“Arthur C. Clarke” by Gary Westfahl

Of the “Big Three” authors who dominated the Golden Age of science fiction, I’ve always felt I had the weakest grasp on Arthur C. Clarke. Isaac Asimov’s oeuvre is easy to summarize: technological optimism and robots. Robert A. Heinlein tended to infuse his works with libertarian politics and nonconformists. As for Clarke? I’ve read several of his most famous novels and short stories, but always struggled to identify common themes. Clarke seems to veer wildly between hard-nosed science and wild-eyed mysticism. Childhood’s End features humans who gain almost godlike psychic powers, while Rendevouz with Rama tells the story of a scientific exploration to a mysterious alien object. Hal 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey seems like a warning against A.I., yet Clarke was hardly anti-science – most of Clarke’s protagonists are scientists. 

“Rendezvous with Rama” by Arthur C. Clarke

Rendezvous with Rama is widely acclaimed as Arthur C. Clarke’s best book, and it definitely deserves much of the praise it’s gotten. That said, the book isn’t perfect, particularly when it comes to the characters.

Rendezvous with Rama starts when an large, cylindrical object is detected hurtling towards the sun. The object is named “Rama” after the Hindu god. The United Planets sends the solar survey vessel Endeavour under the command of Commander Bill Norton to investigate. The rest of the book focuses on the crew’s exploration of the alien artifact.

Childhood’s End

I wasn’t a big fan of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End (see my full  review here). Despite that, I was interested to see how SyFy’s TV miniseries adaptation would approach the story. I came away with the impression that this was more of an update to the story than either a straight retelling or a creative adaptation. In that sense, it’s an interesting look at how science fiction and pop culture have changed from 1953, when Clarke first published the novel, to the modern era.

*** WARNING: Spoilers for both the book and TV show follow ***

“Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke

I am reposting my review of Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End before I watch the SyFy channel TV miniseries that aired last month.

Childhood’s End is frustrating. This is one of Arthur C. Clarke’s most famous novels. The story has several great twists, even brilliant, but it’s poorly executed and the ending veers into paranormal mysticism rather than science fiction. Too often, the story drops the interesting ideas it raises in favor of some of the sillier concepts. I can’t really discuss the problems with this book without SPOILERS, so be warned!

“2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C. Clarke

Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey was not simply an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey novel. Kubrick and Clarke actually produced their works in tandem and meant for each to supplement the other. It was meant to be an experiment in telling a story across different media. However, the movie so outshone the novel that most viewers never received the complete experience. That’s a shame because they work well together.