Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Ballantine Books, 1968

Series: Space Odyssey Book 1

The Book:

“After the discovery of a mysterious alien artifact on the moon, a manned mission is sent out deep into the solar system.  Their mission is so secret that not even the astronauts themselves know their true purpose. The ship carries danger with it into the void, and no one knows what the astronauts might encounter at their journey’s end.” ~Allie

I meant for this to be a part of my Sci-Fi Month participation, but November ended up being extremely busy this year (especially near the end).  Hopefully, I can be a bit more active next year!  On to 2001, I was surprised that HAL didn’t play a larger role in the story, since that was mostly what I remember from a long-ago movie viewing. Also, just a note on Clarke adaptations, Childhood’s End will be airing on Syfy in just a few weeks!

My Thoughts:

I find it kind of hard to talk at length about Arthur C. Clarke’s older works, because they are generally such pure and simple expressions of scientific and/or extraterrestrial wonder.  2001: A Space Odyssey is no different in this regard, a story of first contact and the value of sentience in a wide universe.  This novel in particular has had a massive impact on science fiction culture, partially due to Kubrick’s film adaptation.  I barely remember the movie, and I’d never read the book, and still much of the story felt familiar.  I remembered the monolith and its uplift of proto-humans, the space journey in the ship with the dangerous AI, and the astronaut’s eventual destination.  All of the journey is carefully told in Clarke’s usual dry, meticulous style, which I have always enjoyed. HAL provided some conflict and excitement along the way, but I was also drawn in by the awe in the descriptions of approaching massive planets.  

Also usual of my experience with Clarke’s writing, the characters are secondary to the story’s ideas, which are what stay with you after the closing scene.  On top of the first contact and uplift ideas, the future Clarke imagines deviates from our own recent history and present in some interesting ways.  In particular, I was very intrigued by his solutions for the difficulties of space travel--including eating and eliminating in microgravity--and how they differ from the solutions used by today’s space agencies.  However, he also seems to have missed a lot of social progress in his extrapolation to the future.  Given how the story ends, I was surprised to read that Clarke originally intended 2001 as a standalone work.  It seems perfectly set up to show more of humanity’s future, though the sequel didn’t follow until over a decade later.  Clarke seems to have had a way of writing novels that leave people eager to know what might happen next in the universe he has imagined.

My Rating: 4 /5  

2001: A Space Odyssey is another classic by Arthur C. Clarke that deserves its enduring popularity.  As a fan of science fiction and Arthur C. Clarke, it was high time I finally got around to reading it.  2001: A Space Odyssey covers the wonder of space travel and first contact with an alien species, and it has a fair amount of conflict with the untrustworthy ship AI.  The novel also provided a view from 1968 of an imagined future of space travel.  We’re clearly far behind Clarke’s imagined manned space program, but it was really interesting to compare his dreams of the future to our recent past.

Review: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Galaxy Science Fiction (1973), Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1973), Gollancz (2006)

Series: Book 1 of the Rama Series

Awards Won: Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell Memorial, Locus SF and BSFA Awards

The Book:

“At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft.

Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits -- just behind a Raman airlock door.” ~WWEnd.com

Through a weird twist of fate, I actually read all of the sequels to Rendezvous with Rama when I was a teenager, but somehow managed to miss ever reading this award-winning science fiction classic. Happily, this oversight has now been corrected! 

My Thoughts:

Rendezvous with Rama is a classic example of a hard science fiction Big Dumb Object story.  The mysterious, alien spacecraft Rama is the setting, the main character, and the point of the entire novel.  The exploration of Rama is undertaken methodically and carefully, and resourcefulness and careful thought is often required to overcome or predict the difficulties that they encounter.  I enjoyed the depiction of how humans might explore and study an alien spacecraft and what conclusions they might be able to draw from it.  The story was therefore pretty simple and straightforward, but the topic is one that I found to be very interesting. 

In my experience, Clarke’s novels tend to be about exciting ideas, but not to have much in the way of memorable characters. In Rendezvous with Rama, the characters did not really have anything in the way of character arcs, and they were mostly defined by a single trait, skill or characteristic.  Typically, a character would be introduced when their particular trait or skill became important to the exploration, and they would fade back into the background afterward.  Thus, the characters served the plot and the ideas of the novel, rather than the other way around.  In this case, I think the characters were sufficient to fill their roles in the story, and Rama was enough to hold at least this reader’s attention.

