Perhaps not quite “unsung” but still an absolute genius. I first came across him from a remaindered copy of Memoirs of a Space Traveler.”I still think about the opening story where the scientist realizes he must create the “uncreated” universe — simultaneously current, hilarious, and thought-provoking. I don’t know how I made heads or tails of the books I read next — The Futuroligical Congress and The Investigation in particular — but somehow I did, and I haven’t stopped thinking about them since.

I’m surprised that you didn’t shout out his most accessible work, The Cyberiad. For years I’d read my kids an honorary story of Trurl and Klapaucius to my kids on Lem’s birthday!