To the best of my knowledge I have never read anything by Arthur C Clarke, although I don't discount the possibility that there may have been some short stories I don't remember. But obviously his work, or at least some of his work, belongs to that canon one as a sf/fantasy buff really ought to have read. A shameful oversight, et cetera. Which will now be remedied even though I'm not much of a fan of space opera. But we'll see. Update will follow. :-)

I got this book at a flea market at Grünerløkka elementary school in Oslo on Saturday, October 28th, 2006. Judging from the creasing on the book it appears the previous owner read up to and including chapter twelve, but then gave up. :-) Considering it's only 252 pages (chapter thirteen begins on page 69) I think I can beat that ... ;-)

From the front cover:

'The classic science fiction novel of first contact'

From the back cover:

'''There are perpetual surprises, constant evocation of the sense of wonder, and occasions of the most breathless suspense'
New York Times

The first images, from ten thousand kilometres away, brought to a halt the activities of all mankind. On a billion television screens, there appeared a tiny, featureless cylinder, growing rapidly second by second. By the time it had doubled its size, no one could pretend any longer that Rama was a natural object.

The astonishing and groundbreaking Rama series begins.

'Quite masterly' The Times

'Arthur C. Clarke is one of the truly prophetic figures of the space age' New Yorker

'One of the best novels Clarke has written ... packed with suspense and mystery' Sunday Times'

This is a paperback edition from Orbit, published in 1991, reprinted in 2000. The book was originally published in 1972.

I started reading this book yesterday. So far OK, but hasn't really grabbed me. We'll see.

The book is read ... it took a little longer than I thought it would, almost a week, because to be honest it didn't really grab me. It was an OK read, entertaining enough, but not as special as I'd been led to believe. It is quite well written (as opposed to very :-). The story is interesting but to a reader of 2009 not all that original. I also found it stupid and annoying that Clarke had fallen into the standard trap of ethnocentricity ... he assumes that in more than a hundred years from now, Western culture will still be dominant. Almost all the characters in the book are of Anglo-Saxon origin. Not a Chinese or an Indian among them. 'Prophetic' my shiny metal ass ...

This ruined the book for me to some extent because it revealed the author's lack of imagination, which I had not expected. IMO this book is mostly a run of the mill space opera ... although I will admit that the interior of Rama is described in a creative and fascinating way ... I seriously doubt whether it would have become such a cult classic if it had been published today.

Conclusion: Worth reading but IMO nothing really special.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I will release this book somewhere in Ringen movie theater tonight (I'm going there to see Coraline. Since I've never been to Ringen before I don't know where exactly. I'll find a good spot. :-)

Happy travels to the book, and happy reading to the lucky finder!! :-)