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Rebecca is currently working as an occupational therapist after studying at the University of West of England. Is a sucker for a romance or something that brings some magic to the real world.
The story begins when man is just an apelike creature, no different to all the other creatures. A black obelisk, one morning, arrives and performs some mind altering experiments on the apes. After the obelisk leaves the apes have new thoughts and feelings and this is how they developed from apes to humans over the following millions of years. All due to seeds that the obelisk planted in their minds.
Fast forward thousands of years and a black obelisk is discovered on the moon. As a result a mission is sent to a moon of Saturn looking for alien life. However on the journey disaster strikes the ship. And this is just the prelude to an even more disastrous encounter.
NB It's very difficult to talk about the themes of the book without giving away spoilers.
One of the issues is that this is a very visual book. Words are very good at describing intangible things such as thoughts or feelings, visual extravaganzas not so much. Imagine watching a fire work display or having someone describe a firework display using only words, which would you choose. Clarke's magnum opus is full of such displays.
In addition I have always found that the best books have a way of immersing you in the story. I didn't feel that with this book. I felt I was being talked to, rather than being immersed in... Of course this may just be a me thing.
I still cant make up my mind whether the ending is profound or pretentious. However I did enjoy the section where, while on the mission to Saturn, our astronaut encounters sentient computers/algorithms. Wow.
But overall it's a bit of a mixed bag for me, I don't know if it works as a novel. It's more of framework for Clarke to theorize on science fiction (future and past.) In fairness to the great man, considering the short story was developed in 1948 and the novel in 1964, he does a bang up job. Among other things he predicts the Ipad and A.I. In fact, as a small homage, the "about the author" section in this review is written by A.I. It even put in the emoji's! I don't know if Clarke would be happy or horrified with this. We are on the road to the future and we cant get off.
“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”
“. . . Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy--of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.”
“But he knew well enough that any man in the right circumstances could be dehumanised by panic.”
“But was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping-stone to something which, long ago, men had called “spirit.” And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.”
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick. Review...here
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Let’s delve a bit deeper into the fascinating life of Arthur C. Clarke:
Science Fiction and Beyond:
Space Odyssey and Legacy:
Champion of Space Exploration:
Life in Sri Lanka:
Honors and Titles:
In summary, Arthur C. Clarke’s legacy transcends fiction, reaching the stars and the depths of our imagination. 🚀📚
After the damp hallway the heat of Twenty-fifth Street hit him in a musty wave, a stifling miasma compounded of decay, dirt and unwashed humanity. He had to make his way through the women who already filled the steps of the building, walking carefully so that he didn’t step on the children who were playing below. The sidewalk was still in shadow but so jammed with people that he walked in the street, well away from the curb to avoid the rubbish and litter banked high there. Days of heat had softened the tar so that it gave underfoot, then clutched at the soles of his shoes.
It was hard to get your hands on cash money, and cash money was the only thing that counted. They never saw any at home. The Welfare ration cards took care of everything, everything that kept you alive and just alive enough to hate it.
On the end of a string they carried their prize, a large gray dead rat. They would eat well tonight. In the center of the crowded street the tugtruck traffic moved at a snail’s pace, the human draught animals leaning exhaustedly into their traces, mouths gaping for air.
Aldiss called him "a constant peer and great family friend". His friend Michael Carroll said, "Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean or Raiders of the Lost Ark, and picture them as science-fiction novels. They're rip-roaring adventures, but they're stories with a lot of heart."
This review is by guest reviewer... Rebecca Morgan Rating...5⭐ You can buy "In Memoriam"... Here You can find out more about Ali...