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Summary: Arthur C. Clarke's vision of Star Trek
Review: In his author's foreword, Arthur C. Clarke writes that this is his vision of the "space opera" or Star Trek, and here he uses real science to give us a more realistic view of inter steller travel. No Warp Six could get you to another solar system in just a week's time. The actual travel would last several centuries. Hence this book deals with the last races of man who travel to another solar system to begin a new life, after Earth's sun goes Nova. They land for refueling and rest on a planet called Thalassa where human beings have already lived for 300 years, and this clash of cultures could alter the planet's culture in very harmful and unseen ways. Great book. Should also be made into a movie.
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Summary: Good science, excellent myth-making; poor history.
Review: Mankind has left the planet earth, about to be engulfed by the explosion of the sun, in spaceships that fanned out around the galaxy, the passengers sleeping for hundreds of years until reaching habitable planets. A new ship with its cargo of a million Sleeping Beautys has reached the planet Thalassa, an island surrounded by ocean. This civilization enjoys all the virtues and the gentler vices of the South Sea islands, with neither God (belief in whom had done mankind "more evil than good") nor sexual jealousy. (Clarke goes to pains to emphasize his book is science fiction, rather than fantasy, but when it comes to human nature he allows himself a dose of utopian fantasy.) There is not much of a plot here in the ordinary sense of the word. But the pictures Clarke evokes of the death of our planet, colonization of others in a slow-motion diaspora, of islands in a sea of potentially hostile blue, made the book well worth the read for me. Clarke's planet is less exotic and more ominous than C.S.Lewis' water-world of Perelandra; his literary and psychological imagination less acute, but more scientifically disciplined. As a student of comparative religion, I was interested in how faith fared in Clarke's 27th Century. Clarke allows vestiges of a vague deism among a specialist or two, but the idea of a God who answers prayer has long since been ruled out by "statistical theology," which shows that good things happen to good (and bad) people just as often as you would expect by the laws of chance. This seems a bit feeble to me; I personally have had experiences that would take a tremendous number of unanswered prayers to flatten on the statistic curve. Another interesting touch is that one of the refugees has brought with him a tooth of the Buddha, because he "founded the only religion that never became stained with blood." This was a nice touch, artistically. But I get the impression Clarke, between writing novels and doing science, had little time left to learn much about the real religious history of East or West, as opposed to rubber-stamping popular skeptical prejudices. Oh well....
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Summary: A thought-provoking novel
Review: Yet another masterpiece by Mr Clarke! This book was unlike any other science fiction books I have ever read; no alien invasions, no "let's take over the universe" attitude. It was really awesome and I highly reccomend it for anyone who can truly enjoy a good science fiction novel.
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Summary: One of my all-time favourites
Review: Don't ask me why, but this book is one of my top 5 all-time favourites. The science isn't particularly interesting, there are few unique ideas, and the characters are just characters. However, it all comes together and feels right. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Engrossing and Irresistible!
Review: This is the first science fiction book I have ever read; I casually picked it up one day and just couldn't put it back down! I finished the book in only 2 days; a record for me. There are some very deep, thought-provoking concepts in there that are incredibly fascinating, but will drive one into maddness if you think about them too much. I wish there was a sequel to this book; I really want to find out what became of Sagan II.
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Summary: Songs of Distant Earth
Review: Arthur C. Clarke's Songs of Distant Earth was, unfortunatly, a bit disappointing. The ideas, on which the story is based, e.g. the sun going nova prematurly, are geniunly worrying and interestingly handled. Unfortunatly, the story itself left little to be exited about, as one chapter seems to drag into the next. By the time I was half way into the book, I found it about as exiting as watching foot fungus evolve sentience. I have to give two stars for the brilliant ideas and the realistic depiction of space travel, but the story and characters let it down. If your a Sci-fi buff, defidently give it a try, you might like it.
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Summary: Sir Clarke has definitely done better.
Review: After reading 2001, 2010, 2061, the Rama series, and Fountains of Paradise, I was expecting a lot more from this book. Not that it wasn't good; I enjoyed reading it. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to Sir Clarke's usual fare...character development was a little weak, there didn't seem to be an ultimate goal to the story (and this is reflected in the fact that there isn't really any climax), and he seemed to let the ending kind of dribble out. Overall, I would recommend that people pick up the books I've mentioned above rather than this one...they are much better.
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Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: The story served as an adequate vehicle to put forth some very interesting and thought provoking ideas about space travel and the time frames involved, without jumping to warp speeds. Character development was a bit thin, with some characters that were not needed at all. I think the book's best asset will be to inspire new writings with closer inspection of the ideas put forth. Overall, an entertaining read with plenty of ideas to ponder and expand on. Isn't that what good science fiction should do?
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Summary: anti climatic
Review: This is a very good book with very interesting view points and many ideas that sound as if in few decades can actually come true (an elevator connected from the earth to a space station in space) and the characters are very interesting as well because they all have there own personlaity traits. The only real problem with the book is the ending, it's a nice one but not very descrptive as if the whole book was leading to it but ignored it at the last minute. Also, unlike other Clark novels, I could'nt find any real deeper meaning or theme that we can apply to ourselves. But it is still a very fun read.
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Summary: My favourite sci-fi book!
Review: My sci-fi book number one. I really recommend its reading, especially together with the music composed by Mike Oldfield for the book (cd with the same title). It is also recommendable for people who are not so much into sci-fi because of its beauty.
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