This is my favourite Sci-Fi so far. I didn’t lov the wife side of the story, although I thought it was very well done overall. But I found Solaris itself too interesting and anything that wasn’t explicitly about it ended up bothering me. The way Solaris challenges the human conception of sentient life and presents a true alien that in its very magnitude makes tangible how impossible it would be to grasp the existence of an alien consciousness is for me the most important revelation in this book.
As an old-head on this channel I can tell you he pulls out his drill and lets it rev when he gives a book a 10/10. He first did it for Midnight’s Children. Him using it ON the book though did get me thinking though too, lmao.
I've read this fantastic book three times. It is one of my ten desert island books. I absolutely agree about the perfect style, and that it is more classic literature, than mere science fiction. Your review has convinced me to read it again.
Finished Solaris today. A good book, a slow read. You can read Solaris as a romance, or a treatise on alien biology, or an examination of human psychology in a stressful, unusual situation. For me, halfway through I started to question if Kelvin is still Kelvin? Or is he a simulacrum like Rheya and something happened to the original Kelvin? Would we know as readers if our narrator changed to a simulated Kelvin? Perhaps there are clues in the story that I missed on my first read. If Solaris reads brain patterns and produces 3d simulations from them, could the Rheya simulacrum also produce her own Kelvin from her simulated mind? And the 2nd Kelvin produce another Rheya? A feedback loop.
Hello from Poland 🙂👋 i just finished this books. It was my 2nd attempt - 20 y ago this book was too hard for me (or I was too stupid to understand 🙂). It is really a masterpiece of sci-fi. Have you read any others books of Lem?
Finally getting my life organized enough to get through my backlog of BookTube videos. Not going to lie, I was slightly stressed when you took a drill to it, I was like “did he lie to me?!” 😂 I can’t tell you how proud I am of myself that I chose one you actually loved 🎉
Okay. First-time, I saw the movie as a kid, in my country. The second time, I watched an American version. I received a book as a gift. I have questions. What is about Solaris? Is it positive or negative? Why bring another copy of a human being when the first one is sent to die? How can you send even a copy of a loved one to space? Why is it accepted? How? The writing is captivating.
I've watched the movies and played a radio drama version that was very good, and I just finished the audiobook! I'm waiting for a hard copy to arrive soon. I think the riddle of Solaris, is the riddle of Imagination, that Imagination creates reality. I'm thinking of William Blake.
It's proper SF innit. I'm due a re-read. And I've watched two out of the three Solaris adaptations that are out there: A Russian TV series in two parts from the 60s and the Tarkovsky film. Only got the George Clooney film to watch.
Yeah I just don't get why this is so highly rated. It has one good idea in it (the impossibility of communication with something so alien), which Lem seems to have explored in some of his other books. Other than that, it is a dry ghost story. The parts on the study of the ocean are at times interesting, but necessarily, never lead anywhere concrete. Disappointing after reading Lem's "Futurological Congress", which is one of my favorite sci-fi books.
@@alquinn8576 I'm glad I'm not the only one I will admit that I'm not a hardcore sci-fi reader and so some of the jargon was lost on me and it made it a bit difficult to get through But the story itself had so much potential and intrigue and almost none of it went anywhere The fact that these 3 scientists are trying to solve the mystery of the ocean but then actively refusing to recount their own experiences with it was also maddening and nonsensical to me I couldn't get over that Edit: to be clear I'm fine with not understanding the mystery of Solaris and leaving it open to interpretation. The character's actions just made little sense to me and made everything that happened less compelling because it really didn't feel like they were doing anything Especially since Kelvin is a psychologist, why is he not trying harder to speak to his obviously disturbed colleagues ? He doesn't even go out onto the ocean until the very end and then goes on about experiencing a well documented phenomenon, it seems like a scientist would try to explore that more but all anyone does is sit around and despair and make calculations, they don't even really explore the relationship with Rheya. She's just there Rant over
@@heckandahalf1634 yeah and it was also grating how much they distrusted each other and squabled. i mean, you'd think in that situation that people would pull together a little bit better than that!
@@alquinn8576 yes exactly! I completely get the praise for the book, it does promote some interesting discussion and brings something new to the table which is difficult to do But the characters were so difficult and annoying I got the sense that a more capable crew could have handled the mission better, which is probably not the takeaway the author wanted lol Thanks for the chat
can hardly believe what just heard ten out of ten have read three by lem but not this now I MUST have it guess there was a good reason it was made into two films neither of which I've seen either⚛
You lost me the moment you gratuitously drilled that copy of Solaris in the first seconds of the clip. I will likely read that novel anyway, but just for the record. And no, I don't go to the cellar to laugh.
@@KDbooks Didn't mean to troll you. There are different styles of talking about and presenting literature, and Solaris is certainly worth making people curious about.
This is my favourite Sci-Fi so far. I didn’t lov the wife side of the story, although I thought it was very well done overall. But I found Solaris itself too interesting and anything that wasn’t explicitly about it ended up bothering me. The way Solaris challenges the human conception of sentient life and presents a true alien that in its very magnitude makes tangible how impossible it would be to grasp the existence of an alien consciousness is for me the most important revelation in this book.
i put this on in the exact moment you were drilling into the book and gasped in shock that you would hate it hahaha glad i was wrong!!!
As an old-head on this channel I can tell you he pulls out his drill and lets it rev when he gives a book a 10/10. He first did it for Midnight’s Children. Him using it ON the book though did get me thinking though too, lmao.
