RIP Arthur C. Clarke

[cryptique]

article

 

Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90

 

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

 

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

 

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

 

Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, lured by his interest in marine diving which he said was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space.

 

"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.

 

Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

 

He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

 

He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.

[Good Old Neon]

[bjorn_skurj]

 

Aww. Helluva writer and a hell of a brain.

[yermom]

Just saw this online. How sad. He was no Spring chicken but it's still very sad to hear when great people pass.

What a gloomy day! The weather is flash flooding crap and the death reports keep rolling in.

[Whitty]

Clarke was a genius, a visionary, and probably the most humanistic science fiction author you'll ever read.

 

My God, it's full of stars...

[jimmyjimmy]

Clarke was a genius, a visionary, and probably the most humanistic science fiction author you'll ever read.

 

My God, it's full of stars...

 

Very well said.

 

Clarke as a writer probably did more to spark my interest as a child in books than any other author. He's always held a special place in my heart.

There are very early editions of "Childhood's End", "The Sentinel" and "Songs of Distant Earth" on my desk at home: Now would be a good time to revisit them.

R.I.P.

[dixiecupdrinker]

Although he was quite the visionary, he said in his first interview, "I've never predicted the future. Or hardly ever. I extrapolate. Look, I've written six stories about the end of the Earth; they can't all be true!"

 

I didn't realize there were two more sequels to 2001 and 2010.

 

anyway,

dcd

[OOO]

Clarke's 3 laws: (The third is the most famous)

 

 

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

 

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

 

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

 

RIP

[NightOfJoy]

RIP Art!

 

Thanks for Childhoods End!

[isadorah]

My God, it's full of stars...

 

 

exactly! RIP Arthur.

[Whitty]

I didn't realize there were two more sequels to 2001 and 2010.

 

2061 is very much a natural follow-up to the events in 2010- obviously it takes place a half-century later, but HAL, Dave Bowman and the monoliths are still very much in play. Europa is a central setting of the book, and Earth is a very different place since Jupiter was ignited into a mini-sun by the monoliths.

 

3001 is more of a conceptual piece rather than an obvious sequel (but again, HAL is still hanging around). The premise is that Frank Poole (who was thought to have been killed by HAL in 2001) is recovered from orbit and revived using the advanced technology of the fourth millennium. The book is a chance for Clarke to run wild with his most advanced visions of what humanity and technology might some day accomplish.

[dixiecupdrinker]

2061 is very much a natural follow-up to the events in 2010- obviously it takes place a half-century later, but HAL, Dave Bowman and the monoliths are still very much in play. Europa is a central setting of the book, and Earth is a very different place since Jupiter was ignited into a mini-sun by the monoliths.

 

3001 is more of a conceptual piece rather than an obvious sequel (but again, HAL is still hanging around). The premise is that Frank Poole (who was thought to have been killed by HAL in 2001) is recovered from orbit and revived using the advanced technology of the fourth millennium. The book is a chance for Clarke to run wild with his most advanced visions of what humanity and technology might some day accomplish.

 

Thanks for the synopses.

 

Did you enjoy them? Are they worth the read? I'd have to read 2001 again, it's been a long time.

 

dcd