Customer Reviews (14)

Not Free SF Reader
In a similar setup to the Gavagan's Bar stories, but, as Clarke says, set in the UK, not the USA.

His bar actually features John Christopher, John Wyndham and 'George Whitley' in small cameos in the tall tales recounted by Harry Purvis.So a haunt of the literary types someone under a newspaper building or thereabouts, is what he says, so maybe pointing out a real pub somewhere he liked?

Anyway, all from around the 1950 mark, these.All they are intended to be is fun stories, and the author pretty much succeeds at that, in general.


Tales from the White Hart : Silence Please! - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Big Game Hunt - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Patent Pending - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Armaments Race - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Critical Mass - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Ultimate Melody - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Pacifist - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Next Tenants - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Moving Spirit - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Man Who Ploughed the Sea - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Reluctant Orchid - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Cold War - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : What Goes Up - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : Sleeping Beauty - Arthur C. Clarke
Tales from the White Hart : The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch - Arthur C. Clarke


Negative feedback showstopping blowup.

3.5 out of 5


Giant Squid control lacking.

3 out of 5


Sensation register commerce.

2.5 out of 5


Captain Zoom gun prop death ray.

3.5 out of 5


Bee ooze.

3.5 out of 5


Stuck in a hit pattern.

3 out of 5


War program insults.

3.5 out of 5


The number of mad scientists who wish to conquer the world, said Harry Purvis, looking thoughtfully at his beer, has been grossly exaggerated.

3 out of 5


Whiskey making case a bomb.

3 out of 5


Submarine getaway extraction.

3.5 out of 5


Wellsian hothouse epic coward.

4 out of 5


Iceberg towing bet interruption.

3 out of 5


Antigravity flameout.

3 out of 5


Snoring cure insomnia reversal.

3.5 out of 5


Word count loop cheat pushover.

3.5 out of 5





3.5 out of 5

I Still Have My Copy From '69!
I wouldn't throw it away! This is one of the most entertaining collections of stories in the sci-fi genre. At the White Hart, a British pub, are an odd assortment of patrons from the literary and scientific fields, as well as laymen interested in the discussions going on around them. One Harry Purvis inevitably manages to dominate the talk with his incredible tales of wondrous scientific romance, which he insists are true. He will often find a good reason for leaving just as a flaw in his story starts to become obvious to one or more of his listeners, and they wax suspicious that the tale truly is incredible. The way Clarke weaves real science with interesting and hilarious short fiction makes this one of my favorites of all his works. I would especially recommend it to readers who are new to science-fiction. Unlike a lot of such works, this one only gets better with age.

Needs About 40 Stars for a fair rating
Absolutely Hilarious. A must have. I shouted for Joy when I saw it was in print again.

Stars and bars
If you can think of one set of SF short stories involving tall tales told in bars, it's probably Spider Robinson's "Callahan's' series. But if you can think of two, this is probably the second.

Although never as big a Clarke fan as I've been of Asimov and Heinlein, I still have fond memories of several of Clarke's books. _Rendezvous with Rama_ is probably his best novel and it's been one of my favorites of his since it was first published. His short stories, too, are generally of high quality (remember e.g. 'The Nine Billion Names of God'?).

The series of tales collected herein is a bit different (for Clarke). For one thing, they're _funny_ -- Arthur C. Clarke funny, that is, not Douglas Adams funny, but funny all the same.

They're on the light side and they're deftly executed. But don't expect guffaws; in order to appreciate Harry Purvis and his stories, you pretty much have to be the sort of person who thinks 'The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch' is a funny title.

If you've read Clarke but you haven't read this book, grab a copy and see what you think. The 'White Hart' isn't Callahan's, but it's a pleasant place to hang out and listen to some tall tales.

Great Short Stories!!!
I couldn't put this down. I'm a new comer to science fiction, but if all the sci-fi writers can do what A.C. Clark does in this book, I am really looking forward to reading them.Each short story in the book relate to one another. They basically build up to a climax and then you're left wondering, "Is that it??? I want more!". Even though this book was written circa 1957, it is a "way out" read and very enjoyable! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Indian Ocean Treasure
This book has got to be the best account of an adventure of two boys who find a wreck of a Spanish treasure ship and spend days at a lighthouse snorkeling and removing artifacts.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in recovery of sunken cargo from long ago. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Could not even finish it
The only reason I got to page 157 was because Clarke was the author.I would have thrown this crap in the garbage if it was from an unknown author.No story, just words and sentences leading to nothing.I don't think I am going to have any problems forgetting this book.

Anyone giving this book 5 stars should really reconsider their grading system.

Arthur C. Clarce: Imperial Earth
I have read this book already twice for years ago. I had to get a new copy then somebody had "loaned" my book.

Arthur C. Clarke has written technical prophesies already in 1940's starting with communication satellites which were realized 25 years later. In Imperial Earth Clarke describes many concepts that are now with us:
- world wide network for communication or "web"
- unlimited memory banks
- broad band interchange between hand held devices and the web using infra red (similar to blue tooth)
- hand held communication, dictation, memory and computation device "comsec" which was first realized by Nokia in their Communicator. Clarke did not include a camera in comsec but had changeable keys that came a little later in Apples phones.

Computer Weekly asked Clarke in 1980's how he could describe such a small multifunction device not in existence on that time. The answer was: Going in time 200 years there are no more any technical limitation and I simply told what I wanted to have in one piece.Yours truly Matti Kataja, Finland

Lackluster collection of notes about popular science seasoned with rudimentary human interest
What happened to Arthur C. Clarke in 1975?The masterful author of short stories from the 1940s and 50s created a confused mess titled "Imperial Earth" in 1975.In this novel, Clarke displays his poorly-concealed desire to appear as something other than a science-fiction writer: namely, a mover-and-shaker of science and technology.This unfortunate tendency appears throughout Clarke's later work.Who cares that Clarke once spoke to Neil Armstrong (note to chapter 21)?I can't put my finger on when, exactly, Arthur Clarke digressed from the creation of superbly crafted fiction into the monotonous exposition of dull popular science, but "Imperial Earth" appears, to me, to be the epitome of this digression.

classic science fiction
Imperial Earth is pretty classic science fiction. Futuristic--300 years in the future from when the book was written (1976), with space travel, and Clarke's vision of how society would have changed in that time.

Hero Duncan Makenzie is making his first (and likely only) trip to Earth from Saturn's moon Titan, on a political mission--the development of a new propulsion system threatens Titan's economy, the major industry of which is providing hydrogen for rockets, and while he's there, to ensure his family's dynasty by having himself cloned--he's a clone of his "father", who is, in turn, a clone of his "father."

The political intrigue was probably my favorite part of the book--I'm always a sucker for intrigue, but the descriptions of life on Titan, and the difficulties of adapting both physically and culturally to life back on Earth were also entertaining and well-explained.

A couple of things jumped out at me as irritants--feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken in my beliefs. 1) Titan is described as having no indigenous life forms, yet it has a core of molten petrochemicals--hydrocarbons. I thought you had to have carbon-based life forms to get petrochemicals. 2) England is described as having had the first empire on earth.

Oddly, the disclaimer in the back of the book doesn't address either of those things--it talks about the cloning and the stated genetic reason for it, which I'd just accepted and didn't think anything more about.

Poor execution
I was hoping for an intriguing sci-fi read.What I got was a novel about a character I never connected with, who had a backstory which felt rushed and undeveloped.

The problem is that one of the few plots in the novel involves his backstory and relationships with some characters who seem even less developed.

Just not a well-executed effort. ... Read more

Product Description

From Narnia to Space Odyssey is the dialogue of letters between Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis in which they debate, discuss, and ponder the potential and potential dangers of the rise of technology.Their encounter sets the stage for much of what we face today: is technology the "beauty" that will lead to a more utopian society, or is it the "beast" that endangers our humanity and spirit?

Clarke and Lewis began their correspondence in December 1943 when Clarke took Lewis to task for his remark about "little rocket societies bent on exporting the crimes of mankind to other planets."While they met only once (at a well-known pub in Oxford, with Lewis bringing along a good friend-the Oxford don, one J.R.R. Tolkein), their "encounters" lasted until 1954 when Clarke became involved in underwater exploration and left for the Great Barrier Reef. Their concern about the future of society, even from differing perspectives, is both provocative and illuminating, and bears close reading today when we are all confronted with the question whether mankind can control the explosion of technology or will become its slave.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Some good stuff here . . .
. . . but I was hoping for more, far more.

Fans of CS Lewis (or Arthur C. Clarke, for that matter) have long been aware that the two men were familiar with the work of the other -- and that they were in profound disagreement about the nature of the fallenness (or lack thereof) of man.Nevertheless, they did have a certain measure of respect for each other.To market this book as a book of correspondence between the two men, however, is really not strictly accurate.As other reviewers have noted, most of the correspondence presented here is of the "basic politeness" sort more common in the past than today.Some of the letters are moderately interesting, but it's hard to say, really, that any "new ground" was broken.

Much of the book is taken up with re-printing of short stories written by both men -- stories which have become somewhat more difficult to find.I thoroughly enjoyed reading them.My time was not wasted.But a short story anthology was not something I was expecting.

Worth owning for the Lewis or Clarke fan -- but that's about all.

Appalling, shameful book production
Lewis's letters are presented with ghastly typographical errors.I could hardly believe my eyes, this book was so badly done.

disappointing
The thirty letters are very brief and are mostly of the exchange: Do you want to attend my lecture? No. Would you like a transcript of the speech? Yes, Here it is. Thank you for the transcript.

The basic difference between these two people covered in the book was their views on the possibility of human nature being improved by yet another moral teacher being discovered in outer space or by a few more technology inventions.

Lewis had a background in history and saw that several thousand years of inventions and teachers did not improve things.Clarke was less versed in history and thought in the affirmative on the basic question.

In the fifty years since the letters there have been many inventions and space travel.Human nature has not seemed to be improved since then.

Author's Response
To all concerned,

The intention of the book was to document, if possible, the dialogue which took place between Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis, both of which produced a profuse amount of writing. Clarke took offense to C.S. Lewis's Perelandra and started a dialogue with him. The dialogue took not only the form of letters they sent to each other, but also essays and stories they wrote as well. Their choice of subject matter is very revealing. The book is open ended and attempts to pull the reader into a dialogue that has not finished. That there were only a few letters that passed between them is disappointing, but it does not diminish the fact that they had an impact on eachother.

