Voices from the Sky

by Arthur C. Clarke

Vintage paperback

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Essays, Collections, Space

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

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

[Lukerik · Rating 4 out of 5]

These essays are upwards of sixty years old and a little dated in places. At the time the Space Race was in full swing and the Americans had imported a Nazi to head up their efforts. Obviously, that would never happen today.

Clarke’s foresight’s really quite amazing, whether he’s talking about mobile phones, or AI, or the hole in the ozone layer. Particularly interesting is The Social Consequences of Communications Satellites. As far as I can see the only consequence of the geo-synchronous orbit was MTV, but if you switch out ‘communications satellites’ for ‘the internet’ you have an astounding read in which Clarke, in only a few pages, sets out the main pros and cons.

‘The communications network we are building may be such a technological masterpiece, such a miracle of power and speed and complexity, that it will have no place for man’s slow and limited brain. In the end there will be a time when only machines can talk to machines, and we must tiptoe away and leave them to it.’

So if anyone asks, Arthur C. Clarke first proposed the dead internet theory in his address to the XIIth International Astronautical Congress in Washington, 1961.

He’s at his best when he’s describing space flight and relativity and the sheer distances involved. He has a knack of shrinking you down in the face of the profundity of the universe.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olipas se vanhentunut yllättävän vähän. Mielenkiintoista kuinka moni ennustus on osunut kohdilleen, mutta myös miten pahasti jotkut yksityiskohdat ovat menneet pieleen.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays, thoughts, options and most of all science covered in this book. I respect Arthur's knowledge and was interested to find out a lot of his life during these essays, who knew he met CS Lewis and Tolkien in a Pub during the war? A fascinating man who led a fascinating life, full of adventure, engineering, science and art. Very interesting ideas, some will have been proven already, some will have been expanded upon and used for other things. But you can see he was a man ahead of his time. If you want a deeper look into the man behind the science and science fiction give it a read. The humour pours from the pages and you can see he is a down to earth guy, however much he looked up to the stars. He dismissed the notion of prophecy, but he describes working from home very well. I found that part quite amusing.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book says it all - "Voices From The Sky: A Saga Of Vaulting Imagination And Dazzling Prophecy - Previews Of The Coming Space Age" (1965!) I found the book at the Moose Lake, MN public library. It contains articles and speeches by Arthur C. between 1945 and 1965 - all concerning space flight, communications satellites, science in general and astrophysics, and their relationship to spirituality and science-fiction. I had to read this slowly and one article at a time in order to understand the concepts, but it was worth the time and effort. I will keep the book and re-read it because it's pretty close to being up there with the Tao and Zen books I love to read and re-read. I want to read more Arthur C.!

"The radiance of eternity is not white: It is infrared." Arthur C. Clarke

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voices from the Sky is a collection of non-fiction pieces from the master of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke. What’s perhaps most interesting about them is that they’re actually a bunch of disparate little essays that were originally published all over the place but which have been corralled into some sort of order for paperback publication.

As a book, I guess it was okay, but it was a definite bedtime book. Even though I consider myself to be reasonably well-versed when it comes to science, there was still quite a lot of stuff here that went over my head, although it wasn’t like reading A Brief History of Time.

I still enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have it as my main read because I would have got bored of it pretty quickly. As something that I dipped in and out of, though, it was pretty good. It definitely had a lot of food for thought, although it’s hard to tell how much of the science is still considered relevant today.

It’s one that’s probably better suited for Clarke completionists.

[Phil Giunta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Divided into three sections, Voices from the Sky delivers a series of enjoyable essays--some prescient, others less so--on topics ranging from spaceflight and communication satellites to the future of human culture as shaped by technological advancement. While many of Clarke's predictions have come to pass, others miss the mark including the elimination of business travel and the obsolescence of cities as a result of video conferencing and a global communications network. So enthusiastic was he about the U.S.A.'s burgeoning space program of the 1960s, that Clarke predicted mankind's expansion to the moon, Mars, and beyond. He could not have known that budget cuts would curtail our space program by the 1990s. Still, Clarke's considerable talents as a science fiction writer and science communicator, combined with his cosmopolitan viewpoint, provide fascinating insights from a time when humanity was just entering the space age.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated in places, but nevertheless an entertaining discussion of various topics in astronomy and spaceflight. I've had a copy since...grade school? In any case, I should have read this years ago, but I let a lot of not-that-inaccessible books intimidate me when I was younger.

[Siisso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acknowledgements of interesting authors of the genre are neither the least as they are weaved along the author's interplay of speculations, narratives, analogies, recollections, experiences and stances. This is the other Clarke hidden to some of his readers. Astro-literature reads something like this—since the fiction ones will not capture as much ideologies at heart.

[Mark Schomburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of older articles showcasing Clarke's technical expertise.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

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