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Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations
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224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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435 people want to read
About the author
Arthur C. Clarke
1,645 books11.5k followersStories, 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 16, 2018
It is amazing how well, even before the moon landing and the Space Age in general, Clarke's speculative essays hold up for remarkable insight and being a joy to read. The initial, title piece I recall reading as a youth (perhaps in a different anthology) and still the point of view of imagined Martians seeing our rust-inducing atmosphere rich in oxygen and water vapor as a dangerous environment that may preclude much life. This type of point of view reframing I think is beyond entertaining -- it is enlightening. That is the most overtly science fiction contribution. Mostly what we have here is lectures and articles written imaging the future, where Clarke foresaw the internet, wireless communications, etc.: "During the next decade we will see coming into the home a general purpose communications console comprising TV screen, camera, microphone, computer keyboard and hardcopy readout device."
Another thing I recall reading as a teenager from Clarke was the argument that, "Yeah, I've seen UFOs..." As, in unidentified things in the sky -- sure. Clarke reminds us to avoid unfounded solutions and provides a revealing list of causes of some UFO sightings: sunlight glinting off bird wings under special conditions, "ballooning" spiders, combusting tennis balls, and more. The idea being that there is much just outside of the typical observer's direct experience without resorting to alien incursions.
Some of the things he perceived came to pass by this publishing and postscripts and introductions touch on the accuracy (such as $10 billion to reach the Moon, compare at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_...) and even inaccuracy.
There is some very good mental exercise here in the reframing Clarke uses and the Zen koan-like interruptions to linear thought that he employs, such as bringing in a discussion of the painting "The Blind Girl" and the poem "Blind" by Harry Kemp to illustrate how diffent the experiuence can be for alien life able to see ultraviolet, feel magnetism, etc.
Another thing I recall reading as a teenager from Clarke was the argument that, "Yeah, I've seen UFOs..." As, in unidentified things in the sky -- sure. Clarke reminds us to avoid unfounded solutions and provides a revealing list of causes of some UFO sightings: sunlight glinting off bird wings under special conditions, "ballooning" spiders, combusting tennis balls, and more. The idea being that there is much just outside of the typical observer's direct experience without resorting to alien incursions.
Some of the things he perceived came to pass by this publishing and postscripts and introductions touch on the accuracy (such as $10 billion to reach the Moon, compare at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_...) and even inaccuracy.
There is some very good mental exercise here in the reframing Clarke uses and the Zen koan-like interruptions to linear thought that he employs, such as bringing in a discussion of the painting "The Blind Girl" and the poem "Blind" by Harry Kemp to illustrate how diffent the experiuence can be for alien life able to see ultraviolet, feel magnetism, etc.
October 9, 2015
First off, this is a decent enough collection of Arthur C. Clarke's essays. Many are pseudo-fictional, told from a future or martian point of view. Some are from the fifties, introduced by a paragraph from 1973 saying how close this came or how far. There was a lot more optimism about space when this was published, unfortunately.
Now a rant about my local library, which has this book as nonfiction. They have most of Arthur C. Clarke's other nonfiction works as well. What is missing is most of the fiction. The great works are there - Rama, 2001 - and the recent - I read the Last Theorem recently. But the majority of this great author's works are just plain gone. I realize budget cuts and lack of recent editions are part of the problem, but I hope they seek out ebook editions of the missing texts, so the next generation can enjoy this bedrock of science fiction.
Now a rant about my local library, which has this book as nonfiction. They have most of Arthur C. Clarke's other nonfiction works as well. What is missing is most of the fiction. The great works are there - Rama, 2001 - and the recent - I read the Last Theorem recently. But the majority of this great author's works are just plain gone. I realize budget cuts and lack of recent editions are part of the problem, but I hope they seek out ebook editions of the missing texts, so the next generation can enjoy this bedrock of science fiction.
February 4, 2021
Holy Smokes.
I loved this.
Probably the best Clarke thing I've read.
A bunch of short works- compiled much like Gaiman's Angles and Visitations or Trigger Warning.
Some themes I really liked:
1. A report of the Marsians on the viability of life on planet Earth written at the same time as the storming of Troy. The Marsians were an advanced civilization- they were studying the ice caps and the forestation
2. A report on the history and probability of meteorites. Lakes and stuff
3. automated chess
4. the life of the people in transit during a long trip
5. the star of the magi- a supernova? Venus?
6. the appearance of aliens
7. the internet
8. sonar- and the sea
I loved this.
Probably the best Clarke thing I've read.
A bunch of short works- compiled much like Gaiman's Angles and Visitations or Trigger Warning.
