Tales Of Ten Worlds

by Arthur C. Clarke

Fifteen stories by "our ablest practitioner of science fiction," ranging from the sinister rescue of a Sputnik and the Pacific to startling and amusing adventures on the moon, in a comet's tail, on Mars and Venus, and the rings of Saturn, and on the asteroid Icarus only seventeen million miles from the sun. The long concluding story, "The Road to the Sea," is set thousands of years in the future when men have ventured beyond our solar system and the last civilizations on earth are being evacuated. Contains the following short stories I Remember Babylon (1960)Summertime on Icarus (1960)Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting ... (1959)Who's There? (1958)Hate (1961)Into the Comet (1960)An Ape About the House (1962)Saturn Rising (1961)Let There Be Light [Tales from the White Hart] (1957)Death and the Senator (1961)Trouble With Time (1960)Before Eden (1961)A Slight Case of Sunstroke (1958)Dog Star (1962)The Road to the Sea (1951)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Collections, Speculative Fiction, Audiobook

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1962

About the author

Stories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.

He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This classic collection of short stories includes some of Clarke's finest work: vivid glimpses into the future, a year, a decade, a century, a millennium from now.
I first read this book in the 1960s and its images have stayed with me whenever I think of Arthur C. Clarke.



To review a collection of short stories is a balancing act.
Do I tediously describe each story making it easy for the reader to say "I've read all of the review so I don't need to read the book" A bit like those movie trailers that show all the action scenes.
Or do I gloss over all the stories simply saying that they show a coming of age in the growing field of science fiction - which gives the reader no idea of what they are about and no reason to read any.

I am trying for the middle way so bear with me as I give you Tales of Ten Worlds.



"I remember Babylon"
Clarke wrote this back in 1945, before satellite relays, cell phones and the internet. It shows how uncensored pornography would become the downfall of the western nations. (Has it already happened?)

"Summertime on Icarus"
A brave man facing death by being too close to the Sun. A great thriller from the early days of space flight.

"Death and the Senator"
Clarke's answer to a real politician, William Proxmire, who did not want to fund the space program. On my first reading I did not understand the significance. Years later I stumbled upon the dreadful things Proxmire was doing in order to support his dairy farm voters.



The stories are;
I REMEMBER BABYLON
SUMMERTIME ON ICARUS
OUT OF THE CRADLE, ENDLESSLY ORBITING
WHO'S THERE?
HATE
INTO THE COMET
AN APE ABOUT THE HOUSE
SATURN RISING
LET THERE BE LIGHT
DEATH AND THE SENATOR
TROUBLE WITH TIME
BEFORE EDEN
A SLIGHT CASE OF SUNSTROKE
DOG STAR
THE ROAD TO THE SEA



Always leave the customer wanting more. There are twelve more awe inspiring tales remaining for you, the reader to discover.

Enjoy!

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We already looked on the moon as no more than a suburb of earth …

… a stepping stone on the way to places that really mattered.”

Arthur C Clarke’s TALES OF TEN WORLDS is a thoroughly entertaining, eclectic collection of classic sci-fi shorts that have aged like a cellar full of fine wine. There is simply no question that Arthur C Clarke deserves his position as one of the acknowledged leaders in the all-time pantheon of sci-fi writers.

Like Ben Bova’s GRAND TOUR OF THE UNIVERSE series, readers will be treated to a scintillating blend of prescient hard and soft sci-fi themes as they are given a rapid-fire tour of the near neighbourhood of our solar system – a comet, an asteroid, the moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Titan. TALES OF TEN WORLDS is too short by half and easily recommended to fans of the classic sci-fi genre.

Paul Weiss

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una interesante antología de uno de los grandes de la Ciencia Ficción. Quince relatos en distintos tonos y registros, con una buena dosis de ironía y la fértil imaginación de uno de esos autores que tan bien supieron "inventar" el futuro y que hoy reconocemos como uno de los imprescindibles del género.
"Antes del Edén", "Hagase la luz" y el breve pero un tanto lacrimógeno "Perra estrella" fueron los que más disfruté. Muy entretenido.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. Media de los 20 libros leídos dela autor : 7/10

Hablar sobre Clarke da casi vergüenza. Porque, ¿Quién soy yo para hablar de uno de los mas grandes de la CF?.

Pero bueno, aparte de todas las alabanzas decir qe de su muy extensa producción, incuidas sus sagas de Rama o 2001, siempre me quedaré como favorita con su colección de relatos "Cuentos de la taberna del Ciervo Blanco", geniales. Y tal vez con sus "Cuentos de la lejana Tierra" (a la que incluso Mike Oldfield le ha dedicado un album entero).

