CITY AND THE STARS, THE

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Summary: The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of
Review: Although the plot, characters, setting, and ideas are all very well down, the reason I love this book so much is its sheer scope: it makes you FEEL (as well as a book possibly can) the passing of the eons. Again and again, it manages to evoke a sense of wonder and take my breath away.

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Summary: You must own this book!
Review: Calling this "classic" science fiction seems like too droll of a description. This book will not let go of you once you've read the first sentence. The characters, the plot, the suspense and the reward are fantastic. It pulls you in so completely you won't even feel like you are reading -- as if you are traveling the moving ways through Diaspar itself, watching the Jester's tricks or struggling against the bonds of the City. I've picked up City and the Stars, flipped to a page in the middle and gotten instantly drawn into Alvin's story again and again and again. This is by far my favorite science fiction book ever. Buy two copies and put one in a sealed plastic bag for the time when your first, ratty and torn copy turns to dust!

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Summary: magnificently timeless Science Fiction
Review: Despite the poor second chapter and an ending that is a collection of loose ends, the book surpasses 2001 Space Odyssey in the reach of its ideas. This is vintage Science Fiction coming from an age when SF was more about intriguing ideas than the polished story telling genre it now is.The prologue transports the reader to a time a billion years hence, to Diaspar the city that was built to be perfect -- forever.

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Summary: A Classic In Every Sense of The Word
Review: Few sci-fi books can claim to be this good. It has everything: future wonders, epic creations and scenarios that you could only see in science fiction, characterization, STORY, suspense, a beautiful and poetic ending, and, as always with Arthur, it never loses site of the human element. This is one of those books that should simply be on everyone's must-read list, as one surprise after another happens in it.

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Summary: The Twilight Years
Review: Grand ideas of great scope were the hallmark of 'Th e Golden Age of Science Fiction' and this book certainly fits that mold. Set in the very far future, so far that many main sequence stars have started to die, this is a story of two very different paths that two different groups of humans have taken to the puzzle of existence and life. In the city of Diasper, we have a totally enclosed and static society, where people live for a thousand years, then store their memories for some later computer controlled reincarnation, where anything outside the city is not only totally ignored, its very existence is practically denied. At the other extreme is Lys, where man is just one part of the world of living, growing things, where bio-engineering has been raised to such an art it is buried in the background, and humans have developed telepathic talents. These are the last two areas of civilization on an Earth that has otherwise become a desert, where even the oceans have totally dried up.

Against this background we find Alvin, the first truly new citizen in Diasper in seven thousand years, born without any memories of prior existences, to whom, without any preset thought biases, all things are open to question. When he starts to question the origin of Diasper and ask what exists outside the city, he is met with rebuff and ostracism. Persisting in his questions, he eventually finds a way to leave Diasper and travel to Lys. The things he learns there and the additional questions provoked by this knowledge eventually lead to things far beyond the Earth and a complete revision of 'known' history, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance.

While Alvin and the other characters are reasonably portrayed, this is not the strong suit of this book, nor will you find a great amount of 'hard' science gadgets and plot devices. This is rather a book that will make you think about the long term purpose of man and his place in the universe. There is a painted picture here of just what the ultimate end point is of pure technological development and the stifling effects such an environment has on people, strongly contrasted with an alternative development line focusing on human mental capabilities and its negatives. Both thematic sides are held up beneath the strong lights of hope, pride, and ambition.

There is a feeling of near poetry, a total 'sense of wonder', that pervades this book, a feeling that will captivate and invigorate the reader, that will take him far outside the everyday concerns of today. In certain areas, the great weight of not just millennia, but billions of years of history will press upon you, where the discovery of ages old items will be as much of an adventure as watching our first manned lunar mission.

This book was a near total rewrite of "Against the Fall of Night". While the basic scenario is the same between the two books, the endings are dramatically different, and actually present a different outlook on man's purpose and his part in the grander scheme of things. I have never been able to decide which of the two versions is better - but that just means you should read both, as they are both fully deserving of your time and attention.

