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Sci-Fi Books Media

Excerpt From Arthur C. Clarke's Last Work 118

Posted by kdawson from the slow-boat dept.
Ubuntukitten writes "The Telegraph is running an excerpt from Arthur C. Clarke's last work, called 'The Last Theorem.' Fellow writer Frederik Pohl helped out. It's a reassuring chunk of old-fashioned sci-fi, describing an Olympics that's set on the moon. Typically for Clarkian sci-fi, is very much about the practicalities of mounting a Lunar Olympics, rather than any wild fantasy." The excerpt's centerpiece is a trip to the moon that begins with a space elevator ride. The book will be published on Aug. 1.
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Excerpt From Arthur C. Clarke's Last Work More

Excerpt From Arthur C. Clarke's Last Work

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  • Oblig. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by consonant ( 896763 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <n.tnakirhs>> on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:03AM (#24382311) Homepage
    That man is scary-stunning-awesome. If you haven't already done so, go read "The Nine Billion Names of God [lucis.net]".
  • I'm sure that Arthur Clarke has written in other short stories about Lunar-based sports events...this story seems weirdly familiar.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by MichaelSmith ( 789609 )
      Sky biking on the moon was mentioned in Rendezvous with Rama. I always wondered if Jimmy Pak, the sky bike rider in that book was intended to be from Sri Lanka.

    • Re:Deja Vu (Score:5, Informative)

      by adamwright ( 536224 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:13AM (#24382359) Homepage

      The main character in "Hammer of God" was originally a moon athlete, and the book mentions the eventual establishment of a Lunar Olympics.

    • Re:Deja Vu (Score:5, Funny)

      by ezzthetic ( 976321 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:35AM (#24382449)

      I'm sure you writen other posts describing stories as weirdly familiar.

      You post seems weirdly familiar.

    • Re:Deja Vu (Score:5, Funny)

      by laejoh ( 648921 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:55AM (#24382527)

      That's why it's called "The Last Theorem" and a seperate book! Arthur Clarcke had a truly marvellous short story about this Lunar-based sport event which the margin was too narrow to contain.

    • Like other science fiction writers of his time, he often rewrote the same story (or reused the same ideas) in multiple novels. Nowadays that would be considered milking the cow for all its worth, but it was acceptable for his generation.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Lodragandraoidh ( 639696 )

        Nowadays that would be considered milking the cow for all its worth, but it was acceptable for his generation.

        Many writers (even many contemporary writers) create consistent back stories for a given selection of novels. Some focus on one exclusively (e.g. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth), while others have various contexts (e.g. Robert A. Heinlein's Future History, Lazarus Long, and World as Myth series).

        If the concepts are bigger than can be contained in a single novel, then it is certainly acceptable and desirable to continue the broader story in succeeding volumes. This mode of writing is very common in science

  • about Pohl (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jacquesm ( 154384 ) <j@wwAUDEN.com minus poet> on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:06AM (#24382331) Homepage

    F. Pohl is one of the great masters of SF, if you haven't heard of him go read 'the space merchants', then check when it was written...

    • F. Pohl is one of the great masters of SF, if you haven't heard of him go read 'the space merchants', then check when it was written...

      Hey, I have that one! It's one of the hundred or so books I picked up at various library sales and have yet to read. I guess I'll read it next then :)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sm62704 ( 957197 )

      Agreed. I never really cared for Clarke, but Pohl was a really good one.

      Asimov and Heinlein, however, were the top two on my reading list.

    • I hope Pohl gets to see "Wall-E." It's the kind of satirical SF that he and Cyril Kornbluth wrote in the 1950s.

      Pohl wrote what is possibly the first story about "transhumans," and which also hinted at the Singularity: "Day Million."

    • Pohl was good, but the person whom he wrote "The Space Merchants" with was masterly. Cyril Kornbluth was one of most underrated science fiction authors of his time.

  • Can we stage it for 2008? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lewisham ( 239493 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:09AM (#24382345)

    The IOC should take this seriously. The air quality on the moon is probably better than at Beijing.

    *buh-dum-tish*

    I'm here all night, please tip your waitress on the way out.

    • Re:Can we stage it for 2008? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Archtech ( 159117 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @05:57AM (#24382535)

      The IOC should take this seriously. The air quality on the moon is probably better than at Beijing.

      Well, there is certainly less air pollution...

