Product Description

Islands in the Sky, first published in 1954, sees Roy Malcolm winning a trip to the Inner Station, a space station rotating 500 miles from Earth. The Sands of Mars, set in the 21st century, has a group of pioneers struggling to change the face of this inhospitable planet. In Earthlight, two centuries hence, man has colonised the planets and the inhabitants of the Moon owe no allegiance to any nation on Earth - or to Earth itself . . . This omnibus edition of three of Arthur C. Clarke's early novels shows the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey exploring space and time in adventurous and thoughtful ways.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #129901 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

About the Author
SALES POINTS Arthur C. Clarke is the bestselling and most famous living writer of science fiction in the world Backlist continues to sell steadily These three novels have been too long out of print 'Rereading Sands as I wrote my book brought back the sense of wonder and adventure that it inspired in my childhood. I found it astounding how fresh and relevant the story remains.' Donna Shirley, manager of the Mars Exploration Program 2001 is, of course, Arthur C. Clarke's year!

Customer Reviews

Interesting, from an historical perspective
The main selling point of these three stories has to be comparing Arthur C. Clarke's vision of the future, as written 50 years ago, with todays reality. As standalone stories they are perhaps lacking strong plot development, especially "Islands in the Sky", but this shouldn't detract from an otherwise interesting read. "Islands in the Sky" introduces the concept of weather and communications satellites, albeit large manned contraptions. All three stories, not surprisingly, are distinctly lacking in the computer/electronic systems we take for granted today. The most obvious mis-prediction to be found in these stories has to be that of plant life on the Moon and Mars, and even animal life on Mars. When reading about these, well thought out, forms of life, it is worth remembering that these stories date from the first tentative beginnings of The Space Race. Before Man walked on the Moon, before Viking, Voyager and all those other craft that have provided so much knowledge about the Solar System. What I found to be of most interest is Arthur C. Clarke's predications of how colonisation of the Solar System would proceed is little different from that to be found in more modern Sci-Fi. His understanding of the practicalities of life in Space stand out, and much of his view of the future remains believable 50 years later. This on its own speaks volumes.