Comments on: Neither technology nor magic was sufficiently advanced.

Neither technology nor magic was sufficiently advanced.

Skorgu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:15:16 -0800

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001, inventor of the telecommunications satellite and the only reason most geeks can find Sri Lanka on a map, has died shortly after celebrating his 90th birthday.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:16:52 -0800

By: box

box — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:17:49 -0800

By: popcassady

popcassady — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:18:29 -0800

By: bap98189

bap98189 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:09 -0800

Guess he won't get to see that space elevator built after all. .

By: joedan

joedan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:11 -0800

By: spec80

spec80 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:27 -0800

Thank you for this respectful, thought out post, Skorgu.

By: wheelieman

wheelieman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:20:34 -0800

Uh, this far and nobody has called double?

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:21:07 -0800

By: StrikeTheViol

StrikeTheViol — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:21:14 -0800

2001 was the first "book for adults" I read in one sitting as a kid. Thanks for inspiring me, Mr. Clarke.

By: nola

nola — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:21:32 -0800

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:21:58 -0800

Uh, this far and nobody has called double? Can we keep this one?

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:22:17 -0800

wheelieman, shhhh, this is a more respectful post than the other one. .

By: UseyurBrain

UseyurBrain — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:22:52 -0800

Man...another one bites the dust :( .

By: spec80

spec80 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:23:03 -0800

wheelieman, if you read the comments in the first thread, you'll see that this one is far superior and does not wish someone else would die in order to fulfill the "rule of three".

By: Captain_Science

Captain_Science — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:23:08 -0800

. Passing of another scifi great.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:23:13 -0800

. The only famous person I've ever had an unsolicited personal email from... commentating on something I had written about him; so I'll fondly remember him just for that, never mind all the fiction.

By: anthill

anthill — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:23:21 -0800

By: Duncan

Duncan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:23:22 -0800

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:24:44 -0800

We're keeping this one.

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:24:53 -0800

On a personal note, Arthur C. Clarke holds one of the highest places in my private pantheon. The Fountains of Paradise and its glorious depictions of the murals at Sigiriya affected me far more than I can rightly explain. As trite as it is to say aloud, I truly feel the world is a darker place without him.

By: Bighappyfunhouse

Bighappyfunhouse — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:24:58 -0800

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him." Man, that guy was one of my heros. Dammit, we're not immortal. But I really wish. He could have been. I guess in some way. He always will be. .

By: adamdschneider

adamdschneider — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:25:04 -0800

2001 and Rendezvous with Rama were great. 2061 was pretty OK. 3001 was terrible, but hey, better than anything I've written. .

By: never used baby shoes

never used baby shoes — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:25:18 -0800

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible." Farewell. .

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:25:59 -0800

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:26:14 -0800

"Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal." Rest in Peace, Mr Clarke. I hope you were right, and that there is hope for us all after all. .

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:26:34 -0800

By: kozad

kozad — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:26:58 -0800

Many authors and artists and actors die, some greater, most lesser, but Arthur C. Clarke's life was very special: sui generis. R.I.P.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:27:15 -0800

By: liet

liet — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:27:25 -0800

By: ruthsarian

ruthsarian — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:27:35 -0800

By: edmcbride

edmcbride — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:28:33 -0800

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:29:08 -0800

. * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* .* . ...my god, it's full of stars! It was only after reading a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, I forget the title but it was in a collection called the 9 Billion Names of God, that I felt trapped on the earth and knew the sadness of probably dying here without ever traveling the stars. The end of that story made me deeply sad and made it hard to breathe. I have that feeling again today.

By: teferi

teferi — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:29:31 -0800

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:29:34 -0800

By: Silune

Silune — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:30:06 -0800

You couldn't say he went before his time, but man, it still stings. 2001, Childhood's End, and Rendezvous With Rama are three of my favorite stories. At least we still have Bradbury.

By: booticon

booticon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:30:15 -0800

By: WinnipegDragon

WinnipegDragon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:30:44 -0800

And this, truly, is Childhood's End.

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:30:56 -0800

As an astronaut knocks over a crystal goblet, he becomes absorbed into the monolith of the Starchild... .

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:31:00 -0800

You want a rule of three ? Here are Hawkings, Sagan and Clarke all in one video.

By: tracert

tracert — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:31:08 -0800

By: papafrita

papafrita — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:31:40 -0800

The man was an inspiration. He will be missed. Que descanses en paz.

By: randomination

randomination — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:31:52 -0800

I can only imagine the smalltalk in the queue for the pearly gates Arthur C Clarke is having with Captain Birds Eye. .

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:31:57 -0800

Why did Clarke choose to live in Sri Lanka?

By: ekstasis23

ekstasis23 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:32:21 -0800

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:32:40 -0800

Thank you for stretching my imagination, Mr. Clarke.

By: mosk

mosk — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:32:41 -0800

By: pointilist

pointilist — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:33:04 -0800

For such a long time I read everything I could get my hands on by Arthur C. Clarke. Thanks. .

