible and previous reviewers.

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Critics Love it

The critics love it. They say it is profound. They say it is beautiful. It explores the depths of human existence.It stands the test of time.

That is academia speak for it sucks big time. Someone a long time ago, who was high up in academia and who never read a Science Fiction novel in there life, deemed this a classic. All of his minions did not want to seem stupid, so they agreed.

Call me stupid, but I found this a long boring uninspired story. There were some interesting questions brought up, but nothing Heinlein or Asimov have not discussed. The difference being that Heinlein and Asimov are readable. If you are not into science fiction and you love the classics then you can read this love it and pretend you have read science fiction. If you are a true science fiction fan, who loves the wonder of Arthur C. Clarke's writing, you will be very disappointed. This can also be very frustrating. It is one of those books where the main character ask questions, but never gets answers. Everyone is always put off one hour. "Why do you pick your nose with your left hand". Answer "I can't tell you now come back in an hour." An hour later "I don't know why I pick my nose with my left hand, I must be crazy."

I am not trying to be mean, just feel it is my duty to warn others from wasting there money. This is my second and last Lem novel.

I put the narrator on fast play and he still sounded slow. He reads this whole thing in a somber whisper.

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4 hours of good sci fi in a 7.5 hour listen.

I read many of the reviews that Audible bubbles to the top and was persuaded to give this one a go. This book is called a classic and some of the other reviews dismiss certain criticisms as unwarranted. Well I am here to add my voice to the dissenters.

First the positive. There is certainly an interesting story here about mankind's first contact with a new life form on the planet Solaris. This alien is an ocean and it is so different from our notion of life that it sparks hundreds of years of debate and becomes a new branch of science. We join the story as Kris Kelvin arrives at Solaris station and begins to try to solve the riddle.

Kris meets the other scientists stationed on Solaris and it is obvious right away that something strange is going on. The interactions between the characters can be awkward at times but I can let that slide due to their questionable mental state and the fact that this book is a translation.

However, strewn throughout the book are long periods of time when Kris is searching for clues and reads scientific books and journals that contain theories about Solaris. These range from the philosophical to the scientific. While it is impressive that Stanislaw Lem was able to create so much detail within his story it doesn't make it entertaining to listen to. These boring periods can be oppressive and if you are driving while listening then you risk falling asleep at the wheel. Alessandro Juliani does the characters well enough but he can't bring life to the dead sections of the book.

Combine the long periods of boredom with an unsatisfying ending that feels incomplete and I just can't recommend this one.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Transit of Solaris: a SF Mimoid on a Grand Scale!

I'm kinda giddy about both starting and finishing this on June 5, 2012 (Transit of Venus). I figure if I can measure how long it takes me to read this novel in English and French and Polish, I might be able to figure out the exact distance from Solaris to my Brain. Obviously, this is not science fiction meant to be read by teens, waiting for the next evolution of the Twilight series or Fablehaven or whatever teenagers read now. This is Big Mamma Science Fiction dealing with big issues using philosophy and poetry to communicate both the strangeness of mankind and the gentle waves of the Universe. Being a translation, the reader (or listener) is only able to capture an incomplete shadow of Lem's original text. However, if the shadow is any indication, the height of Solaris in Polish must have been a mimoid on a grand scale.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Haunting and Intelligent

I was intrigued by this book and the movie versions, but had not made the jump until it came up here.

I was not disappointed. This is a beautifully written and intelligent story. I was drawn in right from the beginning. The narration is outstanding - although it is really a performance - it is more like a wonderful radio play. The story does end somewhat abruptly without a neat resolution - that is the intent - the story is thought provoking. I loved it, although it is also disturbing in parts. I agree with the reviewer who said it could have been written last week, apart from minor issues. These do not detract from the story at all. This book will be read for many, many years to come. It is a classic.

This is Audible at its absolute best. This story will not be for everyone, but it deserves a very wide audience. Highly recommended.

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  • K.G. Orphanides
  • 10-03-15

Seminal SF suffering from patchy narration

Solaris is - as its reputation indicates - an introspective work. It's first and foremost a contemplation of the futility of any human attempt to communicate with a truly alien being. Most of the meat of the narrative is protagonist Dr Kris Kelvin's relationship with his own desires and personal history, set against the backdrop of a research station on an impossibly alien world.

Narrator Alessandro Juliani does a good job of portraying Kelvin and his fellow scientists, but the book is seriously let down by his depiction of Harey, a woman from Kelvin's past who appears on the research station without explanation, and whose presence only leads to deeper mysteries.

