This is not a textbook, not a textbook on invention. This is a science fiction book about human thought changing the world in which we live, creating, in the words of K. Marx, "a second nature." Reflecting on how inventions are born, the author, along with historical material dating back to ancient times, also attracts his own vivid impressions from acquaintance with such scientific and technical achievements of our time as the first Soviet nuclear power plant, the Soviet nuclear ship Lenin lasers, artificial diamonds, etc...