SubscribeSolaris
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Solaris
by Stanisław Lem - Publisher: Mariner Books
- Year: 1961/2002
- Pages: 224
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- №36
Solaris is considered one of Polish writer Stanisław Lem’s greatest books—certainly, it’s his most popular, having been adapted for film three times. But, while the original book was written in Polish, there has not, and still is not, a direct Polish-to-English translation available. The book available in your neighborhood bookstore is in fact an English translation of a French translation of the original Polish. I can’t speak to its quality, since I’m not familiar with the original Polish, but the things I’ve heard have been mixed.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick - Publisher: Gollancz
- Year: 1968/1999
- Pages: 224
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- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №35
Although The Man in the High Castle probably takes the trophy for Philip K. Dick’s most well-known novel, it is followed closely by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but this is mostly because the story was thrust into prominence by the success of Ridley Scott’s loose film adaptation known as Blade Runner. So closely was the book’s sales tied to the popularity of the film that some later reprintings of the book were retitled to match the film. My own feelings about this may be guessed, but it’s particularly disingenuous when you consider that the movie represents a radical departure from the book in many important regards. And, despite the film being quite good in its own right, the book is a more important piece of work.
Killing Pablo
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Killing Pablo
by Mark Bowden - Publisher: Penguin
- Year: 2002
- Pages: 304
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- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №34
If Mark Bowden can be considered a prominent author, it is likely because of Ridley Scott’s Blackhawk Down, a 2001 film based on Bowden’s book of the same name. In fact, Killing Pablo will also be a movie, to be released in 2011. Bowden is a journalist of sorts, whose forte is police or military stories; you can tell because all of his publicity photos make him look like a rough & tumble badass in order to fit his image as a documenter of other rough & tumble badasses.
Lord Conrad’s Lady
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Lord Conrad's Lady
by Leo Frankowski - Publisher: Del Rey
- Year: 1990
- Pages: 296
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- №33
I don’t think I’m spoiling too much when I say that Leo Frankowski’s The Adventures of Conrad Stargard series is unlike Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in more ways than one. Specifically, however, Twain’s cynicism left his protagonist unable to effect change in the past, whereas Frankowski’s hero effects so much change that he begins to rip apart the fabric of spacetime and confound hundreds of years of knowledge about time travel. Which is to say, he soundly routs the invading Mongols in 1241—even at hyperinflated figure of 3 million Mongols, as opposed to the more realistic and historical 10,000—as a result of his widespread and effective technological (not to mention social) changes in 13th-century Poland.
The Flying Warlord
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The Flying Warlord
by Leo Frankowski - Publisher: Del Rey
- Year: 1989
- Pages: 232
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- №32
The previous book in the series ended on a low note, pounding home a bitter note of chauvinism that presaged some of Frankowski’s work on the late 1990s. It also ended on the cusp of Poland’s fight against the Mongols in 1241, except in this alternate timeline, Conrad has industrialized Poland, starting a flight school, mass-produced modern weapons of war, and is in the process of training and arming about 150’000 Polish peasants to fight against an incoming horde effectively 3 million strong.
The Radiant Warrior
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The Radiant Warrior
by Leo Frankowski - Publisher: Del Rey
- Year: 1989
- Pages: 282
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- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №31
Conrad Schwartz, humble Polish engineer, was stranded in the 13th century. Ever the resourceful technician, he put his considerable skills to use attempting to bring modern technology and engineering to bear on the dirty and backwards Poland of the dark ages. By the end of book two, Conrad had not only stayed alive despite the best efforts of rogue knights, bandits, and angry slavers with papal sanctions, but had positively thrived, introducing a crude cloth factory to his benefactor Count Lambert and starting heavy industry on his own new lands.
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