April, 2022: "The Cyberiad" by Stanisław Lem

	Author: Stanisław Lem
	Genre: Science fiction
	Published: 1965
	Pages: 296
	Reading started: April 24th, 2022
	Current progress: Page 85 of 296 (28.7%)
	Reading ended: May 28th, 2022. This book was abandoned after 34 days. Why?
	Effective reading time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (1 minute, 14 seconds per page)
	Number of sessions: 6
	Average session reading time: 15 minutes, 5 seconds
	Average session review score: 3.3 of 5
	Final review score: 2 of 5

Description

Wikipedia: The Cyberiad (Polish: Cyberiada) is a series of humorous science fiction short stories by Polish writer Stanisław Lem, originally published in 1965, with an English translation appearing in 1974. The main protagonists of the series are Trurl and Klapaucius, the "constructors".

The vast majority of characters are either robots or intelligent machines. The stories focus on problems of the individual and society, as well as on the vain search for human happiness through technological means. Two of these stories were included in the book The Mind’s I.

The word "Cyberiad" is used in the series only once as a name of a pretty woman in a poem by Elektrybałt, an electronic poet invented by Trurl. There is a steel statue of Elektrybałt in the Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw.

Why was this book abandoned?

This book was not for me. It had its moments, but the book is filled with the quirky humor in the style of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Most nerds praise both these authors, but I’ve never managed to get antiqued with any of them.

So about 1/3 into The Cyberiad, I’ve decided to abandon it and move on to other books.