In his first letter to Lewis, Clarke argued that Lewis did not know Astronomers well enough to write about them. A few years later, Lewis in the introduction to his final installment of That Hideous Strength, admits that he only knew enough about his profession to write about it. Clarke's anger at Lewis seems to have impacted Lewis's writing. Clarke also never convinced Lewis that Space Explorers could be trusted, and one can see his attempts to do so in other writing. This is a piece of the puzzle in Lewis's life that is not discussed in major biographical works about Lewis by Walter Hooper and Humphrey Carpenter.

The work should be appealing to those who are interested in the impact these giant literary figures had on eachother, for those who would like some insights into the motivation of the writers, and for those who haven't memorized everything that has been written about the authors.The work is of interest to academics, documentarians, and fans of either or both. It contains not only letters, but also profiles, stories and essays. The work cannot be fully comprehensive because the dialogue was disparate and is still not complete. The book is an addition to the scholarship that already exists about the two authors.

As for the typos, sorry, but debris is not an exact match for some of the waste that we have introduced into the sattelite belt. To err is human....

So Few Letters, So Much Time
Readers of Lewis would be happy for any book with unpublished CSL letters to see print. After waiting for four years to see this come to publication, as a Lewis scholar, I confess that I am quite dismayed at how actually few are the number of letters available. This is not the editor's fault; but the promotional material--maybe: for it promises a "war" and what we find is really a polite, brief skirmish ended by a formal demurral on Lewis's part--who seems unusually reticent for someone well known for public debate on literary and ethical topics of the kind that Clarke initiates here. Further, only wishful thinking makes it possible to draw the conclusion that "Clarke brought Lewis back to earth," or that there is any specific connection between Narnia and Space Odyssey, as the book's self-description and/or subtitle would imply. One completes the reading knowing only that Lewis and Clarke were congenial and wary; if only there had been a real debate about religion and science, world conquest and quarantined humanity (!)

I agree with John Sherwood's earlier review above that there are a surprising number of typos in this work--quite distracting. One must appreciate the effort it took to bring the project forward, but I think, in order to appreciate Lewis further, one must turn to David Downing's PLANETS IN PERIL and Doris Myers' C S LEWIS IN CONTEXT, for a more thoroughgoing discussion of Lewis's sci-fi milieu. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (85)

My Favorite of the Rama Series
I truly do not understand the negative reviews for "The Garden of Rama."This is my favorite of the Rama series, by far.This novel has the right blend of science fiction, wonder, adventure, and human heart and soul.The idea of three humans stranded inside Rama appeals to my sense of adventure and the human drive to persevere.I highly recommend this sequel.

This is my favorite series of books, without question
I love this series. I look forward to Morgan Freedman's production company bringing this to film. I find the Rama books even more entertaining than the Odyssey books. Thank you Arthur C. Clark for bringing us such wonderful fiction. I recommend the Rama books to anyone who enjoys sci-fi, anyone who has never read sci-fi, anyone.. Well written, clever plot that takes you across the universe. The first book (Rendesvous with Rama) is just a taste of what lies ahead for you. Enjoy! :)

~Qabyss

Excellent, why all the hate?
the trilogy written by Gentry Lee and Clarke is strikingly different from the original book.So what? there are so many haters here for no apparent reason.I don't think they read the books, just decided to join the hate bandwagon.These three books are an excellent epic of a family caught in incredible events.

Ack
Instead of Arthur C. Clarke's brilliance, we are offered up into the hands of an engineer who obviously wishes he were a female.The intra-personal relationships that Clarke avoided for obvious reasons are visited over and over again in this waste of paper.When Lee started the soap opera style in Rama II, it was somewhat exciting and acceptable, because we were going back to Rama, and that was seen as a good thing.However, he goes overboard with the emotional drama in the Garden of Rama and anybody who has ever read anything by Clarke at all can see just how disconnected he became with the series.Honestly - religion, science and procreation mingle with the never-ending emotions of a woman as written by a man.Lee even has the hubris to write poetry that is supposed to have stemmed from the soul of a woman.What is this all about?This is the third time I have read this book, and even though I know where it all ends, I still find it to be pointless and meandering. Had Clarke put his talents to this on his own, we would be hit with the wonder and awe that Rendezvous first instilled in us.Garden of Rama is a bad joke and doesn't get any better.

Bad science, worse writing
Just a couple of examples of how utterly worthless the science is in the Rama sequels:

The octospiders, we learn, are an underwater race. Fine. But Gentry Lee has them communicating by bands of colored light around their heads, because--get this--sound doesn't travel well under water, but light does. Uh huh. That's what he said. Apparently, he never heard of whales and dolphins.

So, the octospiders have no words for anything. Yet, later, Lee makes up octospider words for their system of measuring time (the smallest unit being about 20 seconds, as I recall). Yep. They have no speech, but they have names for things.

That's just for starters. As I forced myself to finish reading this dreck, I began to wonder if it was a hoax, a challenge to the readers to find as many inconsistencies as possible. It just made me feel angry and insulted. ... Read more

Product Description
Arthur C. Clarke reads selection from his own science fiction classics, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Transit of Earth and Other Stories, The Fountains of Paradise, and Childhood's End. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

ACC is the best, forever & always
Folks who don't like selections, should probably avoid from buying books labelled as such. IMHO.This audio recording is the best and ACC is anything but tedious!The 2001 passages filled my waking and sleepingdreams for days afterwards and echo there still!

A great selection of Clarke's best stories
This is a wonderful collection of some of the best of AC Clarke's works, read by the author. Very engrossing, especially the excepts from 2001, Childhood's End, and several of the stories. Get to know this GREAT authorthrough this excellent audio selection.

Fantastic brilliantly done
Good Book

I didn't like only a selection, and A.C. is a boring reader.
I've read those books and with only a selection they lose all its fun and magic. Arthur is a formidable writer, but he is also a tedious reader. ... Read more

Product Description
A massive alien starship carries its human passengers to the end of their generations-long odyssey and toward an epic confrontation with the mysterious Ramans. Reprint. NYT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (100)

Whaaaaaaaaaat?
OK at what point did the Octospiders tell Richard Wakefield that, "Yes! Wow, we are so amazed that you guessed what we call ourselves. Octospiders! How in the hell did a human guess that from just looking at us?" He made up the name for them in book two, and now it's gospel. What would happen if the Octos started off calling the humans, pink, whiny, four legs? So far this isn't resolved, maybe I skimmed over the part where the, "Octospiders," told the humans that their real name for their species would be impossible for them to pronounce.
I have cringed beyond belief every time a character is made to say, 'Whaaat?' the two extra, "a's" stand for: we have too many changes of scenery to cover so to hell with rich character descriptions.

Weak end to series
Disclaimer:I never finished this book.I read the original "Rendezvous with Rama" some years ago, and enjoyed it.Like Clarke's other novels, it was full of wonderfully imaginative ideas, speculation on the grand scale, and not much in the way of human characters.But the thin human characters were unimportant in comparison to Clarke's grand ideas.

The second, third and fourth books shift the focus increasingly from grand ideas to human narrative.The trouble is that neither Clarke nor his co-writer (ghost writer, I suspect) learned how to write effective human narration.The storytelling in the second through fourth books becomes increasingly sappy, maudlin and tedious, and the plot increasingly manipulative and silly, until we're left with nothing but pointless plot turns and endless "reunions" filled with hugs and tears and kisses and nothing even remotely interesting.

There is a point when the two central characters are brought into a domed city that, I'm not making this up, they jokingly refer to as the Emerald City (the reader needs no reminding at this point of how derivative and childish the story has become), and one of the characters becomes dizzy and overwhelmed by the riot of strange colors, shapes and creatures.I had a similar reaction, only it wasn't dizziness, it was better summed up by the phrase "give me a break."The authors have clearly realized that they've strung together too many "awe-inspiring" episodes by this point, so they feel they have to resort to even more bizarre (ridiculous) imagery to goad us into another reaction.It doesn't work.

This was around page 200.There is still another 400 pages to go.I was pretty sure it would be only more drivel, and the reviews here have made it clear that it's drivel that winds up with a spiritual "explanation that's not an explanation".One of the things I love best about most of Clarke's work is that he didn't feel obliged to provide the Big Answers.It's a shame that he did with this series.So I've put the book down.

Don't listen to the naysayers.
As an avid sci-fi fan I'll admit that the Rama series wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Rendezvous with Rama is very different from the later books. It's pure Clarke. Rama II disappointed me at first because of the departures it makes from Clarkes's distinct style. But once I changed my expectations I found that the series tells a powerful story about life and love. It even brought me to tears at times. I suspect that the people who gave bad reviews were looking for a climactic explanation about the alien mysteries. I don't think that the purpose behind the Nodes and Rama were really the main point of the narrative. I pity the critics who overlooked or ignored the profound realization that occurs at the end. The greatest thing that a human being can achieve in the course of his/her ONE life is to love and be happy. And we achieve those things through our families and our accomplishments. I'm giving the Rama series five stars because I feel like I learned something very meaningful from it even though it didn't conform to my expectations of "hard" science fiction.

Fools Revealed who think this is bad
I am amazed at one horrible review after another. This entire series, especially Rama Revealed, is brilliant and the best series, science fiction or otherwise, I have ever read.The aliens, Rama, the cosmology, everything is so original, different, full of wonder. And the human family is wonderful, we become a part of the family and feel everything they feel as the years go by.It is an astounding awe-inspiring story.Those who gave this one star or says its terrible compared to the first book, have totally missed the point. I am so sorry for them, that they don't have the sense of wonder, the humanity of family, and the intelligence and adaptability to appreciate the wonder before them.I pity them.

ditto with the main reviews!
Wow, I actually got mad when I finished this...really, really, that is what is revealed?
Questions were not answered and the humans in it where very one dimensional and some of the dumbest smart people.

Save you energy for some other great Arthur C. Clarke, but make sure you read the first Rama book
(wow, this reminded me of the Dune series...just got worse and worse with each book) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The science behind the story
In writing 2010, Arthur C Clarke had to decide if he was going to sequel his book or the masterpiece that was the movie.He chose the movie and does indicate this before starting the story.The difference here is that 2001 the novel had the stargate on the Saturnian moon, Iapetus.Instead he writes as if the first novel followed the movie completely with the stargate orbiting Jupiter.

