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The Cyberiad

author: Stanislaw Lem (1965)
date read: 15 March 2021
rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mum gave this to me for Christmas 2020.

It’s a collection of short sci-fi stories about Trurl and Klapaucius, two “constructors”. Most of the characters are some form of intelligent machine, including the constructors, and the latter are seemingly capable of building anything – including a machine to divine knowledge from the moving atoms in a drinks can, or which can create anything that starts with the letter N. Usually the story ends by illustrating the folly of wanting such a machine.

The whimsical nature put me in mind of Douglas Adams, although it’s a very different style.

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