Arthur C. Clark 1907-2008

[Chris Grieb]

He died today. His novel 2001 was made into a successful movie. He was widly read and commented on the space flights. He lived a full life.

[Selene]

Chris:

Wonderful writer.

Did he not work on developing radar in WWII?

Adam

[Mike11]

I regret not reading his work. He did what looked like an interesting trilogy with Baxter I should have purchased while I had the chance.

[syrakusos]

I saw 2001 when it first came out, of course... but it was not until I read Sentinel that I "got" it. I was so impressed with 2010 that I made it a class assignment when I taught technical writing at my local community college and then we discussed everything from the graphics up. Rendevous with Rama really stretched my imagination and I gained a deeper appreciation for Clarke's insights, which in turn was my motivation for reading Childhood's End.

[John Dailey]

~ I 'grew up' on his stories. The last 'SF's golden age' writer is now gone. Some later (and recent) next-gen ones are good, but, methinks they stress the F for 'Fantasy' rather than the S in the (supposed) 'Science' in fiction; cinematically, the 'SF'-channel sure makes this clear (barring BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Good stuff, there.)

~ To be sure, Clarke (as Heinlein, Asimov, etc.) stressed the known-of-the-day 'science' as a solidly backgrounded reality-based stepping stone for the idea of imaginable Awesomeness to be yet discovered in a universe we still know little (our hubris nwst) about. Literarily, not many around like him nowadays (maybe Robert L. Forward...or am I dating me on him?)

~ Methinks Clarkes' best stories are the short ones in the collection TALES FROM THE WHITE HART, especially the one once (still?) taught in military academies about 2 species trying to '1-up' each other re the-ultimate-weapon/defense.

R.I.P. ACC

J:D