Arthur C. Clarke

Page Updated: 20/09/2006

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Arthur C. Clarke - Page 2

Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!

Profiles of the Future

The Trigger

Rama II

The Fountains of Paradise

Paperback - Voyager (2000)

Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!
A vision of the 20th Century
The most visionary and versatile thinker of his age gathers together in a single volume his most significant and prophetic non-fiction writings to present a personal view of the twentieth century. Each essay has a new introduction by Clarke.
Witness the awesome workings of Clarke's intellect as he predicts the role of geosynchronous satellites decades before they existed; anticipates the internet decades before it happened; reports from Kennedy Space Centre; scripts the best sf movie ever made; discusses Star Wars, giant squid, and numerous other fascinating topics.
Clarke has been both a technological prophet and a cultural conscience for many decades of his century, celebrating the great scientific powers of man - and simultaneously warning of the perils of a world where power and greed reign unchecked. Clarke can provide a unique coda for the last century of the second millennium.
Ian T. Macauley, the editor of Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!, is a lifelong friend and colleague of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's and a senior journalist and editor for almost five decades. Among his early successes were his reportage on the development of rocketry and supersonic passenger aircraft and advances in computer microcircuitry leading to the microchip. In 1991, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his team editing on the collapse of communism for the New York Times, which subsequently awarded him its Publisher's Prize.
An avid supporter of science and science writing, Mr. Macauley was for several years the London correspondent of Electronic News before joining the staff of the New York Times in 1963. There, he helped design and launch the first of the Times's multipart newspaper sections, the Weekend Section. With Science Times and Business Day, he specialized in the editing and rewriting of high-tech and scientific articles, including spaceflight right down to the discovery of the sixth quark.
Mr. Macauley is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Space Society, the Planetary Society, the Space Explorers Network, and the World Future Society, many of which Sir Arthur is also a member. His name, along with Sir Arthur's and that of several thousand other space enthusiasts, landed on Mars in the Pathfinder mission. Mr. Macauley is listed in the 1998 Who's Who in Science and Engineering. Sir Arthur's Islands in the Sky was dedicated to Ian Macauley in 1952, and in 1989, Mr. Macauley surprised Arthur Clarke by gaining entrance to Buckingham Palace to witness his CBE investiture.
Mr. Macauley makes his home in the West with his wife, Marnie, author of the syndicated column Ask Sadie, and their son, Simon, a college student.
‘The prophet of the space age’ The Times
'A rich, thought-provoking and stylishly written anthology, worthy of one of the most intelligent scientific: thinkers of our time' The Times Higher Educational Supplement
'A fascinating collection, reasonable, witty, and often elegant... Essential Clarke; highly recommended' Kirkus
'Arthur C. Clarke is the imaginative boost behind the rocket's red glare. He inspired Buzz Aldrin. He invented the geosynchronous orbit. He has an asteroid named after him… he is a true prophet' Times Literary Supplement

Paperback - Indigo (2000)

First British Edition Gollancz (1999)

