Arthur C. Clarke

I was not a big reader of Arthur C. Clarke’s work. Nor was I a fan. Of the little I read, I never really felt drawn into the story; I felt the characterizations were cardboard. But, you don’t read the man for his characters. You read it for the ideas. The Ideas, capital-I. And obviously he was a genius in the Big Idea department.

Two short stories I have to recommend. “The Nine Billion Names of God,” is, I will admit, perhaps the perfect short story. It’s a short quick read and packs an incredible punch. I remember it gave me chills when I first read it. I forced it upon my wife, by no means a reader of the genre, and she professed liking it, which says a lot.

The other is one I read about a month ago, “The Parasite.” Without giving away the story, it's about a possessed man. But who (or what) possesses him is what’s interesting, and I guarantee you’ve never thought of before what Clarke has in mind here. I was unable to second-guess the revelation. And that makes for an enjoyable read.

Ten years or so ago I found Rendezvous with Rama a book I could not put down. Yeah, it was dry and technical, two-dimensional characters and all, but I simply had to read through to the very end. In a few sentences: A massive object, apparently intelligently-designed, enters the Solar System and a spaceship from near-future Earth is sent to investigate. Hilarity ensues. No, I’m kidding. The astronaut-detectives enter and explore this gigantic, apparently abandoned artifact and set to hypothesizing its purpose. Sinister? Or is it a floating relic, a museum? A strange book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Think I’ll cue it up for a re-read on the fiction deck.


Clarke was firmly areligious. I pray the man passed over well.