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A review by wookieeprincess
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
4.0
After watching the... intriguing... SyFy Childhood's End mini series, I felt like I had to read the book (which had been on my "to read list" for years anyway) to separate the actual ideas from the wacky presentation of the show. It was a great read (no shocker there, it's Arthur C. Clarke!), and, of course, made much more sense than some of the "plot developments" that existed in the show.
As always, Clarke's predictions about the future (not too distant from in time from our present, I assume) were fabulous and largely on point. The book opens with the strange disclaimer that "The Opinions Expressed In This Book Are Not Those Of The Author," and it is certainly a much darker/less optimistic view about the future of humankind than you may be used to reading in an ACC book. It's chilling to read about the overabundance of content ("'...there are too many distractions and entertainments... If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that's available at the turn of a switch! No wonder people are becoming passive sponges--absorbing but never creating... Soon people won't be living their own lives any more. It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!'") and its proximity to the end times.
The formatting on the Kindle version was a bit troubling, which is why I didn't give the book 5 stars. (Also, as visionary as Clarke is, it's still a book written by a British dude in the 1950s, and I would say his presentation of the role of women in the future is incomplete to non-existent. A "Negro" character is featured prominently and has tremendous significance, though.)
As always, Clarke's predictions about the future (not too distant from in time from our present, I assume) were fabulous and largely on point. The book opens with the strange disclaimer that "The Opinions Expressed In This Book Are Not Those Of The Author," and it is certainly a much darker/less optimistic view about the future of humankind than you may be used to reading in an ACC book. It's chilling to read about the overabundance of content ("'...there are too many distractions and entertainments... If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that's available at the turn of a switch! No wonder people are becoming passive sponges--absorbing but never creating... Soon people won't be living their own lives any more. It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!'") and its proximity to the end times.
The formatting on the Kindle version was a bit troubling, which is why I didn't give the book 5 stars. (Also, as visionary as Clarke is, it's still a book written by a British dude in the 1950s, and I would say his presentation of the role of women in the future is incomplete to non-existent. A "Negro" character is featured prominently and has tremendous significance, though.)