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سفر اکتشافی به زمین
لیست داستان‌ه�:
فشار خرد کننده
درس تاریخ
برتری
زمین! هرگز فراموشت نخواهم کرد
قایم باشک بازی
نگبان
سفر اکتشافی
راه گریز
تبعید ائون‌ه�
فشار خرد کننده
درس تاریخ
برتری
زمین! هرگز فراموشت نخواهم کرد
قایم باشک بازی
نگبان
سفر اکتشافی
راه گریز
تبعید ائون‌ه�
187 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1953
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3,326 people want to read
About the author
Arthur C. Clarke
1,590books11.2kfollowersStories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include
2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968).
This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.
Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.
He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.
This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.
Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.
He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.
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December 28, 2021
Expedition To Earth, Arthur C. Clarke
Eleven short stories concern themselves generally with the river of time. There are the races yet to come and investigation of a dead earth; races of the past handing on their advanced knowledge. Breaking Strain views the problem of survival in a doomed space ship, a Walt Disney film baffles a future world, Earth obeys but conquers Mars, etc. Imaginative, challenging and literate.
Contents:
Second Dawn (In 2037, planet Earth is split into thousands of independent segments, from core to space, and then reassembled—but now each segment is from a different epoch! The oldest captures mother-and-daughter Australopithecines; others feature Neanderthals, Babylon, 1885 India, modern Chicago, and ancient Greeks. ...),
If I Forget Thee (When Marvin was ten years old, his father took him through the long, echoing corridors that led up through Administration and Power, until at last they came to the uppermost levels of all and were among the swiftly growing vegetation of the Farmlands. Marvin liked it here: it was fun watching the great, slender plants creeping with almost visible eagerness toward the sunlight as it filtered down through the plastic domes to meet them.),
Oh Earth (),
Breaking Strain (Grant and McNeil are plodding along the trade route from Earth to Venus when a meteor pierces their freighter and depletes their oxygen reserve. As the frightening reality of emergency sinks in, neither wants to be the first to speak the shattering truth--that if one man dies now, the other might just have enough oxygen to survive the trip.),
History Lesson (as "Expedition to Earth" in the British Edition, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954),
Superiority (When the war opened we had no doubt of our ultimate victory. The combined fleets of our allies greatly exceeded in number and armament those which the enemy could muster against us. We were sure we could maintain this superiority. Our belief proved, alas, to be only too well founded . . .),
Exile of the Eons (),
Hide-and-Seek (K.15 was a military intelligence operative. It gave him a considerable pain when unimaginative people called him a spy. But at the moment he had much more serious grounds for complaint . . .),
Expedition to Earth (It was in the last days of the Empire. The tiny ship was far from home, and almost a hundred light-years from the great parent vessel searching through the loosely packed stars at the rim of the Milky Way. But even here it could not escape from the shadow that lay across civilization . . .),
Loophole (),
Inheritance (),
and The Sentinel (basis for 2001).
تاریخ نخستین خوانش سال1992میلادی
عنوان: س‍ف� اکتشافی� به� زمین� آرت‍و� چارلز (سی) کلارک� ترجمه� م‍ح‍م� قصاع� تهران، نشر افق، سال1370؛ در188ص؛ چاپ دوم سال1372؛ چاپ سوم سال1373؛ چاپ چهارم سال1374؛ چاپ پنجم سال1375؛ برگزیده هایی از داستانهای کتاب اصلی؛ موضوع داستانهای خیال انگیز از نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 06/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Eleven short stories concern themselves generally with the river of time. There are the races yet to come and investigation of a dead earth; races of the past handing on their advanced knowledge. Breaking Strain views the problem of survival in a doomed space ship, a Walt Disney film baffles a future world, Earth obeys but conquers Mars, etc. Imaginative, challenging and literate.
Contents:
Second Dawn (In 2037, planet Earth is split into thousands of independent segments, from core to space, and then reassembled—but now each segment is from a different epoch! The oldest captures mother-and-daughter Australopithecines; others feature Neanderthals, Babylon, 1885 India, modern Chicago, and ancient Greeks. ...),
If I Forget Thee (When Marvin was ten years old, his father took him through the long, echoing corridors that led up through Administration and Power, until at last they came to the uppermost levels of all and were among the swiftly growing vegetation of the Farmlands. Marvin liked it here: it was fun watching the great, slender plants creeping with almost visible eagerness toward the sunlight as it filtered down through the plastic domes to meet them.),
Oh Earth (),
Breaking Strain (Grant and McNeil are plodding along the trade route from Earth to Venus when a meteor pierces their freighter and depletes their oxygen reserve. As the frightening reality of emergency sinks in, neither wants to be the first to speak the shattering truth--that if one man dies now, the other might just have enough oxygen to survive the trip.),
History Lesson (as "Expedition to Earth" in the British Edition, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954),
Superiority (When the war opened we had no doubt of our ultimate victory. The combined fleets of our allies greatly exceeded in number and armament those which the enemy could muster against us. We were sure we could maintain this superiority. Our belief proved, alas, to be only too well founded . . .),
Exile of the Eons (),
Hide-and-Seek (K.15 was a military intelligence operative. It gave him a considerable pain when unimaginative people called him a spy. But at the moment he had much more serious grounds for complaint . . .),
Expedition to Earth (It was in the last days of the Empire. The tiny ship was far from home, and almost a hundred light-years from the great parent vessel searching through the loosely packed stars at the rim of the Milky Way. But even here it could not escape from the shadow that lay across civilization . . .),
Loophole (),
Inheritance (),
and The Sentinel (basis for 2001).
تاریخ نخستین خوانش سال1992میلادی
عنوان: س‍ف� اکتشافی� به� زمین� آرت‍و� چارلز (سی) کلارک� ترجمه� م‍ح‍م� قصاع� تهران، نشر افق، سال1370؛ در188ص؛ چاپ دوم سال1372؛ چاپ سوم سال1373؛ چاپ چهارم سال1374؛ چاپ پنجم سال1375؛ برگزیده هایی از داستانهای کتاب اصلی؛ موضوع داستانهای خیال انگیز از نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 06/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
May 23, 2017
اين كتاب فوق العاده است. توجه خاص سي كلارك به بشريت در داستان هاش قابل ستايشه .
اين تنها يك كتاب نيست، دريچه اي است به دنياهاي ناديده. :)
بسيار لذت بردم از مطالعه اين كتاب اميدوارم شما هم از مطالعه اون لذت ببريد.
Think outside the box!
اين تنها يك كتاب نيست، دريچه اي است به دنياهاي ناديده. :)
بسيار لذت بردم از مطالعه اين كتاب اميدوارم شما هم از مطالعه اون لذت ببريد.
Think outside the box!
February 23, 2023
ENGLISH: This is the third time I've read this book, and I have found it better than I remembered. These are the stories I like best:
Second Dawn: A very good description of an extra-terrestrial world where intelligence has developed in a different way than on the Earth: rather than developing science and technology, they have developed mind control, logic and mathematics, having reached a level that threatens their existence. The second dawn is their contact with another species, especiallized in technology.
If I forget you, oh Earth...:
Breaking Strain: Two spacemen have enough oxygen for one, but not for two. One must commit suicide; or one must murder the other.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la tercera vez que leo este libro, y me ha parecido mejor de lo que recordaba. Estos son los cuentos que más me han gustado:
Segundo Amanecer: Una descripción muy buena de un mundo extraterrestre, donde la inteligencia se ha desarrollado de una manera diferente a la de la Tierra: en lugar de avanzar en ciencia y tecnología, han perfeccionado el control mental, la lógica y las matemáticas, hasta el punto de que ese desarrollo amenaza su existencia. El segundo amanecer es su contacto con otra especie, especializada en tecnología.
Si te olvidara, oh Tierra...:
Tensión de ruptura: Dos astronautas tienen suficiente oxígeno para uno, pero no para dos. Uno debe suicidarse; o bien, uno debe asesinar al otro.
