A Soviet thought experiment dressed up all in pulp. 

World Soul begins with a premise that sounds comic. A disembodied intelligence threatens to absorb or overwrite human consciousness. What to do? Oh no, it got worse.

Emtsev and Parnov write from inside a scientific imagination that still believes in systems, in reason, in the solvability of things — but they can’t quite suppress the dread that comes with it. The narrative moves through laboratories, theoretical constructs, and high-stakes intervention between humans and the entity. One bounded, fragile, contingent; the other totalising.

Part of that late-70s wave of Soviet SF that filtered into the Anglophone world through translation, a fantastic one for a collector.

First US edition, first printing (1978), Macmillan Publishing Co., hardcover with original dust jacket. Translated by Antonina W. Bouis, introduction by Theodore Sturgeon.

Dust jacket present and bright, with light general wear and minor edge softening; internal flaps show noticeable foxing/spotting. Original price sticker remains affixed to front flap. Boards clean and firm; binding sound with no lean. Interior generally clean. A well-kept copy with visible age-related spotting to jacket, but strong overall presentation.