The Nine Billion Names of God & Other Stories

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke #3

by Arthur C. Clarke

This volume is of special interest -- included are a wide range of classic stories, including the title story, "Jupiter Five," "The Deep Range," "Second Dawn," and the earliest of the splendidly comic narratives told by Harry Purvis for the benefit of the denizens of the White Hart.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy

Audible Audio

Published March 1, 2011

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

[Leili V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I must have read the 99 Billion Names of God story before, but it’s still quaint to reread now. I also liked “The Star.” Nothing was as good as Rama here though.

[Eamonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio collection of Clarke's shirt stories with little intro giving a bit of background info.

Well worth a listen. Some of my favourites were:

Superiority:
Superb space allegory based on the technological end of ww2

The possessed:
Why do lemmings jump off cliffs - they are possessed by formerly sentient parasites that hope to meet their fellow beings

Second dawn:
Interesting story about a race of horse type creatures who can mind read. They meet stone age man and they help each other develop technologically.

The reluctant orchid:
An orchid with a taste for flesh gives seed to a way of getting rid of an annoying aunt - reminded me of little shop of horrors.

The pacifist:
Scientist develops computer for army but fears consequences so he puts a 'bug' in the system so the computer generates only insults when requested to solve military strategy tasks.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is very enjoyable! I certainly liked some stories more than others, with my favorite possibly being Trouble with Time or maybe The Reluctant Orchid. I think pre-moon landing sci-fi has such a particular charm to it, but a lot of what I think made these stories exciting to contemporary readers still holds up decades later, for the most part.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories and they are really good.

I originally read the story, "The Nine Billion Names of God" when I was young, and wanted to read it again. It appears quite a ways into this book. Luckily all the stories preceding it were really good as was the story I wanted to read. After that, I seemed to have lost interest. Maybe it was because I was just waiting for that one story, and everything else was anticlimactic. I'm not sure.

There was a lot of thought placed in these stories, some of them the author took great pains to make scientifically accurate. I appreciated that.

I'd probably read this book again, but not for a long while.

[Cameran Haire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excited to read more of Arthur ,Clarke's short stories. He mentions these are his favorites. My attention span is waning in my old age and I have come to like a short tight missive by any author. While I read this to satisfy one prompt for my reading I have a long plane ride and will see if I can knock out two or three more short stories i the trip there and back. I like this kind of science fiction.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've usually found Clarke's works to be quite progressive in terms of societal and moral circumstances, yet most of these short stories are quite male-centric and very narrow on the diversity front. One would generally assume that the future that held space exploration would have at the very beginning of this quest, have at least managed to bridge the gaps between the cultures on Earth, thus making more of a unified front against the unknown, wonders or dangers of space exploration.

[Michael K. Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Many of these stories are cute, and the shadow of atomic weapons hangs over a lot of them. A few, though, are really great, including the titular tale and “What Goes Up”, which was assigned to me as a first year physics student.

Mostly, these are a nice diversion, and it’s impossible not to admire the mind that could have concocted such a wide array of fun sci-fi adventures.

[Kimberlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read: all of Clarke's short stories over the course of his career (sometimes brtilliant, sometimes, not so much....). By reading the whole series one after another, the change and growth of his inimitable style through the decades can be truly appreciated.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of older stories. I liked the ones centered on the first three ships landing on the moon. The British ship staying longer to keep from paying taxes on the work done there, so relatable!

[Gino DiClemente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable short stories.. maybe more enjoyable than some of his novels.

[Haroon Siddiqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, fascinating illustration of Science meeting Faith. Arthur C. Clarke displays his out-of-this-world imagination as usual.

[Vivekanand Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of stories

[Lucía · Rating 3 out of 5]

A must read

[Scott Delgado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good stuff here. If you are wanting to read some classic 1950's sci-fi but not wanting to commit to a full a book and prefer short stories, this is a nice collection.

[Norah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are outdated, but still worth a read.

[Brenda (aka Grandma) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites:

Superiority 1951- "was inserted into the engineering curriculum at MIT"*

The Nine Billion Names of God 1953- "triggered a charming response from the highest possible authority - His holiness the Dalai Lama"*

Armaments Race 1954- fun story featuring Hollywood special effects, HUAC, and potential destruction of humanity

Refugee 1955- meet His Royal Highness

Venture to the Moon 1956- Mad Men in space (Mad Men was a TV show with 1960's ad men)

The Star 1955- "I never imagined that one day I would be lecturing in the Vatican."*

There's also a flesh eating plant, a telepathic species, an end of the world story, and so on. I was surprised by the variety, the humor, and the fact that I enjoyed the narration for every story in the audiobook.

*quote from story intro

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nine Billion Names of God. A short story that stays in your thoughts. One of those books that when you read the last page you can't help but close the book set back and just go wow. I remember it as though I read it yesterday.

[Ketan Shah]

Some vintagfe SF with some delightful surprises.THe Star,and the Nine Billion Names of God are the most well known stories here,but there are some other gems to be found.No Morning After has a bit of a Philip K Dick feel to it. Superiority reminds me of Asimov. Worth reading.

[Todd Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Nine Billion Names of God & Other Stories is a mixed bag with tales ranging from the dreadful (Second Dawn) to the excellent (such as the eponymous tale). One thing that stood out was the humor of the stories (something I don’t necessarily associate with Clarke).

[Saman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rate most of the shorts collected here as 4 stars. But, to "Second Dawn" and "Jupiter Five" I would give 5 stars!

[Olof · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very fun. Most of the White Heart-stories were too similar. The Big Ideas from the first volume are mostly missing.

[Oraly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a short story book fan, it takes me a long time to get through them because there isn't a continuous narrative to keep me engaged. Nevertheless I still enjoyed these short stories very much!