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Stanisław Lem

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The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy Kindle Edition

by Stanislaw Lem (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 506 ratings

Book 3 of 4: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy

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The Franz Kafka Prize-winning author invites you to a doped-up dystopia. “Nobody can really know the future. But few could imagine it better than Lem.” —The Paris Review

Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Polish author Stanislaw Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress in Costa Rica to discuss the overpopulation problem. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a cure. But when he awakens in 2039, he is faced with a future unlike any that the Congress could have ever imagined. Translated by Michael Kandel.

“A vision of Earth’s future where the authorities dose the population with ‘psychemicals’ to make life in a desperately over-populated world worth living.” —The Boston Globe

“Lem’s view of the overcrowded future is original and disturbing. A pessimistic, mordantly funny book.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Lem writes with a humor underlined by his commentary on the way the world is.” —SF Site

Book 3 of 4

From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy
Print length

146 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Mariner Books
Publication date

28 Oct. 1985
File size

2332 KB
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But a smart machine will first consider which is more worth its while: to perform the given task or, instead, to figure some way out of it. Whichever is easier. And why indeed should it behave otherwise, being truly intelligent? For true intelligence demands choice, internal freedom.
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Everyone wants to commit a villainy without having to feel like a villain.
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Who’d ever have guessed, in my day, that digital machines, reaching a certain level of intelligence, would become unreliable, deceitful, that with wisdom they would also acquire cunning?
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Product description

Synopsis

World-renowned cosmonaut Ijon Tichy, persuaded to attent the Eighth World Futurological Congress, is severely injured when the Congress is routed by Costa Rican revolutionaries, is refrigerated in liquid nitrogen, and awakens the year 2039. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

'This Room Guaranteed BOMB-FREE. From the Management'

Hapless cosmonaut Ijon Tichy has been sent back to earth to attend the Eighth Futurological Congress in smog-bound, overpopulated Costa Rica, holed up with an assortment of scientists in a luxury hotel (fully equipped with tear gas sprinklers in case things get out of hand). But when an unfortunate incident occurs involving a revolution and hallucinogenic drugs in the water supply, Tichy finds himself shot, frozen and thawed out in a future beyond anything he could ever have imagined.

'A giant of twentieth-century science fiction' Guardian

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008IGK68O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; First edition (28 Oct. 1985)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2332 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 146 pages

Customer reviews:
4.4 506 ratings

About the author

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Stanisław Lem

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Stanislaw Lem is the most widely translated and best known science fiction author writing outside of the English language. Winner of the Kafka Prize, he was a contributor to many magazines, like the New Yorker, and he is the author of numerous works, including "Solaris".

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4.4 out of 5

506 global ratings

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Eoghan Fitzsimons

Strangest Book Ever (in a good way)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 July 2022

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Kind of a slow starter, and the Inception-style "story within story within story" portions can be a bit confusing, but once you get into it you need to know what's actually happening beneath it all! Great book.

One person found this helpful

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Matt Miles

Is Lem's desperate future the one we have in store for us?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2016

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In this novel, Lem explores - with no hesitation - the sheer, harrowing possibility of a greatly overcrowded world, governments turned to drastic measures, and the troubling, increasingly strange experiences of protagonist Ijon Tichy: a futurologist who manages to escape the early effects of widespread drugs - benignimizers - as they subdue the population into loving, almost brainless husks. Illusion follows illusion follows futuristic chaos, and all the while Lem shares his thoughts over drug use, the development of society and technology and the morality of humanity.

This is a fantastically written novel with a veritable dictionary of new terms and ideas. The structure may well be a little jarring to some, and of course unreliable narration plays a fundamental role throughout considering the focus on mind-altering drugs and subsequent illusions. Lem displays his descriptive abilities from the start, that visualise the world of the near and far future as well as a film could, and the curious, idiosyncratic characters that inhabit these times only enhance the reader's experience. Philosophy and futurology comprise a significant portion of the novel, so those with active minds are sure to become immediately interested in Lem's passages on this different, but possibly, humanity.

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Amazon Customer

A prophecy with a pinch of salt

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 June 2014

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This time around, Polish science-fiction kingpin Stanislaw Lem did not craft a serious techno-science-fiction novel. Operating with wild humour and grotesque, the author draws a caricatural vision of a future society, controlled by the mean government that secretly dazes everyone with extremely refined drugs. These medicaments of tomorrow bear an ability to totally replace the actual, bleak reality of an overpopulated globe with unearthly, euphoric, idyllic fantasmagorias. Is the main hero, who had hibernated and was waken up (thus he is a 'defrostee') many centuries later to that evil world of sweet illusion, the last one capable to discover the true state of affairs? A legion of neologisms coined by Lem, transmitted by a brillant translation by Michael Kandel (I feel justified to assess it, as I am acquainted with both the original and the American version of the text) are just a two of en masse Lem's feats that make this one a must-read not only for a Lem's fan.

2 people found this helpful

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ANON

Profound and at times frightening

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2007

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Because so many (from Star Trek onwards) have essentially plagiarised (knowingly or unknowingly) many of the ideas in Lem's 1967 seminal work, one can see where all the ideas for films like the Matrix come from. Even an episode of Star Trek Voyager is in here (the section which deals with people being born old and gradually getting younger). Yes, it's all here. Apart from the extraordinary word play, double meanings, etc, which I admit can get a bit tiresome, this book deals with how we perceive reality (i.e. what is real?) and the problem of over-population, which is the fundamental problem of our times (not globabl warming). It is population explosion that will kill us in the end, and, as Dr Shockley, the inventor of the transister, warned, it will be a survival not of the fittest, but of the least fit.

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Jacob Mackriell

I would recommend you give it a try

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2015

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wanted to read this after watching the movie based on it. Very strange and interesting book, and concept. I would recommend you give it a try.

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Toby King

Bleaky Humourous, Disturbingly Prophetic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2008

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This 1971 offering from Polish author Stanislaw Lem mixes black humour, absurdism, and social satire brilliantly in a short novel that will make you laugh at times, and make you think always.
The Futurological Congress follows one of the adventures of character Ijon Tichy as he is caught up in a chemical attack. The book provides satire on both the social move towards a "chemically corrected society" where we use different drugs to fix any kind of problem we encounter, and a more subtle commentary on Lem's perception of the idiocy and deceit of government.
An excellent book that could be described as Huxley meets Dahli, definately worth reading!

2 people found this helpful

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Piotr L

Incredible language

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 August 2020

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Be prepared for a whole new lexical experience. Once the main character gets to the future, the language of the story switches upside down. It is unbelievable how Michael Kandel was able to get all those subtleties translated from Polish. Kudos.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 April 2015

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Whether the hidden qualities of this have been lost in translation I'm not sure, but my impression of this supposed satirical sc-fi classic is that it is actually one big random heap of repetitive and rambling confusion. Starts promisingly, the type of dystopian, 60/70s sci-fi I usually go for and very much a reflection of what was happening in the late 60's (i.e. post-hippie social meltdown) but Stanislaw just can't seem to develop any kind of satisfying narrative. Feels like a book written on a cheap speed bender - good idea at the time, but come sobriety...ouch.

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The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy Kindle Edition

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About the author

Stanisław Lem

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