Ghost from the Grand Banks (Oeb) the Deep Range the

by Arthur C. Clarke

Two classic novels in one volume includes a new introduction written by the author. In "The Ghost from the Grand Banks", the "Titanic" is raised 100 years after its sinking, but fatal obsessions rage and the ship may become a deathtrap again. In "The Deep Range", a traumatized astronaut becomes a submarine warden, and finds as many dangers underwater.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Stories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.

He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent work of science fiction and oceanic adventure which I had somehow never got to before.

It is the future, 2010 (twenty years after it was written) and for the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic two different teams aim to use fascinating, ground breaking technology to raise the pieces of the wreck.

Arthur C. Clarke created a marvellous yarn that in no way suffers from the fact that the 'future' he wrote about is now eleven years in the past. The writing is excellent with all the professional polish that one would expect from such a high profile scientist and author. I loved the character of Bradley and the introduction of him through his encounter with a giant octopus.

The ill fated attempts to raise the Titanic, on the part of both teams, were splendidly formulated plans of speculative fiction with a solid underpinning of science. But in so many small ways, Clarke formulated a future that, while not quite right, is often hauntingly similar in small ways to 2021. We don't have a job description of mathematicians editing cigarettes and smoking out of old films so that they can be re-released; but given societies current attitude to smoking and the jarring sensation one gets when one sees an old movie? I am not sure that this job description is far away. Clarke was wrong about societies attitude to sex in the pathological services; we are getting more conservative, not less so, but he was on the money about many aspects of computers and how essential they become to everyday life. The research that went into many aspects of the book are impressive: The Sources and appendix at the end are quite fascinating in their own right.

Excellent sci-fi in the best possible way.

[Toriana Zeyzus · Rating 1 out of 5]

DO NOT BUY THIS KINDLE EDITION OF THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS. Calling this an abridgment is too kind. I read this novel when it was first published, just before the wreck of the Titanic was found by Ballard. I chose to pay the overpriced $10.99 for this digital book because I knew it would be a good reading experience, but the original book and this Kindle edition are not the same. I had no idea the Kindle edition was an abridgment. The original book had much, much more story to it and as a result, was a much more satisfying, better novel. I'll try not to include any spoilers here: there was much more about "Colleen," who is only mentioned twice in this abridgment, and the ending to the story of actually raising the Titanic was completely cut from this Kindle edition. The Kindle edition skips right to the epilogue, occurring eons in the future. I know more story about many of the characters was cut, but this is what I remember most from the original novel that isn't in this bad edition.

I'm not going to read Deep Range, the second novel included in this Kindle edition. Goodness knows how it has been butchered.

Nowhere does Amazon tell its customers that this is an abridgment. Whose fault is this? The publishers? If a Kindle edition is not the same as the print version, customers must be told before making a purchase. Why else should a reader overpay for a digital edition? (I don't think any digital book is worth more than a few dollars - with less production and freight costs, authors can and should make even more than from the print version, if only the greedy publishers and retailers would let them.) It is irrelevant who sets the prices for Kindle editions and what that price may be - customers must be told when they are purchasing a digital book that contains less text/info/prose/whatever than the print version.

The publisher is The Hachette Book Group (quite aptly named, so it seems), one of the big six publishers. Is this what we can expect now, publishers abridging books and not telling readers?

Not only are readers cheated out of a good literary experience, but also the author is made to look as if he produced an inferior novel. I hold Amazon just as responsible as the publisher for this, because Amazon is big enough to force publishers to be honest about what they are selling.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pair of books from Clarke, both concerning underwater engineering but otherwise unrelated. Oddly, the older of the two (The Deep Range, envisioning a future in which we farm whales like cattle) aged and read much better than the newer one (The Ghost From the Grand Banks, one of his "final" novels about a fictionalized attempt to raise the Titanic, seems thrown together haphazardly, although it touches on some interesting topics very briefly).

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consider myself a fan of Arthur C. Clarke, but somehow I wasn't aware this of The Ghost From the Grand Banks existed until I found an ebook containing this and his classic The Deep Range. What both books have in common and makes them fitting to be grouped together is that both are works of science fiction dealing with exploration--of the oceans. It seems there are millions of books about space exploration, but I can't think of anyone, other than Clarke, Frank Herbert and Verne who have used exploration of the oceans in their science fiction. That despite that it's as forbidding and difficult an environment as outer space and not much better explored than the Moon despite being three-quarters of the earth.

I didn't expect to like The Ghost from the Grand Banks as much as I did. This wasn't a book that got a lot of attention. Published in 1990 it's set in its near future of 2012--its near future, our recent past. As might be expected, a lot of what Clarke predicted in terms of sociological and scientific developments turned out off the mark. Science fiction dates fast in that respect, even though Clarke has had a good record of imagining a future come true. (He's sometimes credited with the idea of geosynchronous satellites; he did popularize it in his science fiction.) But his misses didn't bother me much at all. Mentally shift the setting decades hence and much of this story about attempting to raise the Titanic still seems plausible and ingenious. And Clarke is a pleasure to read. Striking lines, elegant prose, and he's such an erudite writer. Who else can write of the glories of both the ocean and space, of Rachmaninoff and Elgar and the esoteric mathematics of the Mandelbrot set? The story itself was surprisingly poignant and bittersweet. So while I wouldn't put this at the top of Clarke's fiction along with works such as 2001 or The City and the Stars, it's certainly worth the read. Especially if you're a fan of Clarke or marine exploration.

I think The Deep Range one of Clarke's most entertaining books, even if not one of his better known. Set in the Pacific Ocean--or rather under it--it follows Walter Franklin who trains to become an underwater warden. While Dolphin Island features dolphins, this book focuses on whales. (And whale farming, which probably would horrify a lot of readers today, even if in the end that's turned around somewhat.) I'm not sure if this would hold up on reread, but the book left a vivid impression of what an alien and beautiful and rich environment can be found right here on earth.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story. Set in 2012 and centering around the centenary anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the book tells the story of two teams each competing to be the first to raise the two sections of the famout sunken wreck.

[Steely]

FALSE