Thirty years ago it was considered science fiction. Thirty years ago it was read as science fiction. Exploring and expanding the boundaries of the genre, greedily absorbing all sorts of new trends, trying on a universal human face, bravely ignoring the Cain stamp of the “genre ghetto.” Now it is perceived as one of the most human works of modern times, as a novel of piercing psychological power, as a filigree development of the theme of love and responsibility. It’s not for nothing that Keyes called the book of memoirs published in the 90s “Algernon and Me.” The work is devoted to the topic of a scientist’s responsibility for experiments on humans.