Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!

Rating:
Summary: Rendezvous with Arthur
Review: Any fan of Clarke doesn't need to read this, or any other review of this book; they will already own it. However, I think that anyone with an interest in the progression of scientific thought over the last 50-60 years would find much of interest here. It is fascinating to read what Clarke thought about particular issues over this period, particularly the way his predictions on astronautics changed over the years. This kind of information can only be learned by reading literature of the time, and this book is a great way of doing so without spending time on large numbers of now hopelessly out of date books.

Although this book covers a lot of non-science material (particularly the essays on skin-diving), I found them a refreshing change, and quite enjoyable. Coming from Australia, where we are taught to be wary of sharks, I was amazed by some of the things Clarke did around them.

The only real criticisms I have with this book are the redundancies of information in various places (the virtual doubling of an essay is a shocking display of editing), and a few essays seem to have been truncated, which was a shame. In particular, the essay on fractals just kind of stops, at a really interesting point too. Admittedly, it was nothing that he hadn't already covered in Ghost From The Grand Banks, but it should have been left complete anyway, or at least ended properly.

Rating:
Summary: Rendezvous with Arthur
Review: Any fan of Clarke doesn't need to read this, or any other review of this book; they will already own it. However, I think that anyone with an interest in the progression of scientific thought over the last 50-60 years would find much of interest here. It is fascinating to read what Clarke thought about particular issues over this period, particularly the way his predictions on astronautics changed over the years. This kind of information can only be learned by reading literature of the time, and this book is a great way of doing so without spending time on large numbers of now hopelessly out of date books.

Although this book covers a lot of non-science material (particularly the essays on skin-diving), I found them a refreshing change, and quite enjoyable. Coming from Australia, where we are taught to be wary of sharks, I was amazed by some of the things Clarke did around them.

The only real criticisms I have with this book are the redundancies of information in various places (the virtual doubling of an essay is a shocking display of editing), and a few essays seem to have been truncated, which was a shame. In particular, the essay on fractals just kind of stops, at a really interesting point too. Admittedly, it was nothing that he hadn't already covered in Ghost From The Grand Banks, but it should have been left complete anyway, or at least ended properly.

Rating:
Summary: Esays by a good man and a great intellect
Review: As the last of the original "big three" (Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Arthur Clarke), the author spans the generation that thought many big ideas and saw some of them happen. It is quite interesting to read the essays where no one thought space travel would happen so quickly. Furthermore, once there were human footprints on the moon, no one thought that at least three decades would pass before new ones would be made. All of which verifies one of the points made in some of the essays. We made the moon a goal for all the wrong reasons of international competition and once those reasons no longer existed the will to continue the search appears to be lacking.
There are several themes that recur in these essays.

1) The inexorable movement of evolution and how it will eventually lead to the replacement of the human species with something else, perhaps entities with silicon chips for a brain.
2) The absurdity of believing that God would be so malicious to create an overwhelming body of evidence for a universe billions of years old just to confuse humans.
3) An unwillingness to suffer fools gladly, which sometimes led to strained relationships with friends, in particular a rift with Robert Heinlein over Heinlein's support for the massive and unworkable Strategic Defense Initiative.
4) A tremendous passion for life and all the promises that it has to offer.

