The ancient Romans said that "books have their own destiny by the way they are treated by the people." The collection of essays by Alexei Glukhov traces the fate of the most remarkable popular science and science-fiction books. Among them are the poem "On the Nature of Things" by Lucretius Cara and "The History of the Candle" by M. Faraday, "The Life of Insects" by A. Fabre and "World Mysteries" by E. Haeckel, "Conversations about Many Worlds" by B. Fontenel and "Interplanetary Travels" by J. Perelman attention is paid to how books were "addressed among the people," how they carried knowledge about the world and man to the masses. The essays convincingly show the role of advanced scientists in promoting a materialistic worldview. The reader will also find in them information about the life of the author, about the era when this or that work was created, about the reaction of criticism and readers.