{"product_id":"9780544312517","title":"Tales of Pirx the Pilot","description":"In Pilot Pirx, Lem has created an irresistibly likable character - an astronaut who gives the impression of still navigating by the seat of his pants.  He is a bumbler, but an inspired one.\u003cp\u003eWe follow Pirx through five adventures in a time when space travel has become routine.  Yet things go wrong, mysteriously and suspiciously, and Pirx is the one to investigate strange accidents - either because his superiors trust his flair, or because they consider him expendable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhimsical, spellbinding, infused with Lem's uncannily vivid \"familiarity\" with the day-to-day realities and regions of space travel, the tales of Pilot Pirx build up to a towering climax.  We first meet Pirx in school, embarking on a training mission that is to drive home to him, with devastating impact, the inadequacy of textbook knowledge in an astronaut's arsenal.  The final adventure finds Pirx deciphering a spaceship's sinister past with the help of a robot's retentive memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy investing Pirx with the full range of human foibles, Lem offers here a wonderful vision of the audacity, childlike curiosity, and intuition that may give humans the courage to confront the vastness of outer space.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harvest Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47012339220720,"sku":"9780544312517","price":30.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780544312517_p0.jpg?v=1763712122","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780544312517","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}