Arthur C. Clarke’s writing style is very noticeable in Rendezvous with Rama (though less so in the sequels).  He has a very plain, precise style that I have generally enjoyed.  Clarke pays careful attention to detail in the story and in the setting, and I think that his straightforward style enhances the sense of wonder upon which the story depends. Rendezvous with Rama might not have much in the way of character drama or development, but I think that the exploration of Rama is a story that will capture the imagination of readers for many more years.

My Rating: 4/5

Arthur C. Clarke’s award-winning classic, Rendezvous with Rama, tells the story of a brief human exploration of an alien vessel. I thought that the novel was very characteristic of Clarke’s style, with its careful description, sense of wonder, memorable events and ideas, and forgettable characters. The story is pretty straightforward, and I am surprised, in this era of adaptations, that it hasn’t yet been made into a film (apparently there are script-writing issues).  I think the novel will continue to be loved for many years to come by fans of hard science fiction. 

Review: Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Ballantine Books, 1953

The Book:

“No one knew what to expect when the spaceships of the mysterious alien ‘Overlords’ first appeared above all the major cities of Earth.  While these seemingly omnipotent and omniscient aliens did take ultimate control of the planet from the hands of humanity, they used their power for our benefit.

Soon humans enter a Golden Age, as the Overlords directly or indirectly abolish crime, poverty, racism, and even cruelty against animals.  The near-utopia takes its toll on science and the arts, but at least every human being can live a secure life of comfort.  No one knows, though, why the Overlords came to Earth in the first place.  What is the final goal of all of their apparent altruism, and why do they refuse to tell humanity?” -Allie

This is the second Arthur C. Clarke novel I’ve reviewed on my blog.  The first was Fountains of Paradise, a very dry but entertaining book about building a space elevator.  Childhood’s End is one of those classic books that seem to come up often in discussions of science fiction, and I decided that it was a shame I’d never gotten around to reading it. 

My Thoughts:

Childhood’s End is definitely a classic in science fiction, and I think that it first introduced a number of common elements of alien contact stories.  The most obvious to me was the first contact scene, where the alien ships appeared in the sky and hovered ominously over all the major cities of the world.  While not much felt ‘fresh’ or ‘original’ to me, I recognize that this is probably due to how much so many stories have borrowed from Arthur C. Clarke’s vision over the years.

I felt like the real point of the novel was showing, in wide view, the development of human society under the Overlords, and the development of humans themselves.  On these points, Clarke is very thorough.  He patiently goes through all aspects of society, describing how they are shaped in humanity’s Golden Age and after.  Some of his points predict our actual future remarkably well, despite the fact that we have yet to be invaded by aliens.  For instance, he predicted the sharp rise of passive media, and he was fairly accurate about how access to dependable birth control might affect romantic relationships. 

Though he discusses many societal changes at length, Clarke is less descriptive about how this Golden Age is brought about.  The years where the Overlords are abolishing crime, poverty, nationalism, and all strife felt a little glossed over.  Even with near-infinite power, I could not really buy the Overlords achieving these goals without a huge cost in human deaths.  Clarke seems to assume here that human beings are, all things being equal, completely rational creatures.  Perhaps I’m just crazily pessimistic, but I really don’t think that’s even close to true.

While I really enjoyed Childhood’s End as a description of an imagined human society arising from alien guidance, it did not really work for me as a narrative.  The overall story structure is very simple, though it is told in meticulous detail.  There are a handful of observer characters, but they have very little depth beyond the basic human views they represent.  I think what bothers me the most is the passivity of humanity.  This is the story of things that are done to humanity.  Nothing any human does ever significantly alters the course of events. I associate the end of childhood with the moment when someone takes control and responsibility for their own life.  Similarly, I hoped to see humanity to step up and take charge of its own destiny.  Instead, the end of humanity’s childhood seems to correspond with the moment the aliens finish shaping us into what it has been decided that we should become.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Childhood’s End is undoubtedly and deservedly a classic novel of science fiction.  Despite having been written over half a century ago, some of Clarke’s predictions of the future are surprisingly accurate. Though he does tend to assume humans are much more rational than I believe, he is incredibly thorough in describing his vision of a Golden Age society and the sociological changes that might arise from the presence of benefactor aliens.  I think that this wealth of detail is the main strength of the book.  I thought that the handful of characters lacked depth, and I was irritated by the inability of humanity to play an active role in its own story.  Overall, I think Childhood’s End is still worth reading today for anyone interested in science fiction literature.

