Beetle in the Anthill (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) [Hardcover]

Arkady Strugatsky (Author), Boris Strugatsky (Author), Antonina W. Bouis (Translator), Theodore Sturgeon (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co; First edition (October 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0026151200
• ISBN-13: 978-0026151207
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more than ordinary science fiction, June 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beetle in the Anthill (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) (Hardcover)

I have read all the books written by brothers A&B Strugatskii and would name them among my favourite authors. This particular book is actually a second and probably the most popular part of a trilogy where the main charachter is Maxim Kammerrer. In spite of that it can be easily read separately. The story will keep even the ones who do not like science fiction preoccupied for a few hours. The authors explore our fear of the unknown. What is the real purpose of the alien world and its beings? Are they offering a friendly hand or are they here to destroy us? Or, may be, they are merely passing by... To make matters more complicated, the potential alien does not know that he might be a walking bomb as Earth is the only home he had ever known...

4.0 out of 5 stars To Kill or Not To Kill, October 13, 2010

By 

a reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beetle in the Anthill (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) (Hardcover)

This book is set in Utopian (aka "Communist" but really anarchic-meritocratic) Earth of 22nd century. There is no coercion, no government nor police exist, and everyone do as they please - yet no one finds pleasure in "bad" stuff, because everyone is brought up to be a responsible individual member of high morals society, engaging in full self-actualization without harming anyone else. Automation is full and all-pervasive so there's no strife for survival nor for any material gains which are readily available to everyone for free anyway (there's no money either). The only problem which remains is dangers present (or perceived) in an unchecked scientific exploration - for which reason the Control Commission begrudgingly exists that does try to keep it in check.

When one experiment out of many - but this time the one performed on us, by seemingly all-powerful aliens some 30,000 years go, - seems to go awry, the main protagonist is faced with age old dilemma: should one life be sacrificed for the security of many - and possibly of the whole Planet Earth itself?

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another view at a Super Hero, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beetle in the Anthill (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) (Hardcover)

Why would a SuperMan (or X-man) want to stick around on the little Earth, getting the poor humans out of various boring problems?

May be, because he (or she) does not realize his (or her) powers. Or, because, he feels gratefull or has some other emotional attachments.

But this things can not keep him for too long...