    • Re:Can we stage it for 2008? (Score:4, Informative)

      by dwater ( 72834 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @06:00AM (#24382543)

      I lived in Beijing until last month for several years. The reports of poor air quality are vastly exaggerated. It does get bad occasionally usually due to sand storms (they're bad), but it's not often, IMO.

      • Re:Can we stage it for 2008? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by aussie_a ( 778472 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @06:32AM (#24382709) Journal

        I lived in Beijing until last month for several years. The reports of poor air quality are completely true.

        Isn't it fun being an anonymous internet poster?

        • I've never been to Beijing; and don't plan to go until they clean up their air !

          It's just as fun being onymous

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dwater ( 72834 )

          For a start, I wasn't anonymous.

          Second, I don't see how I can be any more authentic than giving my own experience. I didn't measure the air quality everywhere I went.

          • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward

            First, nobody knows who "dwater" is - so while you're not an anonymous coward it'd be a challenge to verify that you've actually lived in Beijing... a pseudonym is still anonymous in most cases.

            Second, a single anecdote from someone who claims to have lived in Beijing at some point is completely worthless. Authentic? Maybe. Useful? No. The general consensus, *including* people who have actually been to beijing is that the air quality is horrible. Especially since you can get used to anything - maybe w

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dwater ( 72834 )

              > a pseudonym is still anonymous in most cases.

              I disagree. If I use my full name, how do you know it is real? Am I supposed to show you my passport or what? How do you know *that* isn't fake. How do you know anyone's name on here is real? Do you consider everyone here to be anonymous? I think you have a very strange definition of anonymous.

              > Second, a single anecdote from someone who claims to have lived in Beijing at some point is completely worthless

              I hear this a lot. Anecdotes aren't worthless. Qu

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Zukix ( 641813 )

          I have visited Beijing but also some remote Northern Chinese cities as well as Mongolia.

          The haze in sky is significantly made from dust blowing in from the Gobi. The sky is hazy even in remote non-industrial areas. The truth is that Beijing is being swallowed by the desert.

          Personally I consider the air better than Tokyo, Bangkok or London but this judgement may be more about sewers and transport fumes than harmful chemicals from industry.

      • I lived in Beijing until last month for several years. The reports of poor air quality are vastly exaggerated. It does get bad occasionally usually due to sand storms (they're bad), but it's not often, IMO.

        You smoke, don't you?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dwater ( 72834 )

          > You smoke, don't you?

          No, I don't. Well, only second hand (ie, I don't get the benefit of the filter). ...but, yes, a *lot* of people there smoke, and it was horrible in some restaurants at times; but they've segregated them now. I was told the authorities wanted to ban smoking completely 'inside' (ala California), but there was too much resistance, so segregation has to be enough. This leads to the same old problems of there being no 'gap' between the 'smoking' and 'no smoking' areas in many places, bu

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Guppy06 ( 410832 )

        "The reports of poor air quality are vastly exaggerated."

        We've all seen pictures of the Beijing "sky." It's not bad compared to what, Dehli?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dwater ( 72834 )

          Well, there are overcast days anywhere, pretty much. Anything to show that it was pollution you were looking at rather than just cloud?

          I'm sure there *is* pollution, but I can't believe it's worse than, say, LA, or even SF bay area on occasion.

          At least, that is *my* impression having lived there for several years.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Guppy06 ( 410832 )

            "Anything to show that it was pollution you were looking at rather than just cloud?"

            Clouds tend not to be brown.

            • "Clouds tend not to be brown."

              You've obviously never been over to my house on Enchilada Night.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dwater ( 72834 )

              > Clouds tend not to be brown.

              I never saw a brown cloud the entire time I was there.

              Unless you call a sand storm a 'cloud'...they can be pretty bad, no denying that. I wouldn't call it pollution though.

              If you see brown clouds, perhaps you need your TV colour adjusted ... or your eyes.

              On the other hand, perhaps I need mine adjusted...

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        My brother was in Beijing about a year ago. He said that the air quality wasn't that bad, but he talked to several other long-time ex-pats who said that the air in Beijing was much better than it was usually, which was attributed to the increased rainfall due to cloud seeding, which the Chinese government was doing to water all the new plants for the Olympics. (Along with all the polution controls for the olympics.)

        Expect the air quality to take a nose dive come September.

      • I don't mind the sand storms so much, but I hate it when a sand worm swallows my car. And don't get me started about the fremen.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dwater ( 72834 )

          I get the reference, and give it the obligatory 'he he'.

          However, I *really* didn't like the sand storms when I was there.