By: [expletive deleted]

[expletive deleted] — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:33:34 -0800

By: Zonker

Zonker — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:33:44 -0800

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:34:25 -0800

By: oflinkey

oflinkey — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:35:37 -0800

. Such a loss. Clarke is one of the major reasons I took my education as fas as I did.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:36:55 -0800

█

By: bruceo

bruceo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:36:56 -0800

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:38:20 -0800

Goddamit fleetmouse I'm crying now. Thanks a lot. Fuck.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:38:21 -0800

By: borkencode

borkencode — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:40:06 -0800

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:42:22 -0800

He was a great man who enriched the lives of others. He'll be missed. He led a full, fruitful life, however, and all of us would be lucky to accomplish so much and die at 90.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:42:57 -0800

By: absalom

absalom — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:45:01 -0800

I was introduced to SciFi by way of my Uncle, who was big into the classics of the genre (ie: The Big Three) . The first book he gave me, when I was about 9 or 10, was Rendezvous with Rama and, though I didn't finish it the first time around (because I lost it), I loved it. I never really took to Heinlein, and while I was a huge Asimov fan, I always loved Clarke best. 2001 set the standard by which I judged SciFi for many years, and I even loved the cooky stuff like Childhood's End. I always felt his work explored the most interesting topics - I loved that he seemed especially fond of humanities' reaction to "first contact," and I loved that, as often as not, such contact led not to chaos or enlightenment - the obvious choices - but were ambiguous and often befuddling. I'm thinking particularly of 2001 and Rama in this regard: and while several of the sequels ruined a lot of that for me (particularly in the case of Rama), he leaves far more unknown than known. Fantastic thinker and writer, a hell of an intellect. I wish more still had his desire to reach out and explore.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:45:38 -0800

I think I have a bit of a re-reading project on the way.

By: sien

sien — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:46:09 -0800

Was he gay? Just curious. .

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:46:22 -0800

By: Pecinpah

Pecinpah — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:46:25 -0800

By: MonkeyToes

MonkeyToes — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:46:28 -0800

A star has gone out. .

By: paulus andronicus

paulus andronicus — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:47:02 -0800

By: zengargoyle

zengargoyle — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:47:09 -0800

I read Clarke on Shakespeare and Clarke on the Bible, and tons of sci-fi. I am sad. . Have to watch 2001 again tonight.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:48:47 -0800

Clarke and Kubrick were the architects of my dreams when I was kid. I saw 2001 in the theater when I was 8. I didn't understand it but I loved it. .

By: pracowity

pracowity — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:49:02 -0800

Was he gay? Old Guardian piece:

Clarke's private life remains a mystery. He was married briefly to an American, Marilyn Mayfield, now dead, whom he met while diving in Florida in the 50s. Asked whether he is gay, Clarke always gives the same puckish pro forma answer: "No, merely cheerful." The answer, presumably, lies in the "Clarkives" - a vast collection of his manuscripts and private writings, to be published 50 years after his death.

By: infini

infini — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:49:47 -0800

. Why did Clarke choose to live in Sri Lanka? posted by mattoxic at 3:31 PM on March 18 from NYT And while his imagination and research ramble the universe, through space and time, and into the inventiveness of the human mind, Mr. Clarke's attention, or better, his creative powers, dwell little on the island he has adopted as home. Indeed, it was his fascination with space that landed him here. "When skin diving started," he explained, "I realized I could be weightless. By god, I could be weightless! Well, my hobbies have a way of getting out of control. One year early on, Harper's commissioned a book on the Great Barrier Reef, and I stopped here on the way. That was in '56. I did a book on dives around Sri Lanka. So, here we are."

By: YAMWAK

YAMWAK — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:50:56 -0800

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:51:02 -0800

L.A. Times obit (via io9).

By: brickman

brickman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:51:22 -0800

Clarke and Asimov kept me transfix growing up on the farm. Mr. Clarke RIP, and thanks for giving me the joy of reading through your stories.

By: Brainy

Brainy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:53:40 -0800

By: New Frontier

New Frontier — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:03 -0800

Clarke's forward to the novel "2001: A Space Odyssey": "Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this universe, there shines a star." *

By: ShawnString

ShawnString — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:34 -0800

. agree...damn you fleetmouse

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:34 -0800

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:41 -0800

BBC obit (via Giz).

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:51 -0800

I knew I shouldn't have said his name aloud for the nine billionth time.

By: Devonian

Devonian — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:55:28 -0800

I can't put into words how much this affects me. When I started to read science fiction, which was pretty much when I started to read, he was the voice who spoke to me the strongest. I suppose you can't be a West Country geek and not make connections, not notice that Marconi reached into the invisible from an ancient, rocky coast woven with echoes of humanity's creation. Devoured the novels: Childhood's End remains with me, will remain with me until I die, as a beautiful and moving statement that what we are is transient, and what we may become is the greatest adventure. Yet it was his short stories which really took me over. They ignited in me a feeling for the transcendental promise and dangers of being a tool-using ape, of the separateness of intelligence from the places in which it finds itself, and how our pasts and futures are drawn together in the moment. Also, they were enormous fun. I was lucky enough to know someone who worked with ACC in the war on radar, and even luckier, one afternoon in a PR office in Soho, to talk to the man himself over a video satellite link. The details are long forgotten: I remember the chuckle. Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:55:38 -0800

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:56:25 -0800

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:56:39 -0800

Damn.

By: gemmy

gemmy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:58:44 -0800

By: batmonkey

batmonkey — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:59:06 -0800

. . . . . . .

