Kind of funny that I read this only a couple months after reading [b:The Invincible|251633|The Invincible|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441700738l/251633._SY75_.jpg|983629], since they're almost the same book. Humans come to unexplored planet and then wonder what the hell is going on exactly.

I found it interesting that he decided to use the character's titles instead of names, so you had "the Captain", "the Doctor" etc... Only once (as far as I remember) did he use a name (one of the guys was named "Henry") and that was only because another character was calling out for him and it would have sounded funny if he was yelling, "Chemist, are you there?" It did help to keep things straight, but removing that extra, "Which one is Henry?" type thing that happens when reading other books with 5 or 6 main characters. Especially since Lem's forte is definitely not characterization.

I'm really hoping the next Lem book I read is totally crazy, because that's what got me reading his stuff in the first place. Though this wasn't bad at all.