Childhood's End

Rating:
Summary: Didn't like it
Review: "Childhood's End" begins during the Cold War, when gigantic alien spaceships appear over all of Earth's major cities. Within a few years, the alien "Overlords" have eliminated all war, poverty, and disease, and turned the Earth into a real-life paradise. The main strength in this (and every other) Arthur C Clarke novel is the writing. If you buy into the idea of the novel, then you'll find that it moves at a good pace and provides decent suspense. There's no denying that Clarke was a skilled writer, and that he produced good dialogue and excellent visual descriptions.

The body of the book is spent describing life on Earth after the arrival of the Overlord's. There are a lot of interesting concepts that are brought up but not developed in full. For example, Clarke mentions that the visit from the aliens leads to the elimination of all religions on Earth. I don't think that demolishing religion would be quite that easy, and I think that the argument could be looked into at great length in some other book. Unfortunately, Clarke only spends a couple paragraphs on that subject before he abruptly jumps to the next one. Similarly, Clarke doesn't explain the new economic system of the planet very thoroughly. He merely states that poverty has been eliminated and that no one needs to work menial jobs any more (presumably, they've been replaced by machines). But how would this affect people? Wouldn't most of them choose to sit around being lazy most of the time? Although there's some description of science and artwork after the encounter with the Overlords, it's not very in depth.

And then there's the ending, which I didn't like at all. I won't it away, but I will say that Clarke tries to describe humanity's proper place in the universe. I felt that the ending was rather shallow and dodged many of the important questions that were raised earlier in the book. Overall, I found that this book didn't live up to its reputation.

Rating:
Summary: I continue to be a huge Arthur C Clarke fan!
Review: Along with Asimov and other great science-fiction authors whose works have added themselves to other great works by other sci-fi masters: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Ringworld", "Foundation", as well as the more modern cyberpunk works like "Neuromancer", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", "Snow Crash", "Prey", and "Cyber Hunter". All are must-reads for any hardcore science-fiction and cyberpunk collector.

Rating:
Summary: Man's destiny
Review: Along with Rendevouz with Rama, this is probably one of A.C. Clarke's best known works (not counting 2001). In it he paints a portrait of an Earth under the protective wing of the Overlords, but man has no explaination...nor do they really need one. Only a handful of humans question the motives of the Overloads who have abolished everything from disease to poverty to war. The book is broken into three sections: arrival, the golden age, and the last generation. Each part is populated with believable and vulnerable characters. The only constant throughout the book is Karellen the Overlord who is the Supervisor of Earth. It is his task to prepare mankind for the destiny that awaits them.

Clarke does a great job making us feel like we are insignificant in this universe, and that there are stranger and more fantastical things possibly awaiting us. The concept of the ending (whick I won't give away), or the hook, of this book is quite interesting. While not a 5 starrer in my book, this is a great read, and one of the classis that has truly earned it's label. READ MORE CLASSICS!

Rating:
Summary: A Classic in the Sci-Fi Genre
Review: Arthur C. Clarke is the master on the science fiction genre, and Childhood's end is one of his greatest works. The book begins with humanity near the possiblity of nuclear destruction, and just beginning to look to the stars for their future. However, the hope for conquest of the stars is shattered when a fleet of alien ships suddenly appears over every major city on the planet. The aliens are far more technologically advanced than man, and their intellect is unmatched. Instead of having the aliens take over the planet and enslave humanity, however, Clarke has the aliens(dubbed the "overlords" by the citizens) request only a few things- abolish war, poverty, segregation, and cruelty to animals, and set up a global nation. With these obstacles removed, humanity enters a golden age, and earth is a utopian society; yet the Overlord's still keep their true reason for visiting earth secret.
Childhood's end is engrossing, read it in one sitting. The ideas that Clarke puts forward are classic, the characters, such as the enigmatic Overlords, are original and captivating. With the overlords, Clarke has set up an alien race unlike any other in science fiction. Earth doesn't know the intentions of the Overlords, and neither does the reader, making the Overlords mysterious and magnificient at the same time. The Overlords are a key part on the book, and one of the reasons that make it a classic. The ideas Clarke has in the book(despite the caption in the front that reads" the opinions expressed in this book are not those of the author") make you think in a different way, and put a new spin on the history and future of humanity. The ending, which I won't spoil, is both great and sad at once, very bittersweet.
Childhood's end is a classic, and the ideas that Clarke had about the future are far-reaching, and some of the aspects of his future earth can be seen in our modern culture. The only problem with the book is its slightly dated beginning, however the rest of the novel more than makes up for it. Childhood's End has influenced everything from sci-fi movies like "Independence Day" to computer games, and even a Pink Floyd song. I highly recommend it to any fan of the sci-fi genre, and to anyone looking for a new perspective on humanity.

