The bizarreness of this sticks with me, but not so much of the plot, although it is definitely a commentary on scientific bureaucracy. I listened to the audiobook--which may or may not have helped. ( )

a doua carte de Strugațki pe care o recitesc după mulți ani și de data aceasta nu numai că nu mă mai impresionează, dar chiar nu-mi place (cealaltă fiind ”E greu să fii zeu”). Din păcate, fiind o satiră oblică la o perioadă extrem de unică în specificul ei (URSS), acum umorul ei este exagerat de absurd și ... neamuzant. Relevanța cărții a murit odată cu URSS-ul - se spune că SF-ul nu îmbătrânește bine, dar aș putea adăuga că nici umorul. Mi s-a părut o devălmășie haotică, greu de urmărit, fără noimă și fără haz. Motivul pentru care iubesc literatura rusă e naturalețea ei: totul se simte atât de ”mî zdies, seiceas” (”noi (suntem) aici, acum” - în sensul că e atât de credibilă încât sunt întotdeauna integrat în aventuri direct alături de personaje; ei bine, Strugațki nu-mi dau această senzație. ( )

When you read this book, be prepared for a wild drive. The hero, Alexander Privalov, picks up two people on the side of the road and takes them to their town. Once there, he is drawn into the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy.

From here, the Stugatsky brothers take you on a wild ride into fantasy, socialism, and magic. You can only enjoy this book if you are willing to suspend all rational thought and let the authors take you along on a wild ride. Enjoy it! ( )

Weird... wonderfully weird. This book feels like what Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett might have written if they had been born in 1950's era Soviet Russia. Except they weren't, Boris and Arkady Strugasky were though and thank Merlin that they were.
The book almost reads as a screed against academic bureaucratic culture. It certainly takes any number of shots at wasteful research and aimless areas of study by placing the academy in an institute of magic research. What I think it is actually about though is the lack of understanding that the average person (citizen/comrade) about the weird current state of our science and technology. What was it that Asimov said about sufficiently advanced technology looking magical to less advanced cultures? I don't recall the quote exactly but this book looks at that meme with a razor sharp satire.
This book was written in the 60's - as I already mentioned in Soviet Russia. However, the topics it covers in a very silly and fun romp, still ring true to someone in the 21st century. Maybe even more true today as our technology and scientific understanding grows exponentially and our culture devolves into a band of horse pill swallowing, ignoramus following, parrots who want desperately to believe in anything except our own reality.
If that does not inspire a desire read this book I don't know what else I can say to convince you.
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當初也不知道咋滴會以為這是本反烏托邦小說，大概因為標題像是在說996一族x（不過作者後記寫到了標題來源，的確源自類似於996的悲苦感）實際上是個挺生動幽默的民間傳說和科幻混合體小說，唯一缺點是，對於不了解俄國民間傳說的人來說讀起來太累了⋯每出現個新名字我就忍不住去查一查是不是真有其人/怪（。也難怪似乎沒有出過中譯本，不僅各色傳說或歷史角色需要加以注釋，全書還夾雜著許多諧音梗、詩歌韻腳，翻譯下來的的確確是件苦差事；英譯本在這方面完成得非常出色。

全書三個故事各有側重，故事一和故事二開篇以俄國人熟悉的民間傳說角色作引入，故事二後半段開始進入科幻範疇（科學研究幸福感的煉金造人實驗），故事三則是科幻最愛的時間議題。故事一迷霧重重，懷著一股想追究到底的激動心情讀了下去；結果故事二開頭筆鋒一轉，從 deserted house 故事搖身一變成略顯單調的巡樓，不過由於 NITWITT 各部門設置以及部門成員都很有意思，也能慢慢讀進去；故事二後半段更是一下驟入高潮，讀起來很歡快。故事三前半段乘時光機部分實在無趣得很，差點就半途而廢了；放了好幾天又硬著頭皮讀，發現後半段構思巧妙且早已在故事一二中埋下伏筆，反倒又覺得是最有意思的一個故事了。不過看兄弟倆的小說實在不要奢望他們給出各種謎題的答案（比如 White Thesis 究竟是什麼啊.........），感受一下氛圍就得了（。

讀作者後記，得知 Monday Starts On Saturday 一開頭竟是朋友惡作劇的產品，頗為驚訝；作者 Boris Strugatsky 當年覺得這一標題頗像海明威的文風，洋溢著沒有週日而只有不停工作的哀傷與絕望，因此信以為真，並將其記下，最終化為己用但含義卻與最初截然相反，也是一段有趣的故事。
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