By: bouvin

bouvin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:00:07 -0800

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:02:49 -0800

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:02:57 -0800

) O-----[

By: ericb

ericb — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:03:01 -0800

Such a loss. Clarke is one of the major reasons I took my education as fas as I did. Not far enough, I guess. ; ) I keed, I keed.

By: Atom Eyes

Atom Eyes — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:03:32 -0800

I own only one of his books -- a small mass market paperback anthology of short stories that I bought on a whim at a thrift store when I was still in high school. I must have read that book a dozen times in the intervening years. His short stories are perfect for reading on the bus: quick, well-paced, intelligent, witty, and dealing in fascinating subject matter -- in short, highly re-readable. I feel I owe it to his memory to seek out more of his work.

By: disclaimer

disclaimer — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:04:29 -0800

By: Chinese Jet Pilot

Chinese Jet Pilot — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:04:58 -0800

Clarke was the master of "hard" science fiction. He was the best at communicating complex concepts in few, simple words. Time to pull Rendezvous with Rama off my shelf for another read.

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:05:22 -0800

By: chuq

chuq — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:06:07 -0800

"Look," whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.) Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out. .

By: Z303

Z303 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:07:05 -0800

By: chime

chime — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:09:45 -0800

. ;-(

By: baphomet

baphomet — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:11:56 -0800

Please please please read Childhood's End, it is a truly amazing piece of literature. Somewhere in the cosmos, a new star is born.

By: Samuel Farrow

Samuel Farrow — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:12:09 -0800

By: Tube

Tube — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:12:34 -0800

Wow, just this Saturday I picked up a copy of Fortean Times and learned that Arthur Clarke's Mysterious World is now available on DVD. I read the companion book which I quite liked, but I never saw the TV shows. Sadly for this American, it seems to be available only in PAL format... Of any celebrity to have their ashes sent into orbit, he should be the one.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:12:35 -0800

Strange. I think I dreamed last night that Clarke had died. I think 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the first videotapes I ever rented (I must have been nine). I was surprised at how much more playful his writing style was than Kubrick's style as a director.

By: WPW

WPW — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:13:34 -0800

By: futility closet

futility closet — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:14:05 -0800

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:14:32 -0800

I fully admit that this is an odd sentiment, but whenever I've looked at my bookshelves lately, there's this kind of with us/not with us dichotomy that runs through my mind, sadly. And just now I realize that next to Sagan I have all my Clarke. (on the other side, Vonnegut) The whole shelf just looks... dark, to me now. I knew I valued the words. I didn't realize until Vonnegut's passing how much I valued the possibility of more of them -- and more, that the mind behind them was still seeing the world I was, taking it in, digesting it, helping make sense of it all. Today feels like that again. .

By: everichon

everichon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:14:48 -0800

For so many well-spent summer days in and out of the library, thanks so much.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:14:50 -0800

By: purephase

purephase — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:14:59 -0800

By: The Tensor

The Tensor — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:16:37 -0800

At least we still have Bradbury. I'm aware of his work...

By: Kifer85

Kifer85 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:18:20 -0800

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:20:05 -0800

I haven't read any Clarke in a long time--3001 was the last novel of his I read. But for some reason I read 2010 over and over and over again as a child--I think I liked it even more than 2001, and though the film version of it certainly doesn't compare to Kubrick, it's unfairly maligned. It's worth seeing once just for the amazing visual effects by Richard Edlund. Also, I changed my wallpaper to this today.

By: dbiedny

dbiedny — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:20:16 -0800

A true hero dances in the stars tonight. *

By: alms

alms — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:21:04 -0800

. Have a good rendezvous old man.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:21:34 -0800

. O <>

By: humannaire

humannaire — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:22:11 -0800

Remember when Vonnegut died last year? For all the people who this is like that was for me, I am so so sorry. It is now a terrible day. .

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:23:32 -0800

Interesting minds like that don't really die, they keep pushing outwards towards infinity.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:23:40 -0800

That man got me to start reading books and taught me how to dream big. Never done this before, but: .

By: lundman

lundman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:23:53 -0800

By: hindmost

hindmost — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:24:55 -0800

Ten years ago I was at a lecture on the exploration of Europa sponsored by JPL. Arthur C. Clarke was linked in live from Sri Lanka. The panel was seated on stage and behind them was an enormous screen on which his image was projected. The video feed did not work properly and for a moment it was just darkness as he said hello. Then he appeared, his head filled the screen, a behemoth looming over the stage. To tell the truth I remember very little about the panel itself, but that memory of Arthur C. Clarke—enormous, his voice thundering—has endured.

By: ooga_booga

ooga_booga — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:25:23 -0800

Ah, nuts. RIP Mr. Clarke. The world is a better place for your having lived.

By: wintermute2_0

wintermute2_0 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:25:48 -0800

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:29:48 -0800

By: lumpenprole

lumpenprole — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:30:59 -0800

Man, I love Clarke's work. Oddly enough the short story that comes to mind at the moment is "Dog Star." Makes me tear up every time I read it. One more star has gone out. Thanks for making the world a great place, Mr. Clarke. .