Second Dawn: A very good description of an extra-terrestrial world where intelligence has developed in a different way than on the Earth: rather than developing science and technology, they have developed mind control, logic and mathematics, having reached a level that threatens their existence. The second dawn is their contact with another species, especiallized in technology.
If I forget you, oh Earth...:
Breaking Strain: Two spacemen have enough oxygen for one, but not for two. One must commit suicide; or one must murder the other.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la tercera vez que leo este libro, y me ha parecido mejor de lo que recordaba. Estos son los cuentos que más me han gustado:
Segundo Amanecer: Una descripción muy buena de un mundo extraterrestre, donde la inteligencia se ha desarrollado de una manera diferente a la de la Tierra: en lugar de avanzar en ciencia y tecnología, han perfeccionado el control mental, la lógica y las matemáticas, hasta el punto de que ese desarrollo amenaza su existencia. El segundo amanecer es su contacto con otra especie, especializada en tecnología.
Si te olvidara, oh Tierra...:
Tensión de ruptura: Dos astronautas tienen suficiente oxígeno para uno, pero no para dos. Uno debe suicidarse; o bien, uno debe asesinar al otro.
December 16, 2024
اولین مجموعه داستان علمی تخیلی که سال‌ها� آخر دوره راهنمایی خواندم و قدرت تخیل آرتور سی کلارک سحرم کرد.
بعد از همین کتاب شدم مخاطب جدی ادبیات علمی تخیلی و شروع کردم به نوشتن داستان در این ژانر، تا اینکه مجله دانشمند چند تا را منتشر کرد و به واسطه همان داستان‌ه� به اولین جمع نویسندگان و مترجمان داستان‌ها� علمی تخیلی دعوت شدم. یک بچه دبیرستانی! سال 80-81. محمد قصاع شمع جمع بود و البته از همه بی ادعا تر. با اینکه از همه بیشتر خوانده بود و ترجمه کرده بود و همه علاقه‌مندا� داستان‌ها� علمی تخیلی مدیون او بودند.
تقریباً ده سال بعد با قصاع مصاحبه‌ا� کردم که ادای دینی باشد. هر کجا هست خدایا به سلامت دارش.
بعد از همین کتاب شدم مخاطب جدی ادبیات علمی تخیلی و شروع کردم به نوشتن داستان در این ژانر، تا اینکه مجله دانشمند چند تا را منتشر کرد و به واسطه همان داستان‌ه� به اولین جمع نویسندگان و مترجمان داستان‌ها� علمی تخیلی دعوت شدم. یک بچه دبیرستانی! سال 80-81. محمد قصاع شمع جمع بود و البته از همه بی ادعا تر. با اینکه از همه بیشتر خوانده بود و ترجمه کرده بود و همه علاقه‌مندا� داستان‌ها� علمی تخیلی مدیون او بودند.
تقریباً ده سال بعد با قصاع مصاحبه‌ا� کردم که ادای دینی باشد. هر کجا هست خدایا به سلامت دارش.
October 2, 2010
I don't think there's a better book by Arthur C. Clarke than this. These stories are taut, memorable, moving, full of the pain of one form or another of exile. Sure, there are one or two amusing throwaways, but has there ever been a more poignant story of homesickness than "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth", or a more bleakly ironic memorial to human folly than the closing paragraphs of the title story? If you, like I, have found much of Arthur C. Clarke's late work less than inspiring, read these early stories to discover what a tremendous writer he was at his peak.
March 16, 2019
I picked up an Arthur C Clarke book after many years, and got reminded why i got interested in sci-fi in the first place. A very good selection of short stories that were written before humans entered space and even now ensnaring readers into the genre of science fiction. Timeless!
March 28, 2023
Second Dawn ⭐⭐�
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ⭐⭐�
Breaking Strain ⭐⭐�
Expedition to Earth ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Superiority ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nemesis ⭐⭐�
Hide-and-Seek ⭐⭐�
Encounter in the Dawn ⭐⭐�
Loophole ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inheritance ⭐⭐�
The Sentinel ⭐⭐�
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ⭐⭐�
Breaking Strain ⭐⭐�
Expedition to Earth ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Superiority ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nemesis ⭐⭐�
Hide-and-Seek ⭐⭐�
Encounter in the Dawn ⭐⭐�
Loophole ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inheritance ⭐⭐�
The Sentinel ⭐⭐�
July 23, 2024
Wow.
Arthur C. Clarke is without a doubt one of my favourite authors. Recently, I’ve read some of his short story collections, namely Tales from the White Hart and Reach for Tomorrow. They both were OK, but not exactly what I expected. I had the impression that Clarke’s short stories would have been similar in spirit to his early novels that I love, like The Sands of Mars, Earthlight and A Fall of Moondust. The stories in those aforementioned collections that I read were not. Thus, I was a bit hesitant when I picked up Expedition to Earth.
However, there was no need to worry. Expedition to Earth is, according to my standards, truly a masterpiece. It is exactly what I like about Clarke. It has fascinating ideas and sense of wonder that appeals to an old-fashioned romantic like me. The book starts wonderfully with Second Dawn which deals with the evolution of several sentient species on the same planet, reminding us how lucky we are to have five fingers.
The book ends with one of Clarke’s most famous short stories, The Sentinel. It really deserves all the praise it has received over the decades. And as a selenologist myself, I love the fact that the main character is a colleague.
The stories between Second Dawn and The Sentinel are equally great � there’s not a single dud in the whole collection of eleven stories. And as is typical to Clarke, his science is believable. A good example of this is Hide and Seek, which shows how difficult it is to find a single man on a small moon like Phobos if you happen to be using a starliner for the job.
If you enjoy Clarke’s early novels, then I’d be surprised if you didn’t like Expedition to Earth too.
Very highly recommended indeed.
5/5
Arthur C. Clarke is without a doubt one of my favourite authors. Recently, I’ve read some of his short story collections, namely Tales from the White Hart and Reach for Tomorrow. They both were OK, but not exactly what I expected. I had the impression that Clarke’s short stories would have been similar in spirit to his early novels that I love, like The Sands of Mars, Earthlight and A Fall of Moondust. The stories in those aforementioned collections that I read were not. Thus, I was a bit hesitant when I picked up Expedition to Earth.
However, there was no need to worry. Expedition to Earth is, according to my standards, truly a masterpiece. It is exactly what I like about Clarke. It has fascinating ideas and sense of wonder that appeals to an old-fashioned romantic like me. The book starts wonderfully with Second Dawn which deals with the evolution of several sentient species on the same planet, reminding us how lucky we are to have five fingers.
The book ends with one of Clarke’s most famous short stories, The Sentinel. It really deserves all the praise it has received over the decades. And as a selenologist myself, I love the fact that the main character is a colleague.
The stories between Second Dawn and The Sentinel are equally great � there’s not a single dud in the whole collection of eleven stories. And as is typical to Clarke, his science is believable. A good example of this is Hide and Seek, which shows how difficult it is to find a single man on a small moon like Phobos if you happen to be using a starliner for the job.
If you enjoy Clarke’s early novels, then I’d be surprised if you didn’t like Expedition to Earth too.
Very highly recommended indeed.
5/5
January 3, 2024
A nice Collection of Hard Sci Fi stories. The best stories in this anthology present interesting turns in plot and theme, and ask thoughtful questions that allow the reader to think more deeply about the story. The lesser stories are still well written and novel, but lack the same punch and proclivity, being more predictable in nature. Feels like more of 3.5 stars to me.
