Saturday, 3 October 2026

Crystal books and the opton reader in Stanislaw Lem’s novel “Return from the Stars”

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Crystal books and the opton reader in Stanislaw Lem’s novel “Return from the Stars”

Books are crystals with information imprinted in them. They were read with the help of an opton. The opton resembled a real book, only with a single page between the covers. At every touch, the next page of text appeared upon it.

From the science-fiction novel Return from the Stars by Stanisław Lem, 1961.

Here I am, reading about the books of the future on a book of the future that matches the novelist's description to the letter. So the future has already arrived, only a little ahead of schedule.

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