1984: Spring; A Choice of Futures

by Arthur C. Clarke

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345313585
• Release Date: October 1984
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Interesting for Clarke fans

This is not Clarke's best collection of essays, but it is an interesting - and, for him, somewhat unique one. There are a couple of his non-fiction books that everyone should read (The Promise of Space, Profiles of The Future, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds), and this is not one of them, but it will certainly delight fans of the author. It's split into four sections: the first, War and Peace In The Space Age, gives the book its title. This material, which mostly discusses the peaceful applications of communications satellites and other such things during the early 1980's is invariably somewhat dated, and could be easily casually tossed off as outdated Cold War paranoia. And, though this is certainly the well from which the material sprung, Clarke is a great enough writer for the material to remain interesting. He has some nice views, too: there's another instance here of his famous coinage "We will take no frontiers into space." Another sections deals with, of course, space; this is an intersting take, as it always is with Clarke, and one of the most novel pieces is a bit on the myths and absurdities of space travel: in these, Clarke dismisses common paranoic delusions involved with space travel, and clears up some of its most common misconceptions. Another section is somewhat surprising coming from ACC: it deals with literary subjects. It includes a couple of forwards to books he wrote for other people, including the hilarous introduction he wrote for his agent's book, and a document of his hilarous correspondence with the late playwright George Bernard Shaw. The last section is a series of articles he wrote about his home country, Sri Lanka - these are nice, enlightening pieces. Also, the book ends with an article entitled "The Menace of Creationism; in it, Clarke - one of its most outspoken modern critics - launches an interesting attack upon said subject, invoking the Vatican's views on the subject, and declaring that no Creationist should be allowed to teach Biology or the Earth Sciences in school (surely a rational view.) This could be a fairly controversial piece, and should be read by all those who find themselves in agreement with Clarke's views on organized religion. In the end, you will want to read this book if you are a fan of Arthur C. Clarke; and, if you're not, you won't bother.