Individual ratings:
Second Dawn - ☆☆☆☆�
“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…� - ☆☆☆☆�
Breaking Strain - ☆☆☆☆�
History Lesson - ☆☆☆☆
Superiority - ☆☆
Exile of the Eons - ☆☆☆☆
Hide and Seek - ☆☆�
Expedition to Earth - ☆☆�
Loophole - ☆☆
Inheritance - ☆☆�
The Sentinel - ☆☆☆☆
Individual ratings:
Second Dawn - ☆☆☆☆�
“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…� - ☆☆☆☆�
Breaking Strain - ☆☆☆☆�
History Lesson - ☆☆☆☆
Superiority - ☆☆
Exile of the Eons - ☆☆☆☆
Hide and Seek - ☆☆�
Expedition to Earth - ☆☆�
Loophole - ☆☆
Inheritance - ☆☆�
The Sentinel - ☆☆☆☆
October 6, 2016
A collection of some of Clarke's older SF stories, including "The Sentinel," which is the story that set the tone for 2001. All these stories are pretty good, although not the best that Clarke wrote. A few have twists that are easy to see coming, but overall I enjoyed them quite a lot.
July 3, 2010
Great Collection of Short Stories: There are 11 short stories in this collection and all of them are truly exceptional but 3 really stand out. The first of course is "Sentinel" which is the basis for the movie and eventually the book, "2001" "Breaking Strain" is a great book discussing the moral implications of two men trapped alone in a space ship when it is quite obvious that if there was only one of them they could survive. With interesting commentary on how people live under pressure and what actions they take, this is an exceptional piece of work. But my favorite is probably "Second Dawn" this story discusses what happens to a group of aliens without hands but with enormous mental powers when they encounter a group of aliens with hands. The interaction of the civilizations and cultures is well described, and though I think Clarke may be taking too friendly an approach to such a meeting it would be nice if all civilizational clashes resolved this way. Overall this book shows that once again Clarke has proven himself a master of the science fiction genre. Though it should be warned that Clarke's writing style is very "hard" in other words he definitely emphasizes technological capability over character development. That being said I think this collections contains some of his best character sketches yet.
July 23, 2016
داستان کوتاه «درس تاریخ» برایم بدل به یکی از ماندگارترین داستان‌ها� کوتاه کلارک شد. اولین داستانی که چنان اشتیاقی در من ایجاد کرد که دست به ترجمه‌ا� ببرم.
ترجمهٔ «آه، زمین اگر فراموشت کنم» رو در آکادمی فانتزی خوندم، مثل «شش هزار سال نوری تا زمین» و چه ترجمه‌ها� معرکه‌ا� هم دارند.
ترجمهٔ «آه، زمین اگر فراموشت کنم» رو در آکادمی فانتزی خوندم، مثل «شش هزار سال نوری تا زمین» و چه ترجمه‌ها� معرکه‌ا� هم دارند.
September 14, 2024
Good collection of early stories.
October 2, 2018
I thought it was a pretty good collection of short stories. Did not feel dated and some of the ideas were still original.
July 10, 2019
Entretenido, poco más pero nada menos.
January 31, 2025
Typical Arthur C. Clarke, meaning these short stories are all marvelously creative ideas, dryly and competently sketched out, giving the reader a bit to think about with only having to invest minimal time.
Apparently, not terribly memorable, though, at least for me.
Oddly, I don't remember reading this book, but yet GoodReads reminded me that I have already rated it (a different edition no less - the edition I read in 2025 was a March 1969 4th printing - white cover with a painting-like depiction of a deathstar-like orb with a large rectangular docking module sticking out of it) four stars in 2018. I apparently did not review it.
The four star rating stands, because I did "really like it." However, even two days out from finishing the last story in this collection, I remember less from it than I remember of other short-story collections I read a while ago, and clearly made more of an impact. Notable among these is Ted Chiang's Exhalation and Stephen Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams.
NOTES
"Second Dawn" (first story)
p. 11
"All my life I've worked to increase our knowledge of the mind, but now I wonder if I've brought something into the world that is too powerful, and too dangerous, for us to handle. Yet it's too late, now, to retrace our footsteps: sooner or later our culture was bound to come to this point, and to discover what we have found.
"It's a terrible dilemma: and there's only one solution. We cannot go back, and if we go forward we may meet disaster. So we must change the very nature of our civilization, and break completely with the million generations behind us."
p. 35
"Certainly nothing we can learn from Nature will ever be as great a threat as the peril we have uncovered in our own minds.
"History Lesson" (fourth story)
I wondered if this story in particular influenced A Canticle for Liebowitz.
"Superiority" (fifth story)
Clever way to critique bureaucracy, and demonstrate the existential penalties of wildly misdirected "advancement." (Also see the ninth story, "Loophole.")
"Exile of the Eons" (sixth story)
A masterclass in economy of storytelling to deliver what might be the ultimate moral quandary of the entire human race. (<--- am I overselling this one?)
Apparently, not terribly memorable, though, at least for me.
Oddly, I don't remember reading this book, but yet GoodReads reminded me that I have already rated it (a different edition no less - the edition I read in 2025 was a March 1969 4th printing - white cover with a painting-like depiction of a deathstar-like orb with a large rectangular docking module sticking out of it) four stars in 2018. I apparently did not review it.
The four star rating stands, because I did "really like it." However, even two days out from finishing the last story in this collection, I remember less from it than I remember of other short-story collections I read a while ago, and clearly made more of an impact. Notable among these is Ted Chiang's Exhalation and Stephen Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams.
NOTES
"Second Dawn" (first story)
p. 11
"All my life I've worked to increase our knowledge of the mind, but now I wonder if I've brought something into the world that is too powerful, and too dangerous, for us to handle. Yet it's too late, now, to retrace our footsteps: sooner or later our culture was bound to come to this point, and to discover what we have found.
"It's a terrible dilemma: and there's only one solution. We cannot go back, and if we go forward we may meet disaster. So we must change the very nature of our civilization, and break completely with the million generations behind us."
p. 35
"Certainly nothing we can learn from Nature will ever be as great a threat as the peril we have uncovered in our own minds.
"History Lesson" (fourth story)
I wondered if this story in particular influenced A Canticle for Liebowitz.
"Superiority" (fifth story)
Clever way to critique bureaucracy, and demonstrate the existential penalties of wildly misdirected "advancement." (Also see the ninth story, "Loophole.")
"Exile of the Eons" (sixth story)
A masterclass in economy of storytelling to deliver what might be the ultimate moral quandary of the entire human race. (<--- am I overselling this one?)
August 30, 2023
Second Dawn, 4/5
Very cool concept of creatures with advanced minds, who can do things like mathematics and philosophy and music, but their bodies evolved to be inept at interacting with the physical world, so they've never known or conceptualized things like tools or writing or artificially constructed/non-natural objects since they've never had the dexterity to implement such a thing. I enjoyed that it was just a happy story exploring ideas. I kept expecting conflict but it's just a tale of success and teamwork and possibility.
Some other interesting ideas from the book:
- Using mental retardation as a weapon, by aiming to destroying the cognitive functions of your enemies
- In their world (like the natural world) food is a constant and limited supply, yet evolution makes it so their population continually increases (like the natural world), so they live with the knowledge that the eventual starvation of the species is inevitable
- Two species actively working symbiotically and benevolently, one with advanced minds but useless bodies, one with dexterous bodies and simpler minds
- Without tools, there's no boats. Without boats, the planet is unexplorable.
Would be 5/5 but -1 for sci-fi telepathy.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth, 2/5
Any longer and it would've been a 1/5, but 5 pages keeps it short and sweet with some strong imagery of 1950s nuclear anxiety. It's moving when we see the "funeral pyre" of Earth with the "evil phosphorescence" of "the glow of dying atoms" visible from space, until after centuries the rain and wind can eventually "scour the poisons" until they're carried to the depths of the sea where they'll "waste their venom".
Also had an interesting reminder that "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are" isn't rhetorical. It poses an actual question that the vast majority of humans did not know the answer to for the vast majority of history.
Breaking Strain, 5/5
Excellent story. The description of suffocating in the stifling, thickening air while reading under the covers as a child (then emerging into the delicious cool air for breath) is so good. It's such a relatable, nightmarish analogy for the situation of the astronauts that it really makes the story.
Interesting ideas:
- "News that is sufficiently bad somehow carries its own guarantee of truth. Only good reports need confirmation."
