Hard to Be a God

By Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko (translator)

Book cover of Hard to Be a God

Book description

Anton is an undercover operative from future Earth, who travels to an alien world whose culture has not progressed beyond the Middle Ages. Although in possession of far more advanced knowledge than the society around him, he is forbidden to interfere with the natural progress of history. His place is…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Hard to Be a God as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Can a society as mired in misery and oppression as ours be helped by a few well-intentioned “progressors” from another world? You land in secret, wielding godlike powers (remember Clarke’s Third Law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic) and possessing a perfect understanding of sociology and historical dynamics, only to find how hard it is to be a god. What would you do?

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