[5] He called it a "lively book" and complimented Ings on his "clear and simple" scientific explanations, and the way he highlighted the personalities of those involved: the "brilliant scientists", the "charlatans", the "visionaries" and the "careerists".

[5] A reviewer of the book in Publishers Weekly complimented Ings on the sensitive way in which he exposed the lives of the scientists and their experiences, and how he "ably documents the challenges, failures, and achievements of Soviet science".

He called Ings "an entertaining storyteller who often captures the essence of things", and described the book as "lively and interesting" and full of "priceless nuggets and a cast of frauds, crackpots and tyrants".

In a review in The Wall Street Journal, he said Ings is "a gifted writer", and called Stalin and the Scientists "a good single source" for readers new to Soviet science.

[10] But Graham felt that one of the book's shortcomings was that Ings only focuses on topics that interest him, like biology, physiology and psychology, while giving little attention to mathematics and theoretical physics.

Graham also noted several "incorrect or exaggerated" statements in the book,[10] for example: Alexei Gastev was a "leading architect of Russia's industrialisation programme";[11] Nikolai Bernstein "invented cybernetics";[12] and Stalin was "the last in a long line of European philosopher kings".