A playful, witty, reflective memoir of childhood by the science fiction master Stanisaw Lem.With Highcastle, Stanisaw Lem offers a memoir of his childhood and youth in prewar Lvov. Reflective, artful, witty, playfulI was a monster, he observes ruefullythis lively and charming book describes a youth spent reading voraciously (he was especially interested in medical texts and French novels), smashing toys, eating pastries, and being terrorized by insects. Often lonely, the young Lem believed that he could communicate with household objectsperhaps anticipating the sentient machines in the adult Lem's novels. Lem reveals his younger self to be a dreamer, driven by an unbridled imagination and boundless curiosity.In the course of his reminiscing, Lem also ponders the nature of memory, innocence, and the imagination. Highcastle (the title refers to a nearby ruin) offers the portrait of a writer in his formative years.