~~~Arthur C. Clarke~~~

this thread is dedicated to Arthur C. Clarke and all his works. i know there is already a sci-fi book thread, but ACC deserves his own and there is more than enough material to warrant a seperate thread.

a few things, first...

1. please don't ignorantly bash the man or say he is "teh suck."
2. please don't repeatedly argue about his status as one of the greatest sci-fi authors ever. his merits speak for themselves. afterall, he was Knighted!
3. feel free to discuss anything by ACC. whether it be sci-fi, fiction, non-fiction, theatrical, science related, etc.
4. if you haven't read any of his books, shame on you!



ok, you have your assignment, now get to work!

 

Any book recommendations of his besides the Rama series and 2001? I think I've read Childhood' End as well.

 

I've read:

2001
2010
2061
3001

I haven't started the RAMA series yet. The man is absolutely brilliant.

 

Ender- The Hammer of God is a great book about the Doomsday Asteroid. elements of this book are mentioned in the Rama series, i believe.
I read The City and the Stars 6 months ago and it is amazing simply because of the fact that it takes places billions of years in the future.

Salty- read the Rama series asap! it's the best sci-fi saga i've ever read! it gets better and better, and more engrossing, with each book (4 books total). i was completely enveloped in the characters and the very powerful "human" aspect of the story, particularly in the 3 sequels. the first book, Rendezvous with Rama, stands on its own almost as a seperate story. none of the characters from the first book return in the second book, Rama II. all new characters are introduced and remain the focus of the 3 sequels. the third book is entitled The Garden of Rama. i was absolutely stunned by some of the things that happened in the final book, Rama Revealed!



I'm brain farting right now cuz it's late, but there are some other great ones that i've read too, such as Childhood's End. i must admit that there are a lot of his books that i haven't read yet. but then again, he's got sooo many. and believe it or not, i haven't read 2001 or any of it's sequels yet.

EDIT: if i have to edit this one more time i'm gonna hurl.

 

The City and the Stars sounds interesting. Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

just wanted to say i'm here in support of this thread! thanks PiaS!!

i don't have much to say right now (i just woke up )

but, i'll be back!

 

Childhood's End is great. I liked 2001 and 2010, but found the second two weak. Rendezvous with Rama was great, but the sequel trilogy stunk.

 

Arthur C. Clarke is teh suck...

Sorry, couldn't help it.

He's a briliant and wonderful author.

I have read 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061, 3001, and Garden of Rama.

He's brilliant.

I loved his 2001 works, especially as I am the only person I know that can understand them.

Rama was good, but I found it a little too adult for me.

 

Critism of Arthur C. Clarke will be allowed (though bashing will not). If you want a fan club, go to the JCC.

 

Arthur C. Clarke is indeed a great writer. I have only read, unfortunately, 2001 and Renezvous with Rama. Since I will have quite a lot of free time this summer, I will try and read some more of his works.

Has anyone here read The Trigger, which he co-wrote with Michael P. Kube-McDowell? It looks interesting.

 

I loved the Rendevouz with Rama. Then when the other three came out I picked them up. I was so thoroughly disgusted with the second one that I did not finish reading it. I couldn't bear to see what Gentry Lee had done to Rama. It became a trailer park soap opera in space.



I have read 2001, 2010, 2061 and 3001. I enjoyed the first two, 2061 had a meandering plot and 3001 was basically a "Look at what I can do" for ACC.

 

well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. but, i still think the 4 Rama books are incredible, especially the last 2.

as for Gentry Lee, i believe that the majority of his contribution was technical knowledge. but i could be wrong. Gentry Lee wrote 2 books on his own (Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon Night) that take place in the "Rama universe," so to speak. i haven't read them, but, i've seen bad reviews and heard that they are terrible. that doesn't surprise me cuz Gentry Lee isn't an experienced writer.

 

Porkins
I wasn't trying to bash your opinion. I disagree with you over the extent Lee had in the writing of the latter 3 books. They are so much different in writing style from all of ACC's other works that I would presume that Lee wrote them all with approval of ACC.