En este, y para no ser yo de cuentos cortos, nos encontramos con alguna cosa muy buena. Y, como siempre en Clarke, original a más no poder.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 15 short stories - well the last one is really a novelette - ranging from humorous, to thought-provoking, to melancholy. What comes out clearly in this collection is the breadth of Clarke's story-telling ability, his unique way of pulling you into each tale. Most people who are not "sci-fi" readers only know Clarke by 2001 - A Space Odyssey but he is so much more than that.

I enjoyed every story but the following stand out:

Summertime on Icarus - Clarke's description of the intense sunrise on the asteroid our protagonist is stuck on is so vivid I felt like I was sweating as I read it.

Who's There - Because I like cats and it is a clever, very short story with a feel good ending.

Hate - This is a particularly chilling tale of how hatred can make a man do something that he will regret the rest of his life. The shock ending came out of nowhere and it is probably the best story in the book.

Saturn Rising - This story is about a visionary man who sees what can be done and is patient enough to wait. After reading it you may want to look up what Bigelow is doing on space habitats.

Death and the Senator - This story examines the issues of choice and mortality and age. The ending is satisfying even though it is not a surprise.

Oddly the story I liked the least was the long final story - The Road to the Sea. It is well written and is interesting but I felt the ending just wasn't there. I wanted more after the long build-up and it wasn't there. But that said it is still a good story.

This is the one of the few collections I have read where I liked every story, but that is not surprising since if I like an author, most of his or her work will appeal to me. Where I get disappointed is with anthologies since many of the authors included write in a style that I don’t like and thus their stories fall flat.

As you can see from the copyrights, this is an old book but Amazon probably still has it and of course there is always E-bay.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

How did I live this long without reading Clark? He's the king of the killer final sentence.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is the fourth time I've read this book, which contains 15 stories. These are the stories I like best:

Out of the cradle, endlessly orbiting: The predictions in this story, written in 1959, never took place: we never had a lunar colony by the 1970s, or a manned expedition to Mars around the year 2000. Yes, people were too optimistic about space exploration just after the Sputnik I was launched. But the final surprise of this story is important and interesting. Perhaps one day it will happen.

Saturn rising: Excellent description of the Saturn system in a typical sci-fi environment, although predictions of the future of space exploration are too optimistic, as is usual in Clarke.

Death and the senator: This story poses an important ethical problem: if the cure for a disease should be restricted to a few persons, who should have priority? Politicians? Rich people? Young people? Those who expect to become immortal in the near future through trans-humanism should read this story. Although I don't expect anyone living now will have this possibility in the near future. Perhaps never. See this post in my blog, and the four subsequent posts in that thematic thread: https://populscience.blogspot.com/202...

ESPAÑOL: Esta es la cuarta vez que leo este libro, que contiene 15 cuentos. Estos son los cuentos que más me han gustado:

Salir de la cuna, en órbita sin fin: Las predicciones de este cuento, escrito en 1959, no se han cumplido: no tuvimos una colonia lunar hacia finales de los 1970, ni una expedición tripulada a Marte alrededor del 2000. Sí, justo después del lanzamiento del Sputnik I éramos demasiado optimistas sobre la exploración espacial. Pero la sorpresa final de esta historia es importante e interesante. Quizás algún día llegue a ocurrir.

Ascenso de Saturno: Excelente descripción del sistema de Saturno en un entorno típico de ciencia ficción, aunque las predicciones sobre el futuro de la exploración espacial son demasiado optimistas, como es habitual en Clarke.

La muerte y el senador: Este cuento plantea un problema ético importante: si la cura de una enfermedad debe restringirse a unas pocas personas, ¿quién debe tener prioridad? ¿Los políticos? ¿Los ricos? ¿Los jóvenes? Quienes esperan llegar a ser inmortales en un futuro próximo gracias al transhumanismo deberían leer este cuento. La verdad es que no creo que nadie tenga esta posibilidad en un futuro próximo. Quizá nunca. Véase este artículo de mi blog, y los cuatro que le siguen en ese hilo temático: https://divulciencia.blogspot.com/202...

