I just read the obituary on Polish science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. I learned a lot about his extraordinary career, with 27 million copies of his works sold in around 40 languages, while reading about East German sci-fi movies for the review of The Silent Star, based on Lem's Astronauci. He also wrote the book that became the movie Solaris. The full obituary from the Associated Press can be found at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060327/ap_en_ot/obit_lem

The movie was a bit slower than similar Western films, but it's worth a look.