I found the reading of these essays to be an uplifting experience. Even though his frustration at some of the political and prejudicial stupidities we find ourselves in comes through, it is written in such good humor that you don't mind. Perhaps that is the sign of a great writer. Someone who can take a depressing fact and present it in a way that makes you happy you read it.
Although the field of science fiction is more popular now than ever before, it is clear that in some ways things have not changed for the better. Without question, the time when the big three were writing their best work is one that can be described by the biblical phrase, `there were giants in those days.' Many of the footprints are in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: Before Carl Sagan (whom, one learns, was himself turned on to science through the words of Sir Arthur), Arthur C. Clarke, in addition to being one of the world's leading and best science fiction writers, was perhaps the most important, and most widely read, science writers of the 20th century. He published several books that are classics in the field of astronomy and physics, such as Interplanetary Flight (the volume that turned on Sagan), The Exploration of Space (the first English language boook to lay out the basic principles, and Clarke's first successful publication), The Promise of Space, Voices From The Sky, Profiles of The Future, and many, many others. Unfortunately, due to the somewhat ephermal nature of these works - as opposed to his science fiction - most of them have been out of print for many years. This is a shame, as Clarke's writing brilliance, smooth of prose, elegant wit, and wry sense of humor come through just as clearly in his non-fiction as in his fiction. He has that great talent of explaining difficult concepts in simple fashion, through analogy, metaphor, and other practible devices, while still remaining informative and literate, and without resorting to condescending. Thankfully, this book has solved much of our problems. Many of Sir Arthur's best and most invigorating essays, covering a nearly 60-year period, are reproduced here, in permanent form - and what a beautiful volume it is, too. A lot of the writing focuses on scientific topics, yes - particularly astronomy and physics - but a good deal of the book deals not with science, but with a variety of other subjects. These include Clarke's numerous postings to the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Royal Astronomical Society, and various magazines; personal reminisces (including several documentary-style writings on his scuba diving adventures - unlike many reviewers, who have commented that these essays seemed boring to them, I found them quite a good and fun read, and they led me to decide to go back and read some of Clarke's entire books on this subject, long ignored by me for this same oversight); forwards to books by other people; reviews (it is interesting to see how Clarke views certain classic science fiction movies and books, as well as his fellow science fiction authors and scientific colleagues - many of whom are mentioned, and recounted in loving detail (the book includes tributes to Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Stanley Kubrick, Willy Ley, Jack Williamson, Robert Bloch, among others... in addition to many mentions of other such notables as Ray Bradbury, Stephen Hawking, Werner van Braun, and many others) speeches, television appearances, etc. Most all of these are informative, many of them entertaining, and all of them readable. Better selections could perhaps have been made, it is true: I would rather have seen more of his incredible 1960's essays from Voices From The Sky and Profiles of The Future (several of which, for instance, describe a future computer network - the internet - before Clarke could possibly have known...) in place of some of the earliest essays in this book, which mostly consist of Clarke's postings to the Journal, and are thus rather vengeful and out of character attacks on various peoples. Still, one cannot go wrong with this book. Of particular interest to ACC fans (who will already have much - though by no means all - of this material, it also includes a lot of autobiographical information on Clarke - and background on the essays - in the form of introductions the the various sections, quite a few pictures of the man (there's an insert in the middle of the book), afterwards, and an extensive About The Author section. In the final analysis, I would reccommend unceasingly this book to anyone who is into Clarke's factual writing, or science writing in general, as well as to anybody who loves his fiction and would like to try some of his non-fiction out. This is a good - though perhaps not the best (I would still reccommend Profiles of The Future as the best starting point for ACC's non-fiction works) - place to start, and a nice companion volume to his recently released collection of short fiction, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. It's a fine place to start for his non-fiction in general. However, don't take it as the final word on his science writing, as it doesn't focus specifically on that, and many of his best science articles were left out of this book. If you enjoy this book, and you want to read more of his scientifically oriented stuff, I unceasingly reccommend Profiles of The Future (recently re-published in a beautiful, lavish new updated volume) and The Promise of Space (if you can find it - an out of print masterpiece)... and perhaps Ascent To Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography if you want something a bit more technical.

This books comes highly reccommended from me to all carbon-based bipeds.

Rating:
Summary: Fleecing Carbon-Based Bipeds...
Review: I have avoided reviewing this massive failure for quite a while, since Sir Arthur was one of my childhood heroes. I still recall the thrill when I found some paperback collections of his short stories at a local drug store in the early 1950s... here was a science fiction writer who knew science and also knew the future of mankind lay in space exploration!

Well, my idol soon developed feet of clay, so to speak. Becoming a physics major, I soon discovered Clarke's actual knowledge of physics was nothing to write home about. And as the 1960s wore on, into the 1970s, and then the 1980s, I found him more and more frequently lending his name to unworthy but presumably profitable undertakings in which he himself all-too-obviously had no involvement whatsoever, including an increasingly unreadable and apparently interminable series of "novels."

