Arthur C. Clarke
3001: The Final Odyssey (Year)
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Genre: Science Fiction
Plot Summary:
One thousand years after he was murdered by HAL, the AI computer on board the spaceship Discovery, Frank Poole's frozen body is retrieved from the asteroid fields beyond Neptune. Returned to the Earth of the 31st century, Poole is restored to conscious life and begins an education in the basics of living in a world dominated by new and exciting technologies. Bored with being part museum piece, part venerated historian, Poole again ventures into space in order to complete the mission he started in 2001. Among the moons of Jupiter, Poole is asked to make contact with whatever is left of his friend and fellow astronaut from his last mission, Dave Bowman. Somehow the consciousness that was Bowman and HAL are alive in the Monolith on Europa, which watches over the new species that are slowly evolving on that Jovian moon. SPOILER: Poole is successful in making contact with Dave and is warned that the Monolith is getting ready to destroy Earth. However, scientists are able to infect the Monolith with an "ancient" computer virus and stop the destruction.
Geographical Setting: Earth and the Solar System
Time Period: the 31st century
Series: Space Odyssey Series, book 4
Appeal Characteristics:
With a measured and suspenseful pacing, this novel is choked full of the elaborate, technological details on the lives of humans in the 31st century. Overall, the tone is upbeat and thought provoking while supplying the reader with a happy ending. The storyline proceeds in episodic, layered snippets of Poole's adjustment to his new life and his dealings with the various elements that lead him back into space. The reader has no problem empathizing with Poole's character, recognizing him as a projection of any 21st century human out of place in the future. The characterization of Poole, Bowman and HAL are faithful to their previous representations in the earlier Space Odyssey novels.
Read-alikes:Besides the rest of the Space Odyssey series, Arthur C. Clarke has written many award winning novels. Of those set in the near future and dealing with encounters with alien devises, Rendezvous with Rama (1974) is the one which shares most of appeal elements with 3001. In this novel, set in the 22nd century, a giant alien object is found passing through the Solar System. When an expedition is sent to intercept this object, the crew discovers an uninhabited spaceship that holds a miniature world inside. Like 3001, Rendezvous with Rama is richly detailed with the technology of the future. With a faster pacing than 3001, Rendezvous with Rama has an upbeat tone while it explores the flawed, yet heroic, character of the exploration team leader. In The Gods Themselves (1972), classic science fiction writer Isaac Asimov explores the problems that can arise when humanity tries to establish a beneficial alliance with an alien civilization. Set in the near future, the aliens are proposing an exchange of energy with Earth that is based on the different laws of physics that governs the two universes. In a thoughtful consideration of the inherent problems of "survival at all costs," this novel compellingly looks at survival from the point-of-view of three distinct cultures. The Gods Themselves is recommended reading for the detailed description of the alien world and the laws of physics that govern it. John Varley's Red Thunder (2003) also takes place in the not too distant future. This novel with a cast of characters that includes two college students, an aging alcoholic astronaut and an idiot savant revolves around this set of misfits' trip to Mars in their homemade spaceship, complete with an amazing new fuel source. With a goal of beating out the American and Chinese attempts at being the first to land on Mars, the suspenseful story unfolds as the astronaut realizes the American ship contains a flawed design that will endanger all the lives on board. Red Thunder has a much quicker pace than 3001, but it maintains an upbeat tone and is filled with elaborate details. Its unique, yet likable, characters are easy to empathize with as they use various methods of dealing with the realities of space travel. Back to the Moon (1999) by Homer Hickam, Jr. is a space adventure story that relies more on knowledge of present day space exploration than on fictional technology. Set in 2002, NASA is ready to send a rocket to the Moon to retrieve a rare helium isotope that will provide the world with enough clean fusion energy to provide power for centuries to come. When the rocket ship is destroyed under mysterious circumstances, a former NASA engineer "borrows" the space shuttle Columbia to complete the mission. While the hijacker's crew is made of an unlikely bunch of female astronauts, Back to the Moon is full of detailed explanations of space-program technology. With more action and dialogue than 3001, this novel contains the suspenseful and character centered elements found in the Clarke novel. Greg Egan's Schild's Ladder (2002), a novel set twenty thousand years into the future, deals with a universe where humanity has conquered everything, including death, and has found that they are the unique source of intelligent life in the universe. When a quantum physics experiment goes astray, humanity is confronted with the reality of a slowly expanding vacuum that will destroy all of humanity. By far the most technical of all these read-alikes, with characters fluently speaking the language of quantum physics, this novel delves into the ethical and psychological impact of space colonization and immortality as they apply to the individual as well as all of Mankind. Amazingly, this novel maintains an upbeat tone with hints that there is hope yet for the human race.
