Brian in Mesa

RIP: Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Arthur C. Clarke Gone at Age 90
Source: The Associated Press
March 18, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday, an aide said. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome for years, died at 1:30 a.m. in his adopted home of Sri Lanka after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

The 1968 story "2001: A Space Odyssey" - written simultaneously as a novel and screenplay with director Stanley Kubrick - was a frightening prophesy of artificial intelligence run amok.

From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his best-selling "3001: The Final Odyssey" when he was 79.

A statement from Clarke's office said that Clarke had recently reviewed the final manuscript of his latest novel. "The Last Theorem," co-written with Frederik Pohl, will be published later this year, the statement said.

Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956; "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.

When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including "The Sentinel," written in 1948, and "Encounter in the Dawn." As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010,""2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."

Russ Smith

Major bummer but he lived a long life.

Everyone knows about 2001 but he wrote a ton of great books and some of the most amazing short stories you'll ever read.

I read a book called 9 Billion Names of God when I was in junior high it's a collection of some of his short stories. He also wrote A Walk in the Dark another short story that I remember 30 years after first reading it. I'm pretty sure he was the author of another one of my favorite short stories, I can't remember the title but the premise is aliens from another galaxy try to contact earth to warn them of an event that's going to destroy earth. They offer to transport everyone on earth to another inhabitable planet. They communicate with earth by thought, they get into some guys brain and just start telling him what's going on, the problem is the guy is a wino and drunk and he just thinks he's hearing voices again and igores it. At the end the aliens say to each other they can't understand why earthlings were so stupid, as they watch the earth blow up.

Really a great writer highly recommend just about any of his books.

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Griffin

Great hard science fiction writer. I've actually started reading his books just last year. I've read Childhood's End and then the four books in the Space Odyssey series.

arthurracoon

The Hammer of God is the first book of his that I read back in middle or high school

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arthurpostpadder