Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

Arthur C. Clarke



tanstaafl.

As it was when I heard the same about Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, it was an almost physical shock to read the news about Sir Arthur.

Those three practically taught me to read, you know. I read Against the Fall of Night when I was about 6, and it's still one of my favourite novels of all I have read. It sparked a lifetime interest in science fiction, and by the time I was 10 had amassed an SF library that was probably three times the size of what my father had. There are so many books in the house now most people don't believe it.

Reading became a passion. By the time I was in sixth grade I was reading at what the school claimed was a college level at least, with around 1000 wpm rates and 90%+ recall. It seemed to impress and worry them in almost equal amounts

And it's all his fault. I will miss him.



pca

Yep, innovative too. Clark Orbit, and I believe the Cell Phone are both attributed to him.

And space elevators and numerous others - just looking at my Clarke, Heinlein and Asimov collection here...like you Patrick, they were my tope 3 authors while growing up.

Very sad.

I didn't start reading Sci-Fi at 6, more like around 8 or 9. The local library was my haunt for sometime after that. They conveniently labeled all SF with a atom icon on the spine. After reading every book in the juve section, I went on to find the same in the adult. I remember the librarian starting to question my selections from there until I told her I'd read every SF title in juve.

I think the first bit of SF I can remember reading was an old copy of "Tom Swift And His Rocket Ship". That was in a box of old books in the garage.

After making full use of the interlibrary lending, I finally had to start buying my SF at the local book store. That worked, because SF paperbacks, at the time, were maybe 35 cents ea. Only a small bit more than comic books. SF for a long time was the cheapest read you could get. No longer.

I read all the Tom Swift books as a kid. Surprising how stuff like that sticks with you (like the description of the ion engine, vertigo while stepping on the moon of Jupiter, etc).

I had one big advantage with my reading - the Port Stanley library was having a bit of a clearout after the war in 1982, and gave me almost their entire collection of pulp sci-fi novels (mostly late 1950s to early 1970s) which boosted my book collection by about 3000 instantly.

Still have a lot of them - pity the Clarke ones are a bit beaten up. I think they got more reading than everything else.

I nominate Rendezvous With Rama as the best of the Clarke novels. The final sentence is stunning.

tanstaafl.

I'm guessing it wasn't 'and they lived happily everafter....'

I reread some of "Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship" from an online source awhile back.

I kind of had the opposite reaction. The stereotypes and attitudes that I must have read without notice then, stand out now.