- The difference between men who are hard but can be resilient and men who are so strong that they're brittle. "McNeil had his breakdown and had recovered. Therein lay the difference between the hard but brittle Grant".
Expedition to Earth, 3/5
I liked the part about a technologically regressed people migrating south to flee from the advancing northern glaciers of the next ice age, only to reach the mountain top and see the glaciers advancing from the south as well, knowing that eventually they (or their children) will be crushed between the walls of ice. And how artefacts of technology had been preserved as religious relics and stashed because it'd been understood that they were important, even if not what they were.
- "Even at the last, Man had given some thought to the future and had tried to preserve something for posterity."
The part about the reptile Venusians was neat, but sillier. The book mostly holds up but it shows its age a little when you realize it was written before the space race and it was still feasible to imagine other life forms, even intelligent ones, living on the other planets in the solar system. It feels more optimistic.
Also silly is because this the first time you start to pick up on Arthur C. Clarke's dz™️ endings with the reveal of .
Superiority, 2/5
You get the premise early on, we were technologically better but strategically made the wrong investments, and it sort of goes on longer than necessary. The "Exponential Field" weapon and its unexpected hysteresis effect is a neat sci-fi concept. Then you get another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Nemesis, 2/5
I like the idea of someone, not an evil person but a problematic person, being exiled into the future (the "twilight of the Earth") when they can no longer harm the condemning civilization. I also like what a sophisticated, honorable society that is. "Fifty centuries had passed before the judges could redeem their promise to a man as good as dead. Whatever the faults of the Council, its integrity was of an order beyond the comprehension of an earlier age." It's a good contrast for how that society compares to that of the other character, who's literally Space Hitler. Then, once again, another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Would be 3/5, but -1 for sci-fi telepathy.
Hide-And-Seek, 3/5
Fun little story of a guy problem-solving in an impossible situation. Reminds me a little bit of Foundation in that regard. One man in a space suit on a tiny moon outmaneuvers an entire space cruiser. Also another, admittedly more mild, dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Encounter in the Dawn, 4/5
Great story. It's the type of story that can really only be told in writing so it's cool that Arthur C. Clarke took advantage of the medium. I like the idea that "savages" react to new or strange things according to their past experiences, and if a people have never had any enemies (as is possible on a sparsely populated planet) then they may have nothing to fear. I also like the idea that humans, or things like humans can experience convergent evolution, because "As she must do in eternity, Nature had repeated one of her most basic patterns".
And guess what, another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Loophole, 2/5
Again, shows its age with the hopeful idea that there could be intelligent Martians living with us in the solar system and more nuclear anxiety. dz™️ ending with the reveal .
Inheritance, 1/5
Meh. Another dz™️ ending with the reveal and -1 for sci-fi psychic visions.
The Sentinel, 3/5
The idea of exo/astro-mountaineering is fun. Also that on the moon, where there's harder distance perception because of no atmosphere, "there is no loss of distance - none of that almost imperceptible haziness which softens and sometimes transfigures all far-off things on Earth".
Another sad example of dreamful '50s space enthusiasts holding out a hope that there might be life, if only "creeping moss" on the moon. It's so dreary that we now think they're just these barren rock wastelands.
In this story he describes the aliens from the distant past as "masters of a universe so young that life as yet had come only to a handful of worlds. Theirs would have been a loneliness we cannot imagine, the loneliness of gods looking out across infinity and finding none to share their thoughts", but that's us. He has all these stories written a decade before the first human in space imagining the exciting possibilities of life as close as Mars, Venus, and the Moon, but our world is so much more desolate than that.
--
This is an aside, but there's a trope in science-fiction where for some reason people always assume psychic powers/telepathy/telekinesis is going to manifest in the future. It's not and it's an baseless, boring idea and it shows up constantly and I don't like it. Examples:
- Star Trek, betazoids
- Starship Trooper, psychics
- Star Wars, force-sensitives
- Dune, Bene Gesserit mind-readers/prescients
- Looper, telekinetics
- Firefly/Serenity, psychics
He does it a few times here and wherever it shows up , I deducted a star.
Very cool concept of creatures with advanced minds, who can do things like mathematics and philosophy and music, but their bodies evolved to be inept at interacting with the physical world, so they've never known or conceptualized things like tools or writing or artificially constructed/non-natural objects since they've never had the dexterity to implement such a thing. I enjoyed that it was just a happy story exploring ideas. I kept expecting conflict but it's just a tale of success and teamwork and possibility.
Some other interesting ideas from the book:
- Using mental retardation as a weapon, by aiming to destroying the cognitive functions of your enemies
- In their world (like the natural world) food is a constant and limited supply, yet evolution makes it so their population continually increases (like the natural world), so they live with the knowledge that the eventual starvation of the species is inevitable
- Two species actively working symbiotically and benevolently, one with advanced minds but useless bodies, one with dexterous bodies and simpler minds
- Without tools, there's no boats. Without boats, the planet is unexplorable.
Would be 5/5 but -1 for sci-fi telepathy.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth, 2/5
Any longer and it would've been a 1/5, but 5 pages keeps it short and sweet with some strong imagery of 1950s nuclear anxiety. It's moving when we see the "funeral pyre" of Earth with the "evil phosphorescence" of "the glow of dying atoms" visible from space, until after centuries the rain and wind can eventually "scour the poisons" until they're carried to the depths of the sea where they'll "waste their venom".
Also had an interesting reminder that "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are" isn't rhetorical. It poses an actual question that the vast majority of humans did not know the answer to for the vast majority of history.
Breaking Strain, 5/5
Excellent story. The description of suffocating in the stifling, thickening air while reading under the covers as a child (then emerging into the delicious cool air for breath) is so good. It's such a relatable, nightmarish analogy for the situation of the astronauts that it really makes the story.
Interesting ideas:
- "News that is sufficiently bad somehow carries its own guarantee of truth. Only good reports need confirmation."
- The difference between men who are hard but can be resilient and men who are so strong that they're brittle. "McNeil had his breakdown and had recovered. Therein lay the difference between the hard but brittle Grant".
Expedition to Earth, 3/5
I liked the part about a technologically regressed people migrating south to flee from the advancing northern glaciers of the next ice age, only to reach the mountain top and see the glaciers advancing from the south as well, knowing that eventually they (or their children) will be crushed between the walls of ice. And how artefacts of technology had been preserved as religious relics and stashed because it'd been understood that they were important, even if not what they were.
- "Even at the last, Man had given some thought to the future and had tried to preserve something for posterity."
The part about the reptile Venusians was neat, but sillier. The book mostly holds up but it shows its age a little when you realize it was written before the space race and it was still feasible to imagine other life forms, even intelligent ones, living on the other planets in the solar system. It feels more optimistic.
Also silly is because this the first time you start to pick up on Arthur C. Clarke's dz™️ endings with the reveal of .
Superiority, 2/5
You get the premise early on, we were technologically better but strategically made the wrong investments, and it sort of goes on longer than necessary. The "Exponential Field" weapon and its unexpected hysteresis effect is a neat sci-fi concept. Then you get another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Nemesis, 2/5
I like the idea of someone, not an evil person but a problematic person, being exiled into the future (the "twilight of the Earth") when they can no longer harm the condemning civilization. I also like what a sophisticated, honorable society that is. "Fifty centuries had passed before the judges could redeem their promise to a man as good as dead. Whatever the faults of the Council, its integrity was of an order beyond the comprehension of an earlier age." It's a good contrast for how that society compares to that of the other character, who's literally Space Hitler. Then, once again, another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Would be 3/5, but -1 for sci-fi telepathy.
Hide-And-Seek, 3/5
Fun little story of a guy problem-solving in an impossible situation. Reminds me a little bit of Foundation in that regard. One man in a space suit on a tiny moon outmaneuvers an entire space cruiser. Also another, admittedly more mild, dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Encounter in the Dawn, 4/5
Great story. It's the type of story that can really only be told in writing so it's cool that Arthur C. Clarke took advantage of the medium. I like the idea that "savages" react to new or strange things according to their past experiences, and if a people have never had any enemies (as is possible on a sparsely populated planet) then they may have nothing to fear. I also like the idea that humans, or things like humans can experience convergent evolution, because "As she must do in eternity, Nature had repeated one of her most basic patterns".
