I think Solaris is an important book to
read in terms of the history and ideas of science fiction, although
user enjoyment may vary—a number of folks at the meeting expressed
the idea that they “enjoyed having read it more than they enjoyed
reading it”, which is perhaps fair. I've found the work kind of
haunting, though, and I've returned to it quite a few times over the
years—so I wouldn't want you to think that everyone will find this
tough going.
The novel is set in a distant,
space-faring future. One planet—Solaris—has evaded human
comprehension for many decades. It's covered in an ocean—possibly
one superorganism—that creates strange and inexplicable
constructions, and can change basic physical constants (altering the
planet's gravity to maintain a stable orbit in its binary system, for
instance). Our story begins when our narrator—a
psychologist—arrives at the main research station hovering over the
planet, to find that a whole new class of phenomena has
begun—“manifestation” of people seemingly pulled from the
researchers' minds. Possible spoilers below!
