Two of the most famous works by Capek are collected in this SF Masterworks edition. I greatly enjoyed both of them. R.U.R. is, unusually, a play. It tells of the creation of synthetic humans and the disastrous consequences. It is famous for coining the term "robot", and it is as relevant as ever in this technological age, more than a century after it was written.

"War With the Newts" is more overtly satirical, darkly comic in places. It is a novel about the discovery of an intelligent amphibious species, which proves itself adept at using many aspects of human technology, while being incapable of adopting other elements of our culture. The book is loaded with references to the political and military calamity into which the world was careering at the time it was written, 1936.

I feel further enriched to learn about Capek. He was Czech, and his homeland features prominently. He was a critic of both communism and nazism. He died in 1938, months before the nazi invasion. His brother Josef was also an artist. He was captured by the nazis and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

At a time when neo-nazis and other fascist killer clowns are on the rise (some of them are also adherents of weird AI beliefs), the Capeks, and "War With the Newts" deserve to be celebrated.