The present anthology is almost all clay, and endlessly padded and repetitive clay at that. There is no visible editing, and misprints are everywhere (my favorite is "brass bar" where Clarke wrote "brass bra"! You can bet that he never read, or reread, a word of the text printed here.) Most vexing is that the entire tome is a shameless and absolutely relentless display of egotism and name-dropping that makes Forrest J. Ackerman look humble! Many of the contributions are brief notes or tributes dashed off hastily on various occasions and quite unworthy of being preserved in this way. Inspirational evocations of the wonders of the space frontier are cheek-by-jowl with unreadably dull travelogues and tediously written, utterly trivial underwater "adventures".

Worst of all, while a young Clarke fought against pseudoscience, an elderly, ailing Clarke has shamelessly and incomprehensibly embraced it and there are some really, really embarrassing testimonials to the wonders of the long-forgotten "cold fusion" and to the "zero-point" variant of perpetual motion.

Finally, I'd like to note that the early Clarke has a lot to say about what it means if world society turns its face from the endless promises of infinity and instead gazes at its navel Eastern style--- it means, he says bluntly, cultural death. The elder Clarke, living in just such a culture, and receiving rich (but token) rewards from it, has fallen strangely silent. Some of Clarke's fellow science fiction writers (virtually none of whom he mentions at all in the course of the book) knew what this meant as early as the 1970s--- see for example fellow British author John Brunner's STAND ON ZANZIBAR, in which the crazed inhabitants of an overpopulated earth tear at one another senselessly in mass-murders of ever-increasing scale, like a hundred rats in a laboratory cage built for three --- and precisely what you read about with ever-increasing frequency and severity in your daily newspapers! Coincidence? This is one science-fictional scenario I desperately wish had remained fictional!

Anyway, save your money, folks. This volume is unworthy of your attention, and quite unworthly of the Arthur C. Clarke we used to know and admire.

Rating:
Summary: Clarke is the greatest among science-fiction writers
Review: In the range of topics and quality of writing, no one surpasses Clarke. What I like about Clarke's writings is that they contain as much science as fiction. As a prophet, he is incomparable. I recommend this book to everyone, especially all Clarke fans and non-fans alike.