Some themes I really liked:
1. A report of the Marsians on the viability of life on planet Earth written at the same time as the storming of Troy. The Marsians were an advanced civilization- they were studying the ice caps and the forestation
2. A report on the history and probability of meteorites. Lakes and stuff
3. automated chess
4. the life of the people in transit during a long trip
5. the star of the magi- a supernova? Venus?
6. the appearance of aliens
7. the internet
8. sonar- and the sea
September 8, 2013
“In addition to being one of Science Fiction's greatest writers, Sir Arthur C. Clarke was also one of our foremost thinkers and visionaries, producing a number of highly readable and important non-fiction works. Report of Planet Three is a collection of 23 essays on the future of Man and his technology, including essays on space, satellite communications, the internet, alien contact, UFO debunking and relativity.”
Stimulating reading!
Stimulating reading!
November 19, 2009
A collection of Clarke's essays and speeches. The man seems to have a penchant for technological precognition. He predicts a surprising number of trends in computers, politics and space exploration.
November 16, 2023
Though he is remembered primarily for his fiction, 2001: A Space Odyssey in particular, Arthur C. Clarke was also a prolific and renowned science writer, as demonstrated here in Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations. Where other science writers can often be workmanlike, or at least guarded and non-committal, Clarke has a knack of representing the excitement and majesty of scientific discoveries and speculations with comparable vividness in his own prose.
It means that, even in an old book like this one, with the five decades since its publication lining up to demand it show its age, we can still be thrilled at the world that opens up in Clarke's collected essays and articles. Clarke shows us things from new perspectives, such as the comparison between the realms of space and sea in 'Across the Sea of Stars', or even a mere left-field analogy like the Amish one on page 144. He discusses things which still seem prescient, like the discussion of A.I. – even A.I. art! – and universal basic income in 'The Mind of the Machine', and generates discussions on things you might not have ever conceived of asking (as in 'The Star of the Magi', where Clarke contemplates whether the star which led the three kings to Bethlehem was in fact a supernova event).
The imagination and eagerness Clarke shows is boundless, particularly in essays like the titular 'Report on Planet Three'. This is one of a few essays in the book which could also be classified as fiction, for they are written from the perspective of, for example, a society hundred years hence reporting on the history of colonization of the Moon, or, in the titular essay's case, a Martian counterpart to Clarke. 'Report on Planet Three' is written in the style of our own scientific speculations, wondering whether there is life on Earth, the next planet over. The Martian Clarke's report on the strange phenomenon of fire, a violent chemical reaction that Martians can only recreate in the laboratory (pg. 16), shows us how strange our own world is, that we accept this energetic plasma as one of our most ordinary things. Like all the best science writing, Clarke's essays not only dazzle but lead us to ponder some of the things we take for granted, and provide a different perspective on our own world.
It's fantastic to immerse yourself in, though there is also a further effect which Clarke's writing has on the reader nowadays, one which he could not have expected and which he would not have wanted. We see him writing – believably – of the things that will be implemented in the years following the Moon landing, including the first landing on Mars and the first child born in space. There is an infectious optimism here – "a massive thrust forward into a new realm of opportunity, of experience, and of promise" (pg. 125) – and it's with a pang that the reader reads Arthur C. Clarke in 2023, knowing we've fallen far, far short. But Clarke's was not a blind optimism; as his most famous work speculates, 2001 was meant to see the establishment of a moon base, and it seemed entirely feasible – maybe even a little conservative.
Clarke grew up in the embryonic years of flight and the birth of quantum mechanics, saw the use of both developments combined over the skies of Hiroshima and, by the end of the 1972 volume reviewed here, was on first-name terms with men who had landed on the Moon. And throughout it all he was a dependable guide, not only explaining what was happening in terms we could understand, but inspiring us to reach even further. Instead, and with deep shame, we can read Report on Planet Three in the current year and, barring one or two theoretical or experimental breakthroughs, it would not require much updating. When Clarke writes of the moon bases that are to come, the space travel and the Martian colonies, he was looking to the future – our time. But when we look back, to the can-do attitude of those Mercury and Apollo pioneers, to people talking of space stations and colonies without irony or fear of cynical laughter – even when Clarke writes of his own time, I noted the clean Manhattan with "courteous" New Yorkers and "spotless subway stations" (pg. 246) – we are looking back on a lost world. What we would give to be able to bottle that and release it again today. We'll have to make do with the fading echoes of it provided by books like Report on Planet Three.