Rating:
Summary: The Twilight Years
Review: Grand ideas of great scope were the hallmark of `Th e Golden Age of Science Fiction' and this book certainly fits that mold. Set in the very far future, so far that many main sequence stars have started to die, this is a story of two very different paths that two different groups of humans have taken to the puzzle of existence and life. In the city of Diasper, we have a totally enclosed and static society, where people live for a thousand years, then store their memories for some later computer controlled reincarnation, where anything outside the city is not only totally ignored, its very existence is practically denied. At the other extreme is Lys, where man is just one part of the world of living, growing things, where bio-engineering has been raised to such an art it is buried in the background, and humans have developed telepathic talents. These are the last two areas of civilization on an Earth that has otherwise become a desert, where even the oceans have totally dried up.

Against this background we find Alvin, the first truly new citizen in Diasper in seven thousand years, born without any memories of prior existences, to whom, without any preset thought biases, all things are open to question. When he starts to question the origin of Diasper and ask what exists outside the city, he is met with rebuff and ostracism. Persisting in his questions, he eventually finds a way to leave Diasper and travel to Lys. The things he learns there and the additional questions provoked by this knowledge eventually lead to things far beyond the Earth and a complete revision of `known' history, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance.

While Alvin and the other characters are reasonably portrayed, this is not the strong suit of this book, nor will you find a great amount of `hard' science gadgets and plot devices. This is rather a book that will make you think about the long term purpose of man and his place in the universe. There is a painted picture here of just what the ultimate end point is of pure technological development and the stifling effects such an environment has on people, strongly contrasted with an alternative development line focusing on human mental capabilities and its negatives. Both thematic sides are held up beneath the strong lights of hope, pride, and ambition.

There is a feeling of near poetry, a total `sense of wonder', that pervades this book, a feeling that will captivate and invigorate the reader, that will take him far outside the everyday concerns of today. In certain areas, the great weight of not just millennia, but billions of years of history will press upon you, where the discovery of ages old items will be as much of an adventure as watching our first manned lunar mission.

This book was a near total rewrite of "Against the Fall of Night". While the basic scenario is the same between the two books, the endings are dramatically different, and actually present a different outlook on man's purpose and his part in the grander scheme of things. I have never been able to decide which of the two versions is better - but that just means you should read both, as they are both fully deserving of your time and attention.

Rating:
Summary: The City a nd the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
Review: Great book, story up-to-date for the 21th century. Sometime I feel as if I am living in Diasper and waiting for the link to Lyss to be opened again.

Also, good service from the seller. The book was not in as bad a shape as he had described!

Rating:
Summary: The City a nd the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
Review: Great book, story up-to-date for the 21th century. Sometime I feel as if I am living in Diasper and waiting for the link to Lyss to be opened again.

Also, good service from the seller. The book was not in as bad a shape as he had described!

Rating:
Summary: This book's appeal is hard to put into words.
Review: Having read this book three times, the first when I was around 14, the desire to pick it up again has only grown stronger. The themes are so incredibly unique--sparking continuous reflection while you read. The plot is so intriguing that you may find yourself immersed in the book with little effort. I agree that this could not only be Arthur C. Clarke's greatest novel, but Science Fiction's.

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Summary: Melancholy precursor to Childhood's End
Review: I appear to be in a minority here, in not believing the book to be a work of genius and a grand look at important philosophical ideas.

The book is similar in some aspects to the later, and I believe better, Childhood's End in that the plot is about the transfiguration of human society. In Childhood's End a great transfiguration into another level of existence and in this one the waking up of two moribund earth societies in the far future.

Slow and ponderously we move through the book, exploring the earth and the universe. We find the universe empty, almost completely devoid of the galactic empire that permeates the legends of earth society. Though there is a point, and it is realized at the end of the book spending 212 pages exploring empty vistas is not my idea of entertainment.

At the end, mankind has awoken and again given an opportunity to grow and become more than the fearful earthbound race it had turned into. We end with much work to do and the idea that it is the journey that is worthwhile, not the destination.

This golden age classic sadly is showing it's age. The ideas now co-opted and familiar to everyone and the plodding plot barely able to hold a reader's interest. The final payoff just barely makes it a worthwhile read, and there is some historical significance of this early example of the conceit of examining deep philosphical issues.