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Not what I expected... so much more!
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Ahead of its time
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Well read with distinctive character voices.
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The Collected Stories
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Arthur C Clarke is without question the world's best-known and most celebrated science-fiction writer. His career, spanning more than 60 years, is one of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his clear prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook, but there are also many stories that show his imagination in full flight, to the distant future and to far-flung star systems.
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Brilliant Story
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Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor - of crystal pillars and fossil seas - where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn - first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars...and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.
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Not what I expected... so much more!
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Ahead of its time
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Overall
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At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence.
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Well read with distinctive character voices.
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Of Ants and Dinosaurs
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Fascinating, but flawed, debut
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The year is 2650. Seventy-five years ago, an alien fleet attacked Earth. Without warning. Without mercy. We were not prepared. Hundreds of millions perished. Dozens of cities burned. We nearly lost everything. Then the aliens abruptly left. We rebuilt. We armed ourselves. We swore: never again. But the aliens never came back. Until now. With overwhelming force the aliens have returned, striking deep into our territory, sending Earth into a panic.
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excellent space opera
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A mysterious plague has destroyed the vast majority of the human race. Isherwood Williams returns from a wilderness field trip to discover that civilization has vanished during his absence. Eventually, in San Francisco, he encounters a female survivor who becomes his wife. Around them and their children a small community develops, but rebuilding civilization is beyond their resources, and gradually they return to a simpler way of life.
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Worst introduction ever, no need to listen to it
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Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap medicines for those who can't otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail is an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his indentured robotic partner, Paladin.
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Just Plain Awkward
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Imperial Earth
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Set in 2276, Imperial Earth is the fascinating odyssey of Duncan Makenzie, travelling from Titan, a moon of Saturn, to Earth, as a diplomatic guest of the United States. Duncan’s initial challenge is to prepare for the 500-million-mile trip to Earth. Once there, he is caught up in a sweep of new experiences - including the social whirl of Washington, a strange visit to a carefully preserved ancient city, and a search for the woman he loves.
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Classic Sci Fi - even predicts the Ipad!
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When an experiment to study quantum uncertainty goes spectacularly wrong, physics student Bill Rustad and his friends find that they have accidentally created an inter-dimensional portal. They connect to Outland - an alternate Earth with identical geology, but where humans never evolved. The group races to establish control of the portal before the government, the military, or evildoers can take it away. Then everything changes when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts in an explosion large enough to destroy civilization and kill half the planet.
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Bright young things
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A Fall of Moondust
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Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist cruiser Selene, incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust. On the surface her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the mercilessly unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment.
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To hear the moon dust
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The Collected Stories (Volume II)
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe, Mike Grady, Nick Boulton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Arthur C Clarke is without question the world’s best-known and most celebrated science fiction writer. His career, spanning more than 60 years, is one of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his clear prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook, but there are also many stories which show his imagination in full flight, to the distant future and to far-flung star systems. The second volume in a collection of five.
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I've listened to this twice
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The Windup Girl
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Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman.
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Great story - Narrator on Valium
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The Algebraist
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For short-lived races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
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Spoiled by awful narration
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The Man from the Diogenes Club
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The debonair psychic investigator Richard Jeperson is the most valued member of the Diogenes Club, the least-known and most essential branch of British Intelligence. While foiling the plot of many a maniacal mastermind, he is chased by sentient snowmen and Nazi zombies, investigates an unearthly murderer stalking the sex shops of 1970s Soho, and battles a poltergeist to prevent it triggering nuclear Armageddon.
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Great stories. Well performed.
- By daron richard donnelly on 06-03-18
Summary
In the 22nd century visionary scientist Vannevar Morgan conceives the most grandiose engineering project of all time, and one which will revolutionise the future of humankind in space: a Space Elevator, 36,000 kilometres high, anchored to an equatorial island in the Indian Ocean.
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What listeners say about The Fountains of Paradise
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Steve B
- 24-04-19
Arthur C Clarke at his best
Fantastic story fantastically read. One of the best audio books I have listened to. And I've listened to a lot!
6 people found this helpful
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- Adam Pickford
- 03-12-15
A truly accomplished novel, brilliant!
If you could sum up The Fountains of Paradise in three words, what would they be?
Big, bold and Brilliant!
Who was your favorite character and why?
There are a few likable characters in this book, however the protagonist, Morgan steals the show. Clarke managers to make me feel for this person and ultimately further invest my emotions into the story and where it may lead.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
The building of the space elevator was among many scenes in this book that are truly brilliant in scope. The ending was also unexpected and equally excellent.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
One step to the stars.
Any additional comments?
Would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who loves science fiction as much as me.
