Despite some minor flaws such as once-established character names changing possibly due to fautly editing and printing, this is in my opinion a great book for several reasons I can't really get into right now other than the  giant Dragonflys of the Planet Pandora is such a cool and crazy aspect of  the book and the story of the mystery of the hind leg is completely wild  and that the Strugatsky's are funny as hell. However,I will say that Noon  22nd Century has many compelling characters. And these charaters drift in  and out of this long dizzy story of what the future will be like in the  22nd Century while changing in spirit, age, and mindset. In conclusion,  If you like your science fiction deep, funny and scary at the same time  while being  horizonal, moody, inventive, and original, then you'll have to  settle for something eles because this book is out of print and I just  spilt coffee and squoze the guts of a tuna fish sandwich all over mine. Sorry
However,I will say that Noon  22nd Century has many compelling characters