What do you think of Arthur C. Clarke

Trojan

Hey all,

I'm an avid sf fan, I've read tonnes of the stuff. I've always loved the two "grand-daddies" of sf, Asimov and Clarke. These two above all others have pride of place on my shelves.

Asimov for the Robots (especially 3 laws), Foundation, his wonderfully 1950ish Multivac/*vac computers, and lots of brilliant novels, short stories and non-fiction. He also has some great detective mysteries (look up "Black Widowers").

Clarke similarly brilliant, with the Rama series, the 2001 series (although I thought 3001 was taking it a bit too far), tonnes of novels (eg Songs ODE, Fall of Moondust being some of my favs).

Clarke is an acknowledged scientific genius, being able to claim the idea for the communication satellite amongst numerous other technologies.

Clarke lives in Sri Lanka, and allegedly, is fond of the natives.

I don't know exactly why he lives there, can anyone know if it's what I think?

Anyways, what annoys me about Clarke is that here is the guy who has written probably the most famous sf book/film ever, about first contact, he's done tonnes about encounters with other civilisations, written the Rama series, etc, etc.

The guy does not "believe in aliens". At all. In fact, he is the biggest sceptic you could think of - he doesn't believe we have ever been visited, and afaicr he doesn't think that there are any *anywhere*. (Personally, I think statistically, chances are billions to one against us being the only people around )

It seems a strange belief for a guy like him to have...

Anyway, I'm just wondering what you think of the guy...

Al.

Yo Mamma

Clarke = Genious

Modern day prophet.

Canaboid

I believe he moved to the Phillipines as they are more relaxed in their attitudes to old men shagging underage boys. He is also quoted as saying pedophillia isnt damaging to kids but the rucous created around cases is.

ConUladh

Remember reading somewhere that he was supposedly misquoted on that,

But back to the books - first couple of Rama books were very good

Magwitch

Clark is a Visionary, favourite story, City and the Stars.

But he cannot flesh out a character to save his life. LIke Azimov, he is not a gifted crafter of the English language and this ultimitly lets all of his work down.

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Keep your powder dry and your pants moist

nesf

I agree completely. But few sf writers can, read fantasy if you want character development, sometimes its the only thing that fantasy writers can do

But Clark's Rama series, was very original, and that in itself was enough for me to buy his books.

Excelsior

I have read some Rama stuff, some other lone novel and the 2001 series. Everything except the first 2001 is pants as far as I am concerned.

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My Adolescent website:
http://www.iol.net/~mullent

Shiminay

To my dismay, I've not read any Asimov (yet), but I've read the 2001 series and Am finishing the last Rama book (damn you Terry Prachett - you keep making me read your books).

The diference between Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II is astounding. The first one is so technical and scientifically precise. The second (and subsequent books) is with the aid of Gentry Lee and it shows - you've got details of characters - history/background and motives.

Same series of books, but 2 very different reads.

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All the best!
Dav
@B^)
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[honey i] violated [the kids]
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Trojan

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kharn:

The diference between Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II is astounding. The first one is so technical and scientifically precise. The second (and subsequent books) is with the aid of Gentry Lee and it shows - you've got details of characters - history/background and motives.</font>

Interesting view of it Dav, it's been a while since I read Rama but it may surprise you to know that Gentry Lee is actually even more technical than ACC - he's a renowned NASA scientist, one of the top guys there afaik.

Al.

Shiminay

hmmmmm

Well, then I guess I really didn't know what I was talking about

My point remains though - they were very different books and the focus on the second was on the characters rather than Rama itself.

There were definitly techy bits - I guess Gentry Lee helped out there, and while it may have had more technically correct stuff, the focus was on the people and their experiences onboard Rama.

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All the best!
Dav
@B^)
So I turned around to Jack Charlton and said: "Well of course it's not a football Jack, it's an '86 Chardonay!!!"
[honey i] violated [the kids]
Tribes 2 Goodness
The Dawn of the Beefy King approaches...

Trojan

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kharn:
Well, then I guess I really didn't know what I was talking about
</font>

Maybe, but maybe not knowing that let you have an unbiased opinion.

GL did a few collaborations with Clarke, Cradle being the 1st to spring to mind, I've got that round here somewhere. You can come over and raid my bookshelves again sometime

You round on Sat aft btw?

Later,
Al.

Manach

While he is a great technical writer with a firm grasp of the science behind his ideas I always got the impression that his characters were merely pegs to carry his notions. Which is surprising after reading his series of autobiographical sketches in "Astounding Days", in which Clarke comes across as both very humane and engaging.

Shinji

Clarke is an amazing visionary, and while I agree that he can't flesh out individual characters all that well, he's exceptionally good at anticipating the reaction of human society to major technological changes. His latest book, co-written with Stephen Baxter, is a fantastic example; Baxter can't write about human beings to save his life, and you can really see the bits that Clarke wrote, because they're the really sound psychological/sociological parts. Fantastic read - called The Light of Other Times or something like that.