          After a sand storm, everything would be covered. Even inside our flat there would be dust on everything (not as bad as outside, but still). It's quite amazing how it manages to get in through the smallest gaps.

          I suppose it's reasonable to consider 'sand' and 'dust' as pollution, but it's not what I consider to be commonly considered as pollution - which would be traffic exhaust fumes and

    • Re:Can we stage it for 2008? (Score:5, Funny)

      by z0idberg ( 888892 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @06:35AM (#24382731)

      And the facilities would probably be ready before the London ones are finished.

      • Bah! The moon-dwellers won't be as easy to convince of the supposed economic benefits as the powers that be are in the UK. You've read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, right?

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Sockatume ( 732728 )
      When it comes to air, sometimes I'll take quantity over quality.
  • How did they solve the technical problem of the torch run? Wouldn't the flame go out without access to oxygen?

    Well, that way, at least you don't need any protestors in case the moon cast its shadow on Tibet.

    • Just use a human femur. Heh heh...get it...femur? Ah, nevermind.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by achurch ( 201270 )

      How did they solve the technical problem of the torch run? Wouldn't the flame go out without access to oxygen?

      Well, I haven't read the story, but given that they've already solved that problem for humans, it can't be too much of an issue.

      • I dunno. I wouldn't an open flame inside my spaceship as it reaches the moon.

        • Isn't your spaceship basically a huge torch?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by vlm ( 69642 )

          Put the flame outside, you know, like a rocket engine? In fact, just use a rocket engine?

          • Good luck trying to keep it lighted for the whole trip and still managing to reach the moon. Its theoretically possible. But it'd be some mighty fine flying to manage it. Then once the rockets have finished, good luck keeping the torch lit while you get it inside a room with air.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by fbjon ( 692006 )
        Imagining a space suit for a flaming olympic torch... I have to say it is the most ridiculous and awesome thing at the same time.
    • How did they solve the technical problem of the torch run? Wouldn't the flame go out without access to oxygen?

      True, in a gravity well, when you have a flame the heat causes the CO2 and smoke to rise away from the flame, and allows oxygen rich air to flow into the flame to keep it going. In a spacecraft, you don't have gravity, so the hot exhaust gasses from the flame will just sit there, and prevent the oxygen from reaching the flame, choking it out. The solution is very simple: a small fan can be used

    • They just switch to Dell Li-ion battery backup.

      All the oxygen you need.

  • Trustworthy (Score:5, Funny)

    by neokushan ( 932374 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @06:06AM (#24382573)

    How can anyone trust ANYONE's writings if they have the initials "A.C."?

    • Ode to AC (Score:3, Informative)

      by Tetsujin ( 103070 )

      How can anyone trust ANYONE's writings if they have the initials "A.C."?

      You're thinking, no doubt, of Anonymous Coward - but let's not forget the other great ACs of the world!

      There's Armored Core, with its warring corporations and mercenaries in their robots
      There's A.C. Moore, when you need to buy some craft stuff
      There's Art Carney, of "Honeymooners" fame
      There's Alternating Current, which makes it easier to transmit electricity over long distances or change its voltage level
      There's Air Conditioning, which is great on a hot day
      There's AC/DC, who at one point were away but later

      • Re:Ode to AC (Score:4, Funny)

        by neokushan ( 932374 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @08:46AM (#24384077)

        They all seem different and complicated, I don't trust any of those things!

      • Hey, that sounds like fun, I'll give it a shot! Here's a few others you missed:

        * Anton Chigurh, a man who needs no introduction, and you probably wouldn't wanna meet him anyway.
        * Alex Cox, director of punk/geek cult classic Repo Man, as well as Sid & Nancy.
        * Al Campanis, GM for the Dodgers, got in hot water for making some very iffy comments about African-Americans.
        * Anthony (Tony) Curtis, film star and the Tom Cruise of his era (long suspected of being in the closet).
        * Albert Camus, Nobel Prize-winnin

      • And then, there's me.

    • That's AC2 2 U!

    • He wrote science fiction. What in SF does one need to "trust"?

      - RG>

  • well (Score:1)

    by ramul ( 1103299 )
    typically for 'clarkian' sci fi, does it reek of shameless self adoration? are the characters bland? im more of a p.k. dick, isaac asimov kinda guy. i admit to liking 2001 book 1 though (A.C.C.)

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Dude, there's no such thing as "2001 book 1". There is a novel by Clarke called "2001". Then there were sequels, "2010" and "2061".