And guess what, another dz™️ ending with the reveal of .
Loophole, 2/5
Again, shows its age with the hopeful idea that there could be intelligent Martians living with us in the solar system and more nuclear anxiety. dz™️ ending with the reveal .
Inheritance, 1/5
Meh. Another dz™️ ending with the reveal and -1 for sci-fi psychic visions.
The Sentinel, 3/5
The idea of exo/astro-mountaineering is fun. Also that on the moon, where there's harder distance perception because of no atmosphere, "there is no loss of distance - none of that almost imperceptible haziness which softens and sometimes transfigures all far-off things on Earth".
Another sad example of dreamful '50s space enthusiasts holding out a hope that there might be life, if only "creeping moss" on the moon. It's so dreary that we now think they're just these barren rock wastelands.
In this story he describes the aliens from the distant past as "masters of a universe so young that life as yet had come only to a handful of worlds. Theirs would have been a loneliness we cannot imagine, the loneliness of gods looking out across infinity and finding none to share their thoughts", but that's us. He has all these stories written a decade before the first human in space imagining the exciting possibilities of life as close as Mars, Venus, and the Moon, but our world is so much more desolate than that.
--
This is an aside, but there's a trope in science-fiction where for some reason people always assume psychic powers/telepathy/telekinesis is going to manifest in the future. It's not and it's an baseless, boring idea and it shows up constantly and I don't like it. Examples:
- Star Trek, betazoids
- Starship Trooper, psychics
- Star Wars, force-sensitives
- Dune, Bene Gesserit mind-readers/prescients
- Looper, telekinetics
- Firefly/Serenity, psychics
He does it a few times here and wherever it shows up , I deducted a star.
August 18, 2012
Está aqui um excelente livro contendo uma selecção de 11 contos muito interessantes saídos do génio de Arthur C. Clarke. Trata-se dos primeiros contos escritos por Clarke, em 1954, que nos permitem apreciar a genialidade e a capacidade de visão que este autor sempre demonstrou nas suas obras. Todas as narrativas mantêm o estilo de Clarke, na medida em que se coloca sempre uma grande ênfase na tecnologia e nos aspectos científicos, não descurando no entanto a personalidade associada a personagens. Em minha opinião, vale bem a pena ler e "saborear" as ideias presentes nestes contos. Destaco, em particular os 5 contos de que mais gostei pela ordem em que surgem no livro: A Segunda Alvorada; Se eu te esquecer, ó Terra; Ponto de tensão; Encontro ao amanhecer e Sentinela. Gostei mesmo muito do conto "Se eu te esquecer, ó Terra" e também do "Encontro ao amanhecer", no qual está subjacente a ideia de que terão sido astronautas os primeiros deuses da espécie humana, seres de uma das primeiras raças a terem evoluído na nossa galáxia que visitaram o nosso planeta nos primórdios da evolução da nossa espécie. Destaco ainda o conto "Sentinela" que é percursor da magnífica saga que se inicia com 2001, Odisseia no Espaço.
February 25, 2020
This is an anthology of Science Fiction short stories by Arthur C. Clark, the master of the surprise ending. The last is the “Sentinel� which later morphed into 2001 A Space Odyssey. These are not the shoot’em up Buck Rogers space operas, but rather thoughtful stories about how mankind adapts. Well worth the read.
December 6, 2016
A mixed bag, some are really interesting others are really boring.
July 20, 2020
3.5 stars
I actually enjoyed some of these stories more than I thought I would. The first and last stories in this collection were my favorites. Most of the other ones were in the three star range though there were a few that were lower that I didn’t enjoy as much.
I didn’t really know what to expect from this collection because I had never read anything by this author before and I don’t read a lot of science fiction though I would like to start reading more. I also don’t typically like short stories, though there are always exceptions. I decided to read this because I needed something short to hold me over until I could start my tbr for a readathon.
Second Dawn- 4 stars: This story did a great job of grabbing me and pulling me into the world. In a way, this is the story that almost seems out of place in this collection as the collection seems more focused on the science and technology aspects, whereas this one reminded me more of fantasy, which was probably why I enjoyed it so much.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth-3 stars: This one was just okay for me. I understood what the message behind the story was but here it seemed a bit heavy handed. I was also a bit confused as to where they were actually living, because initially I imagined it wrong and I thought they were living underground on Earth. It was just a bit confusing for me.
Breaking Strain- 3.5 stars: This one had more of the technical science part of science fiction which I don’t enjoy that much. Usually it just confuses me. I gave this an extra half star because the way in which this is told leaves doubt as to what is actually true because we don’t get all of the information first hand. I did feel like the plot was sort of cliche, being the stuck in space with a mechanical failure with no hope of survival trope, but maybe in its day it wasn’t as cliche. It was before my time so I have no idea.
History Lesson- 3 stars: This one was again just okay. I feel like maybe I missed something here because we start out with a man named Shann and then his sons but they fade out of the story pretty quickly so I was questioning why we started with them at all.
Superiority- 2.5 stars: I wasn’t a huge fan of the way it was written, because it is just a man explaining how they failed and were beaten by the enemy. I think I would rather have seen this as part of a longer story instead of being the story itself because we can imagine what has happened but we don’t really see it, we only hear of it from this person’s point of view.
Exile of the Eons- 3.5 stars: Initially I gave this 3 stars but on reflection I decided to increase it because thinking back on it I liked it more than I thought I did. It is one of the stories that stands out to me. Toward the middle I got a bit confused as to where it was going but then I figured it out.
Hide and Seek -3 stars: It was okay but I found the ending a bit confusing as to who was who in story because it seemed to matter.
Expedition to Earth- 3.5 stars: I liked the premise of this one but I didn’t like how the author used the word savage to describe the people and how the land at the end is said to be nameless. The people had some sort of language and I’m sure they probably would have had a name for their own land, even if the scientists didn’t know what it was.
Loophole- 1.5 stars: I really didn’t like the format of this one. It was written entirely through correspondence between various people and there was some technical stuff in there that was lost to me without any context or description to help me.
Inheritance- 2 stars: This one again had a lot of more technical stuff which I was confused about. For some reason this keeps reminding me of the Studio Ghibli film The Wind Rises, even though that film was about airplanes.
The Sentinel- 4 stars: At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one but then just as with the first one I got sucked in and ended up loving it.
I actually enjoyed some of these stories more than I thought I would. The first and last stories in this collection were my favorites. Most of the other ones were in the three star range though there were a few that were lower that I didn’t enjoy as much.
I didn’t really know what to expect from this collection because I had never read anything by this author before and I don’t read a lot of science fiction though I would like to start reading more. I also don’t typically like short stories, though there are always exceptions. I decided to read this because I needed something short to hold me over until I could start my tbr for a readathon.
Second Dawn- 4 stars: This story did a great job of grabbing me and pulling me into the world. In a way, this is the story that almost seems out of place in this collection as the collection seems more focused on the science and technology aspects, whereas this one reminded me more of fantasy, which was probably why I enjoyed it so much.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth-3 stars: This one was just okay for me. I understood what the message behind the story was but here it seemed a bit heavy handed. I was also a bit confused as to where they were actually living, because initially I imagined it wrong and I thought they were living underground on Earth. It was just a bit confusing for me.
Breaking Strain- 3.5 stars: This one had more of the technical science part of science fiction which I don’t enjoy that much. Usually it just confuses me. I gave this an extra half star because the way in which this is told leaves doubt as to what is actually true because we don’t get all of the information first hand. I did feel like the plot was sort of cliche, being the stuck in space with a mechanical failure with no hope of survival trope, but maybe in its day it wasn’t as cliche. It was before my time so I have no idea.
