Picnic by the road

Someone visited Earth. They did not bring a message, nor did they make contact – they simply stopped by for a moment. And then they left. But what they left behind changed the world forever. In the mysterious Zones scattered across the planet lie the remnants of an alien presence – objects with properties that science cannot explain, and dangers that no one can predict. Entering the Zone is forbidden. Roderick Shoehardt – Redrick – goes there anyway. He is a stalker: an artifact hunter, a gambler, a man who knows every trap and yet never knows if he will return. The Strugatsky brothers wrote one of the greatest sci-fi novels of the 20th century – a story seemingly about aliens, but actually about humans. It is about greed and courage, the price of knowledge, and what we sacrifice of ourselves and our loved ones in pursuit of something we do not even understand. Roadside picnic is a book that will not let you go – and the questions it asks remain long after the final paragraph.