Solaris: a book review
Humankind, the dominators of Mother Earth. But how do we measure up in the Cosmic Scale? Well, just a couple of billions strong on a blue dot, nothing major compared to the vastness of the great beyond. Indeed we have spent a fortune and time and effort to look for sentient life beyond our own planet. We have spanned our solar system with robots but the results are disappointing. We have pointed huge telescopes to other galaxies but again, disappointed.
Even if we do find any sign or hint of sentience, what good would it do us since we lack the technology to communicate or travel to places light-years away.
Solaris is the tale of the same What-If. It is the tale of the time when humans have developed star-ships. It is the golden Space Age. We are not now bound to just observe from Earth but can now travel to such star systems which show promise of such life to make the “First Contact”.
But what if the aliens don’t want to make any contact?
Solaris is about a planet-size living entity that makes the life of scientists a living hell. Scientists who traveled here to study the life and the planet are now being analyzed and observed by the planet itself. The classic tale of “Hunter become Hunted”. You’ll see the curiosity and interest of the men turn into desperation and hysteria as you turn the pages. The planet has a mysterious way of studying the minds of the men and materializing their fears and their dark secrets. At a moment they’ll see patterns and have their hopes high about understanding the patterns of the planet. The very next moment, we see it being shattered by this cruel world.
The end is not a happy one but at least the humans learn the lesson that not everything they wish to get can come to them or can be understood even if it is just within their hand’s reach. After skipping through solar systems and the galaxies, humans, at last, learns the lesson of Humility that too by a discovery they so hoped to be their greatest achievement.
This book is for anyone who would love to explore the idea of being isolated in the vastness of the universe. The book will give you a feel of what happens when you realize how inconsequential your existence can be in front of someone who thinks of you as just a specimen to be analyzed.
