I hope it’s full of stars, sir.
Posted by Tim.
The quote I borrowed from in the title above is further explained here.
I read a good bit of sci-fi growing up, and Clarke’s work was really influential to me. I cut my teeth on the Asimov catalogue, as I’m sure many of y’all out there in blog-land did (and I still enjoy re-reading a few of his really top-notch short stories). That being said, I really felt I had arrived when I wrapped my mind around some of Clarke’s works, which often felt more intellectually rigorous.
For those of you who only know him through 2001 (film and/or book), I’d encourage you to check out some of his other works, particularly Rendezvous with Rama and Childhood’s End, one of my absolute all-time sci-fi favorites.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:23 am Using
Oh wow. Thanks for letting us know, Tim. If you haven’t read Childhood’s End, you should. It’s definitely one of the best sci-fi works that I’ve read. Thank you Arthur C. Clarke for so many great stories.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:01 am Using
Yeah, no kidding. It was a bummer of a headline to see scroll across my RSS feeder. I think he deserved better.
and Tim, I’m with you - I definitely read Clarke and Asimov before I was able to 100% get them. Time for a re-read once I have time… too bad I used up both my college and grad school eligibility.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:51 am Using
I have to give a third vote for Childhood’s End being one of the best sci-fi novels ever.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:53 am Using
Oh, and since we’re talking about Clarke and Asimov, Ray Bradbury was actually my favorite sci-fi writer growing up.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:15 pm Using
I’ve… actually never read any of his fiction (nor Asimov’s - and only one short story by Bradbury), but I quoted his non-fiction a lot in my high school term papers. I used to watch his “Mysterious World” all the time when I was a kid, in re-runs on A&E, I think it was. So sad.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:26 pm Using
Oh man, Nathaniel, I am totally with you on Ray Bradbury. I loved his short stories.