Roadside Picnic (S.F. Masterworks)
by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 212)
Read in September, 2008
recommended to Zane by:
Seth (my roommaterecommends it for: sci-fi nerds, lost fans, anyone...
This is only a 150 pages or so, but it is so far one of the best sci-fi books I have ever read. The basic premise is that the aliens came and went leaving only a space with a bunch of alien technology, diseases, and physical properties that defy all of our scientific ideas. These deadly things are given slang names by people who sneak in to steal technologies to sell. The film Stalker is based on it, and I think the best mysterious phenomena in the show Lost was lifted from it (e.g. the smoke m...more
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Read in October, 2007
An excellent collection of vignettes detailing the adventures of people who pick at the edges and corners of an alien incursion to the earth. As with the rest of the Strugatskis' best works, its not particularly nice to either capitalist or communist government systems; though, as always, its hard to tell what they think is the right balance between them. It is a fine portrait, however, of a man who dreams of immense things, and instead is taken advantage of and crushed by those around him, and ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. I decided to read it because one of my favorite movies, 'Stalker' by Andrei Tarkovsky, is loosely based on it.
I now see that the book and movie are very different. The book is a famous Russian Sci-Fi classic. It comments upon different governmental models, society at large, religion and science. In the end it is a book about humans, what it means to be human, not an animal, but a being with the ability, but not predisposition to learn, think and expression compass...more
I now see that the book and movie are very different. The book is a famous Russian Sci-Fi classic. It comments upon different governmental models, society at large, religion and science. In the end it is a book about humans, what it means to be human, not an animal, but a being with the ability, but not predisposition to learn, think and expression compass...more
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recommends it for:
everyone, tarkovsky fans
this is the book "stalker" is based on. like s. lem's "solaris," about the impossibility of rational human-alien contact. after what one scientist calls an alien "roadside picnic" in the middle of a city humans react predictably w bureaucracy, black markets, and tourism all sprouting up around the Zone whose properties remain totally incomprehensible. the stalker sneaks in regularly.
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Simply. Fucking. Amazing. I honestly could not ask for more (short of a longer book, but that's just silly). Each and every page was as if it were made of some wonderful drug... Each and every one... I think it left track marks. I won't even attempt to describe it as I fear I could never do it justice.
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Catherine by:
Alexander Jusdanis
Recommended by a student, this book did not end at all like I expected it to end (which in itself is a good thing), and I still am not sure what I think about how it ends. I would love to see the film inspired by the book, but that looks to be a difficult task.
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recommends it for:
Anyone
Having just finished playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and watching Stalker, I had to get my grubby hands of a copy of Roadside Picnic. Pretty good read.
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Read in January, 2007
Great Science Fiction. Watch also Tarkovsky's Stalker.
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Read in February, 2008
Интересно и неожидано. Концовка непонятная, простоватая.
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Read in January, 2008
The book that Andrei Tarkovsky's movie masterpiece "Stalker" is based on.
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A little far out but has some interesting commentary on politics
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Read in January, 1992
Basis of the Tarkovsky film Stalker - helpful to make sense of the film but not easy reading.
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