By: Falling_Saint

Falling_Saint — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:31:38 -0800

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:32:37 -0800

By: gcbv

gcbv — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:33:55 -0800

By: yeti

yeti — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:34:43 -0800

I remember the first time I saw 2001. It was about 1994 and I was 13 years old -really the perfect impressionable age for such a film. We got a free cable box for a WHOLE MONTH -something my rural parents refused to keep around and pay for. Between viewings of MTV's Nirvana Unplugged on endless repeat, I caught a promo on TBS or TNT for 2001: A Space Odyssey, some old movie I didn't even know existed, but hey I liked space... Hell, I LOVED space. I bought a 1992 Columbus Quincentenary coin from the US Mint with my savings because it had a space shuttle on it. I was obsessed as any kid might be with Star Wars. I even loved The Last Starfighter ["I said, back to sleep Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your Playboys!"]. That's what aliens were. That's what space travel was. Westerns in space. Fast. Cool. Flashy. But my older brother told me, "Watch that movie when it comes on tonight. It's great. There's no dialog for the first 30 minutes. It's even on the Vatican Top Ten." What? No dialog for how long? The Vatican has a Top Ten?! These were concepts that weren't possible at that time in my life. Unfortunately it wasn't supposed to air until 11:00PM on a school night, so I figured I'd have to tape it and watch only the beginning. When it finally came on, I was riveted. It changed everything I know about what a film could be. It didn't try to "entertain" me. It was slooooow, but the suspense was thick. And It really freaked me out. Space was cold. Space was lonely. And when the movie ends, it doesn't answer many of the questions it raises. It continues to ask up until you see the last image of the Star Child. There are few nights that changed my life so profoundly. I didn't go to bed until the credits rolled - of 2010 the lesser sequel they played right after, 3:30 AM on a school night for an 8th grader. I borrowed Rendezvous With Rama from the library shortly thereafter and been a fan of Clarke ever since. It's sequel Rama II even had a praising blurb from Playboy plastered across the cover, which was pretty cool to a middle schooler in 1994. .

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:35:30 -0800

Imperial Earth was always my favorite, even though it doesn't really have much of a plot. It just seemed to have one of the most complete visions of what it might be like to live on another world. .

By: gomichild

gomichild — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:37:07 -0800

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:37:37 -0800

Strange. I think I dreamed last night that Clarke had died. Okay. This is weird super coincidence becuase a few weeks ago I had a dream of being in Sri Lanka with my friend Roshan (whose family is Sri Lankan and we had drinks with him the Friday before) and I asked him if he knew where Clarke lived and told me it was a big secret. So we went around on this beach asking people. And we ran into Carl Sagan sitting under at a beach cafe table under an umbrella, with his twig pale white man legs in baggy Ghurka shorts, and Sagan said that he was expecting Clarke for tea sometime soon and if we wanted to wait we could with him. He starts telling us about quantum this and that. I was pretending to be smart. There were these funny tiny flowers everywhere, like sparkly orchids, that were growing and blooming in slow motion (or fast motion, really) all at the edge of jungle and up onto the table. I was worried they might grow in my ice tea. But they didn't. And hit me. "I'm sorry if this seems rude. But aren't you dead?" I asked him. "And he looked at me and smiled real wide and said "I know. I'm just as surprised as you." He looked good so I figured I must have it wrong. I remember feeling kind of sad. But happy to see him and then I woke up. WEIRD.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:39:57 -0800

Wow. Nice timing, damnit. I just start reading "2001" for the first time, having read all the others in the arc. He won't be misses as much as most - for he gave us so much and left his mark all around us. *clicks post, hoping irrationally that some packets will travel via communications satellite*

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:40:20 -0800

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:40:41 -0800

By: loquacious

loquacious — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:41:11 -0800

misses-missed

By: Bora Horza Gobuchul

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:41:31 -0800

Ah, damnit. This is the first and likely last MetaFilter obit I'll ever post in. Everyone has their someone, the writer who seized their mind and their heart when they were children. For me, it's Clarke. Asimov and Clarke were two of the greatest gifts my late grandmother gave me. Asimov she loved for his wittiness, erudition, and sheer quantity; but it was Clarke who spoke of the truly infinite, the vast deeps of space, the mind-bending, world-shaping stuff that made me simultaneously aware of my own fragile smallness and uniqueness. I loved that the man, to me, remained the quintessential eccentric English expatriate - and that, somehow, was reflected in his writing: of men unmoored, floating in space and time. I loved that he remained hands-on in science, from radar to the Interplanetary Society to geosynchronous satellites to medicine (remarking wryly that he was lucky to be an interesting test case : born late enough to survive polio, and living long enough to have suffered the effects of post-polio syndrome). I loved that he was open-minded enough to deal with parapsychology, and rational enough to dismiss it after investigating it for a number of years. I love that he never wrote down. I don't believe Clarke had a belief in a personal God. But I would like to think that somewhere, in the realms of the very small or the infinitely large, some cosmic string is now humming his symphony.

By: yeti

yeti — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:42:29 -0800

Here's that cover of Rama II with "'This is a space trip no reader will want to miss.' - Playboy"

By: ifthe21stcentury

ifthe21stcentury — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:42:49 -0800

By: pearlybob

pearlybob — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:44:20 -0800

By: Curry

Curry — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:45:32 -0800

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:45:53 -0800

All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there. .

By: Electrius

Electrius — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:47:21 -0800

By: Ike_Arumba

Ike_Arumba — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:47:39 -0800

∞

By: mumkin

mumkin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:47:50 -0800

Big dot. I think I enjoyed his early stuff the most. The City and the Stars, or maybe The Deep Range. I wouldn't recommend his last decade of works, "co-written" with Stephen Baxter. I gather it was Clarke with the big ideas and Baxter doing the actual writing... neither of them seemed to benefit artistically from the other, though I'm sure it pays the bills.

