ABC News: Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90: Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who wrote '2001: A Space Odyssey' and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday, an aide said. He was 90.
It would be hard to overstate the effect that reading Clarke's works had on me as a kid. RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, 2001, CHILDHOOD'S END, A FALL OF MOONDUST, THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE, THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD--all contributed to the development of the sense of wonder that made me a writer in the first place. I devoured every Clarke book I could find on the shelves of the library in Southern Pines and eventually joined the Science Fiction Book Club in part so I could snag the two-in-one-volume set that included PRELUDE TO SPACE and THE SANDS OF MARS.
The man was a genius, a visionary. The world is a richer and more interesting place because of his life and work.
Updated: Check out Patrick Nielsen Hayden's beautiful Eulogy at Making Light.
2 comments:
I was never a big fan of 2001, but I loved RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, CHILDHOOD'S END and THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD.
But my favorite Clarke book is nonfiction: THE COAST OF CORAL, which is a beautifully written account of the 18 months he spent diving on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1954-1955.
With Clarke's passing, almost all
the old Masters of Science Fiction
(Asimov, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, etc.)
are gone. Ray Bradbury is the only one left.
--- Lindsey Yadon
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