5 books Strugatsky brothers that everyone should read

brothers Strugatsky books now publicly available officially. Layfhaker gathered major works of Soviet science fiction, to read that everyone should.

A few years ago the book Strugatsky brothers have already been published in electronic form and freely distributed in RuNet. Then writers heirs closed the library to protest against piracy. And now they change your mind and returned the text are available on the official website.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, or ABS, wrote an excellent social science fiction - an honest, straight. Their works have long dismantled for quotes. Having read the ABS, you can dramatically decrease the couch, crying out, "Noble Don struck in the heel!"

Abbreviation ABS initiated the tradition of assigning each book reduction fiction. So PNS - "Monday begins on Saturday" TBB - "It's hard to be a god."

Many literary critics and simply carried away by people are advised to read the Strugatsky in chronological order. Layfhaker recommends starting with any book from this list.

1 and 2. cycle NIICHAVO

• Fantasy, satire.
• Year: 1965-1967.
• Place and time of action: Russia, 20th century.
• Age reader: any.

In the cycle of everyday life of employees of the Research Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry is only one drawback: it consists of only two books. But it is with them, and many are discovering the Strugatsky.

We also recommend that you start with the easy - with the story "Monday begins on Saturday" and "The Tale of the Troika". scientific fantasy It may be satirical. A routine of scientists - challenging (though in the end they have to fight and not to science, and the bureaucracy).

Read "Monday begins on Saturday» →

Read "The Tale of the troika» →

buy

3. It's hard to be a god

• Social science fiction.
• Place and time of action: beyond Earth, the distant future.
• Publishing year: 1964.
• Age reader: any.

There is no longer a laughing matter. Novel "Hard to Be God" is considered one of the most significant works of the Strugatsky - the very embodiment of social fiction. Imagine a remote planet, which is stuck in the Middle Ages. Now send this planet historians of our time and think about how they will help the community to achieve a brighter future.

Now imagine that you - the most powerful on the planet and survive when the world collapses around. But in spite of all their strength, power, and knowledge one step further, save all you do not know. Even the most beloved. What would you have won - the human or social?

... we know and understand men (...), but none of us would dare to say that he knows and understands women. And children, if it comes to that! After all, children - is, of course, the third special kind of intelligent beings that live on Earth.

Boris Strugatsky

By the way, this is one of the few books Strugatsky, which has a leading female character - a rarity for books ABS.

Read the "Hard to Be God» →

buy

4. Roadside Picnic

• Adventure fiction.
• Publishing year: 1972.
• Place and time of action: Land, 21st Century.
• Age reader: any.

Heavy, gloomy, pessimistic book. Venue - Earth after alien invasion. People live a life in which every day hanging over them in mortal danger, but it's all so used to take her for a routine.

What if aliens - it's not friendly humanoids and giant cockroaches who want to destroy the belt of Orion? What if your planet any abnormal areas, in which all the rush? Dangerous. Scary. Deadly. But you can feel alive, only escaped death.

That's right: the money a person needs in order to never not think about them.

"Roadside Picnic"

According to this story Andrei Tarkovsky made a film "Stalker". on the basis of his later developers have released a series of video games S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And now, the US industry representatives make series based on the novel.

The book is not more than 180 pages. Read it before leaving the series to understand what a gulf separates the modern commercial projects of a completely non-commercial Strugatsky.

To read "Roadside Picnic» →

buy

5. doomed City

• Social science fiction.
• Place and time of action: another world, indefinitely.
• Publishing year: 1989.
• Age reader: for adults.

It was doomed, but not doomed. ABS was named in honor of his novel paintings by Nicholas Roerich, hit them "with its dark beauty and a sense of hopelessness, emanating from it."

You agree to experiment and go in an artificially created world. At this time, the stranger - is you. And around you Babylon, filled with the same people, who have their own vices, knowledge and ulterior motives. The world resembles an anthill, which occasionally someone great pokes a stick to stir up traffic. What happens when the experiment gets out of control? And if this is not the first experiment?

Strugatsky brothers have obtained excellent combination in one product of the complex socio-psychological motives and dynamic action. Therefore, they are equally interesting reading, and student and professor of social psychology. But if you want to understand what is actually the book as an adult. And then hold the "Grad doomed".

Read "The Doomed City» →

buy