By: flashboy

flashboy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:47:56 -0800

Patrick Nielsen Hayden wrote something a while back (in a piece promoting another writer entirely, Robert Charles Wilson) that I think sums up the power of Clarke's writing very well: "A great deal of science fiction is about what the field’s insiders often call “sense of wonder,” a quality not entirely unrelated to the good old Romantic Sublime. Many of the genre’s classics are in essence carefully-tuned machines designed to attract readers whose primary conscious loyalty is to rationalism, and lead them by a series of plausible contrivances to a sudden crescendo of mystical awe."

By: h00py

h00py — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:48:33 -0800

. I loved his work very much indeed.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:51:02 -0800

A round at the White Hart from me.

By: Ike_Arumba

Ike_Arumba — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:28 -0800

"...relay this information to Earth.... Using my suit radio--no idea if it has enough range, but it's the only chance. Please listen carefully. THERE IS LIFE ON EUROPA. I repeat: THERE IS LIFE ON EUROPA..." one of the most exciting passages I have ever read. Goosebump city.

By: entropy

entropy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:52 -0800

By: enkiwa

enkiwa — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:56 -0800

I read The Fountains of Paradise in 7th grade. The space elevator made me an engineer, and I am thankful for it.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:54:36 -0800

Rest in peace.

By: redbeard

redbeard — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:55:43 -0800

----- || || || || -----

By: bleary

bleary — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:56:18 -0800

By: Herodios

Herodios — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:57:03 -0800

More of my youth passes on. . . For Against the Fall of Night City and the Stars Childhood's End Expedition to Earth Tales from the White Hart The Nine Billion Names of God The Wind from the Sun 2001 and more. . . Thanks . When the funeral is over and we're in the mood for the wake, remember please that Clarke also wrote Neutron Tide.

By: StrangeTikiGod

StrangeTikiGod — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:57:05 -0800

By: redbeard

redbeard — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:57:05 -0800

(well that didn't work, oh well, monolith, we hardly knew ye) (but) .

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:58:15 -0800

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:58:33 -0800

I am so sorry to hear this. I had assumed that he would simply live forever.

By: TedW

TedW — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:59:27 -0800

If anyone deserves an obit thread as snark-free as this one, it was Mr. Clarke. .

By: bunnytricks

bunnytricks — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:02:49 -0800

Clarke was the only sci-fi author I could find no true fault with, and the modern day public faces of science could learn a great deal from his style. .

By: about_time

about_time — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:04:06 -0800

By: cupcakeninja

cupcakeninja — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:04:39 -0800

By: djrock3k

djrock3k — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:07:27 -0800

I recently reread Childhoods End . Oh. My. God. .

By: zardoz

zardoz — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:10:03 -0800

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:10:07 -0800

OMG! OH NOES! I read everything I could get my hands on of his over the years. Thank you, ACC, for all the great reads. Hope your spot in heaven has a great view of the stars!

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:11:14 -0800

To borrow a line from Max Shulman, my tears blotted out the rest of the page. RIP.

By: MythMaker

MythMaker — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:14:16 -0800

By: Snyder

Snyder — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:14:25 -0800

By: folgers crystals

folgers crystals — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:14:53 -0800

By: Grod

Grod — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:15:47 -0800

crap .

By: Potsy

Potsy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:17:41 -0800

Uh, he was not the "inventor of the telecommunications satellite" any more than H. G. Wells was the "inventor of the time machine". That NASA article in the second link lists at least one person who deserves a heck of a lot more credit than Clarke:

Perhaps the first person to carefully evaluate the various technical options in satellite communications and evaluate the financial prospects was John R. Pierce of AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories…

Clarke was a fiction writer who speculated about the concept, but that does not make him an "inventor".

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:19:13 -0800

}:-(

By: lumensimus

lumensimus — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:05 -0800

By: ntartifex

ntartifex — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:19 -0800

. The others in the 3-fer had better not be anywhere near as awesome.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:23:45 -0800

. honestly, I try to come up with some thoughtful and touching eulogy that expresses my deep sadness, my feelings for this man I only knew through his writing, the inspiration, the joy, and the awe I got out of his work, but I can never come up with anything that manages to properly convey this ambivalent mix of emptiness and fulfillment, so instead I just post a dot. think of it as a universe of its own, filled with vast reaches of suffocating void yet still burning with life. thanks, Arthur.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:25:04 -0800

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:25:56 -0800

By: Guy_Inamonkeysuit

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:28:35 -0800

. But I will say thanks for so many hours of exciting and wonder-filled reading, Mr. Clarke. You're one reason I started writing science fiction. You set an example I can never reach, but I've had a hell of a lot of fun trying. RIP.

