The Songs of Distant Earth

by Arthur C. Clarke

Book Overview

Just a few islands in a planetwide ocean, Thalassa was a veritable paradise-home to one of the small colonies founded centuries before by robot Mother Ships when the Sun had gone nova and mankind had fled Earth. Mesmerized by the beauty of Thalassa and overwhelmed by its vast resources, the colonists lived an idyllic existence, unaware of the monumental evolutionary event slowly taking place beneath their seas... Then the Magellan arrived in orbit...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345332199
• ISBN13: 9780345332196
• Release Date: March 1986
• Publisher: Ballantine Del Rey
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A lovely, bittersweet story *Some Spoilers*

The reason I love most of Clarke's work is that it tends to focus on ideas and human interactions as opposed to saving the world, winning some war or saving a girl. Others, of course, will disagree. This novel is one of the best of Clarke's later works, but for those of you looking for drama and crises that need resolved will be disappointed. The novel takes place thousands of years in the future. Humanity discovered that our Sun was unstable and would nova far earlier than expected. In order to save part of humanity, various projects were developed to save something of our species. One of the first used were "seeder ships". This were automated space craft containing human embryos and genetic material of many Earth creatures. The concept was that these ships would land on planets capable of sustaining human life and the automated systems on board would create a sutiable colony by providing a technological base and the onboard computers would educated the first generation of colonists birthed from the embryons on board with a very censored version of human history. The primary example of the effort to create a better human society is the censorship of religion. None of the great religious works (or works based on them) are included in the data banks of these vessels. The hope was that a society raised without religion would avoid the violence that often accompanies it. The colony of Thalassa, where the action takes place, is a result of these plans. The Lassans live on two island of an otherwise watery world. The Earth they know is a sanatized version and their world is Eden like. Violence, jealousy and hate are rare. As the result of the breakdown of the colony's interstellar communication device the Lassan's are even more isolated than other seeder colonies having had no contact with other colonies for hundreds of years. It is to this peaceful, beautiful world that the one of next generation of human colony ships arrives. It is the Magellan, a ship with an advanced drive system that finally allowed humanity to reach distant worlds in a "reasonable" amount of times meaning hundreds of years not thousands. The Magellan is more of a space ark because it contains over a million specially selected colonists in cryogenic suspension. Even more poignent, the Magellan was the last of these ships to leave Earth, escaping only days before the Solar system died. To them Earth is a recent memory, not an ancient past, and the crew still mourns its passing and the loss of those left behind. The Magellan stopped at Thalassa because the ice shield that protects the ship during its voyage is in need of repair. The crew didn't think that Thalassa would be inhabited. Most of the resulting novel revolves around how much and what type of interactions do or should develop between the two very different groups and what knowledge can be passed on to the very curious Thalassans without permanently damaging their culture. There is no one protagonist in this stor

Beautifully written and very imaginative.

This is a book that you will likely not forget reading. Clarke's imagination here is staggering.The novel takes place several thousand years from now. Earth has been destroyed by an unstable sun. Mankind foresaw the nova of Earth's sun for about two thousand years, and mounted an effort to colonize nearby stars in order to save the species. This was done in the nick of time.The story takes place on planet Thalassa--a world largely of oceans with a single pair of islands perhaps the size of Taiwan. The Thalassans, originally colonists from Earth, have been alone for over a thousand years. Now they are visited by the last starship from Earth, which stops there en route to a different planet intended for colonization.The story deals with the clash of cultures, but the best part are the flashbacks to Earth, and Clarke's highly intelligent and plausible extrapolations as regards science, politics, and societal development. Clarke's prose is outstanding as well, which is not all that common in science fiction. This is, quite simply, a wonderful story which will strike a chord in most readers.

Don't Miss It

In "The Songs of Distant Earth", Arthur C. Clarke seems to have a good grasp of the elements of writing, and he's eliminated some of the flaws that appeared in his earlier works. Like most of his novels, this one presents a lot of ideas in a small space and leaves some major questions unresolved at the conclusion. It's a book that will leave you thinking for days afterward.The story, which is told partially in explanatory flashbacks, begins when scientists discover that the sun will explode within a few thousand years, leading to the destruction of Earth. In order to save humanity, several small colonies are established on nearby planets. Later, after the discovery of a new technology, large spaceships are able to carry millions of colonists out to the stars. Most of the plot concerns what happens when one of these ships arrives on a planet that was already colonized earlier. The original concept that drives this book is that the first round of colonies was very carefully engineered by people from Earth. They were designed to be paradises where people would be raised in an environment quite different from Earth. Thus, there is a definite culture clash when the big spaceship arrives.I found that Clarke handled the characterization of the two different groups of people quite well. It was really possible to understand how their backgrounds were totally different and how this gave rise to two different worldviews. Also, Clarke cut down on unnecessarily thorough descriptions, so "The Songs of Distant Earth" is more compact and readable than some of his earlier efforts. Finally, as others have mentioned, his language and dialogue is very lyrical and poetic, which helps the reader understand the mood of the characters in this distant paradise.

Haunting, Sad, and Beautiful.

Arthur C. Clarke is in fine form with this book about humanity after the death of Earth, burnt up by the Sun. Many colonies were started on other planets, and Thalassa was one of the later ones sent out before the Sun blew up. Thalassa is a quiet utopia, with the citizenry leading uneventful lives on their ocean world. This peace is shaken when the starship Magellan comes into their system, containing thousands of humans who were the last to leave the Solar System before the Sun blew up. Unlike the Thalassans, who grew up untroubled by the tensions and violence of Earth, the Magellan crew has fresh memories of the last violent days of Earth and still grieve for their home and loved ones; they remember religion, which was supressed on Thalassa to avoid religious strife; they remember tragedy. Clarke's book is a sensitive telling of what happens when the Thalassans are exposed to the last human survivors of Earth, and how those survivors are touched by the tranquillity of Thalassa. Clarke shows you love, remembrance, and tragedy infused with Clarke's sense of wonder.

Fabulous!

Arthur C. Clarke has done a fantastic job with this book. A wonderful story of the end of the world, and survival of the species, this novel has great depth and character development. We also get a taste of sociological strength, as we see two divergent social groups of humans interacting through necessity. As usual, A.C.Clarke does a masterful job of combining scifi with a great story, compelling characters, and a bit of tragedy thrown in, but not without the hopeful ending. I have read most of his work, and this book draws me back at least every couple of years. I would say that Songs of Distant Earth is one of his all-time greates works in character development and human drama. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good book.(this review is specific to the mass-market paperback)