 

Arthur C. Clarke:
Invented the idea of geo-syncronous satelite. He commented once, "I just wish I would have patented that."

Lives in Sri Lanka, watch out for the snakes!

Used to take apart electronics to see how they worked and then put them back together, when he was still in his early teens.

A Space Odyssey series, simlpy wonderful, the book and movie came from a short story of his called, "The Sentinel." It was about the discovery of an alien relic on the moon.

I agree about the Rama series, the first was great, it go kinda soap opera like as it went on. I did enjoy it overall.

Probably my favorite short story by Clarke is "The Nine Billion Names of God".

He has many science speculation books which I thouroghly enjoy: Profiles of the Future, The promise of Space, and Project Solar Sail among them.

And of course one of my favorite quotes, just read my sig.

 

no worries, Maveric

as long as you like ACC then it's all good.



I should mention that ACC has also written a couple of books for "young" readers: Islands in the Sky and Dolphin Island. i read Islands in the Sky and thought it was pretty good considerig the age group it's aimed at. i haven't read Dolphin Island.


EDIT: "The Clarke Belt" of satellites orbiting the earth was named after him cuz he predicted it roughly 65(?) years ago.

The Nine Billion Names of God is indeed a great short story.

 

From the Lost Worlds of 2001:

"I would like to demolish one annoying and persistant myth, which started soon after the movie was released. As it clearly stated in the novel (Chapter16), HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. (NO, I'm not going to explain that, except to say that it gets the best of both worlds in computer design.) However, once a week some character spots the fact that HAL is one letter ahead of IBM, and promptly assumes that Stanley and I were taking a crack at that estimable institution."---A.C. Clarke

Just for your info.

 

The Trigger was pretty interesting; worth a read if you have the time.

 

I'm posting this because I just saw a clip of the Stanley Kubrick documentary with his collaboration with Clarke, what Clarke said is an excerpt from 2001:

Behind every man there stands 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio that the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly 100 billion people have walked the Earth.

Now this is an interesting number, for by curious coincidence there are approximately 100 billion star in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this universe there shines a star.

A.C.C. speculations on the universe.

EDIT: A little side note now that I think of it, in AOTC one of the special effects people placed an Orion space plane from 2001 in the Coruscant scene. Also, in TPM one of the Discovery's space pods isin Watto's junk pile.

 

I think my favorites have to be,
2001
Rendezvous with Rama
Childhood's End
The Hammer of God
The Songs of Distant Earth
and The Fountains of Paradise

What I remember most is seeing the film 2001 and not having a clue what it all meant and then I read the book.

 

Has anyone read "Greetings Carbon Based Life Forms"? It's a collection of ACC's published articles, musings, lectures etc. I find this side of his work much more facinating than his fiction.

Check it out, it's a great read.

 

up

 

I know this is a little off topic, and I apologize, but VadersLaMent made a note that I must comment on. He mentions that in TPM one of the Discovery's space pods isin Watto's junk pile. I've read of this in Star Wars Insider magazine, and even in the Easter Egg section of TF.N...but I can never see it in the movie. Maybe I'm not looking for the right thing because I think the magazine and this fine web site showed different pictures when describing this.

Can a net savvy person here post a pic of this scene in the movie and draw a circle or an arrow to the pod?????

This has been driving me nuts ever since I heard about it.

On topic: I've read the first two Rama books and loved 'em. That was a while ago, though and I remember diddly. I need to go back and read them again.

 

If memory serves, it is shown to the behind Watto when Qui-Gon tries the mind trick on him to get him to accept Republic Credits.

 

if you are an animal lover, particularly dogs, i highy recommend ACC's short story entitled Dog Star.



...and no, keanu reeves is not in it.

 

If memory serves, the pod can be seen behind Qui Gon during the junkyard scene.

Also, the Orion Space Plane is suposed to be in the Coruscant traffic, but I have no idea where or how visible it is.