Product Description

Rama is a vast alien spacecraft that enters the Solar System, A perfect cylinder some fifty kilometres long, spinning rapidly, racing through space, Rama is a technological marvel, a mysterious and deeply enigmatic alien artifact. It is Mankind's first visitor from the stars and must be investigated . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25958 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

NEW YORKER
'Arthur C. Clarke is one of the truly prophetic figures of the space age ... The colossus of science fiction'

About the Author
Arthur C. Clarke was born in Minehead in 1917. During the Second World War he served as a radar instructor for the RAF, rising to the rank of flight-lieutenant. After the war, he entered King's college, London taking, in 1948, his Bsc in physics and mathematics with first class honours.One of the most respected of all science-fiction writers, he has won Kalinga Prize, the Aviation Space-Writers' Prize and the Westinghouse Science Writing Prize. He also shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was based on his story, 'The Sentinel'. He has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956.

Customer Reviews

A classic
This is one of the absolute best science fiction novels ever written, and probably the best of Clarke's various works. It is certainly my favourite. It is also the only science fiction novel ever, so far, to take home all the major awards (it won the Campbell, the Hugo, the Jupiter, and the Nebula). It tells the story of a mysterious cylindrical object that has entered our solar system, where it is detected by Spaceguard (a detection system to give advance warning of asteroids and other near-earth objects on a potential collision course with our planet - an idea that Clarke developed further in The Hammer of God). It is soon determined that the object, christened Rama, is actually an artificial space vessel of some kind, and a United Planets spaceship (the Endeavour, captained by Commander Norton) is sent to investigate. The rest of the (fairly short) novel describes the wonders that the members of the crew of the spaceship encounter after they have managed to get inside Rama. There are also some trademark Clarke glimpses of future human society and technology (based strictly on real science, of course).
The book is written in the classical Clarke style, with very short chapters and very little in the way of "character development" (this latter is something that is always whined and complained about by people who don't understand what great writing really is). And in this case it all works tremendously well. It is always, in all of Clarke's writings, the ideas that are the main thing. In Rendezvous, nothing beats the sense of wonder and amazement you experience when the mysteries of Rama are gradually revealed, although, at the end of the book, Rama remains as much of an enigma as it was at the start. It all rings true, and it all feels realistic, although there is a slightly dated feel (since this book was written in the early 1970s), so that I sometimes got a feeling that I was reading about something that had happened in the past (especially when you take into account the sequels, of which Rama II is just as good as Rendezvous). There is also an uplifting optimism in the story, despite the fact that humanity is, as always in Clarke's stories, put squarely in its place at the conclusion of the book.
Rendezvous with Rama is highly recommended indeed, and required reading for just about everyone. You don't have to be a fan of Clarke or a fan of science fiction in general to enjoy this book. Everyone should read it.

SF wonders on a grand scale
I first Rendezvous with Rama about 15 years ago and found it an absolutely riveting read. I don't think any SF book I have read since has come near it in terms of instilling an awe-inspiring feeling of wonder and the thrill of exploring the unknown. This is what SF is really about for me and in this book Arthr C Clarke writes it better than anyone else I can think of. Don't expect high literature but revel in the nicely flowing, descriptive prose nonetheless. The one problem with the Masterwoks edition is the rather poxy cover that doesn't do a terribly good job of conveying the story within the pages!

Utterly brilliant.
This book is a masterpiece. It draws you in and refuses to let go until you finish it. Clarke hs such an incredible imagination and he really lets it run free in this book. Possibly the best thing about the story is that it just MIGHT happen one day.
Of course, there is a whole series based around this beginning, although none of the later stories manage to equal this first, fantastic book.