[fiforpg]

To my taste, the Pirx stories read as some of (if not the) most fiction-y Lem in existence. As opposed to the rest: thinly disguised philosophical studies. Sometimes really thinly, as in Golem XIV, or completely naked in Summa Tecnologiae. Other times, the fiction plot is laid thicker, as in Katar (The Chain of Chance), pretending to be a pulpy detective story.

Now, Pirx tales felt less cerebral, and much more human. Full of really tight action, too. Great gateway into Lem, overall.

Protip: check out Cyberiada, philosophy masquerading as a parody, and at the same time a book for children.