I was saddened to hear that science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died aged 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka.
The visionary author of over 100 books, who predicted the existence of satellites, was most famous for his short story "The Sentinel," which was expanded into the novel on which Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" was based.
Marking his “90th orbit of the sun” in December, the author said he did not feel "a day over 89" and made three birthday wishes: for ET to call, for man to kick his oil habit and for peace in Sri Lanka.
It's sad to think that the body of work of this wonderful author has now ended. Now I will be forced to look around for some of his less well-known books that I may have missed over the years.
:-(
6 comments:
As a non science fiction fan, I did love his writings. They seemed to transcend the genre. Or I need to read more sci-fi.
He was indeed a thinking man's(woman's) writer.
Part of my love of sci-fi was because of reading his works in the '60's and '70's!
He will be missed!
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
jan: Clarke was sui generis. His work appealed to more than just fans of the sci fi genre.
I hope I live long enough to read his Clarkives... a vast collection of manuscripts & prive writing to be published 50 years after his death.
tmw: I agree. Clarke & Asimov were my favorites of the three scifi titans (Heinlein, not so much).
From the forward to 2001:
"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this universe, there shines a star."
With Clarke's passing, a star has stopped shining.
tmw: Do you remember Clarke's 'Hitchcockian' appearance in 2010?
Wow. He will be missed.
Post a Comment