Noon: 22nd Century (Russian: "Полдень, XXII век") is the first novel in and the namer of the Noon Universe created by the Strugatsky Brothers. Introduced a number of characters that would reappear in many later novels (though rarely all at the same time). By far the most idealistic novel in the series.
The format is best described as a collection of short stories, set in various locales on the utopian Earth in the early 22nd century, featuring several recurring characters. There is no overarching plot per se. This allowed the authors to add additional chapters in later editions. The original 1961 edition included ten stories. The 1962 edition included sixteen stories. The 1967 edition included twenty stories. No stories were added following this point.
Tropes found in the novel:
- Brain Uploading: The Great Encoding, attempted on a dying genius's brain, involves shutting down an area for miles lest any EM emissions interfere with the process. For the same reason, perpetual rain clouds are induced in the area to block solar radiation. The containers for the mind are large buildings full of gel. This makes one character to wonder if everyone will take up as much space after an upload. The other character thinks that anyone else's mind will probably fit into a suitcase. Unfortunately, the subject dies with only 98% of the process complete, making this a partial success.
- Character Catchphrase: Gorbovsky's "May I lie down?" (he spends most of his time on spaceships, so he cherishes every opportunity to rest a little) suffered from In-Universe Memetic Mutation so much, Komov sarcastically suggests it be listed as the first question to ask at any First Contact that Gorbovsky conducts.
- Chronoscope: Such a device is invented, but it can only look into the past. The pictures it shows... aren't pretty.
- Crystal Spires and Togas: Well, kinda. The setting was to the Soviet readers the shiny clean utopia that Crystal Spires and Togas represent to the Westerners.
- Giant Squid: The marauding sperm whale was replaced with one in the second edition of the novel.
- Literary Allusion Title: The title is a play on the novel Daybreak: 2250 A.D. (1954) by Andre Norton, an After the End story.
- Memory Jar: One story involves the attempt to store the mind of a dying great scientist. The story goes into detail about the limitations of this new technology. The entire town is blacked out and perpetual storm clouds block out the sunlight in order to remove any EM interference. The "town" is actually made up of large warehouses holding a special substance that can contain vast amounts of data. After all, it's not just the information from brain cells but also the neurons that link these brain cells, and neurons that link those neurons, etc. The experiment is a partial success, as the man expires with 2% of his mind still unrecorded. Additionally, the scientists performing the experiment have no idea what to do with the stored memories, as they have no way to actually interpret the information. The idea is to eventually develop the means to allow people to live on as electronic entities, but that is far off.
