Golem XIV is a smug supercomputer which has reconstituted itself and gives philosophical lectures to man about man and about itself, complete with the images, metaphors, and parables necessary only for man's limited understanding.  The more somber tone here emphasizes that there is something fundamentally serious beneath all the playful introductions, as if Lem uses these joke-forms to speculate legitimately and sincerely on wild ideas.


Joseph Francavilla, American Book Review