Red Flags:Some sexual encounters and discussion on the non-existence of God
Childhood's End (1953)
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Genre (and subgenre): Science Fiction (Philosophical Focus)
Plot Summary:
A superior alien race of “overlords” suddenly appears on Earth, hovering in silvery pod-like craft, over every major city in the world. Stunned into submission, mankind accepts the seemingly positive changes brought by the invaders: an end to poverty, war, and other evils and inequalities wrought by man over the centuries, thus creating Utopia. Karellen, “Supervisor For Earth,” is the all-knowing figurehead who carries out the mission for mysterious superiors, and initially communicates with only one human, Rikki Stormgren, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Through a series of vignettes that incorporate a handful of interrelated characters, the Earth’s fate, and that of Homo-Sapiens, is revealed.
Geographical Setting: New York City, initially, but narratives also occur in fictional locations, such as “New Athens” and the Overlord’s planet
Time Period: mid-20th century, stretching to end of 21st century, spans approx. 150 years
Appeal Characteristics:
Alternates between character-driven plot and omniscient narration; a slowly paced, uncomplicated read with complicated theories; time travel; space aliens; space travel; end-of-the world plot; Biblical allusions; philosophy
Similar Authors: Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, Ray Bradbury
Red Flags: none
Earthlight (1955)
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Genre: Science Fiction (Philosophical Focus)
Plot Summary:
Bertram Sadler is an undercover intelligence officer who has been sent to the moon observatory to conduct an investigation into a potential security leak that has emanated from that location. Set 200 years in the future, the population of Earth has colonized the moon and the other planets in the solar system. These planet colonies have bonded together to form the Federation. The Federation's main goal is to secure from Earth the heavy metals needed to survive on the other planets. As we enter the story, we learn that a scientist on Earth has written a paper detailing the potential, and likely, existence of these heavy metals deep under the surface of the moon. It is this information that Central Intelligence was afraid had been leaked to the Federation. Inevitably, Sadler fails to find out who the leak is, a point that is moot as the Federation already has learned the information needed to provoke a war. This war lasts less than an hour and due to the
new weapons and technology on both sides, is declared a stalemate. The Federation and Earth sign a peace treaty that allows the colonies and the home planet to once again live in peace and, also, allows the moon to become an economic and political force of her own. SPOILER: It is not until 30 years after the fact that Sadler is able to learn the identity of the observatory spy. Dr. Robert Molton, the Head of Spectroscopy and the last person that Sadler thought would be the spy, admits to Sadler, after one of his colleagues wrote a tell-all memoir that all but provided the name of the spy, that he used his telescope as a communication device to a Federation ship in order to stop the Earth from keeping secrets from her colonies.
Geographical Setting: The Moon
Time Period: 2169, 200 years after the first landing on the moon
Series: Second book in the Space Trilogy
Appeal Characteristics:
Clarke is well-known for his love of using realistic futuristic science in his books and this love can be found overwhelmingly in Earthlight. He not only describes in detail each of the major technological advances used to propel the plot forward, but he does so in such a way that the reader can quite envision the world that he has created. This scientific realism coupled with detailed characterization helps propel a slow-moving plot line that, while interesting, fails to suck the reader in until the last 50 or so pages. The setting of this book is vital to the success of the storyline as the moon is where the true action takes place, i.e. the battle scene, and the only place in the galaxy where a spy could safely pass information to his informants without getting caught. If the book had been set on Earth or one of the Federation planets, it would have failed to provide as believable and interesting a storyline as given in this book.
Read-alikes: "Operation Damocles" (1998) by Oscar L. Fellows. Following the intergalactic war theme, Fellows' first novel in which a terrorist group takes control of a superweapon orbiting Earth that could destroy large portions of the planet unless NASA is able to stop them, fits well alongside of Clarke's Earthlight. In both books, the fate of the world falls into the hands of a small group of scientists. In Nancy Kress' "Crossfire" (2003), the idea of interplanetary war moved from Earth's galaxy to a distant galaxy in which a band of Earth colonists decide to settle. Their colonization efforts are hampered by other alien colonists who also live on the planet. The ensuing battle forces the members of the Earth group to choose sides, much as happens in "Earthlight." Another book by Nancy Kress that compliments the scientific realism of "Earthlight" is "Probability Moon" (2000). In this book, the first in the trilogy, Earth scientists have gone to investigate the mo
on of a planet that they have investigated before. It is only after arriving that they learn that the moon is, in fact, an ancient artifact and not a moon. While investigating this discover, the humans must also deal with the anger that their arrival has caused among the resident aliens of planet. In "City of Pearl" (2004) by Karen Traviss, humans are placed in the middle of a battle between three alien groups for a planet on which an Earth colonization group has begun a new civilization. In the end, the survival of all four races is placed in the hands of the leader of the group that comes to check on the colonization groups progress as she uncovers the secret of the planet. Anyone who enjoys the scientific realism of Clarke's "Earthlight" should try his "Rendezvous with Rama" (1990). In this award-winning book by Clarke, the human race has to discover the secrets of an cylindrical alien creation that is heading toward the sun before it disappears forever.
Red Flags: None
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