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99th out of 117 books
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10 voters
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The Songs of Distant Earth
Thalassa was a paradise above the earth. Its beauty and vast resources seduce its inhabitants into a feeling of perfection. But then the Magellan arrives, carrying with it one million refugees from the last mad days of earth. Paradise looks indeed lost....
Paperback, 319 pages
Published
April 12th 1987
by Del Rey/Ballantine Books
(first published 1985)
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The Songs of Distant Earth is a very thoughtful science fiction novel. It's not chock full of chases and weird experiments or other derring-do, but it keeps the reader involved and more importantly it makes the reader think. It is a good example of what is known as “hard science fiction”. Written by Arthur C. Clarke, a man who is no stranger to science, the book deals more with real possibilities than with theories that have no apparent foundation in reality.
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The Songs of Distant Earth is a very thoughtful science fiction novel. It's not chock full of chases and weird experiments or other derring-do, but it keeps the reader involved and more importantly it makes the reader think. It is a good example of what is known as “hard science fiction”. Written by Arthur C. Clarke, a man who is no stranger to science, the book deals more with real possibilities than with theories that have no apparent foundation in reality.
...more
Songs of a Distant Earth was by no means my first Sci-Fi book, but I still consider myself fairly new to the genre. I have started and abandoned a variety of sci-fi books, and this was the first in a while that I have been able to get through. I think what I liked most is that Clarke just goes and head and outright explains things. He doesn't just throw you into the deep end and make you wait 10 long character ridden chapters to get a glimpse at the bigger picture. Maybe I have a short atten...more
As usual, Clarke has an interesting premise. Faced with the Sun going nova in the year 3600, humanity launches seed ships with the necessities for creating earth life, including humans. Some of these colonies succeed, including one on the island paradise of Thalassa. After seven hundred years, a manned colony ship with a million frozen humans appears in orbit. The (not frozen) crew of the ship needs water ice in order to rebuild the ablation shield on the ship and continue their journey. The nov...more
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I read this book back in 1987 and rediscovered over the holidays. Earth and the solar system has been destroyed by a dying sun. The last of mankind has set out on a long journey to a new home on a rugged distant planet. Very much like sailors traveling the oceans they stop along the way for supplies and discover that a colony they feared was destroyed hundreds of years ago is actually doing quite well. Do they stay with the colony or continue on to their destination?
I really enjo...more
I really enjo...more
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the songs of distant earth: clarke imagines a splendid future for the human race in this novel. thousands of years in the future, the final ship from doomed earth makes a stop at an old earth colony, now a culture in its own right, on its way into the unknown. the inhabitants of the world and the passengers on the ship intermix, making a fascinating blend of the old and the new.
this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. thalassa is a wonderfully drawn paradise. the thalassans still retain enough 'fla...more
this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. thalassa is a wonderfully drawn paradise. the thalassans still retain enough 'fla...more
Goodreads' plot summary of this book is completely misleading: it is not about an invasion of millions of refugees flooding into Edenic Thalassa.
I read this book every year around the beginning of summer starting when I was about 13. Thalassa, Greek for ocean, is a tropical island on a watery colony planet where reason has broken out. There is no religion or poverty. People are even reasonable about their personal lives. While Arthur's vision is, at times a bit simplistic, even bo...more
I read this book every year around the beginning of summer starting when I was about 13. Thalassa, Greek for ocean, is a tropical island on a watery colony planet where reason has broken out. There is no religion or poverty. People are even reasonable about their personal lives. While Arthur's vision is, at times a bit simplistic, even bo...more
This is another book that I bought in Sierra Leone. I loved the 2001 books when I was a kid, and reading this I was quickly reminded why: I'm a giant dork. Clarke is really good at considering the limits of scientific possibility and probability. In this book, the sun has gone nova and humans have long been sending unmanned "seeding ships" to distant planets where humans are created from genetic information and raised by robots. A much later manned mission lands on a previously see...more
...Whether Clarke managed to write something that is less fantastical than shall we say Star Wars is questionable. Clarke's futures always carry a touch of utopia, something that in my opinion at least, is most certainly not supported by history of the 20th century. Progress is one thing, what we're doing with it is quite another. Mix in the controversial science and highly speculative solution to the solar neutrino problem I'd say Clarke would have been wise to stick to a somewhat wider definit...more
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I just finished it and, eh, I have mixed feelings. When I started reading it I was immediately taken in. I just started easing myself back into reading SF last month and this is the first Clarke novel I've read in over a year. So I felt warm and fuzzy, glad to be back reading probably my favorite author.
