ronpayne 's review for:

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

4.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Clarke is my favorite of the hard sci-fi authors because, though he very much wrote in service of speculative ideas, he always managed to inject just enough humanity, and avoid getting too bogged down in technical minutiae to avoid being accused of being dry. This book is about the building of a space elevator, a structure which allows cargo an people to get into space without the use of rockets. It won a bunch of awards, and is a good read.