The Star Diaries

While I do thing it's a bit of a rocky start having the book begin with the seventh voyage, as it is the most confusing one, I'd say that all the short stories in this book are fantastic and is basically "what if Stanislaw Lem wrote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," and also "What if Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was actually funny?"

Wow! Just wow! This was written in 1966? I actually find it funny that it is all classified as sci-fi, even though the setting suggests so, and there are some futurolgistic things as well. This really is an exploration of humankind, society, transhumanism, totalitarisms, libertarianism, and so many more -isms that it really is mind-boggling how was it possible to fit all of that in such a small book. It's easily the best thing I read this year, although maybe the competition wasn't too strong so far. This book really proves to me that Lem was a genius.

Story: 3 / 10
Characters: 4
Setting: 7
Prose: 8

In many ways, this book is an anthology of short stories. Since the main character is the same throughout, the collection some cohesion and is a much more enjoyable read. None of the stories are terribly good though.