The very quiet and unbearably whining voice Juliani gives her was something I found increasingly annoying as the book went on, and it had a negative impact on my enjoyment of the novel, detracting from Harey's complex characterisation.

Translator Bill Johnston has done an outstanding job. He's avoided the problems and changes to the Polish original found in older English editions of the text, which Lem was very critical of. Johnston has in the process also avoided an instance of unnecessarily racist language which appears in the mediocre Kilmartin/Cox translation, but has done so without compromising Lem's harsh characterisation of Kelvin and his fellow scientists, their prejudices and the pettiness of their desires.

Solaris is one of the pillars of the SF canon, and this translation makes for an excellent edition, if you can just get past Harey's voice.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Peter
  • 07-16-11

Blown away!

Sorry folks. I must be going through a 'purple patch' in terms of my fortunate choice of audio novels. I've not seen the films but no need because this novel paints a vivid and vast techo(colour) canvas. Where have I been all these years not knowing this exceptional writer? Had to listen to some excerpts 4 or more times to get the full meaning, but so much the better (value)! If there is just 1 sci-fi book - GET THIS!!!

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36 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • karl
  • 12-24-12

stunning book and great performance

I was curious about the book after seeing Tarkovsky's adaptation and reading about Stanislav Lem. I thought I might give it a try even though I was not a big fan of science fiction at the time. This book has certainly changed my view of the genre. It is beautiful and strange, the performance really brings it alive and I found myself taking detours on my walk home from work to finish whole chapters.I look forward to enjoying it again later and hopefully other works of Stanislav Lem as well.

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  • Ms. Ruth Messenger
  • 01-07-18

Bored

Waited and waited and waited for action. No action. Awful depiction of women, but then it was written in 1961.

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • John
  • 09-07-11

A pleasnt surprise

I struggled with reading this for my book club (even though I was familiar with the excellent film adaptation from a few years ago). So despite already owning an earlier edition as a book, I wanted to see if it worked any better on the new audible version. It does. It is still a flawed and dated book, but the new translation is exremely well rendered by Alessandro Juliani and may well deserve it's claim to be the definitive edition.

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  • Ant
  • 08-11-13

Superb, thought provoking

I have often wondered at science fiction worlds in which all the alien species have differences but manage to easily communicate and find meaningful common ground and language.
This is one of those truly great science fiction novels who's purpose is to ask real, interesting questions about alien life. From the first step of determining if the alien is living, through to determining it's sentience to attempting contact, the book poses thought provoking questions while simultaneously maintaining a quite gripping plot.
The narration is perfectly suited to the tale and drives the story forward with excellent characterisation.
A sci - fi classic.

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 05-01-18

Phenomenal voice acting - very scientific story

Solaris. What to say?

It is heavy going but rewarding. Despite what synopsis and internet reviews may say this is not a story about humans and their interrelationships. It is a story about a group of scientisits observing an alien planet that defies time and human understanding.

There is a lot of exposition tracing the history of Solaris which is, honestly, brilliantly imagined. The characters are portrayed magnificently by the narrator which is some of the best voice acting on Audible to date.

This is not a book to put on and switch off to, it required concentration to fully appreciate and understand the plot.

Hard work but rewarding if you focus.

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  • Nicholas
  • 01-12-17

Love this book

I have listen to it a lot of times now and it seems to get better every time.

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  • Manda N
  • 03-04-16

Fascinating sci fi Classic on the 1001 books to read before you die lists

Not my usual genre, this book is a brilliant story about a strange planet with red and blue moons where mysterious things happen. There is much science detail within but this audible version allowed me to gloss somewhat over these bits and focus on the main story. This is truly a fantastic production and brilliant narration of what I understood to be a pretty difficult read. I would thoroughly recommend the audible version of this novel.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Chris
  • 07-21-11

ok but is a bit self indulgent

I know this is an icon, but I found it a bit too self indulgent with some of the histories of made up theories. The end was a so what! I doesn't so much finish as fade away.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-11-23

Reflections in the ocean

Many science fiction novels Solaris included depict first contact with alien lifeforms. Some of them are vast and different and others, intimating and relatable. many of the stories drawer there premise from the interaction between the two lifeforms there, attempts to understand control, help and hurt, one another. Subverting this well trodden conception of into planetary interaction the novel Solaris argues that humans as much a product of their environment as they are there own biology, would be un able to communicate with a being that does not share these core, social and biological commonalities. In the eyes of the author, attempted communication with this life form would be like screaming into the ocean and taking your half formed, reflections, mirroring of your responses, as communication. millions of years of evolution, different languages, technologies and lifespans, would render communication between the two as impossible as traversing the light years that physically separate them.

