Fiasco (Polish: Fiasko) is a science fiction novel from 1987 by Stanisław Lem that deals with clashes of cultures. The book is a further elaboration of Lem's scepticism: in Lem's opinion, the difficulty in communication with alien civilizations is cultural, rather than spatial, distance. The failure to communicate with an alien civilization is the main theme of the book. It was translated into English by Michael Kandel and published in 1988. Nomi...
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Fiasco (Polish: Fiasko) is a science fiction novel from 1987 by Stanisław Lem that deals with clashes of cultures. The book is a further elaboration of Lem's scepticism: in Lem's opinion, the difficulty in communication with alien civilizations is cultural, rather than spatial, distance. The failure to communicate with an alien civilization is the main theme of the book. It was translated into English by Michael Kandel and published in 1988. Nominated for Arthur C. Clarke Award.
The book begins with a story of a base on Saturn's moon Titan, where a young spaceship pilot, Parvis, sets out in a strider (a Mecha-like machine) to find several missing people, among them famous pilot Pirx (see Tales of Pirx the Pilot, also by Stanisław Lem). He ventures to the dangerous geyser region, where the others were lost, but unfortunately he suffers an accident. Seeing no way to get out of the machine and return to safety, he triggers a built-in cryogenic device.
The main story concerns an...
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