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a classic collection of science fiction from one of the grand old masters. I remember expecting there to be ten stories included due to the title and was surprised to find fifteen; it led me to compulsively try counting the worlds described and I kept up coming up with numbers other than ten... Oh well... There are fourteen short stories and one novella. The original places of publication are quite interestingly diverse; there's a story from Vogue and two each from Playboy and a similar men's magazine named The Dude. The genre magazines account for the other two-thirds of them, with two stories each from F & SF and Galaxy and one each from Analog, New Worlds, Amazing, If, and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (though Trouble with Time is an sf story too, of course.) The fourteen short stories all appeared between 1958 and 1962, a very productive period in Clarke's career. The book closes with a novella from 1951, the very good The Road to the Sea, which originally appeared as Seeker of the Sphinx in a true pulp sf magazine with the unlikely title Two Complete Science Adventure Books, published with a true classic, The Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton. (The magazine was edited by another fine writer who was also a good editor, Jerome Bixby, best remembered for the T.Z. episode in which Billy Mumy sent people who displeased him to the cornfield.) The early novella has a different feel than the short works (more adventure, less science), and there's a noticeable difference in the short pieces as well; the stories from the slicks are simplified or explained in broader detail than those from the sf digests. His slick stories are similar in style to Ray Bradbury, and his ability to come up with a great last line surprise reminds me of Roger Zelazny. My other favorites are Let There Be Light (one of his White Hart tales), Who's There? ('cause kittens in space are cool!), and I Remember Babylon, in which he experiments with meta-fiction or magic realism or something equally quirky a couple of decades early.

[Wan Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories not my favourite. Yet this science fiction has won me over.A master in his class.

[Eddie Villanueva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some pretty cool short stories about space and sci-fi stuff.

[Hernan Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

La primera vez que leí ciencia ficción clásica, fue con el libro El fin de la infancia, de Arthur C. Clarke. Hasta el día de hoy, diría que si uno quiere empezar a comprender como es que la ciencia ficción llego a ser lo que es, tiene que leer ese libro.
Hoy, por suerte, también puedo decir que si uno quiere adentrarse en este mundo, puede empezar sin dudas por Relatos de diez mundos.

No es una sola historia, sino varias, contadas de la manera mas simple que la redacción lo permite (y ese es uno de los grandes logros de Clarke, a mi entender). Amenos, suaves, como una guía hacia la comprensión del genero en si mismo.
Obviamente, la ciencia ficción es mas que Clarke contando historias, pero acercarse a ella por medio de libros como este, es sin duda un viaje espectacular que se disfruta a cada momento.

El punto negativo del libro se lo lleva UN LIGERO CASO DE INSOLACIÓN, un relato sobre un país ficticio de américa latina, donde la política en si misma se decide por medio de un partido de fútbol. Siento que el autor destila mucho odio hacia los países del sur, y opaca en parte el gran trabajo que se realiza con los demás relatos.

[Alien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Einige Stories folgen dem Schema "nette kleine Idee" -> "nette kleine Story". Viele Stories sind Anekdoten aus der fiktiven Geschichte der Raumfahrt. Durchdrungen ist das ganze vom Glauben, dass der Weg der Menschheit unweigerlich von der Erde wegführen muss, dass die Eroberung des Alls eine Selbstverständlichkeit ist. Man kann sagen, dass ein Großteil der Collection rückhaltlose Propaganda für die bemannte Raumfahrt ist.
Neben den "kleinen" Geschichten hat es auch einige, die typischer für das sind, was ich an Clarke schätze: große Visionen, über tausende Jahre sich spannend. Eine gewisse Melancholie.
Die Klasse Clarkes merkt man, wenn man bedenkt, dass die Stories noch vor der ersten Mondlandung entstanden sind. Trotzdem sind sie nicht so verstaubt wie die von vielen seiner Kollegen.
Eine Randnotiz: Frauen kommen kaum vor und wenn, dann nur als Nebenfiguren. So visionär war der Autor nicht, dass er sich Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter vorstellen konnte

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raccolta di storie brevi, tutte con forti basi scientifiche, tutte ben riuscite.

Tutti sono godibili, alcuni sono figli del loro tempo, come Ricordando Babilonia, altri come Un Leggero Caso d’Insolazione che tratta del calcio in sudamerica, sono quanto mai attuali. E poi ci sono le piccole perle senza tempo, come Estate su Icaro, Fuori dalla Culla, su un’Orbita Infinita, Seguendo la Cometa, Gli Anelli di Saturno, Prima dell’Eden, Problemi di Tempo.
Ed un piccolo capolavoro come Alla Fine dell’Orbita, od un classico senza tempo come La Strada Verso il Mare.
4 stelle

[Nanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Road to the Sea ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A slight case of sunstroke ⭐⭐
Who's there? ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Out of the cradle ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Let there be light ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Trouble with Time ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Into the Comet ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Summertime on Icarus ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Saturn Rising ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Death and the Senator ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Before Eden ⭐⭐⭐
Hate ⭐⭐⭐
Dog Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I Remember Babylon ⭐⭐⭐
An Ape about the House ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Nile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories from the master storyteller himself. The stories are varied and different and of course with the sparkle of brilliance that you can expect from Arthur C. Clarke. A good read for anyone and a must read for sifi fans.

