Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Review

    Solaris is a planet almost completely covered with an ocean of a plasma material. Scientists from Earth have been coming to Solaris for years trying to research this ocean that seems to be one sentient being. If it is one sentient being, then the scientists hypothesize that they should be able to communicate with it. 

    Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, is the newest researcher from Earth to arrive on the station hovering over Solaris. He is there to meet the other three scientists. He soon discovers that one of the scientists has taken his life, one is hiding, and one is acting mysteriously and talks about visitors. Then Kelvin meets his ex-girlfriend on the station, but the problem is that she took her own life 7 years before. 

    This is the mystery that sets up the novel Solaris. The story is told from the point of view of Kelvin as we follow him on the station trying to figure out how his ex-girlfriend can be there and what is going on with the other crew members on the station. In between his experiences, we read along with him as he goes through past research on the planet. It makes Solaris seem like a real place. 

    We delve into the details of what is known about the ocean and how it creates and changes. It mimics objects and memories. Humans receive "visitors", but they aren't resurrected from the dead. It can create but it seems to create for no purpose. Are all of the questions humans have irrelevant to it. Why is it making those copies? Are humans projecting their own beliefs onto the ocean?

    As we try to solve the mysteries, we learn more about humanity and our need to have contact with other aliens. What if aliens in real life are incomprehensible? What if Solaris isn't a just any being but an immature god learning to create life and new worlds? 

    From the book "But one thing is certain: it is a god in the making, an immature god, still in the process of evolution." 

    I started the book intrigued and ended it thinking about humanity and our place in the universe in a new way. I can easily see why this book is a classic.