Review: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Gollancz/Harcout Brace Jovanovich (1979)

Awards Won: Nebula, Hugo

Nominations: British SF Association Award, Locus SF Award

The Book:

“Vannemar Morgan's dream is to link Earth to the stars with the greatest engineering feat of all time;a 24,000-mile-high space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political, and economic problems while allaying the wrath of God. For the only possible site on the planet for Morgan's Orbital Tower is the monastery atop the Sacred Mountain of Sri Kanda. And for two thousand years, the monks have protected Sri Kanda from all mortal quests for glory. Kings and princes who have sought to conquer the Sacred Mountain have all died.Now Vannemar Morgan may be next.” ~from WWend.com

I was intending to post this review soon after the announcement of this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award, but I ended up being a little delayed.  Anyway, I decided to read his account of building a space elevator, The Fountains of Paradise, in honor of the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

My Thoughts:

The Fountains of Paradise is very much a hard science fiction novel. The star of the novel seemed to be the space elevator (or Orbital Tower) itself.  The main technological advance that makes the Tower possible is an extremely thin, incredibly strong, carbon-based cable.  Clarke spends copious amounts of time describing the Tower, detailing its construction, and exploring the social and political impact of the project.  Most of the suspense of the story comes from the setbacks and disasters along the way.  For instance, the construction was opposed by an order of monks, who were furious at the idea of an Orbital Tower on their Sacred Mountain.  The project also has to deal with dubious popular scientists and the brutal, but rule-abiding, opponent that is the natural world.

This all might sound a little dry, but I feel that Clarke tells his story with a sense of beauty and wonder.  The site of the Orbital Tower, the fictional island of Taprobane, is a slightly altered version of Clarke’s adopted home of Sri Lanka.  I felt as though his reverence and affection for the island---its culture, natural beauty, and history—shined through in the narrative.  The elegance and precision of Clarke’s prose always kept my attention from flagging, even through his many technical explanations.

The main human character of the story is the head engineer, Vannevar Morgan.  The Orbital Tower is his dream, and we see how much of his personal life he is willing to sacrifice to achieve it.  There is a scattering of other characters, but none of them, possibly including Morgan, are ever very deeply developed.  Despite this, the characters seemed to be believable representations of human beings, just ones that the reader never ended up knowing very intimately.

There were also two side plots interspersed with the story of the Tower.  The strongest of these two, in my opinion, was the story of the historical ruler of Taprobane, King Kalidasa.  His story resonates with Morgan’s, as he builds amazing engineering feats for his time on the nearby mountain of Yakkagala.  While Kalidasa is dead in the present time, his construction on Yakkagala, including his ‘Fountains of Paradise’, lives on. Both Kalidasa and Morgan are deeply driven to see their projects to completion, and there is a sense of challenging God in both Kalidasa’s paradisiacal gardens and in Morgan’s Babel-like Tower. 

The weaker of the two side plots involves an alien robot, Starglider, making first contact with humanity and establishing communication. I think, from events at the very end, that I understand the thematic purpose of this side plot, but it felt very irrelevant for most of the book.  This first contact story only took up a very small portion of the book.

My Rating: 4/5

The Fountains of Paradise is a tale of people driven to accomplish great things.   Both the long-dead King Kalidasa and the current engineer Vannevar Morgan intend to do whatever it takes to complete their great work, leaving behind a legacy that will long outlast their own lives.  The story seems focused on the details the projects themselves, rather than the characters, but Clarke’s graceful style of writing evokes a sense of wonder even in the driest of explanations.  The side plot concerning humanity’s first contact with a robotic alien spaceship seemed a bit unnecessary, but it was only present in a small part of the overall novel.  Overall, Clarke’s depiction of the construction of a space elevator was compelling, beautiful, and well worth reading.

P.S.:  The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is mentioned in The Fountains of Paradise.  If you’ve never seen footage of it before, here’s a youtube video.  Nature really is a formidable opponent!