I am very sorry to hear of his passing. His books are some of the few science fiction novels that I've bothered to cart around with me on my journeys. He will be missed.
Interestingly, I was just re-reading 2001 the other day, after catching a few minutes of it on the teevee.
RIP, Mr. Clarke.
"My G-d, it's full of stars....."
RIP Sir Clarke.
I loved his collection of short stories from the White Stag... or something like that. One that stuck with me was about the perfect song...
good passing...
Do not stand at his grave and weep,
He is not there...he does not sleep.
He is the thousand winds that blow...
He is the diamond glints on snow...
He is the sunlight on ripened grain...
He is the gentle autumn rain.
When you waken in the morning's hush,
He is the swift uplifting rush
Of gentle birds in circling flight...
He is the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at his grave and cry—
he is not there... he did not die...
I didn't know about his pioneering satellite work.
Good stuff.
I remember watching a television series that I rented on tape from the library "Arthur C. Clarke's Universe" or something like that. It was all about paranormal phenomena and he was the host.
tales from planet earth is one of my favorte story collections, ever. this is a sad, but expected event
The Summerlands just got one heavenly bard. Shine on you crazy diamond. May your next incarnation be in the Mars Colony.
Littlest Gator,
The collection is Tales from the White Hart. He wanted science fiction to include a category such as "tall tales" and I think the way he put it was: " stories that would be intentionally unbelievable rather than, as is all too often the case, unintentionally so."
Childhood's End is truly inspired.
Rest in Peace, Arthur Charles Clarke.
joe frantic
"Childhood's End" was the best novel he ever wrote, IMHO.
But then, I pretty much gave up on his novels after "Rendezvous With Rama". My mind seemed to slide off of it as if it were made of plateglass, and his later novels were even worse that way.
Some of his earlier ones were, too.
OTOH, Arthur C. Clarke was the finest master of the short story the field of science fiction has ever seen.
"Tales from the White Hart" is a perfect example. Clarke could compress storytelling like no one I've ever read before or since.
He did a ONE PAGE story for Scientific American back in the 70s that blew my socks off. ONE PAGE. Nobody else in the field could achieve something like that.
At his peak, Clarke juggled big ideas, vast spaces and deep time better than almost anyone else.
luved tales from the white hart.
also, 2001 is one of my top 10 films of all time, one of the few films that shows you what it's about, instead of telling you what it's about. there's only one scene of exposition in the whole movie, when dr. haywood first arrives on the moon, and discusses the "cover story" of quarantine.
also of note, in my opinion: clarke was one of the first telecommuters in history, writing the script to the sequel (2010) on a kaypro computer in sri lanka and sending it via modem to directer peter hyamns in los angeles all the way back in 1985. my kind of guy.
Childhoods End was pretty good...
I remember reading all the short stories... so many... so many..
Very sorry to read about his death. His writings had a big impact on me as a teenager. Not too may years ago, I used some of his articles from the 40's and 50's for a class I was teaching; not because he was often the first to write on the topic, but because his explanations were the clearest. I heard that "Childhood's End" was once made into a TV mini-series, but was never aired. Does anyone know anything more ?
RIP Mr. Clarke
"One by one, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
He will be sorely missed.
Later,
Nine Billion Names is definitely a classic. I was a bit disappointed, though, when I read it to my daughter, who was nine or ten at the time. She saw it coming.
Speaking of which,
http://www.xkcd.com/395/
He looks so happy in that photo. I'm sure he's even happier, out there, exploring the Universe.
Arthur C. Clarke was one of my first 'adult' writers that I really got into. I think my favorite book of his is 'The City and the Stars,' about life on Earth a billion years in the future. I really liked 'Rama,' and 'Childhood's End' also, and the book version of '2001' remains one of the most insidiously scary books I've ever read. Skippy, that's a nice insight about the movie. I also still have my tattered copy of 'Profiles of the Future,' in which he extrapolates to extremes future technology and science.
A huge loss, to be sure, but we were lucky to get a lot of goodness from him in his life.
I truly admired this man, though I admit that his later novels could sometimes be tough to slog through. Sometimes I didn't make it, but if you haven't read The Fountains of Paradise or Songs of Distant Earth, give yourself a treat.
But what should be remembered the most is that in 1945 he published a paper that was the first to propose putting a satellite into a geostationary or geosynchronous orbit. Clarke suggested these satellites, motionless relative to the surface of the earth, could provde a stable platform to bounce signals off of, and could lead to revolutionary advances in global communications.
Boy was he right. Advances in communication are what have shaped our world, and the geosynchronous satellite is the one thing that has made this possible. His novels could be wonderful, but this idea was genius, and his claim to eternal fame.
I was a fan of Sir Arthur's work from the time I bought a used copy of "Expedition to Earth", in the hole-in-the-wall Pipe and Tobacco store across the street from the college campus. (This was so long ago that -- despite what you'd think from the location -- it really was a pipe and tobacco shop, not a head shop. My eldest brother would let me tag along, so I could squander my horded allowance on the sf paperbacks.)
Then, when I was 12, 2001 - A Space Odyssey hit the theaters. It's almost impossible to convey what seeing that movie was like, in 1968. We're pretty blase about special effects now, but literally nothing like this had ever been seen before. Especially from talents on the level of Kubrick and Clarke. It literally changed me forever, and probably spawned a whole new generation of astronauts and space scientists.
Because of what it says about Sir Arthur, I'd like to pass along an anecdote told me by a friend and contemporary:
The 1936 film Things to Come was in some ways the pre-WWII era's 2001. It was a lavishly mounted spectacle, with a screenplay by H.G. Wells himself. Although nowadays, about the only people who're familiar with the movie are s.f. film antiquarians like your truly, in its own time it was a major influence on the next generation of British sf authors, including Sir Arthur.
I won't bore anybody with trying to summarize the film in any depth. All you really need to know is the first part of the story takes place thirty years after an apocalyptic war, which began on Christmas Eve, 1937. The cities had been bombed to rubble, and biological warfare had killed one in two of the survivors. Most of the world has reverted to a semi-feudal state, with petty warlords running their little domains and feuding with their neighbors.
The only organization that retained any high technology is called Wings Over the World, which operates from an air base in Basra. They've dedicated their lives to trying to re-unite the world and rebuild civilization on a more humane plan, using their sole command of the air, and non-lethal weaponry to end the rule of the warlords.
Anyway, when I was corresponding with this friend of Sir Arthur, I asked him if he remembered seeing the film when it debuted. He replied that he recalled it quite well. He was 14 at the time, and borrowed his aunt's bicycle to pedal quite a few kilometers over country roads to the nearest movie theater, to see it.
And, he added, on the outbreak of WWII, Sir Arthur sent him a telegram, with this message:
"See you in Basra."
The only thing I can add is, I hope right now Sir Arthur's having a nice chat with hyper-advanced, bodiless intelligences, in a French Provincial suite at the core of a blue giant. Either that, or a guided tour of the Galactic core.
Rest in Peace, Dr. Clarke. You were one of my inspirations to become an author.
Non omnis moriar.
"Childhood's End" was the best novel he ever wrote, IMHO.-Stormcrow
I'm with you on this pick Stormie.
R.I.P. Mr. Clarke
I had worked in the satellite communications industry, and Arthur C. Clarke's pioneering ideas about them was the start for artificial, man-made satellites orbiting the earth.
RIP, Dr. Clarke. You will be missed.
oh and a very important note jesse. Deah dosn't get this one, he belongs to Deaths brother.
I was daydreaming a few months ago, and out of nowhere came this thought:
Childhood's End was a metaphor for Generation Y's immersive connectedness.
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