Rating:
Summary: Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!
Review: It's not for nothing that Arthur C. Clarke is "the Prophet of the Space Age" (although he dislikes being called a prophet). Indeed, there's only one prophet, and it sure ain't Mohammed. Hardly no other person in modern times have had such an enormous effect on his contemporary world as Arthur C. Clarke. He invented the concept of the geosynchronous communications satellite, he co-wrote the script for the single most influential science-fiction movie ever (that's 2001: A Space Odyssey, in case you didn't know), and he has written several of the classics of modern science-fiction (Rendezvous with Rama, to name but one). And at the venerable age of 85, he's still showing little sign of slowing down, although he is mostly confined to a wheel-chair these days.
This collection of articles, essays, and other short pieces of writing, spans Clarke's entire career from the 1930s until the end of the 1990s. The material is divided into seven parts according to which decade it was originally written in, and each part begins with an introduction. Several of the individual articles and essays are also prefaced with new introductions by Clarke. Part I, entitled "Rockets and Radar," spans the 1930s and -40s, and contains 13 of Clarke's writings. Among them are such gems as "Extraterrestrial Relays," which is the famous essay in which Clarke first described his ideas about geosynchronous satellites; and "The Challenge of the Spaceship," an essay, originally delivered as a lecture, which, among other things, caused George Bernard Shaw to apply for membership in the British Interplanetary Society at the age of 91.
Part II, "Beneath the Seas of Ceylon," spans the 1950s and contains 23 pieces of writing, among them the concluding paragraphs from the book Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950). Of this book, the late Carl Sagan, the world's most famous astronomer, later said that it had been "a turning point in my scientific development." Sagan was just one among the many great men and women to have been inspired by Clarke's writings. To me, Part II was the least interesting section of Greetings, however, since the last 9 essays describe that other great passion of Clarke's, diving. It was during the 1950s that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), which would remain his home for the rest of his life, and he spent a lot of time there diving and running an "underwater safari" enterprise. Not being a diver myself, I didn't find these stories quite as interesting as Clarke's other writings.
Part III, "Kubrick and Cape Kennedy," spans the 1960s. Like Part I, it contains 13 pieces of writing. Especially worth mentioning is "Space and the Spirit of Man," and the very short "God and Einstein," which is an absolute must-read. Here can also be found the speech that Clarke gave when he received the Kalinga Prize in 1962. Part IV, "Tomorrow's World," spanning the 1970s, is very short, containing as it does only six pieces. Noteworthy is the speech Clarke gave at the ceremony when the final agreements setting up the world satellite communications system (Intelsat) were signed at the State Department in Washington, on August 20, 1971.
Part V, "Stay of Execution," brings us to the 1980s, with 15 writings by Clarke. The outstanding piece here is "Credo," containing some of Clarke's views on religion and the great questions. Clarke doesn't pull his punches, which makes this essay a very enjoyable read indeed. Part VI, "Countdown to 2000," contains no less than 37 different writings by Clarke, written during the 1990s. Several pieces here are previously unpublished. A lot of the material is very brief, and a bit repetitive in places. But overall, it's still great stuff. The last part, "2000 and Beyond," is the postscript, containing two articles and also the speech Clarke delivered at the 1997 Emmy Awards (although this speech consists mostly of stuff that already appeared in stories from Part VI).
All in all, this is a great collection of very inspirational writings from the master, and it is well worth delving into. It is perhaps not a book you read from cover to cover, but a book you can return to regularly over a long period of time. You will always find something new to enjoy beyond the next page. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!
Review: It's not for nothing that Arthur C. Clarke is "the Prophet of the Space Age" (although he dislikes being called a prophet). Indeed, there's only one prophet, and it sure ain't Mohammed. Hardly no other person in modern times have had such an enormous effect on his contemporary world as Arthur C. Clarke. He invented the concept of the geosynchronous communications satellite, he co-wrote the script for the single most influential science-fiction movie ever (that's 2001: A Space Odyssey, in case you didn't know), and he has written several of the classics of modern science-fiction (Rendezvous with Rama, to name but one). And at the venerable age of 85, he's still showing little sign of slowing down, although he is mostly confined to a wheel-chair these days.
This collection of articles, essays, and other short pieces of writing, spans Clarke's entire career from the 1930s until the end of the 1990s. The material is divided into seven parts according to which decade it was originally written in, and each part begins with an introduction. Several of the individual articles and essays are also prefaced with new introductions by Clarke. Part I, entitled "Rockets and Radar," spans the 1930s and -40s, and contains 13 of Clarke's writings. Among them are such gems as "Extraterrestrial Relays," which is the famous essay in which Clarke first described his ideas about geosynchronous satellites; and "The Challenge of the Spaceship," an essay, originally delivered as a lecture, which, among other things, caused George Bernard Shaw to apply for membership in the British Interplanetary Society at the age of 91.
Part II, "Beneath the Seas of Ceylon," spans the 1950s and contains 23 pieces of writing, among them the concluding paragraphs from the book Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950). Of this book, the late Carl Sagan, the world's most famous astronomer, later said that it had been "a turning point in my scientific development." Sagan was just one among the many great men and women to have been inspired by Clarke's writings. To me, Part II was the least interesting section of Greetings, however, since the last 9 essays describe that other great passion of Clarke's, diving. It was during the 1950s that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), which would remain his home for the rest of his life, and he spent a lot of time there diving and running an "underwater safari" enterprise. Not being a diver myself, I didn't find these stories quite as interesting as Clarke's other writings.
Part III, "Kubrick and Cape Kennedy," spans the 1960s. Like Part I, it contains 13 pieces of writing. Especially worth mentioning is "Space and the Spirit of Man," and the very short "God and Einstein," which is an absolute must-read. Here can also be found the speech that Clarke gave when he received the Kalinga Prize in 1962. Part IV, "Tomorrow's World," spanning the 1970s, is very short, containing as it does only six pieces. Noteworthy is the speech Clarke gave at the ceremony when the final agreements setting up the world satellite communications system (Intelsat) were signed at the State Department in Washington, on August 20, 1971.
Part V, "Stay of Execution," brings us to the 1980s, with 15 writings by Clarke. The outstanding piece here is "Credo," containing some of Clarke's views on religion and the great questions. Clarke doesn't pull his punches, which makes this essay a very enjoyable read indeed. Part VI, "Countdown to 2000," contains no less than 37 different writings by Clarke, written during the 1990s. Several pieces here are previously unpublished. A lot of the material is very brief, and a bit repetitive in places. But overall, it's still great stuff. The last part, "2000 and Beyond," is the postscript, containing two articles and also the speech Clarke delivered at the 1997 Emmy Awards (although this speech consists mostly of stuff that already appeared in stories from Part VI).
All in all, this is a great collection of very inspirational writings from the master, and it is well worth delving into. It is perhaps not a book you read from cover to cover, but a book you can return to regularly over a long period of time. You will always find something new to enjoy beyond the next page. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightened prediction is the name of the game.
Review: The fiction of Arthur C. Clarke has educated and enlightened multiple generations of readers with works that brought the future to us at an accessible, understandable level. Some of my favorites include Imperial Earth, The Fall of Moondust, and The Fountains of Paradise. And in this year, one must honor the classic "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Neil McAleer's biography of Sir Arthur C. Clarke is perhaps one of the best books to give a full understanding of this most versatile and visionary thinker of the twentieth century; but it is only through reading the non-fiction writings that one truly gets to know what a brilliant visionary that Arthur C. Clarke truly is. He has put out numerous papers, articles and books--but they generally have been out of print for many years--which is what makes this collection of essays so wonderful. Here is a logically organized anthology that brings together diverse areas of thought including science, science fiction, politics and more. It does not strive to be a complete collection, but more an essential sampler serving as a tribute to this most knowledgeable and witty intellect.