The book 2010 is very similar to the movie except for another ship from China landing on Europa and discovering life there just before the "Leonov" russian ship arrives in orbit.The "Tsien" the chinese ship discovers a creature from the ocean on Europa.It's too bad the movie did not include this as i think it would have made great cinema.There are some other chapters on Dave Bowman coming back to earth, visiting an old girlfriend and his mom in a nursing home.I really enjoyed the book as Athur C Clarke is so good at helping us understand the real science behind the story.For this alone i would recommend the book. ... Read more

Product Description
The multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning grandmaster of science fiction does for the sea in his new novel what his epic classic 2001 did for outer space. Currently in production for a major motion picture from Warner Brothers/Peter Guber. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

A total bore
I have read many SF books and this ranks as one of the worst.The plot is ridiculous with aliens hiding under the ocean and needing lead and gold to fix their spacecraft and just happening to contact three humans who manage to steal the gold from more stupid thieves.They also "out fox" the US Navy to save the day at the end from the aliens that let them walk around their ship, but never really act if the humans are there.It would make a great story for a movie remake of Plan 9 From Outerspace.Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Absolutely atrocious
This book was atrocious. I picked it up on a whim as I had never read Clarke but knew about his reputation. This was not a good first Clarke book to read. In fact, it's not a good book to read period.

The plot was weak but the characters were by far the worst part of this whole endeavor. It made me wonder if the authors even knew how to write good characterization. It felt like they spent most of their time reminiscing about their pasts and quivering with emotion over it. No human beings speak or act like these people did.

The sci-fi parts that didn't involve any of the characters were by far the best bits but they were few and far between. This felt more like a grocery store romance novel with science fiction elements shoehorned in.

All character development and no story
Eighty-five percent of this story is character development, and the characters are as paper thin as the science fiction plot. Skip this one.

painfully lecherously pointless
Ugh!

It's ever so rare to come across a book of this caliber - that caliber being the poo you have to scrap off the bottom of your shoe. Remarkably terrible in many dimensions - all dimensions. No forgiving factor whatsoever. Please, read on...

It's not every book you see the phrase "mind's eye." Well, in Cradle, the phrase is annoyingly used 8 times. What kind of author allows for that kind of repetition? Well, the same author who keeps putting [...], unnecessary graphic sex which will leave you scratching your head - graphic terminology that will make your cringe even though you may not be a prude. Reading about a 43 year old man's thoughts of a 17 year old girl will make your cringe into a full fledged facial convulsion. The author writes in a monologue on page 182 from the 43 y/o man, "And that little girl. My God. She knows for sure. She must have felt it when she was on top of me... My God, what am I? I'm a dirty old man." This is true for the character and supremely lecherous author.

The chapters are tediously long and rambling - sometimes I had no idea why the author continued, and continued and never seemed to reach a point (like the entire book all together - no point!) This is a wholly pointless book with a pointless plot and pointlessly long.

The author says it best on page 293 when the author states in another monologue, "How could I have forgotten how repulsive this man is?" By the end of the book, Gentry Lee's reoccurring lecherousness will pop onto the pages at seemingly random times. You won't be allowed to forget how perverse he can be.

Ugh!

Dissapointing
I have always been a huge Arthur C Clarke fan, I felt that his contribution to Cradle was only limited to the first chapter of this book; which was good. Other than that the book was stretched and a dissapointment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sci-fi for English Impaired
This version by McMillan is a retold version with limited vocabulary for English learners. Nevertheless, it can be of use for those who would like to have an idea of what the original book is about but can't afford the time to read the real thing. The book serves its purpose well and, surprisingly, doesn't quell the thirst for the original work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A thought provoking look at the future of technology.
In this book Arthur C. Clarke considers the future development of human technology, focusing on the ultimate limits of what is possible rather than on what the near future is likely to bring. Originally published in 1962, Clarke has added comments where developments have substantially modified his earlier views. He addresses a wide range of questions: transport, colonising space, novel sources of energy, artificial intelligence, a universal machine that can produce any specified artefact, as well as more fanciful possibilities such as time-travel, teleportation, and invisibility. He suggests we should be slow to pronounce anything "impossible" as the technology of the future may be as hard for us to imagine as ours would have been for people of earlier ages. (He also quotes a number of "authorities" who denied the possibility of heavier than air flight or the rocket shortly before they became realities!) Sadly, my enjoyment of this book was somewhat spoiled by Clarke's style which is inclined to be rather laboured and pompous. A pity, as this is otherwise a first rate read. ... Read more

Product Description
This "science-fictional autobiography" by the author of "Childhood's End" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" is an account of the circumstances and stories that set Arthur C.Clarke on the path to becoming one of the world's most successful science fiction writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An intertwined autobiography of Clarke and science fiction expressed through the pages of "Astounding Stories"
One of the original three greats, (Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein), Arthur Clarke was a heavily involved eyewitness to science fiction evolving from the subject of dreams into a terrifying reality. The invention of the nuclear weapon changed war between powerful industrial nations from a means of settling major disputes into a mass suicide of the species. This book is an intertwined autobiography of Clarke and his relationship with the "Astounding Stories" science fiction magazine.
When the story opens, it is the age of the pulps, where great scientific gaffes could be made in the stories and often were. Clarke points these out, yet mentions that in many cases that was part of the fun, as the point of the story was to entertain. However, an evolution was taking place where the number of major scientific errors was slowly reduced and the facts of the science began to be more of an essential part of the story. Clarke chronicles this transformation, until at the very end the name of the magazine is changed to "Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction."
There is no one better able to describe this transformation that Clarke, although Asimov would certainly be his equal. Clarke is superb in describing the changes in the magazine as well as his own role in the world. He lived in England during World War II and although he was never in any direct and immediate danger, it was still a time of great national stress. Clarke was in the military for a short time and contributed his technical expertise to the war effort. He was also in regular contact with many of the writers of science fact/science fiction so he adds many personal tales to this interesting recapitulation of what is called "The Golden Age."