[Teemu Öhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of Ten Worlds is a pretty mixed bag of 15 short stories mostly from the late 1950s and early 60s. The first story, I Remember Babylon, is more interesting than good, because the main character and narrator is an author named Arthur C. Clarke.

I hated Hate, because stories based on hate are just not my cup of tea. That was probably my least favourite Clarke short story ever.

Let There Be Light is actually a tale from the White Hart, although it wasn't included in Tales from the White Hart. It wasn't any better than the ones in the actual White Hart collection. An Ape about the House is another humorous and not a particularly good story, as was A Slight Case of Sunstroke. Who's There was the best of this type of stories.

Among the better ones were Into the Comet, Saturn Rising and Before Eden. They, for the most part at least, felt like the Clarke I know and love, although even they weren't quite as good as they perhaps could have been.

The best of the short stories was Dog Star (originally Moondog). It was truly beautiful and touching, especially if you've ever had the pleasure of having (or living with) a dog.

The book ends with The Road to the Sea from 1950, originally published as Seeker of the Sphinx. It's actually a novella, about 59 pages long. The beginning of the story laid out some interesting ideas about the future of the human kind, but soon it became a rather boring love triangle. The last 15 and especially the last 10 pages were again great, making The Road to the Sea one of the highlights of the collection.

Overall, some bad, some mediocre, some good, and some very good. The good outweighs the bad, though, so it's 4/5.

[Levent Pekcan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur C. Clarke'ın her zamanki mühendis keskinliğiyle yazılmış gayet güzel öyküler. En son öyküyü biraz uzun ve sıkıcı bulduğumu söylemem lazım, ama diğer öyküler keyifle okunuyor.

[Jose Torroja Ribera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alguna historia no es tan buena, pero el resto están al nivel habitual de Clarke.

[Jeff Nylander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite stories in this collection:

Who's There?

Death and the Senator

Before Eden

[Janine W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 .... VERY mixed bag of short stories ...
- Who's There?💚
- Hate
- Into the Comet
- Saturn Rising
- Before Eden 💚
were by far my favourite...

The rest were unfortunately immediately forgettable ...

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love how optimistic this book is about space stuff. yes by 2012 we'll have cities on the moon ☝️ he gets it fr.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first taste of hard science fiction. Of course after that I was hooked for life! I think I was about 11 when I bought it. That was around 1973. I didn't know anything about Arthur C. Clarke, The title intrigued me (wow, 10 worlds for 75 cents!) and I liked the cover. It showed space suited figures floating in a pink void. What happened to all that great cover art? Anyway, even though many of the short stories were too mature for me, I still got a foothold into the genre and I'm still a fan 40 years later.

[Mauricio Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

It offers through every single tale a good insight into human nature, not as deep as Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, which is indeed a little more fantastic and it cares less about rigorous scientific facts. But in this book it is notorious Clarke's scientific background while he is taking care of details to make as realistic as posible every passage. Been published even before first moon landing it is very interesting to find out that time perspective for the next years regarding Space Conquest

[Chris H-C · Rating 4 out of 5]

It never gets old travelling to the past (reading almost-50-year-old short stories) to travel to the future.

Some of the anachronisms are cute. The time spent describing communications or space tech or other things that didn't go the way we thought they would or are so commonplace now they require no explanation at all.

Some of the characters and situations are funny. Some are thought provoking. Some of the stories take too long, and some I wish would keep going.

A pleasant mix, more-or-less.

[John Isaacson]

The opening story "I remember Babylon" blew my mind! I totally thought it was real. Arthur C. Clarke refers to himself by his own name as he narrates this story about meeting a man at a party who predicts the rise of television as propaganda and mid-control. Rife with historical references, this story seems more fact than fiction. Arthur C. Clarke is a storyteller of the highest order, not to mention a visionary.

[Benn Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 well-crafted and well-written stories by one of the masters of Science Fiction, "Tales of Ten Worlds" is a pleasure to read. These are some of Arthur C. Clarke's best short stories. Highlights include ""I Remember Babylon", "An Ape About the House", "Death and the the Senator", "Trouble With Time" and the novella, "The Road to the Sea".

[Christi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though we're not experiencing all the space travel that was referenced in the book for this time period, AC rarely disappoints. Some of those stories were thrilling, page turners! Thank goodness they haven't been ruined by making them into movies.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Arthur C. Clarke's short stories.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine example of the pure mastery that was Arthur C Clarke. He left his mark on liturate with everyone of his stories and his spirit lives on through his life's work.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kittens in space are terrifying.