If you have not had the joy of reading Arthur C. Clarke's non-fiction, this is a wonderful place to start. If you have not read any in the last decade, this is a nice rememberance. And if you grew up reading his fiction and non-fiction as I have, it makes for a wonderful tribute to a truly phenomenal man.

Perhaps there is hope for the future of mankind?

Rating:
Summary: Very Readable If a Bit Redundant and Long
Review: There's no question that Arthur C. Clarke is one of the great intellects of the past 100 years, or that his contributions to science and science fiction are immense, or that he can really write. So a book of this sort is completely welcome, and the range of topics this work covers, from the visions of the future past writers offered to the role of technology in the world, is notable by itself.

For the most part, the essays live up to the promise of the premise. Clarke is sharp, funny and generally optimistic. I could have done without the handful of instances where he dismisses religion - why do all sci-fi writers seems to have it in for those of us who still believe in a kind and active God? - but he's not intemperant or intolerant of the differences that make up the world. If all the critics of this world were like Clarke, we'd e in much happier shape.

Two things hurt this book, though. One is the numerous essays about Clarke's adventurues as a deep-sea diver in Sri Lanka. I know that he's proud of his days doing this, but I found such essays both dull and out of place next to the rest of the book. Never mind that I am disappointed that none of his essays address the ongoing cilvil wars in his adopted homeland.

The other trouble is the redundancy of the essays. One essay about computers includes the entire body of another essay in this book. Several observations are repeated, such as the quip about the Apollo 8 astronauts and the monolith (it's funny once, but not three times). If the book could include new intros and closings to the essays, certainly they could have been edited for the package.

In any case, though, this is a worthwhile work to read and enjoy if you're a fan of Clarke's works, or a fan of sci-fi, or a space buff, a technology watcher, or just want to see how some of the great ideas of the past century were born. Clarke gave us the communications satellite, HAL, and an unqiue view of what is and what might be.