http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2024/06/review-of-star-diaries-by-stanisaw-lem.... ( )

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. ( )

I was enjoying the book a lot until about a third of the way through there's a sudden appearance of "Gypsonians" who are nomadic space faring stupid drunken thieves... They only appear for a page but it's enough that it completely soured me on it. I kept reading out of stubbornness and because of my positive experience at the start but afterwards I stopped enjoying the humour even though I could tell it was clever (and very impressively translated). Humour is difficult - you only need one misstep to feel completely disconnected from the person telling the jokes. Other people might easily be able to ignore one instance of racism but just for me it was enough to ruin it. ( )

Dividida en una primera parte de «Viajes» y una segunda de «Memorias», Diarios de las estrellas narra las sorprendentes peripecias del viajero estelar Ijon Tichy –protagonista también de «Congreso de futurología»– por otros mundos y civilizaciones. Con un enorme sentido del humor y un gran sentido de la sátira, Stanislaw Lem hace una lúcida radiografía del antropocentrismo que domina nuestra sociedad. La ironía y sutileza que despliega sobre los más trascendentales temas filosóficos y los comportamientos y contradicciones del ser humano hacen de esta obra una de las más destacadas de este maestro de la ciencia ficción.

I'm not sure if I prefer Tichy to Pirx. Tichy's tales vary wildly from the absurd to discussions on philosophy or historical parodies. Pirx tends to stay in the puzzle to solve lane pretty much.

Some of these can be a bit of a slog (mostly the later written ones), though they certainly have their moments with laugh out loud jokes and lines that give you pause for thought.

That said I think I prefer the tone and style of the earlier written ones. They're a little bit more goofball but they're just a breeze to read. It's almost like you get your desserts before your vegetables in this book.

But of course I love it. ( )