Profiles of the Future
Profiles of the Future, a collection of essays by one of the world's most renowned writers of science and science fiction, originally appeared in 1962. The theme was one of ultimate possibilities, rather than achievements to be expected in the near future, and so even the remarkable events of the last thirty years have dated it very little.
Now Arthur Clarke has gone over his essays, which were written over a three-year period from 1959-1961,making corrections and comments where necessary in order to bring them right up to date, and discussing where he has been right or wrong in his predictions.
Amongst many fascinating excursions into what the future may hold, Arthur Clarke looks at the Fourth Dimension and the obsolescence of the law of gravity, and the exploration of the entire solar system and the colonisation of some of it: seas will be mined for energy and minerals, and asteroids will be pulled to Earth to supply needed materials; men, already bigger than they need to be, may be bred smaller to be more efficient on less food.
In his uniquely entertaining style, Arthur Clarke, writing with a light, deft touch, explains that almost anything is possible in this improbable world in which we live.
About The Editor
Ian T. Macauley, the editor of Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!, is a lifelong friend and colleague of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's and a senior journalist and editor for almost five decades. Among his early successes were his reportage on the development of rocketry and supersonic passenger aircraft and advances in computer microcircuitry leading to the microchip. In 1991, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his team editing on the collapse of communism for the New York Times, which subsequently awarded him its Publisher's Prize.
An avid supporter of science and science writing, Mr. Macauley was for several years the London correspondent of Electronic News before joining the staff of the New York Times in 1963. There, he helped design and launch the fiat of the Times's multipart newspaper sections, the Weekend Section. With Science Times and Business Day, he specialized in the editing and rewriting of high-tech and scientific articles, including spaceflight right down to the discovery of the sixth quark.
Mr. Macauley is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Space Society, the Planetary Society, the Space Explorers Network, and the World Future Society, many of which Sir Arthur is also a member. His name, along with Sir Arthur's and that of several thousand other space enthusiasts, landed on Man in the Pathfinder mission. Mr. Macauley is listed in the 1998 Who's Who in Science and Engineering. Sir Arthur's Islands in the Sky was dedicated to Ian Macauley in 1952, and in 1989, Mr. Macauley surprised Arthur Clarke by gaining entrance to Buckingham Palace to witness his CBE investiture.
Mr. Macauley makes his home in the West with his wife, Marnie, author of the syndicated column Ask Sadie, and their son, Simon, a college student.
'Arthur C. Clarke is one of the truly prophetic figures of the space age' New Yorker
'Arthur C.Clarke is one of the true geniuses of our time. I envy him his brain' Ray Bradbury
'Arthur C. Clarke is the master of cosmic vision, of inspired guesses soundly based' Irish Times

First British Edition Voyager (1999)

Paperback - Voyager (2000)

The Trigger
with Michael Kube-McDowell
The Trigger:
The only true promise of peace that technology has ever devised
From the legendary Arthur C. Clarke, in collaboration with Michael Kube-McDowell of Star Wars fame, comes a chilling day-after-tomorrow thriller.
Jeffrey Horton of Terabyte Laboratories is the brilliant, driven and idealistic scientist responsible for the discovery of the Trigger. It was an accidental discovery. When Horton fired up his prototype analogue of a laser it triggered all nearby explosive material. In that moment, an end to the power of the gun became feasible. In future, a firearm - or a bomb - could be made powerless to harm the innocent. The Trigger might even mean an end to war.
Patriotism dictates that Terabyte hands over the science to the Pentagon.
Idealism demands the invention be given to the whole world, regardless of politics.
But in a world where violence has reached epidemic proportions, too many people have a stake in the business of violence to give peace a chance. Clarke and McDowell offer a startling vision of the future in which the fate of humankind depends on who controls The Trigger.
'Arthur C. Clarke is one of the truly prophetic figures of the space age ... The colossus of science fiction' New Yorker
'Kube-McDowell is reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke at his best' Newsday
‘A technothriller and an exploration of the influence of technology on social change... readers will certainly keep turning pages. This is solid, intelligent, serious entertainment’ Booklist
‘Told in the tradition of the best thrillers... an enjoyable read that explores an interesting dilemma: given the choice, do we really want peace?’ SFX

Paperback - Gollancz (2006)

Rama II
With Gentry Lee
In the year 2130 Rama, a mysterious and apparently abandoned alien spaceship, entered our solar system. Inside were wonders no one could have imagined - and questions no one could answer.
Now it’s 2200, and the Ramans have returned. But this time, as a second alien ship approaches, Earth is ready, and desperate for those answers .. .
Rama II is an enthralling sequel, as brilliantly imagined as its predecessor, Rendezvous with Rama.
`Arthur C. Clarke is awesomely informed about physics and astronomy, and blessed with one of the most astounding imaginations’ New York Times

Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (2000)

The Fountains of Paradise
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.
'Delightfully written and at times almost unbearably exciting' Kingsley Amis
'His enthusiasm is combined with his considerable literary and myth-making skills ... the result is something special' Sunday Telegraph
'A superbly crafted novel that may be his best' Tribune