Description

How a Soviet cosmic dream is becoming a modern reality

Cheating death and raising the dead. Creating life. Freeing the spirit. Colonising space. These projects, of which some have been achieved and some will soon, have a shared Russian history, belonging to a movement known as cosmism – a mixture of scientific research, metaphysics and mysticism.

More than 100 years ago, key Russian thinkers and anarchists alike wanted to resurrect the dead and send them into space. Since then, cosmists have prepared to colonise the planets, to save a world that would become overpopulated after death had been vanquished.

Cosmism was the model behind the Soviet Union. Yet, it is still ever-present, and cosmism is responsible for a number of Russian policies. Decades ago, it also found itself a second home: Silicon Valley. A principal source of inspiration for Californian transhumanists, Soviet cosmism founded the core dreams of contemporary society – immortality and colonisation of space. The cosmists have written our future, and we’re now living it.

Publisher Review

"Michel Eltchaninoff [is a] real connoisseur when it comes to Russia and Vladimir Putin." * L'Express * "Extraordinary." * RFI * "Michel Eltchaninoff recounts the incredible history of cosmism." * Le Monde * "A useful contribution to the recent crop of books attempting to help readers desperate to know what's going on in Putin's head. As Eltchaninoff argues, if we want to "understand certain fantastical ideas cherished by some of today's Russian elite", we need to understand cosmism too. Elegantly translated by Tina Kover, Lenin Walked on the Moon provides as good an overview as any of the method and madness alike. An excellent introduction to a movement that has proven - despite its sheer oddness - remarkably enduring. * The Daily Telegraph *