I am reading (yet again) Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End masterpiece, and was surprised with myself to locate an inconsistency.

On page 222 it says "And then in an instant all the trees and grass, all the living creatures that had inhabited this land, flickered out of existence" (destroyed by the children as they were becoming superhuman).

But then later on, on page 234, it says "I can see the trees tossing their branches down there in the valley" (as an observation made by the last man on Earth).

Just wow.

In the story, computer guys go to Tibet to install a super computer. They said they called the head lama Sam Jaffe, although he didn't look like him.

I thought Jaffe had been in a movie set in ShangriLa, so that's why they called the head monk that. But I can't find any movie like that . The story was published in 1953.

Anybody know why they'd call him that?

I have a quote here in a Bulgarian book, and I can do an English translation, but I’d like to look at the original which I assume is already in English. It should be something like:

“I dare hope that no one will treat this fiction as seriously as I do; but it can also serve as our own sort of allegory that helps prepare us to perceive the no less surprising and much more complex truth.”

it just says Arthur Clarke after that (in Bulgarian)

I’m flabbergasted…

https://youtu.be/KHB_Yp1UidA

Hi there, hopefully someone can help me out to find this story I did read years ago.

As far as I can remember, there was some kind of place or planet that was divided by a huge wall, or something like that where when they looked or went through it, it kinda turned weird or they could see one another like one reflexion. Can't really tell that much. But one thing is that there was a wall, huge, that separated both places like from light and dark-ness side of that place

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I do mave more mental recreations than ctually the text itself, but for what I do remmebre, as I said, there was a wall, and people climb up there and they could see something whether it was light or something and maybe I'm wrong but some did cross and never came back kind of or it was an actual mystery who did build such wall, or what was beyond the wall itself.

It's alright if this won't point to anywhere but thanks in advance.

In “The City and the Stars”/“Against the Fall of Night”, there is a solar system that has seven different colored stars in it, with six of them somehow arranged in a hexagon around the central white one (at least, as seen from some other distant solar systems, at some times). I can imagine two possibilities: either the architects of this majestic feat either changed the colors of some of the stars that were already all in the same solar system, and then moved them, or they somehow moved some of these different colored stars in from other solar systems, which would have been within the capabilities of the federation (with planets as “lifeboats” and suns as the “flagships” in their great fleet). Either feat would have been grand, incredible, and awe inspiring. The only thing that would’ve made this stellar display of art better is if the central sun had been super bright and white with a tinge of violet, like the strange star observed by the Overlords and Jeffrey in “Childhood’s End” (the star that no opium eater could ever have imagined).

I thought that the creators of the tetrahedron-shaped Monolith (presumably the Firstborn) in “The Sentry” (precursor to “2001: A Space Odyssey”) had a neat idea: make the Monolith strong enough that it would take nuclear weapons to crack it open. Although it might seem like a crude, primitive way for humans to see inside it (as opposed to using some kind of passive sensors that could penetrate its surface), it did the job of alerting the creators to the fact that humanity had learned to split the atom, since it broadcast a signal once the Monolith was broken.

The Firstborn from the “Space Odyssey” novels have some impressive feats on their resumés: creating the Star Children, building the Monoliths, igniting Jupiter into the new sun Lucifer, etc. The Overmind from “Childhood’s End” seemed mysterious but very powerful: changing the rotational speed of the Moon without technology, for example. Whoever built the needle shaped ship in “The City and the Stars” must’ve been super advanced, since that ship could supposedly somehow traverse the whole universe (galaxy) in a single day. Whoever belonged to that ancient federation in the same novel built an awesome fleet, with stars as the flagships and planets as the smallest lifeboats. That fleet traveled extremely far, “around the curve of the universe”. Which of these feats do you think is the most impressive? Can you think of other examples?

I thought it was very interesting to see two very different examples of longevity in “The City and the Stars”. In the city of Diaspar, after living for a millennium, the people would go into the hall of creation, choose which memories, aspects of their intellects, and facets of their personalities they wanted to preserve, be destroyed, and then, after tens or hundreds of thousands of years, be resurrected (recreated). While out exploring, Alvin and Hilvar discovered another, wildly different example of longevity. In a body of water at Shalmirane, they discovered these small organisms, these polyps, that could come together and combine to form some kind of colony creature. While these organisms were separate, they were primitive. However, when they fused together, they gained sentience. This is how the colony creature managed to survive and retain its memories for over a billion years. Isn’t that fascinating, that nature could accomplish the same great feat that the people of Diaspar did with the help of their central computer?