Rating:
Summary: Science Fictions or even novels in general at their best!
Review: Most of my view of Science Fiction comes from the aliens are the bad guys so lets kill em movies such as Starship Troopers, Aliens movies and such.

This was the first SF book I picked up in a long time. I heard stuff about Arthur Clarke and that he was a good SF author from the 1950's which also surprised me.

After reading this book, it simply blew me away. Every single science fiction movie and novel I read is gravy compared to this excellent piece which entraps you in its intricate plots and characters and its unpredictability.

I can go on for hours and include hundreds of spoilers for this book but I won't. But if you like science fiction remotely, you must read this book. And anotehr amazing thing is that it was written in the 1950's and the beginning bares much resemblence to Independence Day.

Speaking of that I do wish a movie would be released on this story but the only problem is I don't think any adapted screenplay could do this book justice.

Rating:
Summary: The Future of the human race
Review: This book is one of the most important books ever written. It's authored by a man whose statement: "The greatest human tragedy was the hijacking of morality by religion." was contradicted by the book's major idea, i.e that at some point the 'irrational' will seduce the last generation of the 'children of man'.

There is a statement in some editions by the author that 'The author is not responsible for the ideas within the book. (????!!!) Who then is responsible?

In the last days, the physical world began to tremble and shatter as the minds of the children begin to create for themselves another level of 'being'. a world their parents cannot comprehend. There are two levels of 'oversoul' tenders, one higher level which controlled even the 'controllers' who administrated the children's entry into the higher level...(which seems to me to accord with William Blakes' Tree of Life Allegory, if you want some validation that 'creating mentally' is an idea that's 'out there' in the general realm.)

Read the book as pleasure and as a kind of prophetic description of this time, when the 'mental world' of 'man' has altered so very much as to reconfigure what was pre-assumed to be 'reality', per Newtonian mechanics.

The 'oversoul' of man must be attached to what has been defined as the 'religious domain', a fact that many scientific minds are being corralled into acknowledging in 2004

If the hijacking of morality by religion was indeed a tragedy the hijacking of 'reason' by 'science' must then be a supernatural tragedy. I love the book, it was the most 'affective' book I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking, inspiring, thought-provoking
Review: This is one of those oft-recommended "classics" that sat in my mental "oughta read" list until I recently stumbled across a copy at a used-book sale and took advantage of the happy chance to at last read it. I began reading, and kept reading, and by the end of the day had read the whole thing; there are few books that succeed in keeping my attention so fully from start to finish, so for that alone I give the story five stars. ;-) But the book also succeeds where so many works of fantasy and science fiction fail: in inspiring a depth of emotion and reflection on the deeper issues of human life and circumstance in the cosmos. Good speculative fiction is ultimately about the heart and mind, not merely about packing lots of action scenes and weird characters into the tale, and Clarke is a writer who touches both heart and mind in an elemental, profound way.

Childhood's End is essentially a "coming of age" tale for the human race. The prose is fluent and readable, and I liked the way the story swept through a century, giving a breathtaking panoramic perspective with selected close-ups of various people at various points in the course of the unfolding events. The way Clarke handled the final scene is poignant and left me with a lingering sense of deep wistfulness.

If you like your fiction philosophical and nuanced, Childhood's End is a worthy read.