      If these books smell of shameless self adoration try not putting them next to Hofstadter on your bookshelf. That stink can travel through the complete Oxford English Dictionary.

      Dick rules but he's not the same genre as Clarke at all.

      • Don't forget 3001...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by ramul ( 1103299 )
        well you started off pedantic, but im pretty sure they are both sci-fi writers.

        sure they are not in the same sub-genre but i dont see a problem in comparing authors between genres in the first place.

      • Don't forget 3001. Actually you can forget it, for a grand finale it was pretty bland. Not even any meeting of the Europa life forms.

    • does it reek of shameless self adoration? are the characters bland? im more of a p.k. dick, isaac asimov kinda guy

      Oh, the irony of criticizing shameless self-adoration and bland characters, and simultaneous praising Isaac Asimov. :D

      Asimov wouldn't know a character if the cardboard hit him in the ass. Though, to be fair, he's better than Niven on that score. (Don't get me wrong -- I love the latter two, but they're better at concept writing than characterization).

      And Asimov didn't exactly hide how brillian

  • Last work? (Score:3, Funny)

    by sleeponthemic ( 1253494 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @06:59AM (#24382863) Homepage

    Don't be so sure. 2pac is still bangin' them out.

  • I'm a "space"-fi nut, so this question's a bit of an embarassment. The Telegraph excerpt mentions a trip aboard a Skyhook. I'm puzzled by its description in one passage:

    They knew how the passenger capsules worked, and what it would feel like to be borne skyward at a steady rate of metres per second.

    What they had not entirely appreciated, though, was quite how many seconds, even at that speed, it was going to take to get from Sri Lanka to Sinus Iridium. This was not a weekend trip.

    In the first half dozen d

    • Mmmmm..... Fried Chicken

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sm62704 ( 957197 )

      My understanding is that in terms of speed, a Skyhook would be not that much different from a rocket

      It took almost a week to get to the moon [wikipedia.org], and that was on a Saturn V rocket, a huge monster of a vehicle. Launched on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on July 20, when Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. That's a five day trip, without stopping for gas or potty breaks.

      The moon's a long way off. Here [wikipedia.org] is more info about the Van Allen belts.

      • It took almost a week to get to the moon [wikipedia.org], and that was on a Saturn V rocket, a huge monster of a vehicle. Launched on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on July 20, when Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. That's a five day trip, without stopping for gas or potty breaks.

        It took 76 hours from launch to lunar orbit.

        24 hours later, the LM disconnected from the CM for the trip down (most of the 24 hours were system checks on the LM - ~19 h

  • At least it'll be a little easier to breathe than in Beijing

  • Tales from the White Hart (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    was one of the earliest books I read. It is a collection of short stories by Clarke, and a superb example of his brilliant imagination. If you can find a copy, please give it a chance.

  • Not a wild fantasy? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Catbeller ( 118204 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @10:07AM (#24385675) Homepage

    Not a wild fantasy? That's why we call it science fiction, or SF, instead of "stuff we just make up". Welcome to SF as it was before the mass market publishers and anime came along. It used to be a bit more rigorous.

  • Sorry for the threadjack, jsut thought his fans might be interested David Fincher (Se7en, Alien 3, Fight Club, Panic Room) is directing and Morgan Freeman is starring. http://www.revelationsent.com/site/projects/in_development/rama.html [revelationsent.com]

  • "Here may be found the last words of Arthur C. Clarke. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the holy grail in the Castle of Aaauuuggghhh..."

  • Great time to be an IOC member. Prospective host countries always sponsor boozy sex romps to their homes for the decision makers.

    I think that the Moon folks have been planning this for a while. Just look at one of their "Teaser" advertisements for the Moon as the optimal location for the Olympics:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nude_on_the_Moon [wikipedia.org]

    Hey, a free trip to the Moon for the IOC!

  • He's was a very very very bright person, and very knowledgeable about science but he got the idea of the balloonist very wrong. Yes, on the moon you weight about 6 times less than on earth, but the buoyancy force on the balloon which keeps you afloat is exactly equal to the weight of the displaced air. This means this force is also 6 times less (for a given volume), hence you cannot get away with using a small balloon. In fact, in the article he mentions that the air pressure on the tubes was 1/2 of that

  • "The results of the Triple Jump are finally available and the medals will finally be distributed tomorrow, just two weeks after the closing ceremony. None of the bodies of the pole-vaulting entrants have yet been recovered."

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