Astounding indeed
I remember walking into a science fiction book store while visiting New York City in 1984.A crowd had gathered around an older gentleman who wore a silver flight jacket.At first I thought it was only a local geek smoffing off, but when he turned around, I saw that he was none other than Arthur C. Clarke, there to promote the release of 2010.I was reminded of this incident when reading Astounding Days, Clake's memoirs of his long love affair with the premier American SF magazine of the 1930s and 1940s.It is written in a very conversational style with the author tossing off asides in every direction with no sense of writing discipline, much like he surely did that day long ago.Clarke was fortunate to have come of age just as Astounding was making its debut.Many of its stories would go on to become classics.He makes special mention of the 1934 issues.Then, the reader was treated to the serialization in succeeding issues of Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space, "Doc" Smith's Skylark of Valeron, and John W. Campbell's The Mightiest Machine.I remember being similarly blown away when I happened to open up the bound volume of that year's issues while browsing through the stacks at the University of Illinois Library.Clarke reminiscences on many of the writers and stories published in Astounding that made an impression on him during those years including H.P. Lovecaft, Stanley Weinbaum, Ray Cummings, Robert Heinlein, A.E. VanVogt--as well as many lesser known works that have not stood the test of time.One interesting tidbit is his aside that Astounding magazines typically reached Britain in those days as ballast on freighters.Interspersed with this discussion of the stories are his memoirs of growing up as a young fan in prewar England and involvement in such SF groups as the British Interplanetary Society.

4 and 1/2 Stars
Perhaps it is inaccurate to call this an autobiography. A good portion of it (particularly the first part of the book) is Arthur critiquing the early issues of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Later, he tells quite a bit about his own life, but mostly this is a memoir of his experiences with Astouding. It is interesting for several reasons: first, we learn what Clarke thinks of a great many of his colleagues (including heavies like Asimov and Heinlein, both friends of Arthur's). But what makes the book really interesting for the hard-core ACC reader is later in the book where he tells a lot about his own life. We learn of his experiences at college, as a civil servant, and his time in the military. We also get a lot of his views and ideas on many things relating to science, as well as a good deal he says about his own subsequent books, the ideas behind them, and how the writing of other authors influenced him. And of course the book is all written in Clarke's trademark witty style.

This will all seem very boring for the casual Clarke reader, or for those who only know him as "that guy who did 2001". But for those true fans who recognize Arthur for what he is, a brilliant, creative, and witty writer who is unquestionably one of the literary greats of the 20th century, and possibly the greatest science fiction writer of all-time. The only thing about this book that disappoints me is that ACC elaborates so little on his own works for Astounding. I figured that would be the main point of the book, but it isn't; although he mentions many times his works, they are rarely the ones found in Astounding. Still, this is a worthwhile and book for the Clarke devotee; casual fans should look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
After the success of 2001:A Space Odyssey, Clarke became perhaps the best known living Sci-Fi writer in the world.Using his inherent sense of humor and personal flair for adventure, Clarke combines the worlds of science and literature.The three award-winning stories in this volume take the listener into the realms of space adventure, science fantasy, and interstellar irony.Also contains The Star and The 9 Billion Names of God. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unexpectedly Captivating
At the beginning of Green Mars, a plucky group of adventurers gathers to climb Olympus Mons, the highest mountain on Mars (indeed, the book says, in the entire solar system). Eileen Monday is the spirited and competent expedition leader, but we see most of the journey through the eyes of Roger Claybourne, who is recently retired from his post as Minister of the Interior of the government of Mars. Will it be a daring climb, full of danger and despair? You betcha.

The book is thoroughly proficient in technical detail and captivating in the story of the climb, but what really drew me in was the larger story of the human experience. In the book, humans have extended their lifetimes to hundreds of years. With this extension, however, the maximum useful limit of human memory has been surpassed. In other words, though they can live very long times, most people can only remember specific experiences for a hundred or so years. People, places, and events of experience in the more distant past are simply forgotten. The limit varies from person to person, of course, and some people are blessed-or cursed-with being able to remember longer, sometimes far longer, than others. Roger is one of those people, and because of it he spends most of the book in a quiet gloom. And that is precisely what drew me in.

Roger, we are told, spent his career as an advocate of conserving Mars, of preserving its wild state. His opponents were in favor of terraforming it to fit the use of humans, and they slowly and steadily got their way. Now, the people around him can't remember Mars the way it used to be. They don't recognize what they've lost, but even more significantly, to them, Mars has always been green. They don't remember the arguments waged to preserve or develop Mars-arguments they themselves had with Roger, who can remember it all too clearly. Now, everyone is happy to find themselves on a green planet so full of potential, and only Roger remembers the pristine beauty that was lost.

Even worse, Eileen doesn't remember that she and Roger were graduate students together, and that they were more than friends-they were lovers.

Yes, the technical details of the climb and the harrowing storms and all were exciting, but what really held my attention was Roger's struggle to find peace with himself, how his ability to remember the past made him alone in a sea of humanity.

Kim Stanley Robinson is a successful science fiction writer, and he certainly doesn't need my endorsement, but I will give it nonetheless. Green Mars is a thoroughly absorbing book, with both the technical and human details imagined and presented in beautiful prose. Now that I've discovered Green Mars, I intend to explore the rest of Mars through the works of Kim Stanley Robinson. You should join me there.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Listening to History
A fun collection of early science fiction.You can listen to how Clarke's writing improved over the years.Well worth the investment.