The novel argues that human attempts to categorise and investigate whether it be through the lens of religion or science, are doomed to fail for our ability to observe and interpret phenomena relies on out terrestrial biology. Rendering a lifeform that did not evolve on earth completely, and truly alien in its original meaning. The novel does not use this realisation as an opportunity to discredit humanity but simply to Humble it. The novel asks when we leave the comfortable confines of our atmosphere and venture out into space, we bring with us more than we know. Not just our technology, but our ideas, our sense of self and our concepts of superiority. It is because of these almost inherent characteristics that communication is impossible. Not all interactions should be distilled into transactions where there is a benefit such as a technological singularity. Sometimes we need to be comfortable to allow things to exist, without honouring them with a classification. After all, these lifeforms functioned for millions of years independently from us. In this way, Solaris becomes the ultimate anticolonial message. Maybe life really is better left undefined and just because we find that life does not mean it will save us or even sick to communicate. And yet the novel tells us that if we have the ears to listen the profound and the un understandable still have lessons for us. We should not seek to interpret inaction as an attack or an invitation we should not give the mouthless words, or more to the point, assume it knows how to speak with our tongue to begin with. We all communicate differently and that distinction is beautiful.

Moving from the conceptual though the novel paints a vivid and well researched science-fiction world with interesting characters and a fascinating and horrifying dilemma. In science fiction this conceptual and cerebral, it is rare to see a relationship between two people, so beautifully and realistically conveyed . This novel is many things most surprisingly I love story its central relationships are a highlight of the novel. Though this is a short book, there is a wonderful attempt to make the world of Solaris, It’s scientific exploration, and its academic history fully realised and three-dimensional. As a result, lovers of real world, science, may see a slavish, adherence to scientific principles, even when the book dismantling laws of physics and reality.
The book has a slight exposition problem there, a long sequences, where the main character reads from various tomes of invented science in the world of the text. whilst the information confine in these books is interesting and benefits, both the plot and the themes of the text, I wish there was a version of this book where more of this information had been dietetically conveyed. I have no problems with exposition when it feels organic and authentic to the characters. Solaris often achieve this. I just wish the story wasn’t segmented so harshly between the info dumps and the thrilling narrative. This exposition problem is far from a dealbreaker. I just felt it needed to be acknowledged. As with all things your milage may vary. On another note, the narrator is excellent for the most part he imbues several characters with a sense of life, personality, and interior. Sadly, his narration suffers the same pitfalls that the book does, and he struggles to find a way to keep the info dumps engaging. These sequences in the grand scheme of the book are very minor inconveniences, and this remains one of the most highly original and excellent works of science fiction ever written. Definitely check it out.

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  • Jonathan D
  • 11-21-23

Excellent sci-fi

A fascinating novel, complex and assured. Yeh themes are as much alien mind as human rationality and I loved the density of Lem’s exploration. Some part of my feels like parts of the story could have taken more risks but it certainly was intelligent and mystical. Great narration.

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  • Myles Johnson
  • 08-18-23

It was not for me.

Lots of long fibrous bits to chew through. Some challenging ideas for those who care. Characters communication with each other was frustrating, less is not always more.

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  • Jeremy
  • 07-14-23

Brilliant

Those seeking action will be disappointed. The beauty of this classic story lies in the questions it poses about who or what we are, and our ability to comprehend another life form. Would we understand its nature and form or purpose? This in turn holds a mirror for us to ponder what it is to exist and to be human. What are we really seeking or doing? What are we?
This book is perhaps more in the vein of philosophy.
A good friend of mine based his university thesis upon this book. If you’re willing to take the time to patiently experience this book you will find it ultimately rewarding.

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  • pootlebaby
  • 06-01-23

DNF

Just like the movie version, I could not finish this audio book and there is no way I’m going to give it a third go with the paperback version now.

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  • JT
  • 03-28-23

DNF

Cannot believe i was recommended this book when i wanted something similar to roadside picnic. Rambling and boring, didnt feel like there was any mystery/problem being solved or explored.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 11-21-22

Hated it

What a boring story that was. Almost nothing of interest happens and dialog is such dribble.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 07-04-22

one of my favourites

Glad to find one of my favourite novels here. Narration wasn't bad and the story itself has always been interesting and strange. Not your average SciFi.

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  • Peter
  • 12-01-16

Where From And To Where

I struggled to follow this story, where it started and where was the finish..
Perhaps I will Listen again ,,

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