By: voltairemodern

voltairemodern — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:33:41 -0800

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:34:17 -0800

Overhead, without a fuss, the .s were going out

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:34:47 -0800

By: tommasz

tommasz — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:36:24 -0800

By: hortense

hortense — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:40:23 -0800

Sir Arthur Clarke CBE (Queen's Honours List, 1989) KBE (Queen's Honours List, 1998) Chancellor, International Space University (1989-present) Honorary Chancellor, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (1979-present)

By: bowline

bowline — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:40:37 -0800

By: jabo

jabo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:40:59 -0800

O ------>==> (the SS Arthur C. Clarke leaving orbit for Mars)

By: Taksi Putra

Taksi Putra — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:41:49 -0800

By: brantstrand

brantstrand — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:42:31 -0800

Rest in peace, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Thanks for showing me that the universe is more glorious, complex, and unknowable than most anybody was letting on. Thanks for helping me learn to question received wisdom. Thanks for some just plain cool romps of imagination with which to escape {insert wherever you feel trapped}. .

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:42:46 -0800

I guess that park bench in front of the White House is mine now. .

By: Alison

Alison — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:43:55 -0800

. Even if it was the least book in the 2001 series, I still fantasize about owning one telepathic thought transcribers featured in 3001.

By: twsf

twsf — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:46:22 -0800

A simple, lovely tribute from Jessica at Indexed.

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:49:20 -0800

By: the painkiller

the painkiller — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:52:37 -0800

By: orgvol

orgvol — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:03:24 -0800

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:07:08 -0800

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:10:40 -0800

. Damn, damn, damn. Having read much of his stuff years ago, recently I've been very much enjoying his books co-authored with Stephen Baxter. Damn, damn, damn. Last of the Big Three.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:10:44 -0800

By: procrastination

procrastination — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:12:16 -0800

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:16:53 -0800

-----
|   |
|   |
|   |
|   |
|   |
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By: jkaczor

jkaczor — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:18:53 -0800

. .. ... .... ..... ...... Gygax, now Clarke? Sigh - time waits for no man. I re-read RAMA and 2001 many more times than sooooo many other books... The wonder, the questions, the ideas. Thanks!

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:18:54 -0800

By: eclectist

eclectist — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:20:16 -0800

By: Static Vagabond

Static Vagabond — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:20:44 -0800

"Look," whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.) Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

By: mike3k

mike3k — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:22:00 -0800

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:24:02 -0800

Wow - Gygax and Clarke were two men who shaped my thinking in my youth. Losing them both back to back... It makes me feel like we're all going to have to work much, much harder to pick up the slack.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:27:34 -0800

The man doesn't need science or magic. He's pretty well immortal. That's what my bookshelf says, anyway. And my DVD collection. And my GPS-satellite receiver devices. And my imagination.

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:28:56 -0800

This is not a good year to be one of my favorite authors. That's four or five now in the past few months. .

By: joannemerriam

joannemerriam — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:34:20 -0800

By: paddbear

paddbear — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:35:48 -0800

By: DataPacRat

DataPacRat — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:46:10 -0800

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:47:25 -0800

. (Though I am curious ... an earlier commenter said he read Clarke on Shakespeare. While I would love to find such a book, I'm coming up empty. I think this is because the dear commenter is merging Clarke's bibliography with Asimov's, maybe?)

By: horseblind

horseblind — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:51:28 -0800

What a tough day. He redefined how and what I read. RIP

By: Slithy_Tove

Slithy_Tove — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:52:42 -0800

By: heeeraldo

heeeraldo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:57:45 -0800

I... goddamnit. .

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:08:38 -0800

From 2010:

Held there by curiosity, and a growing fear of the long loneliness that lay before him, that which had once been David Bowman, Commander of the United States spacecraft Discovery, watched as [its] hull boiled stubbornly away. For a long time, the ship retained its approximate shape; then the bearings of the carousel seized up, releasing instantly the stored momentum of the huge, spinning flywheel. In a soundless detonation, the incandescent fragments went their myriad separate ways. "Hello, Dave. What has happened? Where am I?" ... "I will explain later, Hal. We have plenty of time."

By: Nathaniel W

Nathaniel W — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:21:40 -0800

Reading 2001, Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama and his short stories at a young age did as much as anything to shape how I see, think, and imagine. Back when I was little and there weren't nearly so many houses built up on the mountain and the night sky was darker and more vivid, I think it really took Clarke to get me to look up. Funny how when I read the news of his passing, I wasn't struck so much with sorrow as with a warm rush of gratitude. Thanks, Mr. Clarke.

By: Soliloquy

Soliloquy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:23:06 -0800

By: Marla Singer

Marla Singer — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:25:21 -0800

By: xorry

xorry — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:32:49 -0800

By: saslett

saslett — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:41:14 -0800

By: Jade Dragon

Jade Dragon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:42:38 -0800

Thank you for having made our world a richer place by sharing your stories with us. You shall be missed by so very many around the globe... *

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:43:12 -0800

By: tyllwin

tyllwin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:46:43 -0800

By: furtive

furtive — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:52:12 -0800

By: Songdog

Songdog — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:53:10 -0800

I think I first picked up one of Clarke's books when I was in seventh grade with the foreign service kids in Ankara, Turkey. I remember a big heavy hardcover from the library, in that cellophane book cover; I'm pretty sure it was 2001. Then came 2010, and maybe Rendezvous with Rama. Back home in the States I moved on to the short stories: The Nine Billion Names of God, The Wind From the Sun, and The Other Side of the Sky. Then Tales From Planet Earth, A Fall of Moondust, The Deep Range, The Songs of Distant Earth, all those by the time I finished high school, and others followed later (Childhood's End among them of course). I knew Isaac Asimov as that guy Clarke sparred with in The View From Serendip. Asimov and Bradbury came later for me, in college, Bester later still. Clarke's wasn't the first science fiction I read, but it caught my imagination and helped me carry my youthful wonder out of childhood. Thank you, Arthur, for that.