Clarke fans need this
A valuable look into Clarke's early sci-fi stories.A Clarke fan can see the roots of many ideas that he built upon in later works.There is quite a bit of introductory matter to many of the stories that is invaluable to a Clarke fan or any sci-fi fan.

A fine collection with some shining stars and a few that seem a little thin.A recommended read for any Clarke fan.

This audio book version is unabridged, and very well done, with different readers on the various stories. ... Read more

Product Description
Dan Richter was a struggling mime artist in 1966 when he received a call summoning him to discuss the incomplete opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, then being shot by Stanley Kubrick in London. Deeply impressed by the young mime, Kubrick promptly hired Richter to choreograph and star in "The Dawn of Man" sequence as Moonwatcher, the man-ape who opens the epic film about the origin and future of humankind. Moonwatcher’s Memoir is Richter’s day-by-day account of his year-long education in filmmaking under the command of one of cinema’s most innovative captains. Filled with illustrations and memorabilia from the making of 2001, this book will fascinate film aficionados, Kubrick devotees, and science fiction fans alike. Set three million years ago, "The Dawn of Man" tells the story of a tribe of our man-ape ancestors, who take the first step on the long road to modern humanity. Determined to make an anthropologically accurate film, Kubrick insisted on much more than the worn convention of men jumping around in "monkey suits." Here are the stories behind 2001’s landmark achievements in make-up, costume, choreography, and cutting-edge cinematography that have made this film an enduring achievement. At once the story of Kubrick and his probing vision, the 2001 team and their interactions, and Dan Richter’s personal triumph under intense pressure, Moonwatcher’s Memoir is an inside look at eighteen unique minutes of film, climaxing in the longest flash forward in cinema’s history—three million years, from bone to space station, in a twenty-fourth of a second—as Moonwatcher hurls man’s first weapon into the sky and launches the episode into the stratosphere of film’s greatest moments. 24 pages of black-and-white photographs complete this rare behind-the-scenes narrative chronicling the filming of Stanley Kubrick's ultimate vision. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Engrossing both for the main subject and background on the making of 2001.
Recommended reading for any 2001 fan, movie critic, and especially the members of the nominating committee and members who gave an Oscar to the makeup designer of Planet of the Apes (1967) (POA).

There is an apocryphal tale that the next year, after 2001 came out, that a member of The Acadamy nominating committee was asked "How could you give an award for the "ape" costumes in POA but pass over the hominids in 2001."

The telling answer was along the lines of "Those were actors in costumes?We thought they were real apes!"Even it the story isn't true, it's not totally unbelievable.

Some tidbits in the book detail the "ape" costumes, and the question of who to get to be in the costumes.Kubrick decidely did not want them to look like a human in a costume.They tried actors, but that didn't work out.Finally, they hit upon dancers, espescially skinney ones who would still look wild and hungry with a layer of costume over them.

Moonwatcher talks!
There have been several making-of-2001 books (Jerome Agel's "Making of 2001" in 1970; Piers Bizony's "2001: Filming the Future"; Arthur C. Clarke's "The Lost Worlds of 2001"; probably others). But the Dawn of Man prologue hasn't gotten a lot of coverage.

"Moonwatcher's Memoir" rectifies this oversight, and then some. Richter had a great, exhausting time during his year (!) working on apes with Kubrick, and tells all. In doing so, he throws new light on the movie's timeline; it started shooting in Dec. 65, yet the long-planned ape scenes weren't shot until very late in the game: fall of 67 (the movie came out in April 68). How Kubrick kept his poise during such a long project remains, as the film might say, "a total mystery."

To use book review jargon, this book is a must for all Kubrick completists. You know who you are.

Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001, a Space Odyssey
I always wondered who was the man in the Monkey Suit and now I know.A fascinating easy to read memoir.An insiders view of the making of one of the most influential movies of all time.A must read for all 2001 fans. ... Read more

Product Description
Few masters of science fiction have brought us glimpses of the near future as vividly as Arthur C. Clarke. It is the startling realism of his vision that has made classics of his Childhood's End and 2001: A Space Odyssey -- and Clarke himself one of the genre's most successful writers. To commemorate the fast-approaching arrival of one of the most notable dates in science fiction history comes this special anniversary edition of The Sentinel, a brilliant collection of Clarke's highest caliber short fiction. Among the ten stories included in this volume are: "The Sentinel": The story that inspired 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the most famous SF movies of all time"Guardian Angel": The rarely-glimpsed work that gave birth to Childhood's End"The Songs of Distant Earth": A fantastic tale of first contact with an alien world, which became the basis for one of Clarke's most successful novels "Breaking Strain": The inspiration for the popular book series Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Nine Short Stories of Clarke
This book contains nine short science fiction stories written by Arthur C. Clarke in the early part of his career.They are a good sample of the themes of his larger body of writing.Two stories here were later expanded into full-length novels."The Sentinel" became 2001: A Space Odyssey and "Guardian Angel" became Childhood's End.My three favorites are described below.

"Guardian Angel" follows the careful communications between Earth's representative and the leader of an alien delegation that has come to help us.As always, the devil's in details.

