About the book: 1970 / Everything has its beginning. The work of I. A. Efremov is the beginning of Russian science fiction literature. His works brought science fiction into a special kind of literature, which he himself called “fiction in science.” It has turned from “second-class” literature into “a powerful lever of progress and the struggle for a better life for society.” The novel “The Hour of the Ox,” not written today, as a truly brilliant work, has a special shine in any era. In our time of the turn of two millennia, a time of searching, rethinking the path traversed by Humanity, the theme of thinking about the fate of people, about their ability to choose their destiny for the future takes on especially vivid meaning. The earth was born at the hour of the Ox - it’s two o’clock in the morning, but the dawn is near ...What is today's Man like? Will he be able to survive? Drawings by Galina Boyko and Igor Shalito