7 people found this helpful
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- Dr Caterpillar
- 27-08-16
Inspired idea, uninspiring story
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I don't think it works very well as a novel, but would work wonderfully as a speculative schematic - something along the lines of the Haynes Manual for the Death Star, but more serious, with loads of diagrams and some (optional) mathematics, and materials science that compares what's currently available with what's needed.
(Obviously this wouldn't work as an audiobook.)
But as a novel it's not so successful. We have a central idea which is simply brilliant, but what to do with it? So we get an account of the problems, solutions, setbacks and successes of building a space elevator. This is padded out with speculations that were probably radical at the time (why oh why didn't I read the paperback when I bought it back in 1980?) but are now so dated they aren't even quaint.
I've come to believe that space travel is ten times harder than the most pessimistic estimates, and Clarke was one of the most optimistic. Which was fair enough at the time - the Moon landings and Skylab were still fairly recent, we'd had probes send pictures back from the surface of Mars and Venus, close-up views of Jupiter (and Saturn in the near future), and a space shuttle under development.
But I've worked in engineering since I devoured Clarke's key works, and whenever a character announces they are ahead of schedule or under budget or that a material performs better than expected, it rings a false note for me.
Furthermore, Clarke tends to populate his novels with rather similar people. In Fountains, he sort of anticipates the internet troll, but doesn't consider that the technology will be available to everyone, including people who tend to favour foaming-at-the-mouth rage over friendly and intelligent jibing..
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
The ending proper was surprisingly moving, considering the characters were mainly talking heads. That was followed by an epilogue which was pleasant enough, but only tenuously (or perhaps thematically) linked to the main story - which is fine as the prologue can be similarly described.
What about Mike Grady’s performance did you like?
He read clearly, and made some effort to differentiate voices.
Could you see The Fountains of Paradise being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?
Yes - I just hope it doesn't turn into the desperate snorefest that was Childhood's End.
Any additional comments?
I'm pleased to see Charles Sheffield's take on the same idea, The Web Between The Worlds, is also available from Audible. I will be interesting to compare the two, given that they both came out the same year.
4 people found this helpful
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- Richard Maher
- 18-12-20
true science-fiction
Morgan, as a character, was very enjoyable. His determination and talent in the story made him feel like someone that really would exist. The niggling idea that his only legacy would be the Gibraltar Bridge eventually led him to restart the space lift project. The engineering and physics side to the story were very enjoyable too, as was the conflict between religion & spiritual life and progress. Overall it is well worth a listen.
1 person found this helpful
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- Joe Black
- 15-07-16
Good book if a little unexciting,
Not a huge number of twists and turns so a little dull but an interesting idea of how the first space elevator will be built
2 people found this helpful
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- Revdave39
- 03-03-21
Clarke setting the focus for our future once again
As this was first published 32 years ago in 1979, we are treated again to the wonderful insight that Clarke brought to us in his fantasy of predictions that may look stunted in 2021 but nevertheless pays tribute once again to his genius.
A wonderful kaleidoscope of future wonders with so much realised as we look from beyond and a fair chunk to spur us with hope for the future.
A master of detail and construction Clarke fills the plot with reality of action, and plausibility in abundance - an interweaving of personal stories that pull us onward into a thrilling conclusion.
With recent automated landings on Mars in this decade we wonder just how long it will be before fiction once again becomes reality.
So thankful that Clarke’s classics are brought to life afresh with the narration of a consummate professional.
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- D.N.W.
- 28-02-21
A wondeful sci-cum-history book, classic AC!
If you have ever been to enchanting Sigiriya, central Sri Lanka, this book would be doubly appreciated as it is set around that rock, gardens and its history... A wonderful novel that intertwines real history in various forms, a grandiose technical engineering project (and visionary topic for 1980), an excellent audible ("British") narration too (thankfully not an American reciting) but only marred abit by bad pronunciations of local language names and terms (quaint is not the word!), alas. The narrator, who I like alot, would have done better to talk to any Sri Lankan before his attempt as it would have really topped off this anyway lovely audio book.
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- Anonymous User
- 18-02-21
Fantastic ideas, lacking story
Arthur C Clark presents some incredible ideas and concepts, but I get the feeling that he didn't quite know how to tie it together into a satisfying story. It seems to jump forward randomly and then spends a lot of time on a rescue mission before it just kind of ends. And the starglider stuff seems like it should have been a whole different story. The epilogue feels like he attempted to sum up what should have been a book series into a single chapter.
What is there is very well written and the descriptions are great, it just doesn't feel finished.
The audio narration is excellent. The character voices well acted and the tone and pacing perfect.
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- Darren
- 15-02-21
Difficult start, but a great middle and end
I haven't listened to many novels through audio books for the fear of being able to piece it together as quickly as it was read to me. While the first few chapters of this did raise such an issue and I did consider not listening on, I'm very happy that I did and found it to be a great book for sci-fi fans or even just engineering fans