"Breaking Strain" is an interesting contrast to Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" published in 1954.It was written in 1948.Two spacefarers traveling to Venus survive a meteor strike to find their reserve oxygen gone--leaving not enough for both of them to reach their destination.

"The Sentinel" tells of an unexplained alien artifact uncovered on the Moon.As all Earth wonders who made this object, it creates quite an outcry.

The stories in this book are recommended as well-written and entertaining.I agree with another reviewer's recommendation to read them in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke along with more stories by this science fiction Master. ... Read more

Product Description

It was one of the unforgettable moments of a lifetime, for I knew that I was staring at something that very few men have seen-genuine, honest-to-goodness treasure. These unimpressive-looking lumps were masses of coins-hundreds of them, cemented together!" Famous science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and his partner, Mike Wilson, tell the true, exciting story of how they recovered treasure lost in the sea for more than 250 years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Strong Mojo
This book opened my eyes when I first read it in 1985.

The Best Clarke You'll Probably Never Read
This book is out of print and pretty hard to find, but if you ever come across a copy of it I highly reccommend you pick it up. It is a masterpiece of speculative essays. In it, Clarke accurately predicts many things... of course lots of things about space and satellite communications, and even an accurate description of the internet! Also of note are essays on what we should do if we have contact with an alien race, a debunking of UFO sightings (much needed), a debunking of the cliche "nothing is impossible" with a listing of things that are, much talk on the speed of light and relativity, and of course a lot about space. The two most interesting essays in my view are one that speculates on what the Star of Bethleham (Clarke settles on a supernova). Also, there is the short essay "God and Einstein" which is one of the most thought-provoking things I have ever read in my life. Highly reccommended.

What one man can conceive
This collection of 23 essays on the future of man and his technology is truly amazing. Written almost fifty years ago, ACC describes the requirements and experience of going to space, going to the moon, going tothe planets and going to the stars... Often with original points-of-viewand fantastic mental experiments. The best of all is how accurate hisconceptions, predictions and extrapolations are. This book opens one's mindto who, what and where humanity is. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Taking the Middle Way
For me, this book was an introduction to many a strange thing, and to a better approach to the paranormal. For this book is neither a smug debunking of the kind that Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins are so keen on, or the sensationalised tabloid trash of the kind you get repeated continually on cable TV...

The book's attitude is summed up in the afterword by Arthur C. Clarke (who as some have cleverly deduced, didn't write this book) - some phenomena are much more plausible than others. This is a good thing, as all too often, there is a black and white approach, which seems to think that all of the so called paranormal is either real (to anyone with an "open mind") or the province of the gullible and ridiculous. So he says, quite rightly, that there's a better chance of "monsters" living in the deep ocean than in smaller lakes and lochs, which can be searched extensively.

My favourite chapter by far, is the one on Tunguska Explosion. This is something everyone should read. Here you've got a genuine mystery, and it is published with some excellent pictures from the original expedition, interviews with the surviving members etc. The bits about ball lightning and sea monsters are superb. Some of the pieces have been debunked since, unfortunately, but at the same time, plenty of things have emerged since - for example, Roswell and Area 51 were not the big legends in the early 80s that they are now.

Anyone who is looking for stuff on telepathy, poltergeists, ghosts etc will be disappointed. This is to be found in the sequel "World of Strange Powers".

It's great to read a book like this - it talks about the odd things in our world, without getting stupid or trashy. Other authors on the paranormal would do well to learn from it.

doesn't really solve anything
a rather dull book full of lots of big pictures that take up too much space. Only interesting if you know absolutely nothing about the topic. I bought it, wish I hadn't.

Most interesting chapter was the one about Loch Ness, mostly because of the nice photos, but that's it. Oh and, Mr. Clarke believes Nessie exists on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Oh really? How's that for a scientific book!

Trust me, this book really ain't that good.

More confusion about who wrote what.
I am totally confused by this book's title.Ordinarily, one might expect a book called "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" to have been written by Arthur C. Clarke!, but on this occasion there are another two names on the book's cover which are shown separately from Clarke's.Some years ago, Clarke hosted two successful British television series' entitled Mysterious World and World of Strange Powers.This work appears to be the best-selling book which accompanied the former series.

My problem with this book, however, is Clarke's attitude towards the world's mysteries and I get the firm impression that he thinks "Daddy knows best." Put another way, Clarke is a most distinguished scientist and engineer. For him, therefore, all paranormal events have a perfectly reasonable and rational explanation - even if he does not yet have all the answers to hand.

Take the many sightings of various Apemen around the world - Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Almas and Yowie - to name but some.People from different countries and even different continents have reported seeing similar creatures over hundreds of years.To me this suggests there really "is" something out there or the reports would have petered out a long time ago.Clarke, however, draws the opposite conclusion stating; "Personally, I would take reports of contemporary apemen more seriously if there were not so many of them."Wrong!

In short, it is because Clarke is a scientist that his mind appears to be totally closed to the possibility of any true mystery.For that reason, I would suggest his suitability for a book on this subject is questionable.His downbeat comments certainly spoil the enjoyment of the read.

NM

objective approach
i was young when i saw this book between my brothers books.just inspecting it and afterwards readind it over and over at a time when books were scarce and the topics a little 'curious' but what amazed me more was mr clarke's scientific and objective approach even to unknown.now i wish my children could read it and travel to many parts of the world with those questions in their mind.in fact as long as we can ask why,how etc. our development will continue... ... Read more