It means that, even in an old book like this one, with the five decades since its publication lining up to demand it show its age, we can still be thrilled at the world that opens up in Clarke's collected essays and articles. Clarke shows us things from new perspectives, such as the comparison between the realms of space and sea in 'Across the Sea of Stars', or even a mere left-field analogy like the Amish one on page 144. He discusses things which still seem prescient, like the discussion of A.I. – even A.I. art! – and universal basic income in 'The Mind of the Machine', and generates discussions on things you might not have ever conceived of asking (as in 'The Star of the Magi', where Clarke contemplates whether the star which led the three kings to Bethlehem was in fact a supernova event).
The imagination and eagerness Clarke shows is boundless, particularly in essays like the titular 'Report on Planet Three'. This is one of a few essays in the book which could also be classified as fiction, for they are written from the perspective of, for example, a society hundred years hence reporting on the history of colonization of the Moon, or, in the titular essay's case, a Martian counterpart to Clarke. 'Report on Planet Three' is written in the style of our own scientific speculations, wondering whether there is life on Earth, the next planet over. The Martian Clarke's report on the strange phenomenon of fire, a violent chemical reaction that Martians can only recreate in the laboratory (pg. 16), shows us how strange our own world is, that we accept this energetic plasma as one of our most ordinary things. Like all the best science writing, Clarke's essays not only dazzle but lead us to ponder some of the things we take for granted, and provide a different perspective on our own world.
It's fantastic to immerse yourself in, though there is also a further effect which Clarke's writing has on the reader nowadays, one which he could not have expected and which he would not have wanted. We see him writing – believably – of the things that will be implemented in the years following the Moon landing, including the first landing on Mars and the first child born in space. There is an infectious optimism here – "a massive thrust forward into a new realm of opportunity, of experience, and of promise" (pg. 125) – and it's with a pang that the reader reads Arthur C. Clarke in 2023, knowing we've fallen far, far short. But Clarke's was not a blind optimism; as his most famous work speculates, 2001 was meant to see the establishment of a moon base, and it seemed entirely feasible – maybe even a little conservative.
Clarke grew up in the embryonic years of flight and the birth of quantum mechanics, saw the use of both developments combined over the skies of Hiroshima and, by the end of the 1972 volume reviewed here, was on first-name terms with men who had landed on the Moon. And throughout it all he was a dependable guide, not only explaining what was happening in terms we could understand, but inspiring us to reach even further. Instead, and with deep shame, we can read Report on Planet Three in the current year and, barring one or two theoretical or experimental breakthroughs, it would not require much updating. When Clarke writes of the moon bases that are to come, the space travel and the Martian colonies, he was looking to the future – our time. But when we look back, to the can-do attitude of those Mercury and Apollo pioneers, to people talking of space stations and colonies without irony or fear of cynical laughter – even when Clarke writes of his own time, I noted the clean Manhattan with "courteous" New Yorkers and "spotless subway stations" (pg. 246) – we are looking back on a lost world. What we would give to be able to bottle that and release it again today. We'll have to make do with the fading echoes of it provided by books like Report on Planet Three.
April 28, 2018
Usually, I try to avoid collections of short stories because I don't enjoy them. I like to get more included in the story, get to know the characters better etc. I gave this book a chance because it's been collecting dust in my bookcase for many years. Despite the fact that Arthur C. Clarke is award-winning author, my "issue" with short stories stays unchanged. That being said, most stories in this collection are very well written. If you like sci-fi and short stories, don't get discouraged by my highly subjective 2-star rating :).
September 3, 2023
Speculations of a future that has already partly passed. Some things hit the mark, some still seem a long way off. Some have only just been fully realised (working from home), while others such as space shuttles and commercial supersonic flight have been and gone, not setting us up for the next stages Clarke expected to follow. As such, this is as much about humanity's failures as its potential to take to the stars.
June 22, 2025
A great read for fans of the late great Arthur C. Clarke or anyone interested in insight into some of the makings of a historically great futurist. It was interesting to see where he accurately saw over the horizon and where (to humanity’s detriment) he came up short. It was also fun to watch him imagine scenarios like what early earth life would’ve looked like to a now extinct race of Martians and recount experiences like hanging out with Stanley Kubrick as they put together 2001.
May 19, 2024
Sbírka působivých sci-fi povídek... víceméně.
Jak už to tak u sbírek povídek bývá, tak některé jsou super, ale jiné jsou dost nic moc. A co je nejhorší? Ty nejdelší povídky jsou nejhorší, takže dokážou pěkně zkazit dojem z knížky.
Zprávu o třetí planetě jsem si tím pádem nejdřív užíval, abych se následně musel zatraceně snažit ji dočíst.
