Lemistry

Lemistry

Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce

Publisher: Comma Press

Published: 2013-12-03

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13:

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We know Stanislaw Lem, whether or not we consciously know that we do. He may only be recognised in the West as the author of the twice-filmed novel, Solaris, but the influence of his other work is legion. From computer games (The Sims was inspired by one of his short stories), to films (the red and blue pills of The Matrix owe much to his Futurological Congress); from the space comedies of Red Dwarf to the metaphysical satires of Douglas Adams... the presence of this masterly Polish writer can be traced far and wide. Nor was his genius confined to fiction. Lem's essays and pseudo-essays borne out of the military industrial tensions of the Cold War have outlived their original context and speak to the most current developments in virtual reality, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. To celebrate his name, as well as his vision, this anthology brings together writers, critics and scientists who continue to grapple with his concerns. British and Polish novelists join screenwriters, poets, computer engineers, and artists, to celebrate and explore Lem's legacy through short stories and essays - two literary forms that, as Lem knew well, can blend together to create something altogether new. As one of the barriers to Lem's fame was language, this book also features specially commissioned translations: three stories never to have appeared in English before. Lem was always ahead of us. It's time we caught up.


Beta-Life

Beta-Life

Author: Martyn Bedford

Publisher: Comma Press

Published: 2015-06-15

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13:

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Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing too; material evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and ‘robjects’ (robotic objects). Somewhere in between, we humans will have to change also… in the way we interact with technology, the roles we adopt in an increasingly ‘intelligent’ environment, and how we interface with each other. The driving motors behind many of these changes will be artificial life (A-Life) and unconventional computing. How exactly they will impact on our world is still an open question. But in the spirit of collective intelligence, this anthology brings together 38 scientists and authors, working in pairs, to imagine what life (and A-Life) will look like in the year 2070. Every kind of technology is imagined: from lie-detection glasses to military swarmbots, brain-interfacing implants to synthetically ‘grown’ skyscrapers, revolution-inciting computer games to synthetically engineered haute cuisine. All artificial life is here. Featuring scientific contributions from: Martyn Amos, J. Mark Bishop, Seth Bullock, Stephen Dunne, James Dyke, Christian Jantzen, Francesco Mondada, James D. O'Shea, Andrew Philippides, Lenka Pitonakova, Steen Rasmussen, Thomas S. Ray, Micah Rosenkind, James Snowdon, Susan Stepney, Germán Terrazas, Andrew Vardy and Alan Winfield. Supported by TRUCE (Training and Research in Unconventional Computation in Europe).


SuperZero and the Clone Crisis

SuperZero and the Clone Crisis

Author: Jane de Souza

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2016-10-26

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 9385990225

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With great trouble come great laughs! Everyone including BigaByte is in a lousy mood because someone’s stealing their laughs? Whaaa? Plus SuperZero’s mom has a bewildering surprise for him. Plus, plus, plus there is a cunning clone in school who is turning himself into everyone else and creating full-on chaos. (Pssst, that’s your cue, SuperZero. Do your thing!)


The Book of Tokyo

The Book of Tokyo

Author: Hideo Furukawa

Publisher: Comma Press

Published: 2015-06-12

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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A shape-shifter arrives at Tokyo harbour in human form, set to embark on an unstoppable rampage through the city’s train network… A young woman is accompanied home one night by a reclusive student, and finds herself lured into a flat full of eerie Egyptian artefacts… A man suspects his young wife’s obsession with picnicking every weekend in the city’s parks hides a darker motive… At first, Tokyo appears in these stories as it does to many outsiders: a city of bewildering scale, awe-inspiring modernity, peculiar rules, unknowable secrets and, to some extent, danger. Characters observe their fellow citizens from afar, hesitant to stray from their daily routines to engage with them. But Tokyo being the city it is, random encounters inevitably take place – a naïve book collector, mistaken for a French speaker, is drawn into a world he never knew existed; a woman seeking psychiatric help finds herself in a taxi with an older man wanting to share his own peculiar revelations; a depressed divorcee accepts an unexpected lunch invitation to try Thai food for the very first time… The result in each story is a small but crucial change in perspective, a sampling of the unexpected yet simple pleasure of other people’s company. As one character puts it, ‘The world is full of delicious things, you know.’


Advanced Dairy Chemistry Volume 2: Lipids

Advanced Dairy Chemistry Volume 2: Lipids

Author: Patrick F. Fox

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-04-25

Total Pages: 816

ISBN-13: 0387288139

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The Advanced Dairy Chemistry series was first published in four volumes in the 1980s (under the title Developments in Dairy Chemistry) and revised in three volumes in the 1990s. The series is the leading reference on dairy chemistry, providing in-depth coverage of milk proteins, lipids, lactose, water and minor constituents. Advanced Dairy Chemistry Volume 2: Lipids, Third Edition, is unique in the literature on milk lipids, a broad field that encompasses a diverse range of topics, including synthesis of fatty acids and acylglycerols, compounds associated with the milk fat fraction, analytical aspects, behavior of lipids during processing and their effect on product characteristics, product defects arising from lipolysis and oxidation of lipids, as well as nutritional significance of milk lipids. Most topics included in the second edition are retained in the current edition, which has been updated and considerably expanded. New chapters cover the following subjects: Biosynthesis and nutritional significance of conjugated linoleic acid, which has assumed major significance during the past decade; Formation and biological significance of oxysterols; The milk fat globule membrane as a source of nutritionally and technologically significant products; Physical, chemical and enzymatic modification of milk fat; Significance of fat in dairy products: creams, cheese, ice cream, milk powders and infant formulae; Analytical methods: chromatographic, spectroscopic, ultrasound and physical methods. This authoritative work summarizes current knowledge on milk lipids and suggests areas for further work. It will be very valuable to dairy scientists, chemists and others working in dairy research or in the dairy industry.


A Perfect Vacuum

A Perfect Vacuum

Author: Stanisław Lem

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780810117334

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"In a perfect vacuum, Stanislaw Lem presents a collection of book reviews of nonexistent works of literature - works that, in many cases, could not possibly be written. Embracing postmodernism's "games for games' sake" ethos, Lem joins the contest with hilarious and grotesque results." "Most of the "reviews" target the postmodern infatuation with antinarratives by lampooning their self-indulgence and exploiting their mannerisms. Lem exposes the limits of postmodern fiction, showing how its studious self-consciousness frequently conceals intellectual paucity. Beginning with a review of his own book, Lem moves on to tackle (or create pastiches of) the French new novel, James Joyce, pornography, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky, while at the same time ranging across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers." --Book Jacket.


The Cyberiad

The Cyberiad

Author: Stanisław Lem

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers.


Out of This World

Out of This World

Author: Rachel S. Cordasco

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2021-12-28

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 0252052919

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The twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion of speculative fiction in translation (SFT). Rachel Cordasco examines speculative fiction published in English translation since 1960, ranging from Soviet-era fiction to the Arabic-language dystopias that emerged following the Iraq War. Individual chapters on SFT from Korean, Czech, Finnish, and eleven other source languages feature an introduction by an expert in the language's speculative fiction tradition and its present-day output. Cordasco then breaks down each chapter by subgenre--including science fiction, fantasy, and horror--to guide readers toward the kinds of works that most interest them. Her discussion of available SFT stands alongside an analysis of how various subgenres emerged and developed in a given language. She also examines the reasons a given subgenre has been translated into English. An informative and one-of-a-kind guide, Out of This World offers readers and scholars alike a tour of speculative fiction's new globalized era.