I've read this fantastic book three times. It is one of my ten desert island books. I absolutely agree about the perfect style, and that it is more classic literature, than mere science fiction. Your review has convinced me to read it again.
Finished Solaris today. A good book, a slow read. You can read Solaris as a romance, or a treatise on alien biology, or an examination of human psychology in a stressful, unusual situation.
For me, halfway through I started to question if Kelvin is still Kelvin? Or is he a simulacrum like Rheya and something happened to the original Kelvin? Would we know as readers if our narrator changed to a simulated Kelvin? Perhaps there are clues in the story that I missed on my first read.
If Solaris reads brain patterns and produces 3d simulations from them, could the Rheya simulacrum also produce her own Kelvin from her simulated mind? And the 2nd Kelvin produce another Rheya? A feedback loop.
Hello from Poland 🙂👋 i just finished this books. It was my 2nd attempt - 20 y ago this book was too hard for me (or I was too stupid to understand 🙂). It is really a masterpiece of sci-fi. Have you read any others books of Lem?
Finally getting my life organized enough to get through my backlog of BookTube videos. Not going to lie, I was slightly stressed when you took a drill to it, I was like “did he lie to me?!” 😂 I can’t tell you how proud I am of myself that I chose one you actually loved 🎉
This is one book I desperately need to read so bad.
Okay. First-time, I saw the movie as a kid, in my country. The second time, I watched an American version. I received a book as a gift. I have questions. What is about Solaris? Is it positive or negative? Why bring another copy of a human being when the first one is sent to die? How can you send even a copy of a loved one to space? Why is it accepted? How? The writing is captivating.
SOLARIS
Yes, it is a masterpiece.
I've watched the movies and played a radio drama version that was very good, and I just finished the audiobook! I'm waiting for a hard copy to arrive soon. I think the riddle of Solaris, is the riddle of Imagination, that Imagination creates reality. I'm thinking of William Blake.
I just finished it. Fascinating. Clever. However the ending just dribbled away.
Which translator[s] did your edition have?
I believe it is Bill Johnston who translated this one 😊
I’m Polish and I haven’t read it 😬 well, sort of, Polish-ish. I’ll take it as a sign that I should take a 👀
I read this ages ago and absolutely loved it
Kocham Stasia i Solaris ❤
Pozdrawiam
❤We don't need other worlds. ❤We need mirrors❤. We don't know what to do with other worlds. This one is enough, and we're already choking on it.❤
It's proper SF innit. I'm due a re-read. And I've watched two out of the three Solaris adaptations that are out there: A Russian TV series in two parts from the 60s and the Tarkovsky film. Only got the George Clooney film to watch.
I also just read this! I really enjoyed it, even the very technical portions. I'm gonna check out the Tarkovsky film!
Yeah I just don't get why this is so highly rated. It has one good idea in it (the impossibility of communication with something so alien), which Lem seems to have explored in some of his other books. Other than that, it is a dry ghost story. The parts on the study of the ocean are at times interesting, but necessarily, never lead anywhere concrete. Disappointing after reading Lem's "Futurological Congress", which is one of my favorite sci-fi books.
@@alquinn8576 I'm glad I'm not the only one
I will admit that I'm not a hardcore sci-fi reader and so some of the jargon was lost on me and it made it a bit difficult to get through
But the story itself had so much potential and intrigue and almost none of it went anywhere
The fact that these 3 scientists are trying to solve the mystery of the ocean but then actively refusing to recount their own experiences with it was also maddening and nonsensical to me I couldn't get over that
Edit: to be clear I'm fine with not understanding the mystery of Solaris and leaving it open to interpretation. The character's actions just made little sense to me and made everything that happened less compelling because it really didn't feel like they were doing anything
Especially since Kelvin is a psychologist, why is he not trying harder to speak to his obviously disturbed colleagues ?
He doesn't even go out onto the ocean until the very end and then goes on about experiencing a well documented phenomenon, it seems like a scientist would try to explore that more but all anyone does is sit around and despair and make calculations, they don't even really explore the relationship with Rheya. She's just there
Rant over
@@heckandahalf1634 yeah and it was also grating how much they distrusted each other and squabled. i mean, you'd think in that situation that people would pull together a little bit better than that!
@@alquinn8576 yes exactly!
I completely get the praise for the book, it does promote some interesting discussion and brings something new to the table which is difficult to do
But the characters were so difficult and annoying
I got the sense that a more capable crew could have handled the mission better, which is probably not the takeaway the author wanted lol
Thanks for the chat
I could not read this knowing that the one scientist's 'being' has a straw hat --- is it Luffy.?
Jesus Christ. I think that's the first 10/10 I've ever seen you give.
His earliest reviews include Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. That was the first 10 I remember.
I just don't get why people like this book. I thought it sucked so bad it hurt.
Neanderthal
can hardly believe what just heard ten out of ten have read three by lem but not this now I MUST have it guess there was a good reason it was made into two films neither of which I've seen either⚛
the only thing that to me came close to Solaris was the Area X trilogy
I gave it a 6 out of 10, was good. 😄
Great it worked for you so well.
You lost me the moment you gratuitously drilled that copy of Solaris in the first seconds of the clip. I will likely read that novel anyway, but just for the record. And no, I don't go to the cellar to laugh.
It’s kinda my thing tbh
@@KDbooks Didn't mean to troll you. There are different styles of talking about and presenting literature, and Solaris is certainly worth making people curious about.
🤣🤣🤣
This guy shouts too much
@@jimattrill8933 there’s like… very little shouting in this video 🤣