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Summary: Arthur C. Clarke always has his finger on sci-fi's pulse!
Review: And this book proves it again when early in humanity's twenty-second century, after all "ills" have been more or less taken care of, including starvation, an astronomer learns that the death of this "perfect" human civilization is hurtling toward it. A fascinating read, even if it is much shorter than other Clarke novels. Add it to such books as: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: Arthur C. Clarke always has his finger on sci-fi's pulse!
Review: And this book proves it again when early in humanity's twenty-second century, after all "ills" have been more or less taken care of, including starvation, an astronomer learns that the death of this "perfect" human civilization is hurtling toward it. A fascinating read, even if it is much shorter than other Clarke novels. Add it to such books as: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.
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Summary: Clarke is a Master
Review: Arthur C. Clarke is the most reknowned SF writer living on the planet today. His novels like Childhood's End and The City and the Stars, amoung others, are classics of 20th century SF. This is not his best novel. Matter of fact, it could be argued that this is not a novel in the strict since of the word. It's more of a long detailed outline. Much it dealing with the things like the the future of religion and the Catholic church. Interesting commentary on it. And not of of it as far fetched is it might seem. Space Guard is an idea that is starting to get discussed. Mainly because we now know it was a cosmic visit that took out the dinosaurs. Humanity would like to avoid such a fate. It will probably still be a long time before governments and political leaders take up the idea of a Space Guard. But it is someting whose time has come to be done. The fact that this is good a great novel does not really take away from Clarke much. As Clarke off his game a little is still better than most SF writers and their output. Recommeneded. More for the thoughts and ideas than for anything else.
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Summary: Shortest book I've read in a long time..
Review: Arthur C. Clarke packs a bunch of Sci-Fi in this short (240 pages) book. The picture he paints of the future social structure is really thought provoking. The food recycler that recycles all our "output" back into "tasty input" made me wince a little, but then again why not? Can cloned minitigers as pets could be really that far behind now that we have "Dolly" the cloned Scottish sheep as the subject of today's headline? The merging of Christianity and Islam into a common religion and the emergence of a new techno-religion is an example of the "total picture" I enjoy in good science fiction. The plot of the peanut shaped asteroid, Kali, colliding with earth is good too
Rating:
Summary: Shortest book I've read in a long time..
Review: Arthur C. Clarke packs a bunch of Sci-Fi in this short (240 pages) book. The picture he paints of the future social structure is really thought provoking. The food recycler that recycles all our "output" back into "tasty input" made me wince a little, but then again why not? Can cloned minitigers as pets could be really that far behind now that we have "Dolly" the cloned Scottish sheep as the subject of today's headline? The merging of Christianity and Islam into a common religion and the emergence of a new techno-religion is an example of the "total picture" I enjoy in good science fiction. The plot of the peanut shaped asteroid, Kali, colliding with earth is good too
Rating: 
Summary: A decent afternoon read, but ultimately fairly hollow
Review: Arthur C. Clarke takes off on one of the "What If.." postulations that are often used in fiction today. In this case he looks at "What if there was a giant asteroid heading for Earth in the early twenty second century?" The result is an interesting story that ultimately has very little substance to it. Considering the rash of movies and books on this topic, surprisingly little is spent on dealing with the reaction to the situation by people as a whole. The focus is on really one character, and the central plot serves to little change him at the end. More of the feelign seems to be "well, we do what we can do and that's it." I dont' feel that the characters are any better or different people at the end. A bulk of the story is more of Clarke's predictions to future society in terms of social, political and theological changes. The themes are touched up on with the minimalist school of development. A central theme meditating on religion, religious changes and end times is introduced but sorely lacking in fuller utilization. The original souce of the book was an article for Time Magazine, and this feels like the 2nd draft of a growth of it into a novel - the pieces are there but they need to be fleshed out more. An enjoyable and quick read, but ultimately leaves you wishing for a bit more substance.
Rating:
Summary: A decent afternoon read, but ultimately fairly hollow
Review: Arthur C. Clarke takes off on one of the "What If.." postulations that are often used in fiction today. In this case he looks at "What if there was a giant asteroid heading for Earth in the early twenty second century?" The result is an interesting story that ultimately has very little substance to it. Considering the rash of movies and books on this topic, surprisingly little is spent on dealing with the reaction to the situation by people as a whole. The focus is on really one character, and the central plot serves to little change him at the end. More of the feelign seems to be "well, we do what we can do and that's it." I dont' feel that the characters are any better or different people at the end. A bulk of the story is more of Clarke's predictions to future society in terms of social, political and theological changes. The themes are touched up on with the minimalist school of development. A central theme meditating on religion, religious changes and end times is introduced but sorely lacking in fuller utilization. The original souce of the book was an article for Time Magazine, and this feels like the 2nd draft of a growth of it into a novel - the pieces are there but they need to be fleshed out more. An enjoyable and quick read, but ultimately leaves you wishing for a bit more substance.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast paced, enjoyable read
Review: Clarke's use of short chapters adds to the breakneck pace of this book. Clarke's use of genuine science has always struck a chord with me. As a result, I read his books not only for recreation, but for the learning experience which usually accompanies them. The subject matter has received recent exposure with a pair of films regarding the approach of an asteroid, so it's interesting to see how Clarke handles it. The only negative? I thought the characters were a bit flat. Otherwise, if you like Clarke, give this one a look.
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Summary: An enjoyable story of a possible future disaster
Review: First of all, this is a light, but interesting story about an asteroid heading straight for earth. By light, I mean not a bloated, boring look at all the technological aspects of such a story. I like Clarke for his "hard" science fiction. I also like his concise style. I thought some of the background on the main character was a bit dull, but I agree that the second half is more interesting. I was also hoping for more on the environmental effects of such an encounter with an asteroid, but all in all it's still a worthwhile read.
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Summary: A great book! I read half of it in one night!
Review: I checked this book out of the library, mostly because of the cover (and it's similarities to the movie Armageddon, which I really want to see), but I had no idea that it would be this great. It's a bit boring at the beginning, but about halfway through the book, it really picks up steam and I found myself finishing the last half of the book in one night. If you like sci-fi or "asteroid" books, read this.
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