Jak už to tak u sbírek povídek bývá, tak některé jsou super, ale jiné jsou dost nic moc. A co je nejhorší? Ty nejdelší povídky jsou nejhorší, takže dokážou pěkně zkazit dojem z knížky.
Zprávu o třetí planetě jsem si tím pádem nejdřív užíval, abych se následně musel zatraceně snažit ji dočíst.
January 7, 2021
I first read this back in sixth form where it was the first book by Arthur C. Clarke that I’d read. A collection of - mostly- prophetic writings where he even predicts what he will get right and what he will get wrong!
February 27, 2025
Hit or miss fiction and nonfiction. Clarke pats himself on the back for 2001: A Space Odyssey too much, and although some of the essays are intriguing, far too many are mundane. A worthwhile one-time read.
3/5.
3/5.
November 2, 2018
Interesting book. Quite a bit like Profiles of the Future, which is why I didn't rate it any higher. Still though a fun read from the 50s-70s.
November 11, 2019
Tahle kniha (hlavně některé z povídek) je moje srdeční záležitost. Pomíjivost civilizace na pár stránkách dovedená k pointě. Vždycky znovu mě mrazí
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January 4, 2021Want to read
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January 8, 2021summary of report of planet
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2021
just brimming with (often realised) futurism
November 14, 2021
Awesome perspective of our planet, from - others.
March 7, 2017
Nalijme si čistého vína. Je to HC scifi.Je to těžký číst, i když zajímavý (mě chytla tak půlka povídek). Ale trvalo mi hodně dlouho to přečíst a dočetla jsem to jen díky tomu, že jsem vytrvalým čtenářem. Jako rozšíření obzorů dobrý, ale znova bych si to asi nevybrala.
September 2, 2012
A collection of essays on astronomical and technological topics by the famous writer of science fiction. It is very, very dated. A report on life on Earth purportedly written by Martian astronomers mentions that "there are no mountains or seas to bar the way" for seasonal migration of Martian life; in fact, there is a volcano on Mars that stands 22km tall, but until Soviet and American Mars probes explored the planet in the 1970s, the mountain's height was unknown. Another essay says, "Perhaps we may find no more than a few lichens on Mars"; a lichen is a complex symbiotic organism; even if we found just a native bacterium on Mars, it would be the discovery of the century. Another essay imagines a car powered by a Californium-254 radioisotope generator; what happens if such a car crashes and shards of the highly radioactive metal get into the air, to spontaneously fission inside people's lungs, breaking DNA and causing cancer?
February 26, 2010
A series of small, predictive, articles from Clarke that mainly date from before man had reached space.
Clarke, one of humanity's few visionaries, consistently accurately forecasts the coming technology including the internet and home computer.
Sadly, his forecasts on space, space travel and space technology are off the mark in terms of how quickly they might happen. His view that we would be colonising Mars by 2000 would probably have been accurate if the "space race" had continued on Kennedy's tracjectory.
It is not Clarke's fault that the tragedy of the book is that his optmistic view of what was to come has been crushed by successive feeble minded government "leaders".
Clarke, one of humanity's few visionaries, consistently accurately forecasts the coming technology including the internet and home computer.
Sadly, his forecasts on space, space travel and space technology are off the mark in terms of how quickly they might happen. His view that we would be colonising Mars by 2000 would probably have been accurate if the "space race" had continued on Kennedy's tracjectory.
It is not Clarke's fault that the tragedy of the book is that his optmistic view of what was to come has been crushed by successive feeble minded government "leaders".
September 22, 2011
I enjoyed this book twice - first in '72 when it was originally published, and again just recently. Two very different experiences. As a futurist in his particular areas of interest, Clarke was without peer. Seen through the lens of 2011, most of his predictions from nearly forty years ago were amazingly prescient.
Read
June 30, 2009This is one of the books where you miss something if you don't read the dedication (qv). I think this is also the book with the use of a periodic table as a sort of Rosetta Stone, but Clarke wrote so many books, it's hard to say without a table of contents.
October 16, 2008
Great realism SciFi. A fictional third-person perspective of the Earth and it's inhabitants. Arthur C Clarke ROCKS. Check Rendezvous With Rama and 2010 also.
March 30, 2009
one of my favourite essays in here proves, from a martians point of view, that life on earth is impossible
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June 21, 2012Pretty boring actually
July 3, 2014
A mix of short stories and insightful essays from one of the great science writers of the 20th Century.
May 22, 2015
23 speculative essays by Arthur Clarke
August 13, 2016
also awesome
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews