review:
A collection of short stories featuring two 'creators', the book is an excellent mix-up of so many wonderful things that it was a delight to read through this without any forewarning. There is physics - lots of it. But what makes it interesting that the physics is portrayed through folk tales, fairy tales, and old-style stories of kings and inventions and inventors. Its reminiscent of reading Alice in Wonderland, Borges, and Hitchhiker's Guide. I read one story at a time while also reading other books. So the pacing was nice and slow, as if having a good dinner every day. Having read Lem's other works, this is as far away from stories about alien civilisation discoveries and the absurdities of it as it can be. But there is no question that underneath the stories there is a wonderful trove of knowledge and thoughts about physics, civilisations, humans, and discourse that permeates through each situation. I wish we had more of such 'modern' tales.,