RIP Arthur C Clarke

[bork]

This is a sad day. Arthur C Clarke died in his Sri Lanka home at age 90. He was my favorite author and one of the great Science Fiction writers of the past century. Of course he's best know for writing "2001: A Space Odyssey", but he wrote over 100 books and hundreds of short stories.

He was one of the first to suggest the use of satellites orbiting the earth for communications, and in the 1940s forecast that man would reach the Moon by the year 2000 -- an idea experts at first dismissed.

 

When Neil Armstrong landed in 1969, the United States said Clarke "provided the essential intellectual drive that led us to the Moon."

I'm sure more of his predictions will be coming true in the years to come. RIP.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/en_nm/clarke_death_dc_10

[elbobbo82]

Wow, that's crazy, I just picked up 2010 : Odyssey 2 at the library the other day to re-read, the man was not only a great sci-fi writer, he was also a great thinker

[sgtcluels]

Sad day for science I'd say.. you need someone with big bold dreams to keep people pushing. Plus the 2001 / 2010 stuff was great!

[hawing]

When I think of Arthur C. Clarke, I more often recall his Profiles of the Future, which I had to read in high school. His concepts of "failure of nerve" and "failure of imagination" have stuck with me ever since.

[jwaltz]

This is sad news. He lived a full and very long life. I love every book I've read by him.

[fstorm1]

Ah, man. My favorite author. 4:00 a.m. and my day is ruined already. elbobbo82, have you read 2061:Odyssey 3? I believe it trumps the first two in the series, and would've made a great film.

 

Rest in peace. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[bork]

I've got to go back and re-read the series: 2001, 2010, 2061 and 3001. It's been a while and the details have started to fade in my mind. I love the books, but I never cared for the 2001 movie.

 

The only book I didn't like and couldn't finish was "Cradle". But that was co-written by Gentry Lee. Since then, I try to stick to books written by Clarke alone.

[Raw Biz]

This is just a really crazy coincidence but on Jeopardy yesterday (the day he died), he was the "question" to one of the "answers." I just thought that was really weird since the shows are taped ahead of time and how many questions have to do with him.

[fstorm1]

But that was co-written by Gentry Lee.

And that was the reason for the huge drop off in quality between "Rendezvous With Rama" and the following 2 books. While the first is a sci fi classic (just reread it a couple months ago), the following two, penned mostly by Lee, were, uh, not so good. Though I reread Rama 1, I have no intention of purchasing, or reading, the other two.

 

Not to skew this discussion off the great Mr. Clarke, but I just bought and reread Greg Bear's "Forge of God". Another classic that had a less than stellar follow up, "Anvil Of Stars".

[elbobbo82]

fstorm, I'm pretty sure I read 2061 a long time ago, but I can't recall the plot, I think I'll pick that one up next from ye olde library