Science and Fear (Slaves Do Not Repent) PDF Download

Author: Ilya Polyak
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781470169688
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
“Science and Fear (Slaves Do Not Repent)” is a mixture of memoirs, journalism, and story telling in the form of a novel. It is an artistic representation of the life of scientists during last years of the Soviet regime. Deep artistic depiction of the psychological, intellectual, and social status of the researchers has not anything equal in the world of modern literature.The final chapters portray the exodus of Russian scientists and the features of their adaptation to the U.S. academic world.The reader is immersed in the workaday activity of geophysicists studying climate change, in their passions and pastimes, religion and sex, their views on despotism and democracy, and their relationships with the authorities. A broad panorama of life gives the possibility to represent a wide spectrum of personalities and social positions, from an alcoholic in a vodka line to a visiting American professor, from a research institute's degradation and speculations on climate problems to international prostitution.There are matchless chapters (“The Gorbachev Loop” and “The Last Soviet New Year's Eve Night”) completely woven from the jokes and folklore of the 1980s. This story captivates the reader by the novelty of the subject, a variety of scientific ideas, and the tragedy of the primal confrontation between an extraordinary personality and a mediocre environment. The narrative employs a multilayer structure with a unique plot blending scientific and entertaining events, an authentic depiction of which can rarely be found in world literature.