I had read a lot of books from home library, including Brave New World, but first books I bought in a bookstore were Star Diaries, Cyberiad and Memories Found in a Bathtub. They're very funny, including the kafkaesque latter. At the same time some deep questions are raised.
I admit I don't like all of his books, maybe translations are to blame in some cases, in others I dislike the story, like The Investigation. But there are a lot of them with imaginative situations and ideas. Swarn-likes aliens, planet-sized ones like in Solaris and all kind of weird civilizations, very obviously caricaturizing politics.
The book that I recommend as most anticipatory is Return from the Stars. Robotic cars that prevent collisions, the Internet as we know it, with centralized directories, help pages, video calls incorporated, payments, etc.
The astronauts return to a much, at least apparently, softer society.
"The Investigation" was a somewhat flawed experiment on Lem's part.
However, the much later "The Chain of Chance" (I had to look up the English title - the original is named "Katar", or "Rhinitis") is a captivating read. Lem himself called it a better version of "The Investigation".
It's also of the "detective story" type that he'd take up every now and then, but more dynamic and not as spooky.
I admit I don't like all of his books, maybe translations are to blame in some cases, in others I dislike the story, like The Investigation. But there are a lot of them with imaginative situations and ideas. Swarn-likes aliens, planet-sized ones like in Solaris and all kind of weird civilizations, very obviously caricaturizing politics.
The book that I recommend as most anticipatory is Return from the Stars. Robotic cars that prevent collisions, the Internet as we know it, with centralized directories, help pages, video calls incorporated, payments, etc.
The astronauts return to a much, at least apparently, softer society.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_from_the_Stars
Also worth mentioning that it's from 1961.