History Lesson- 3 stars: This one was again just okay. I feel like maybe I missed something here because we start out with a man named Shann and then his sons but they fade out of the story pretty quickly so I was questioning why we started with them at all.
Superiority- 2.5 stars: I wasn’t a huge fan of the way it was written, because it is just a man explaining how they failed and were beaten by the enemy. I think I would rather have seen this as part of a longer story instead of being the story itself because we can imagine what has happened but we don’t really see it, we only hear of it from this person’s point of view.
Exile of the Eons- 3.5 stars: Initially I gave this 3 stars but on reflection I decided to increase it because thinking back on it I liked it more than I thought I did. It is one of the stories that stands out to me. Toward the middle I got a bit confused as to where it was going but then I figured it out.
Hide and Seek -3 stars: It was okay but I found the ending a bit confusing as to who was who in story because it seemed to matter.
Expedition to Earth- 3.5 stars: I liked the premise of this one but I didn’t like how the author used the word savage to describe the people and how the land at the end is said to be nameless. The people had some sort of language and I’m sure they probably would have had a name for their own land, even if the scientists didn’t know what it was.
Loophole- 1.5 stars: I really didn’t like the format of this one. It was written entirely through correspondence between various people and there was some technical stuff in there that was lost to me without any context or description to help me.
Inheritance- 2 stars: This one again had a lot of more technical stuff which I was confused about. For some reason this keeps reminding me of the Studio Ghibli film The Wind Rises, even though that film was about airplanes.
The Sentinel- 4 stars: At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one but then just as with the first one I got sucked in and ended up loving it.
February 5, 2024
This is a collection of short stories. There are a few standout stories here, and a bunch of what I would consider somewhat average. This collection was published in the 1950s, and without question it has a very classic science fiction feel. Most of the stories hold up pretty well, but there are some aspects that are a little dated. It is a short collection though, and I have always enjoyed reading Arthur C. Clarke. I would give it about 3.5 stars. This is nowhere near my favorite from Clarke, but I would recommend it to anyone who has read his major works and wants to dig deeper into his offerings. Below are a couple of brief sentences on each story in this collection.
Second Dawn. An interesting story on a different Earth-like planet where the predominant species is something like a unicorn (maybe?). They have advanced in some different ways to our own civilization, but have reached the level where they could now become a threat to their own existence.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth... A very brief story from the perspective a ten year old boy. People living on the moon look up at Earth, now a radioactive wasteland that they will never be able to visit (or return to). This is an interesting idea but I found the story a little bland and a bit too short.
Breaking Strain. A story about two men on a commercial freighter in space. Something goes wrong, and there is only enough oxygen for perhaps one of them to survive to reach their destination. What will they do? Another interesting premise, but just a good story, not a great one.
History Lesson. A short story about humans on Earth preserving some artifacts before a future ice age, and far future beings on Venus trying to piece together information about human civilization from them. Somewhat average.
Superiority. A decent story about an arms race during a war in space. The focus is on the events and ideas, with no dialog and very little about characters.
Exile of the Eons. Quite an interesting story about "The Master", a supreme evil overlord type villain, who, rather than facing death for his crimes, is able to put himself into isolated suspension. He plans to sleep for a century, but something goes wrong, and it ends up being far, far longer...
Hide and Seek. As the title suggests, this is a story about searching for a man in space who does not want to be found. I was not overly impressed, but the ending did elevate it to some degree.
Expedition to Earth. The story from which the collection gets its title, so it must be great, right? Well, it is. I cannot say all that much without spoiling some important things in the story. Today, it may seem like an idea that has been utilized a number of times, but back in the 1950s when this was written (or at least when it was published), I expect that this story really impressed a lot of readers.
Loophole. A series of correspondences among several important people of a more advanced civilization on Mars, as they observe technological advances on Earth around the time of World War II. This is probably my least favorite story in this collection.
Inheritance. This one is about a man who does test flights for spaceships. The ending attempts to add a more mystical element to the story, but the end result I found to be just okay.
The Sentinel. A pretty average story about some exploration on the moon.
Second Dawn. An interesting story on a different Earth-like planet where the predominant species is something like a unicorn (maybe?). They have advanced in some different ways to our own civilization, but have reached the level where they could now become a threat to their own existence.
If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth... A very brief story from the perspective a ten year old boy. People living on the moon look up at Earth, now a radioactive wasteland that they will never be able to visit (or return to). This is an interesting idea but I found the story a little bland and a bit too short.
Breaking Strain. A story about two men on a commercial freighter in space. Something goes wrong, and there is only enough oxygen for perhaps one of them to survive to reach their destination. What will they do? Another interesting premise, but just a good story, not a great one.
History Lesson. A short story about humans on Earth preserving some artifacts before a future ice age, and far future beings on Venus trying to piece together information about human civilization from them. Somewhat average.
Superiority. A decent story about an arms race during a war in space. The focus is on the events and ideas, with no dialog and very little about characters.
Exile of the Eons. Quite an interesting story about "The Master", a supreme evil overlord type villain, who, rather than facing death for his crimes, is able to put himself into isolated suspension. He plans to sleep for a century, but something goes wrong, and it ends up being far, far longer...
Hide and Seek. As the title suggests, this is a story about searching for a man in space who does not want to be found. I was not overly impressed, but the ending did elevate it to some degree.
Expedition to Earth. The story from which the collection gets its title, so it must be great, right? Well, it is. I cannot say all that much without spoiling some important things in the story. Today, it may seem like an idea that has been utilized a number of times, but back in the 1950s when this was written (or at least when it was published), I expect that this story really impressed a lot of readers.
Loophole. A series of correspondences among several important people of a more advanced civilization on Mars, as they observe technological advances on Earth around the time of World War II. This is probably my least favorite story in this collection.
Inheritance. This one is about a man who does test flights for spaceships. The ending attempts to add a more mystical element to the story, but the end result I found to be just okay.
The Sentinel. A pretty average story about some exploration on the moon.
November 9, 2017
First at all it’s important to insist that these stories were written more than sixty years ago, an excellent reminder of how technology has changed our lives and our perception of “normal� in this short period.
Clarke was a visionary, he was capable of understand how technological advancements could drive our development. But even so he was not able to foreseen what miniaturization of transistors would bring to our society. Stories bring a bit of everything, wars, travel in space, new civilizations.
A few things negative that I found in the book: He’s not rid of smoking habit and portrays people in space hooked to the vice. Coming again to computers, he didn’t imagine that one day an enormous computing power will be possible with a tiny device and with a minimum consumption of energy. In one of the stories a contender in the war gets help from a kind of artificial intelligence, a device able to drive the battle. But the device is enormous, it is built in a huge ship and hundreds of men are necessary to operate and maintain it. This is related with communications also. In a story a report is missing because the ship that was taking it suffered a delay or a problem. Today the idea of a document to be sent in paper seems old fashioned.
I didn’t like the idea of mind reading. He brings the subject in a couple of stories and portrays this ability like an advancement of society. Even that he usually includes detailed explanations of how things are get, in this case it seems to me that it is simply magic, and this doesn’t fit in Clarke stories. Regarding other civilizations the stories bring two possibilities. One of them seems unlikely, animals without hands getting intelligent, or animals who live into the water the most of the time. This breaks the rules evolution as we know it has to follow. The second possibility, the one I like it more as more feasible, it’s that intelligent civilizations in distant galaxies are not so different to us, and the explanation is that nature and evolution has not so many degrees of freedom.
But once I've portrayed negative issues, I must end telling that the stories deserve not just one but several readings. He’s bringing always excellent ideas in little details, how space exploration could be done he portrays in astounding correctness in one of the stories, “Inheritance�. And of course, correct or incorrect, you receive a bunch of ideas to think about, it’s an excellent mind exercise to read Clarke’s.
Clarke was a visionary, he was capable of understand how technological advancements could drive our development. But even so he was not able to foreseen what miniaturization of transistors would bring to our society. Stories bring a bit of everything, wars, travel in space, new civilizations.
