Roadside Picnic
by Arkadii Strugatskii, Boris Strugatskii, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky · first published 1978
59% recommend40% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Atmospheric, fast-paced Soviet sci-fi about mysterious alien Zones and the stalkers who enter them, with believable conflicts and a humanist tone. Suits readers who liked the Stalker film or want non-Western sci-fi.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
[Comment by Hari Kunru in The Guardian][1]: Soviet-era Russian science fiction deserves a wider audience in English. The Strugatsky brothers collaborated on numerous novels and stories, the best known of which is this, partly because it was filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky as Stalker, in 1977. The novel takes place 10 years after a mysterious alien visitation, which seems to have no rational explanation. No one saw the visitors. Their presence caused disease and blindness in the areas where they landed. Now, in the six "Zones", the laws of physics (and, seemingly, of reality) are disturbed by a
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…novel! It is also a good read in general. It also taught me that the difference in scientific vs force vs emotional approach to unknown. Would recommend as a springboard from a day-to-day acitivities. Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky - a Soviet sf classic, I've read it 3x already. It tells a story about a closed zone where 'aliens' left their artifcats, and how that changed people around them. Ender's…
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗…than The Three Body Problem, try: - Blindsight by Peter Watts (cannot recommend this strongly enough) - The Forge of God and sequel Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear - Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds - Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky I appreciated getting a non-Western take on one of the most durable SF tropes in the Three Body Problem, but I didn't much enjoy it overall, and didn't read the sequels.…
on “China's Race to Find Aliens First” ↗…big famous works, "Starship Troopers" and "Stranger in a Strange Land." After that you can dig deeper into his bibliography, but I'd consider those three to be essential reading. I recently finished "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and I loved it. Makes me curious to read other sci fi from the Soviet world.
on “Beginnings of Science Fiction” ↗Most of their novels are good read. Especially "Hard to Be a God", "Snail on the Slope", "The Ugly Swans", "The Inhabited Island", and, of course, "The Roadside Picnic". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_and_Boris_Strugatsky Actually, it was very interesting phenomena, how in age of strict Soviet censure these seemingly Sci Fi books were filled with philosophical,…
on “'Mountaineer' Is a Must-Read of Soviet Sci-Fi” ↗There is a very deep soviet science-fiction novel by brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky: Roadside Picnic. It is relatively unknown in western world, which is very sad since in Russia it is considered one of the pinnacles of Soviet-Russian science fiction works. The plot is as follows: One day, several strange…
on “UFO spotted by US fighter jet pilots” ↗Want a uniquely Russian take on something like this? Check out "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatsky brothers.
on “In Russia’s Space Graveyard, Locals Scavenge Fallen Spacecraft (2018)” ↗…Dick book it wouldn't be Scanner Darkly but Ubik or Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Also I think some important non-English fiction is missing. Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a foundational dystopian book, Roadside Picnic is great, 20000 Leagues under the Sea and Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights is a pretty wonky Japanese SF story. Also Eumeswil by Ernst Jünger for a niche German recommendation, not sure…
on “Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read” ↗And The Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers is an incredible read. The movie is loosely-ish based on that but both stand on their own. The book is tightly written and profound in its exploration of human condition when facing…
on “The Drenching Richness of Andrei Tarkovsky” ↗…related to hn, I'd recommend Bruce Sterling's latest: "Zenith Angle". Although, that's not quite sci-fi, more just fiction. All I've read of Stanislaw Lem I'd recommend (for some classic sci-fi), also Roadside Picnic (Strugatsky brothers) is very good. Keeping with the theme of the other books listed above, I'd recommend Bruce Sterling's "Holy Fire", or maybe "Babel-17" by Samuel R. Delany (although I prefer his…
on “My Summer Reading List” ↗Or better yet, Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers which the film was based on.
on “The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples” ↗Related to the #4, I recommend the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky. “What if we finally got visited by aliens but the most important event in or history was simply an intergalactic roadside picnic for the aliens? They don’t even bother with us…
on “Fermi Paradox” ↗World War Z Roadside picnic
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗I highly recommend the Strugatsky brothers. There's a new translation of "Roadside Picnic" out, that would be a great place to start. Another good one is "We" by Evgenii Zamyatin. It's a dystopian novel Orwell cribbed from for 1984.
on “The Future According to Stanisław Lem” ↗Just finished: — Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers. The very thematic Soviet sci-fi behind STALKER. — The Cyberiad, by Stanislaw Lem. A brilliant collection of short stories on language, philosophy, futurism. Currently: —…
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading?” ↗I'm not a big reader (Last book I read was back in 2010~?), but I think my favourite was Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic. Big fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series as well as the film, so it only made sense that I read the book that it was all based on.
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