Arthur C. Clarke seemed very fond of using the same substance in his novels and short stories. The Monoliths in the “Space Odyssey” novels were made of some ebony substance that didn’t reflect light or sound, and which you couldn’t quite actually touch. The Wall of Darkness, in the short story of the same name, sounded as though it were made of the same material. I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I can’t help but think that there more examples of this favorite substance in other novels or short stories. Can anyone refresh my memory?

I thought it was really cool how both Dave Bowman and HAL became star children in the “Space Odyssey” novels. One of them was a human being, and the other was a very sophisticated computer (at least, by human standards), and yet, they both evolved into the same thing.

Just some random thoughts here, I got to re-read the Space Odyssey series this year and here goes a rollercoaster of nothing...

Are ALL monoliths some sort of life form, or are some just beacons (as the one put on the moon to warn about its discovery when light shone on it)?

When HAL intentionally (or unintentionally, some may say) kills Frank Poole and the crew in order to not be disconnected and finish the mission on his own. Could it be the monolith acting upon HAL? After all, in 3001 it is said that all monoliths report to a "master monolith" about 450 light years away. Perhaps the monolith wanted to keep it's secrets hidden from some the human race for longer than it had currently kept?

But then in 2010 Bowman is used to scout and study the solar system and its living forms, which wouldn't make much sense, since the monolith could have done that on its own if it was itself a life form.

Or perhaps the monolith wanted HAL instead of Bowman to enter the monolith? That goes way over my head for why it would want HAL instead of the crew.

Again in 2010, Bowman is warned that the human race should never know that they are in an experiment. In the following chapter we get Bowman appearing to Dr.Floyd and telling Leonov to leave the Jovian system in 15 days. Then the planet devourer comes into play. I mean... Isn't it obvious that life on Europa is getting an advantage when Jupiter lights up? Just another thought here.

Well, who know what is to be found on the moon by the Artemis mission! Perhaps a monolith!

Just re-reading them after a few years, and the decline in quality from 2001 and 2010 is pretty jarring. 2061 is just boring and pointless, and 3001 has almost no plot.

One thing in particular that stands out as disappointing is that other than the Space Elevators/Towers, the solar system as depicted in 3001 almost hasn't changed since 2061. 3001 is also very confused in its timeline, at some points stating that the events of 2001, 2010, and 2061 took place in those years, and other times implies that Frank Poole was born in the 1990s and the Jupiter Mission took place decades later. Just a mess.

This was the first book of his I’d ever read and only the second Sci-Fi novel I’d ever read. (Ender’s Game being the first)

I loved it so much. The way he tells the story is so interesting to me and I never realize how much information I’m getting until I try to explain to someone else what the book is about.

I never felt like I was getting handed unearned exposition, any time he built up the plot/the world I felt just as curious and entrenched as I imagine any human character in the book being.

I loved how the ending felt like a tragedy but also like the start of a wonderful, unknowable, indescribable future.

While it wasn’t the ending I truly wanted for the characters, it was definitely the best possible fulfillment of his vision.

I’m not sure I have read as tragically beautiful of an end to a book in a long time. And the fact that it was only 220 pages makes that all the more sweet.

Absolutely loved it, although the ending felt a little rushed and abruptly ended. I think it would make a great movie/series. Seeing a race of humans who lived for 300 years with no political term oil or religiosity interacting with a group of people that came from earth right before our sun going nova, while also seeing some flashback scenes of the earth during the time leading up to the destruction would be super interesting and cinematic. What do you all think?

This is in relation to the short story that preceded the novel.

I don't understand what exactly happens at the end of the story. What is the peculiar noise rising and falling that the porpoises hear and why does the protagonist say that he is heading for the last roundup?

We've heard about the Ramans having predictions for the future and Omeh has predicted the future before, could there be any connection?