By: dseaton

dseaton — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:55:01 -0800

When I was a kid, The Star and Let There Be Light totally blew my mind. Later I read Against the Fall of Night -- that's what a science fiction book should be. .

By: bjgeiger

bjgeiger — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:02:32 -0800

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:02:43 -0800

By: Dillonlikescookies

Dillonlikescookies — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:17:19 -0800

to someone who stretched my imagination, swelled my faith in the emotional power of the genre, showed me the value in even the most abstract fiction... farewell. .

By: deadcowdan

deadcowdan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:19:27 -0800

Rendezvous with Rama is, to me, the best of his novels, and one of my favorite books of all time. It doesn't have the mind-blowing metaphysics of 2001, but in its way it is probably one of the most thought-provoking stories I've read. I also am somewhat sorry that I read the followup Rama books he wrote, because they seemed so much less than the original. I could probably say a lot more about his work, but I'll leave it at this: his writing expanded my mind in ways that no one else's has. He will be missed.

By: mogget

mogget — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:31:23 -0800

By: kliuless

kliuless — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:33:40 -0800

monolith tombstone 1:4:9 ad infinitum...

By: drhydro

drhydro — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:35:51 -0800

I cried. I could not read through these comments without tears. Like some others have said, the world appears just a bit darker this evening. .

By: brevator

brevator — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:38:57 -0800

By: barnacles

barnacles — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:39:44 -0800

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one without words at this. I really don't know what more to say. .

By: bru

bru — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:41:58 -0800

I learned in his books in my teens that everything is scientifically possible, including wonders. A big boost when entering adult life. Thanks.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:42:25 -0800

Wow. I started out at age eight with The Sands of Mars and never looked back. Thanks, Mr. Clarke! .

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:42:39 -0800

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:44:49 -0800

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:45:18 -0800

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:47:19 -0800

By: MaHaGoN

MaHaGoN — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:51:02 -0800

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:58:39 -0800

By: bz

bz — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:06:53 -0800

Monolithic dot

By: porpoise

porpoise — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:07:31 -0800

Reading Clarke (and Asimov, and Heinlein) from my elementary school library inspired me to study the sciences. .

By: sixo33

sixo33 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:14:56 -0800

By: skepticbill

skepticbill — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:27:15 -0800

There was an elegance and wonder in his writing. I am grateful for his many gifts and know that he will live on in all of the readers lucky enough to discover him. He opened doors for all of us. Rest now... *

By: anansi

anansi — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:31:25 -0800

By: fuse theorem

fuse theorem — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:39:55 -0800

By: sacre_bleu

sacre_bleu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:10:16 -0800

By: motty

motty — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:21:38 -0800

By: Sam.Burdick

Sam.Burdick — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:29:28 -0800

Having lost the man who got me reading in the first place this summer (my father) I've done a certain amount of thinking about death and memory. My da tried to get me to read Clarke when I was much younger. But, I only recently finished reading Rendezvous with Rama. And semi-understood it. Given the nature of his writing, the subject matter and its vast circulation; I can definitely say that we are all glad that he was here and gave so much of his imagination to us. I know I'll miss the material that he won't now produce of, and for, the future. thanks Mr. Clarke for a different window.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:35:42 -0800

I cannot . enough. The Star is probably my favorite short story of all time, and were I to make a list of top 20, Clarke would probably show up there easily half a dozen times.

By: halonine

halonine — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:47:11 -0800

I can remember the copy of 2001 I read in seventh grade. It was an old, yellow, paperback in library binding. The cover was white. You could see dirt, smudges, and scuff marks on it. It was well-read. I brought my questions about it to my science teacher and we had such a grown-up conversation. We talked about primate and human society, human nature, and human impulsion. I remember that discussion's excitement. What passion, precision, and reverence I learned from Arthur C. Clarke I don't think I could separate from my own. Clarke wasn't the only author who affected me, but he was soulful. His wonder was holy. It is holy. My life today follows greatly from that book then, and his other works. May he rest in peace. .

By: ChrisR

ChrisR — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:48:43 -0800

By: dopeypanda

dopeypanda — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:55:11 -0800

By: Blueeyed

Blueeyed — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:06:33 -0800

I've been lurking on MF for years, but had to respond to this. The first adult science fiction book I remember reading, in around 6th grade, was Clarke's "The City and The Stars". As a gay kid in the boonies of Michigan in the 60s, the isolation of Alvin in that old society felt familiar, and the book called to me in a way that few other books had. That book lead to a lifetime of SF reading and eventually to me getting advanced degrees in EE. A couple of years ago, I was reading the re-issue of Felice Picano's "Dryland's End". In the forward of that book, Picano describes having exactly the same reaction to reading "City" as a teenager, which led him to become a successful writer. He then goes on to say that he had emailed Clarke to thank him. The reply was (sorry, I'm paraphrasing here, I don't remember it exactly) that the book was based on Clarke's isolation growing up gay in Britain, and that he had come out in one of his books, but that no-one had noticed. So thank you, Arthur C. Clarke, for helping me feel less alone as a boy.

