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Loading... Islands in the Sky (1952)by Arthur C. Clarke
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Good teenage story by Clarke. Absolutely filled with technical details as if the author had interviewed experienced astronauts. This was not possible in 1954 but a good scientist can make educated guesses. As a teen I would have given this 4 stars. As an adult it is mostly predictable and so it gets three. http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2699804.html good wholesome stuff, with boys becoming men in space: our protagonist gets to stay in the big low-orbit space station, where the entire crew appear to be English and male, and experience a few other adventures but also learn some important lessons about life and about engineering (though nothing much about other matters, the only women in space being an actor making a movie in orbit and the members of a friendly family of Mars colonists). The most striking difference for me between Clarke's 1952 future and what has actually happened is that the cost of space flight has proven to be so high that economies of scale have pushed us much more to unmanned spacecraft and also to international collaboration than he anticipated, though I am sure he approved of both developments. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesGoldmann SF (06) Is contained in
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
HTML: The technologically groundbreaking novel of space exploration from the only science fiction author nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The only thing that is really off-putting is the lack of women in the story! No girls at the space station school. No girls in positions as navigators, or pilots, or engineers. But that's ok. We know when it was written and attitudes of the time.
I like reading science fiction like this. Optimistic and joyful.
OH! and at the end of the book, when the young man meets a family from Mars, there s reference to discoveries made in Clarke's book The Sands of Mars. That was fun! ( )