A few things negative that I found in the book: He’s not rid of smoking habit and portrays people in space hooked to the vice. Coming again to computers, he didn’t imagine that one day an enormous computing power will be possible with a tiny device and with a minimum consumption of energy. In one of the stories a contender in the war gets help from a kind of artificial intelligence, a device able to drive the battle. But the device is enormous, it is built in a huge ship and hundreds of men are necessary to operate and maintain it. This is related with communications also. In a story a report is missing because the ship that was taking it suffered a delay or a problem. Today the idea of a document to be sent in paper seems old fashioned.
I didn’t like the idea of mind reading. He brings the subject in a couple of stories and portrays this ability like an advancement of society. Even that he usually includes detailed explanations of how things are get, in this case it seems to me that it is simply magic, and this doesn’t fit in Clarke stories. Regarding other civilizations the stories bring two possibilities. One of them seems unlikely, animals without hands getting intelligent, or animals who live into the water the most of the time. This breaks the rules evolution as we know it has to follow. The second possibility, the one I like it more as more feasible, it’s that intelligent civilizations in distant galaxies are not so different to us, and the explanation is that nature and evolution has not so many degrees of freedom.
But once I've portrayed negative issues, I must end telling that the stories deserve not just one but several readings. He’s bringing always excellent ideas in little details, how space exploration could be done he portrays in astounding correctness in one of the stories, “Inheritance�. And of course, correct or incorrect, you receive a bunch of ideas to think about, it’s an excellent mind exercise to read Clarke’s.
November 12, 2024
Read this on a long plane ride and even longer layover.
As I'm sure is advertised on your copy of this too, this is the inspiration for the Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you thought you were going to read a story called "2001: A Space Odyssey", you would be mistaken. Expedition to Earth is a collection of stories released in 1953, about 15 years before the release of the film and it's novelization. All the typical themes you would expect to find are featured; evolution, nuclear weapons, psychic powers, bad military decisions, the ethics of alien encounters, and Walt Disney.
Overall I think there were more misses than hits for me, but there were a few that stood out.
In the "The Sentinel" an astronaut languidly climbs a mountain on the moon to retrieve an artifact of alien technology left behind to wait for the day human technology reaches a certain point. This is the short story which is credited as the inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really enjoyed this, especially after having read space archaeologist Alice Gorman's description of the surface of the moon in Dr. Space Junk vs the Universe.
Another standout is a cheeky whodunnit where a cargo ship on a journey from Earth to Venus is damaged by a once in a million space anomaly while carrying two astronauts, leaving her with only enough oxygen for one of them to reach their destination alive. "Breaking Strain" is comic relief, bookended by hard sci-fi that deals with existential, ethical dilemmas, but I think it asks poignant questions about morality, vices, masculinity, and labor. I really enjoyed the discussion of the economics of their journey and the goods they were transporting. A story for a modern age of self driving vehicles and Amazon truck drivers pissing in plastic bottles to meet their delivery goals.
Some of the other stories I enjoyed featured a philosopher banished to the far future to await the death of a star, Earth-Mars political relations, and a spy in a space suit being hunted by an enemy space ship on one of Jupiter's moons.
Overall, I do recommend it, even if I thought some of the stories were a bit dull.
As I'm sure is advertised on your copy of this too, this is the inspiration for the Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you thought you were going to read a story called "2001: A Space Odyssey", you would be mistaken. Expedition to Earth is a collection of stories released in 1953, about 15 years before the release of the film and it's novelization. All the typical themes you would expect to find are featured; evolution, nuclear weapons, psychic powers, bad military decisions, the ethics of alien encounters, and Walt Disney.
Overall I think there were more misses than hits for me, but there were a few that stood out.
In the "The Sentinel" an astronaut languidly climbs a mountain on the moon to retrieve an artifact of alien technology left behind to wait for the day human technology reaches a certain point. This is the short story which is credited as the inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really enjoyed this, especially after having read space archaeologist Alice Gorman's description of the surface of the moon in Dr. Space Junk vs the Universe.
Another standout is a cheeky whodunnit where a cargo ship on a journey from Earth to Venus is damaged by a once in a million space anomaly while carrying two astronauts, leaving her with only enough oxygen for one of them to reach their destination alive. "Breaking Strain" is comic relief, bookended by hard sci-fi that deals with existential, ethical dilemmas, but I think it asks poignant questions about morality, vices, masculinity, and labor. I really enjoyed the discussion of the economics of their journey and the goods they were transporting. A story for a modern age of self driving vehicles and Amazon truck drivers pissing in plastic bottles to meet their delivery goals.
Some of the other stories I enjoyed featured a philosopher banished to the far future to await the death of a star, Earth-Mars political relations, and a spy in a space suit being hunted by an enemy space ship on one of Jupiter's moons.
Overall, I do recommend it, even if I thought some of the stories were a bit dull.
August 17, 2023
1,5/5
No m'esplaiaré amb romanços: ras i curt, Expedición a la Tierra m'ha semblat molt avorrit. Clarke fracassa en el seu intent per bastir un conjunt de relats heterogenis i interessants. Com en tot recull, el resultat pot ser desigual, però en aquest cas és gairebé unànime: homogèniament avorrit. Molta terminologia tècnica i afany per demostrar coneixements, però poca rauxa en els relats; intents infructuosos de tocar la fibra nostàlgica; dissertacions llargues i tedioses sobre el futur de la humanitat —molt sovint vist en clau de passat o des de la perspectiva de races alienígenes, però en cap cas amb una perspectiva de futur i/o amb idees innovadores; una anàlisi avorridíssima sobre com les estratègies militars porten a perdre una guerra... I podria seguir una bona estona.
Només he trobat un parell de relats amb una premissa prou interessant, però s'allarguen en excés i a l'hora d'arribar al clímax i executar el desenllaç esdevenen previsibles o barroers. Una pena, perquè Tensión extrema i Encuentro en la aurora m'estaven agradant.
I l'únic relat destacable, aquell que es mantenia esplendorós en el meu record, no ha suportat tan bé com pensava una relectura. A El centinela hi he trobat reminiscències a les històries de descobriments ominosos de Lovecraft que m'han agradat molt més que no els elements scifi dels que sempre ha fet gala.
Tampoc hi ajuda la traducció, que es veu antiga —entenc que és l'original de 1955, de la qual se n'han fet lamentables i successius 'retapats' sense cap tipus de revisió�, i que potser amb un nou enfocament i matisos més actuals hauria guanyat una mica. Tot plegat fa l'efecte de mirar capítols d'una sèrie antiga que han quedat ancorats en els clixés de les pel·lis scifi dels anys 50. Una llàstima. Una gran decepció.
No m'esplaiaré amb romanços: ras i curt, Expedición a la Tierra m'ha semblat molt avorrit. Clarke fracassa en el seu intent per bastir un conjunt de relats heterogenis i interessants. Com en tot recull, el resultat pot ser desigual, però en aquest cas és gairebé unànime: homogèniament avorrit. Molta terminologia tècnica i afany per demostrar coneixements, però poca rauxa en els relats; intents infructuosos de tocar la fibra nostàlgica; dissertacions llargues i tedioses sobre el futur de la humanitat —molt sovint vist en clau de passat o des de la perspectiva de races alienígenes, però en cap cas amb una perspectiva de futur i/o amb idees innovadores; una anàlisi avorridíssima sobre com les estratègies militars porten a perdre una guerra... I podria seguir una bona estona.
Només he trobat un parell de relats amb una premissa prou interessant, però s'allarguen en excés i a l'hora d'arribar al clímax i executar el desenllaç esdevenen previsibles o barroers. Una pena, perquè Tensión extrema i Encuentro en la aurora m'estaven agradant.
I l'únic relat destacable, aquell que es mantenia esplendorós en el meu record, no ha suportat tan bé com pensava una relectura. A El centinela hi he trobat reminiscències a les històries de descobriments ominosos de Lovecraft que m'han agradat molt més que no els elements scifi dels que sempre ha fet gala.