I've never been a huge fan of sex scenes (and all the baggage that comes with them) in science fiction. I can put up with some as long as they don't hinder the progress of the main st...more
I've never been a huge fan of sex scenes (and all the baggage that comes with them) in science fiction. I can put up with some as long as they don't hinder the progress of the main st...more
Fabuloso! Adorei esta história: a aventura mais épica de todas contada com o rigor científico a que Arthur C. Clarke nos habituou. Este é daqueles livros luminosos que nos agarram na primeira página e nos deliciam continuamente até ao final; é uma história absolutamente fascinante de Arthur C. Clarke que nos transporta para uma era futura de esplendorosa exploração do universo pela raça humana e de colonização de outros planetas por intermédio de naves que transportam as sementes da humanidade a...more
As a fan of both science fiction and Arthur C. Clarke, I must admit that I was disappointed with this book.
There were some positive aspects to this book. The writing style is characteristic of Clarke with it's convincing descriptions of science fiction worlds and technology. There is also a fairly convincing romantic relationship that developed in the story. I especially enjoyed how this relationship was not of the usual sort but rather based on post-WW2 progressive/liberal notion...more
There were some positive aspects to this book. The writing style is characteristic of Clarke with it's convincing descriptions of science fiction worlds and technology. There is also a fairly convincing romantic relationship that developed in the story. I especially enjoyed how this relationship was not of the usual sort but rather based on post-WW2 progressive/liberal notion...more
Ron Arden
added it
I am slowly but surely reading all Arthur C. Clarke's books. This one is a great story of what happened to the human race once they new that the Earth would be destroyed. The cause is a build of neutrinos in the Sun that will make it go supernova. Humanity sends space ships to distant star systems to reseed the human race.
One such ship reached the planet Thalassa and machines created humans from DNA stored in the ship's libraries. The ship also had vast knowledge stores and a thriving civili...more
One such ship reached the planet Thalassa and machines created humans from DNA stored in the ship's libraries. The ship also had vast knowledge stores and a thriving civili...more
Tell us how the future is going to be. Oh yes, we got over all of those silly little problems we had back in the early 2000's. Now we have advanced culture. Jealousy, for instance, is a thing of the past. So you promised to bear me a child but some stud from earth cut in line? That's ok, because I am emotionally advanced. (By the way, Clarke's only marriage failed after 6 months.)
You will learn that in the future gay sex with children is ok. I kid you not, one of the main characters,...more
You will learn that in the future gay sex with children is ok. I kid you not, one of the main characters,...more
A very easy going sci-fi novel, with short to-the-point chapters. The science involved is all explained fairly simply, taking more of a back seat in this Clarke classic. This novel is much more about the interaction of two very different cultures, who share the same ancestry from hundreds of years ago. It's a charming tale of them coming together to help one another, with the idyllic setting of Thalassa, a paradise like planet which seems to be perfect, a joy to read about.
Not a book f...more
Not a book f...more
Don't get me wrong, I love Arthur C. Clarke. I read "Childhood's End" in high school, and it blew me away. He has written dozens of works that are now considered classics in the annals of science fiction. I just finished "The Songs of Distant Earth" and found it to be, to my shocking dismay, less than enthralling. It's not awful, mind you. As to be expected, the ideas in the book are thought-provoking and grounded in believable science. The storyline was interesting. It just ...more
I have always had some difficulties with Arthur C. Clarke because of the high level of scientific and technical detail he includes in his books. In this book (more novella) however, whilst including the details of man's newfound technology enabling high speed space flight, it didn't overpower the book so the story, I felt, flowed well. Simple and intriguing storyline, engaging characters and an ending leaving you wanting to know what happened next. What if we were able to start again, wipe the s...more
[may have some spoilers here and there]
"The Songs of Distant Earth" has a lot of what I like when it comes to Arthur C Clarke. But it also has a lot of what I find to be Clarke's weaknesses as a writer. First the good, though...
The story takes place mostly in the colonized planet of Thalassa, about a 1000 years after our own solar system has imploded and disappeared. A space ship is on a mission to a not-so-distant galaxy called Sagan-Two to start anew. On the way o...more
"The Songs of Distant Earth" has a lot of what I like when it comes to Arthur C Clarke. But it also has a lot of what I find to be Clarke's weaknesses as a writer. First the good, though...
