# Arthur C. Clarke



## Werthead (Jan 5, 2012)

*Childhood's End*



> Humanity is about to launch its first manned mission to another world. Finally, the human race is about to escape its cradle and take its first step towards the stars. But on the eve of the launch the skies over the Earth's major cities are blotted out by the appearance of huge, alien spacecraft. The Overlords have arrived, and nothing will ever be the same again.
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> Arthur C. Clarke is one of the most famous writers the science fiction field has ever produced, thanks to his work on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and his role as a popular science commentator (he covered several of the Apollo moon landings for American television and had several successful TV series in the 1980s). Clarke's work is notable for its straightforwardness (he was never a great prose stylist) but also its scientific rigour. With a few exceptions, Clarke had little truck with what he considered to be some of the more fantastical concepts of SF (such as faster-than-light travel and artificial gravity) and did not use them in his work. In his view, the universe is vast, timeless and unknowable. Much of Clarke's work is notable for a certain melancholic optimism: the human race can be much more than it is now, but even so is unlikely to challenge the vastness of the universe.
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> ...


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## Starbeast (Jan 7, 2012)

Great review on Clarke's novel. This story is something I'd enjoy readng. Thanks Werthead.


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## old wallie (Jan 11, 2012)

Clark and I have grown old together, and he's like that wise older brother I never had.


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## Starbeast (Jan 14, 2012)

old wallie said:


> Clark and I have grown old together, and he's like that wise older brother I never had.


 
That's amazing Wallie. I know if I knew him, we'd have some very long conversations. I really enjoyed his tv show too.


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