Tampoc hi ajuda la traducció, que es veu antiga —entenc que és l'original de 1955, de la qual se n'han fet lamentables i successius 'retapats' sense cap tipus de revisió�, i que potser amb un nou enfocament i matisos més actuals hauria guanyat una mica. Tot plegat fa l'efecte de mirar capítols d'una sèrie antiga que han quedat ancorats en els clixés de les pel·lis scifi dels anys 50. Una llàstima. Una gran decepció.
August 15, 2023
Después de terminar "Relatos de diez mundos" de esta misma colección he decidido releer "Expedición a la tierra", en parte porque lo compré para completar esta colección y en parte porque ya lo había leído hacía tanto tiempo que no recordaba más que retazos de algún relato.
Es una colección de diez relatos que versan sobre temas de lo más diverso. Lo encuentro más interesante que "Relatos de diez mundos", pero eso puede ser debido a que, al leer tres libros del mismo autor del tirón, me sumergí más en el mundo de Clarke.
Aunque en este caso hay elementos de humor, los temas filosóficos y de implicaciones culturales son tratados con mayor seriedad. Los relatos están mejor fundamentados y los temas son más diversos. Los relatos son:
La segunda aurora**** (Curioso relato sobre otro tipo de evolución de la inteligencia).
¡Si te olvidase, oh Tierra!**** (Relato post-apocalíptico).
Tensión extrema**** (Naufragos del espacio).
Expedición a la Tierra (Los venusuanos visitan la tierra).
Superioridad*** (Curioso relato de cómo la fuerza pura puede adelantar a la inteligencia cuando estamos despistados)
é**** (Este podría figurar en 'Tiempo Profundo', un relato sobre la evolución a lo largo de eones).
Juego de escondite*** (Juego de espias en el espacio)
Encuentro en la aurora (Muy chulo, encuentros en la tercera fase).
Lo imprevisto*** (Marte ataca!)
Herencia*** (Este lo he encontrado un poco flojo, sobre cohetes)
El centinela**** (Antesala de 2001)
Es una colección de diez relatos que versan sobre temas de lo más diverso. Lo encuentro más interesante que "Relatos de diez mundos", pero eso puede ser debido a que, al leer tres libros del mismo autor del tirón, me sumergí más en el mundo de Clarke.
Aunque en este caso hay elementos de humor, los temas filosóficos y de implicaciones culturales son tratados con mayor seriedad. Los relatos están mejor fundamentados y los temas son más diversos. Los relatos son:
La segunda aurora**** (Curioso relato sobre otro tipo de evolución de la inteligencia).
¡Si te olvidase, oh Tierra!**** (Relato post-apocalíptico).
Tensión extrema**** (Naufragos del espacio).
Expedición a la Tierra (Los venusuanos visitan la tierra).
Superioridad*** (Curioso relato de cómo la fuerza pura puede adelantar a la inteligencia cuando estamos despistados)
é**** (Este podría figurar en 'Tiempo Profundo', un relato sobre la evolución a lo largo de eones).
Juego de escondite*** (Juego de espias en el espacio)
Encuentro en la aurora (Muy chulo, encuentros en la tercera fase).
Lo imprevisto*** (Marte ataca!)
Herencia*** (Este lo he encontrado un poco flojo, sobre cohetes)
El centinela**** (Antesala de 2001)
November 16, 2019
When it comes to Arthur C. Clarke's short fiction you really can't go wrong. Of course some of these tales have aged better than others, but, then again, some of them are more than 70 years old at this point. The classic problem for all science fiction is that as time passes, the science is disproven. The trick is, of course, to place the stories in their historical context and focus on the fiction. And as a fiction writer, Clarke was among the very best of his generation. We now know that Venus is too inhospitable to visit, let alone give rise to life; that Mars is similarly desolate, if for different reasons; and that the moon was never home to oceans of water. Still, stories such as "Second Dawn," a meditation on how and why intelligence evolves; "Superiority," the ultimate technological morality play; or the classic "The Sentinel," which ultimately spawned "2001: A Space Odyssey," are sufficiently provocative to hold the interest of the contemporary reader. (Serious Clarke fans will find all of these collected together in the then-comprehensive anthology of the author's short works which was published in the early 2000s.)
March 11, 2021
A short compilation by Clarke, originally published in 1953, but the stories still feel really fresh today, in a retro way.
Here's my general thoughts on the stories:
Second Dawn - Interesting look at a species that needs a second species to evolve.
If I Forget Thee - A beautiful tribute to our planet.
Breaking Strain - Someone should make a movie out of this one. Great bit of suspense, and a little bit of a whodunit with a twist.
History Lesson -Melancholy.
Superiority - A classic, I swear I've read it before. My husband says they used to use this one as a lesson in engineering classes
Exile of the Eons - Excellent, wasn't sure where it was going at first, liked where it ended up.
Hide and Seek - Really amusing, and a nice surprise.
Expedition to Earth - A wistful what if.
Loophole - Made me chuckle. A nice case of unintended consequences.
Inheritance -Spooky.
The Sentinel This story is the basis for the book and film, 2001. It's short, but really great, and a little bit sad.
Here's my general thoughts on the stories:
Second Dawn - Interesting look at a species that needs a second species to evolve.
If I Forget Thee - A beautiful tribute to our planet.
Breaking Strain - Someone should make a movie out of this one. Great bit of suspense, and a little bit of a whodunit with a twist.
History Lesson -Melancholy.
Superiority - A classic, I swear I've read it before. My husband says they used to use this one as a lesson in engineering classes
Exile of the Eons - Excellent, wasn't sure where it was going at first, liked where it ended up.
Hide and Seek - Really amusing, and a nice surprise.
Expedition to Earth - A wistful what if.
Loophole - Made me chuckle. A nice case of unintended consequences.
Inheritance -Spooky.
The Sentinel This story is the basis for the book and film, 2001. It's short, but really great, and a little bit sad.
April 8, 2023
A collection of Clarke's slightly older fiction from the period just after WWII through to 1953, when this volume was published. I have a nostalgic interest in some of these stories--particularly Exile of the Eons & Hide and Seek--having first read them as a teenager more than 40 years ago. Overall, this is a solid collection and displays Clarke's science-based approach to his fiction. In some areas the science is a little dodgy by modern standards but this simply reflects things we have learned or come to better understand in the interim. Some examples include allusions to the moon's "seas" as being the dried up remnants of real seas (whose water later dried up; this is in the story, "The Sentinel", which he would later use as the basis for 2001, A Space Odyssey) and the prediction that the age of rockets (which had barely begun at the time he was writing) would soon give way to atomic-powered craft. It's a pity ŷ doesn't allow fractional stars as, to me, this is a solid 3.5--not quite as good as The Other Side of the Sky, a slightly later collection that I read recently.
February 5, 2024
This was my first foray into Clarke, and while there were a few lesser pieces in here (Loophole, for instance), I was really impressed. "Encounter in the Dawns" and especially "Breaking Strain" were probably my favorite, the latter being the most Clarke comes to really taking an interest in the interior world of the humans in his stories.
Clarke is not always very curious about the way these futures might *feel* per se, and I don't think writing-as-craft is a priority either, his style is almost clinical and even his first-person narrators are often so dedicated to their duties that they take on a staid anonymous tone. And yet I found these stories surprisingly compelling, and I think I'm curious to see what Clarke can do at book-length. If these short stories are episodes of the Twilight Zone (and the presence of twist endings does make them feel that way at times), what can he do with a feature length movie?
Clarke is not always very curious about the way these futures might *feel* per se, and I don't think writing-as-craft is a priority either, his style is almost clinical and even his first-person narrators are often so dedicated to their duties that they take on a staid anonymous tone. And yet I found these stories surprisingly compelling, and I think I'm curious to see what Clarke can do at book-length. If these short stories are episodes of the Twilight Zone (and the presence of twist endings does make them feel that way at times), what can he do with a feature length movie?
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