What with the connections to Borges and Philip K. Dick, this lad sounds like he'd be right up my alley. I know Solaris is the one everyone knows, thanks to the movies, but is that his best piece? Also, which book would be the best first read by him?
I'd start with the Cyberiad. It's lighthearted and fun, but it throws a lot of interesting philosophical points out that I think about to this day. And it's a nice starting point for some of the ideas that he fleshes out more fully in works like Solaris, which might indeed be his best work.
