Pirx... simpleton or genius?... in these tales Lem treats us to a thoroughly engaging character in Pirx the Pilot who is a bit like the Good Soldier Schweik if he were to be sent into space. ( )

Tales of Pirx the Pilot is a strong and varied collection from Stanislaw Lem. I found this book quite a bit more enjoyable than Star Diaries. The five stories offer a blend of mystery and adventure with touches of dark humor, all in the context of the reasonably near future settlement of the solar system. Pirx is a likable, if not particularly brilliant, protagonist. “Terminus,” a sort of robot ghost story, is the star of the collection. ( )

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Stanislaw Lem is a forgotten man of science fiction. In the ‘60s and ‘70s he crafted amazing visions of man’s place in his technological world and probed the meaning of artificial intelligence, order in chaos, and even reality itself. Today he’s best-remembered as the guy who wrote the novel Solaris was based on. I never saw the movie, so I don’t know if that’s fair or not, but for sure Solaris is a first-rate novel. Tales of Pirx the Pilot is a first rate collection of short stories!