The story takes place mostly in the colonized planet of Thalassa, about a 1000 years after our own solar system has imploded and disappeared. A space ship is on a mission to a not-so-distant galaxy called Sagan-Two to start anew. On the way o...more
One of my all-time favourite albums is 'The Songs of Distant Earth' by Mike Oldfield, inspired of course by this book. Mike's music on this CD made me feel as if one minute I was floating through space and next minute I was drifting along at the bottom of ocean, so vivid is the power of his new-age beats.
Naturally I decided to check out the book myself, and I was delighted at how Clarke's description of the utopian planet Thalassa so clearly resembled my pre-conceived ideas. This bea...more
Naturally I decided to check out the book myself, and I was delighted at how Clarke's description of the utopian planet Thalassa so clearly resembled my pre-conceived ideas. This bea...more
Mini-review: Arthur C. Clarke does what Arthur C. Clarke did best, and what he did better than many or most other authors of science fiction: he writes science fiction in the true and literal sense of the word. Clarke extrapolates from a sound grounding in actual science, and while he does certainly go out on occasional limbs (for example the quantum drive must certainly be considered highly speculative), he never goes completely overboard. These are exactly the qualities that made Rendezvous ...more
This book is short--a novella, really, rather than a full-blown novel. It also deals a bit too gently--in my opinion--with the end result of Mankind's effort to reach the stars. None of the characters seem really human, when compared to the great mass of humanity with which I am familiar. (In fact, I would venture to guess that Mr. Clarke spent so much time in relative isolation from real people in Sri Lanka while writing this one that he allowed his optimism to overcome his good sense.)
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In the author's note included in this edition, Clarke states his intention to create a "realistic" work of science fiction. That is, to extrapolate, rather than imagine, a future for humans long after the end of the earth. To do this, he posits a future (which takes place prior to the beginning of the book) where humankind is aware of the coming end of the earth and makes a series of choices to preserve the human species. The effect of this is to allow Clarke to ponder questions more ...more
This book triggered some strong feelings in me. I felt that the utopian society of Thalassa was a little unrealistic. Clarke seemed to be saying that if we could just eliminate God, and base society solely on science, then we could have a utopia like Thalassa. Human nature being what it is however, I think that idea is too naive. Even if you could somehow eliminate God from society, humans would quickly find other things to fight about. It's in our nature. On a related point, I found it laughabl...more
Thought the romance stuff was really hokey. I read somewhere that this was Clarke's attempt at writing somewhat of a love story. All the characters seem the same to me, the dialog forced and unrealistic.
I only made it about halfway through. I don't usually give up on books but this one wasn't doing it for me. I liked 2001 and Childhood's End a lot though.
Some neat ideas here but I think Clarke -- although a very great mind and contributor to the science -- does not shin...more
I only made it about halfway through. I don't usually give up on books but this one wasn't doing it for me. I liked 2001 and Childhood's End a lot though.
Some neat ideas here but I think Clarke -- although a very great mind and contributor to the science -- does not shin...more
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I liked this book, but wish there had been more to it- Clarke casually mentions a zillion really cool thing, and we never hear more! I suppose since this was originally a short story, I shouldn't be too surprised. I'll have to read more of his stuff to see if I can find some of those ideas fleshed out elsewhere. Also hope to find a boom focused on the scorps- how cool are they?
Overall, a quick fun read that's more thought-provoking than I expected.
Overall, a quick fun read that's more thought-provoking than I expected.
I am glad to find a recent (at least post 1970) science fiction book that has a scientific basis. Arthur C. Clark is both a serious scientist and a good writer. The book raises interesting moral and philosophical questions. Although I don't completely agree with the author's view, I enjoy thinking about the views he is presenting and considering them for myself. This is an example of what I consider to be good science fiction.
This book was ok, although it failed to grab me, and the science behind the entire plot-line was out of date; he also referred to light as a particle, which is incorrect as it is actually quanta. Taking the science of the time though, he was fairly on the mark- not sciencey enough for me, and the ending was far too vague. A simple read, and I suppose it was alright, but not amazing. Good to pass the time.
I really like the scope of this book. Mankind had been seeding planets for 800 years since they found that life on Earth wouldn't last long due to the sun's future. One of the early seedings done via DNA reconstitution had lost contact with Earth for 700 years. One of the last seedings comes to the planet for their own reasons and to see what happened to the lost colony. Very interesting read.
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Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._C...
More about Arthur C. Clarke...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._C...
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