Yesterday, after an illness, Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away in a hospital in Sri Lanka.
The last surviving member of the Big Three of Science Fiction (Heinlein and Asimov being the other members of this more or less universally acknowledged informal group) and probably the most well-known to people not steeped in the SF literature canon, he was probably best known as the author responsible for 2001, A Space Odessy, but that was really just one pinacle in a long career that spanned not only Science Fiction but works of science and technology too.
Others will have written at length on his career, life and body of work and I doubt anyone will have any trouble finding such material if they look. I'll restrict myself to saying that once again the world this morning is a noticeably smaller place.
For those who only know Clarke from 2001 or Rendezvous With Rama, you could do very much worse than pick up a copy of The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, ISBN 0312878605, wherein you will find excellent stories such as Times Arrow, Technical Error and, of course, the unforgettable Nine Billion Names of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment