STANISLAW LEM
...the great Polish writer died this week. I have all of his English-translation books I could find save for one. You have to read him, and read everything. His work falls into three main categories: 1) books about man's inability to understand the truly Alien (Solaris, Eden, Fiasco, Return from the Stars, His Master's Voice, The Invincible, and similar in spirit to his two metaphysical mysteries The Investigation and the Chain of Chance), 2) Sci-Fi Humor (Star Diaries, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, the Futurological Congress, the Cyberiad, Mortal Engines, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, More Tales of Pirx the Pilot (the one I didn't read)), 3) Meta-Book Humor (introductions or reviews of non-existing books; Imaginary Magnitude, One Human Minute, A Perfect Vacuum). The novel Hospital of the Transfiguration is also worthy of your time. His work is overflowing with ideas and the friction of competing scientific theories. Except for the Pirx books, I recommend all of them. The downtown Austin Public Library has many of these books. There are about 11 books that have not been translated into English, so please learn Polish and translate these for me. It is the least you can do. Please!
Sample of Humor
Sample of Alien

(Clipped from Josh Ronsen's excellent AUSTINNITUS, a round up of Texas experimental/jazz/psych happenings)