[AE8]⋙ Download The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 9780446677943 Books

The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 9780446677943 Books

Download As PDF : The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 9780446677943 Books

The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 9780446677943 Books

This book is exactly what made me a science fiction fan more than 40 years ago. Clarke takes real science, history, and what seems like a preposterous idea, an elevator to space and artfully weaves a engaging story that I can believe is truly possible. Very well written and masterly woven together to create a science fiction masterpiece.


Tags : The Fountains of Paradise [Arthur C. Clarke] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel is reissued in this trade paperback edition. Vannemar Morgan's dream of linking Earth with the stars requires a 24,Arthur C. Clarke,The Fountains of Paradise,Aspect,0446677949,9780446677943,Elevators;Design and construction;Fiction.,Monks;Fiction.,Mountains,Mountains;Religious aspects;Fiction.,Science fiction,Design and construction,Elevators,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,Fiction Science Fiction Hard Science Fiction,Fiction-Science Fiction,GENERAL,General Adult,Monks,Religious aspects,Science Fiction - General

The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 9780446677943 Books Reviews

This is one of my favorite books and Clarke is one of my favorite authors. I don't remember when I first got my copy of this book but it was decades ago and since then it has remained a favorite of mine. The story really engages the reader from the start and I really do like Clarke's writing style and sense of humor as it really does make his stories move along with a flow that just keep the reader immersed in the story. I have a tough time finding a stopping point in most of Clarke's books simply because I want to keep reading to find out what else is going to happen, and The Fountains of Paradise is no exception.
This book is often sited as the origin of the idea of a Space Elevator. The author humbly notes that it was not his brain child, but he did make it more widely known.

The book is a bit confusing in the beginning - introducing characters that really do not play a significant role in the plot of the book - but after a few chapters, it changes to some of the challenges faced in making a space elevator, and some of the unique benefits it provides.

I did not find this story riveting, but it was not annoying to read, and I enjoyed exploring the concept of a space elevator.
The bad thing about books is the fact that one tends to get caught up in so many extremely bad books, that
we lower our standards very easily.
Reading this Arthur Clark novel has made me recognise that.
We settle for cheap and frequently regurgitated themes that when a classic such as this comes along,
in my case, a second time, we tend to not recognise the genius behind it.

His style is smooth and effortless and I will reccomend it to any age.
The book has a great description of the space elevator and the process of building the first one. But the characters were painted a bit thin. (Typical of a lot of hard SF). There was also a bit of preachy atheism in the book. This could have been an interesting part of the book, but it ended up being a loose end of the plot that was never tied up. The conflict between the engineer and the monastery was inadequately resolved. There was also an interesting subplot with the ancient history of the site of the space elevator (a fictional equivalent to the nation of Sri Lanka). Like most hard SF, the highlight was the science and Clarke did a nice job here. A more recent telling of the story would have had a bit more nanotech in it, but overall this was a good read.
Arthur C Clarke is my favorite author. He focuses more on possible technology and less so on characters and ridiculous drama with those characters. This is what I love about him.

The "Fountains of Paradise" definitely fits that bill. A space elevator is an amazing idea because it will make spaceflight economical and safe. From that elevator a ring of habital space can be created. More elevators created to reach that ring finally creating a large wheel around our planet. If we don't destroy ourselves with differences in race, religion, or nationality, I believe this will happen. It only makes sense as the next step in our need for satellites and launch platforms for space probes and an emerging business of space tourism. Satellites would no longer need to be rocketed to space which carries pollution and high risk to an expensive delivery system.

Anyway, getting back to the book. The story of an engineer, Morgan, and his first triumph of a bridge built connecting europe to africa via the gibralter straight (also an eventuality) has his next career step in a bridge from earth to geoscynchronous space above the earth. The beginning of the book deals with trying to use the only part of earth that can be used for the base of the elevator but unfortunately it is used by a buddhist monastary. Morgan's personal story is nothing out of the ordinary and is used as a vehicle for the true star, the space elevator. The third portion of the book uses a small emergency of the elevator getting stuck as some story material. Morgan to the rescue regardless of a heart condition.

I think what may have made this just an ok novel for me is previously reading "3001" where such a system of space elevator and habitable ring around the planet is explored at its fullest eventual potential. To me "Fountains" was a stripped down version of this, rightly so as "3001" is much in the future to "Fountains".

Regardless, this book will one day be as one of Jules Vernes stories predicting submarines or spaceflight!
Fountains of Paradise is excellent in as a stand-alone piece of fiction and serves as an insight into the types of the back-room politics and technology development which would most likely be required to develop a project such as the Space Elevator, a concept first envisioned by Russian Scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895. Clarke does a masterful job explaining the technology needed to build it, as well as the give and take of the politics of the construction and ultimate control of its use.

As a side bonus, this is also a prequel to the fourth book in Clarke's "2001" series, i.e., "3001" where the body of Frank Poole is found in space a thousand years later and brought back to life. His recovery takes place on the Space Elevator.
This book is exactly what made me a science fiction fan more than 40 years ago. Clarke takes real science, history, and what seems like a preposterous idea, an elevator to space and artfully weaves a engaging story that I can believe is truly possible. Very well written and masterly woven together to create a science fiction masterpiece.