By: theiconoclast31

theiconoclast31 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:15:55 -0800

By: Vicarious

Vicarious — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:25:23 -0800

By: roombythelake

roombythelake — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:43:28 -0800

My defining moment with 2001 came when I read the section which describes the ship using the orbit of a planet to gather speed and ricochet outward on its journey. I don't have the passage on hand, but there was a very neatly accomplished sentence or two which explained how, though nearly infinitesimal on a planetary scale, the planet actually slowed down by the exact same amount the spaceship sped up. I remember distinctly how it felt when I read that, because I had such a rush of reaction to that idea I had to put the book down to steady myself. I wasn't sure if I'd been slowed down or sped up by the power of those words. But it felt like both. .

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:43:56 -0800

By: ysabet

ysabet — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:24:10 -0800

:`( .

By: MikeKD

MikeKD — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:31:43 -0800

By: Poagao

Poagao — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:32:58 -0800

I love Clarke's work, especially 2010. His earlier work was his best, and I'd like to forget all the crap he co-wrote with that pretender Gentry Lee later on. But no amount of co-written sub-par SF can make a dent in the enormous impact Clarke has had on the world and our society. He embodies all the reasons we must explore space, and though he's gone now, we still need, now more than ever, to get off our asses and do it. RIP, Arthur. All these worlds are yours...

By: Duke999R

Duke999R — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:40:12 -0800

I just want to thank him for doing Fractals: The Colour of Infinity in '97. He made something so complicated understandable.

By: Chunder

Chunder — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:58:34 -0800

. We're close coming to the end of a great era of science fiction :(

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:08:07 -0800

dai..... sy....... .

By: mnsc

mnsc — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:15:49 -0800

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:29:37 -0800

"Dr. Chandra, will I dream?" "I don't know." .

By: DreamerFi

DreamerFi — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:37:23 -0800

By: nthdegx

nthdegx — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:37:38 -0800

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:18:38 -0800

Let me second octothorpe, Imperial Earth is a little known masterpiece. Also, for the whole gay thing, it's about a bisexual character. Childhood's End and Imperial Earth are my favorites of his novels. I always liked the idea that Clarke was living the good life in Sri Lanka. I'll miss the idea of having him around. But should I ever need to reconnect to him I can always reread Imperial Earth, Childhood's End or some of his best short stories.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:22:24 -0800

By: the_very_hungry_caterpillar

the_very_hungry_caterpillar — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:24:48 -0800

..--- ----- ----- .----

By: JtJ

JtJ — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:50:10 -0800

|Y|

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:29:17 -0800

The three who taught us to dream of the future are now gone, all in the past. It's been a long time since I read any of Mr. Clarke's work. I don't have any special quotes in mind. it is not unlikely there are examples of his that I have yet to enjoy. But I rarely read fiction anymore. .

By: Rabarberofficer

Rabarberofficer — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:13:19 -0800

By: valis

valis — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:59:43 -0800

By: steef

steef — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:09:49 -0800

Here's Clarke's original speculative article for Wireless World, proposing re-purposing V2s as satellite relays for radio and television transmission. "Inventor" of the telecommunications satellite is probably inaccurate, but this piece is decidedly nonfiction. 1945, wow.

By: unrepentanthippie

unrepentanthippie — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:17:36 -0800

By: I, Credulous

I, Credulous — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:23:56 -0800

By: BT

BT — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:00:47 -0800

By: moonlet

moonlet — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:20:57 -0800

By: cookie-k

cookie-k — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:38:18 -0800

I passed my signed paperback of 2001 to my son a couple years back. This morning, he sent me a message that "Erd C. Clabs" had died. .

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:01:14 -0800

A comment on Clarke as a gay man. .

By: growli

growli — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:37:08 -0800

By: lunit

lunit — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:55:06 -0800

By: Justin Case

Justin Case — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:19:56 -0800

My mother was a huge fan of ACC. She passed on. If I believed in heaven I would hope they were having a nice chat about now. According to a journal she kept when I was a baby 2001 was the first movie I was taken to. It was 1969 and I was a newborn. I guess she couldn't find a babysitter. Sorry to those in the theater if I threw a fit.

By: Megafly

Megafly — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:30 -0800

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:32:13 -0800

By: _dario

_dario — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:46:15 -0800

* Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

By: TheophileEscargot

TheophileEscargot — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:05:46 -0800

**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****

By: mathis23

mathis23 — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:54:22 -0800

By: straight

straight — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:01:23 -0800

I loved 2010 as a kid. The >spoiler< at the end blew my mind far more than "It's full of stars." ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.

By: perilous

perilous — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:49:23 -0800

* :(

By: Vindaloo

Vindaloo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:18:25 -0800

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:03:08 -0800

By the 2020s he thought it likely that artificial intelligence would reach human level, dinosaurs would be cloned, and neurological research into the senses would mean that mankind could bypass information from the ears, eyes and skin. By 2050, he said, millions of bored human beings would freeze themselves in order to emigrate into the future to find adventure. He was not religious, and was no metaphysician; but he wanted and expected men to evolve until they became like gods. In “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), which he co-wrote with Stanley Kubrick, ape-man evolved into Star Child. His epitaph for himself would have well suited man as he wanted him to be. “He never grew up; but he never stopped growing.”

The Economist's Obituary of Arthur C. Clarke.