...by Arthur C. Clarke (what does the "C." stand for?)
A collection of short sci-fi stories by "the great master", etc. etc.
Features The Nine Billion Names of God, and The Star, amongst many others.
Clarke is dead now.
He was one of the early generation of sci-fi writers (NOT quite as early as H.G. Wells or Rice Burroughs, but the same post-war gen. of Asimov, Heinlein, etc.).
His stories are more about the development of technology, encounters with aliens, concepts of space/time travel than they are about character development.
You won't find the inner psychological angst eloquently portrayed as in Ballard.
You won't find fantastic landscapes with panoramic and brutal vistas, as in Frank Herbert.
And you won't find the humour of Heinlein (though there is a mildly dark humour running through most of these stories).
So, why read this book?
Read the book and be amazed by Clarke's prescience - his stories are of the type that you finish reading and think "hmm, a lot of this has actually come to pass".
Amazing prescience.
Seminal.
G.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
C stands for Corneliades
ReplyDeletebut not many people know that...
Wow!
ReplyDeleteWhat a groovy middle name...does anyone know what the E. in the middle of MY name stands for?
(Rellies not to answer please!).
Corneliades - very extra-terrestrial!
G.
I did think you knew he was joking (or referring to himself), so I didn't bother posting his actual middle name, which isn't hard to find. For those interested, his full name and title, letters, etc is:
ReplyDeleteSri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008).