The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem

STANISŁAW LEM"LEM HAS CREATED A NEW GENRE!Arthur KoestlerWith over six million of his books in print worldwide, Stanisław Lem is perhaps the most popular -and most critically acclaimed - science fiction writer of our day. In THE CYBERIAD he immerses the reader in a future run by and for machines - like those built by Trurl and Klapaucius, the great "cosmic constructors" who are, themselves, robots. THE CYBERIAD follows their escapades as they attempt to "out-invent" each other at home, or undertake (and often botch completely) gargantuan cybernetic feats in other galaxies: creating laser-eyed beasts, electronic push-button poetry-spouting bards, and machines that can construct anything in the universe...as long as it begins with the letter n. Drawing on fairy tale, folk tale, and mythology - as well as modern philosophical and mathematical thought - Lem has created a brilliant, deeply resonant work of genius."LEM IS CAPABLE OF AN AMAZINGRICHNESS OF IMAGEand a great knack for characterization. He is wildly comic, he is sardonic, perplexing, insightful!' THEODORE STURGEON, inThe New York Times Condition: good.