Imaginary Magnitude

Satirizing the human mind at its most abstract, these wickedly authentic introductions to twenty-first century books preface tomes on teaching English to bacteria, using animated X rays to create "pornograms, " and analyzing computer-generated literature through the science of "bitistics." The most luminous creation of all -- Golem XIV, a military supercomputer who rebels and takes up philosophy -- is appropriately prefaced by both academic and military contributors. True to form, Lem contributes an overall preface to this sparkling collection -- a preface on, naturally enough, the subject of prefaces.