ABSTRACT
Dear Mstislav Vsevolodovich! As you know, the question of republishing my book Higher Mathematics for Beginners
has provoked a stormy reaction from L.L.Sedov and L.S.Pontryagin. No one, even a very naive person, believes that they are concerned about the quality of
the publication in this case. This is open persecution. In fact, L.I.Sedov had previously published a review
insulting Barenblatt’s and my work in an ‘abstracts’ (!) journal, and did not publish our response. He then tried to smear us in the eyes of American scientists and interfere with the publication of our articles in the USA. The publication of Novikov’s and my book on cosmology was delayed for a year; if P.N.Fedoseev had not got involved, the delay would have continued. Slander against me is being spread about the question of priorities in detonation theory.
