Rama Series

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>>8463106
Stop after Rendezvous, the whole point is that you don't get told what Rama actually is. The mysterious aspect is why the book is good.

I've only read the first. Loved it.

I think the alien nature of the craft is overstated in the reviews I've read. What makes it so... unnerving or mystical, is that it's so nearly human.

That aspect isn't talked about enough.

>>8463106
>first true contact with aliens
>this might be the most important oment in the history of man kind
>lets send a bunch of criminals lol
i was never more pissed at a book than when reading about how the prisioners shit the bed and ruin everything for everyone else on the ship when things were going so well until the moment they showed up

>>8463106
I loved Rendezvous. I attempted Rama II, but it's terrible soap-opera garbage and I couldn't finish it.

Despite the cowriter credit for both Clarke and Gentry Lee on the sequels, I suspect they're mostly by Lee, with Clarke maybe providing some ideas at most.

Yeah just finished last week the first. Loved it. But agree with others that the mystery was the best part didn't want gentry Lee telling me all about it. Great author Clark, 2001 the book was good also. Anyone else know his other rama tier works?

Damn, guess I'll have to find something else to read. Shame to see such a cool book ruined by a 'co-author' with a drama trilogy.

>>8463106
Read Rendezvous with Rama and decided afterwards to never read another book by Clarke.

>>8464331
Not even 2001?

>>8463106
The rest of them are shit. Poorly written and all. I gave up on the second by the fiftieth page, went to wiki to see if I missed anything plot related, and felt good about my decision for whole day.

>>8463526
What the fuck are you talking about anon? That never happens.

>>8463526
>>8464411

It does not, but now I've a sudden desire to read first contact scify where bunch of criminals take a shit on a bed.

>>8464441
Actually, the idea of an Interstellar-like mission but with a Suicide Squad-like cast of characters seems pretty interesting, if it were done right (aka: originally).

Ooooooooooooooh shit that last line, that's some good shit.... Shame about the rest of the books. Also a huge shame that it's a quadrilogy, kinda ruins things.

>>8464009
Childhoods end is often considered one of his better works. I really enjoyed city in the stars tho.

Should I read 2001 and its 6 million sequels?

>>8465708
2001 is definitely worth reading. Don't know about the sequels.

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>>8464331

I share this anon's opinion.

His astronaut characters are so whitewashed and stiff that even NASA's PR department would be ashamed. Imagine if Neil Armstrong became Space Talos and then you cloned Space Talos and filled your socialist utopia with them. Yep, that's Clarke's vision of the future.

Also, Clarke was a pedophile. I don't understand why he gets a pass for this let alone why a mediocre writer and conceptualist was included in the arbitrary Big Three of scifi. I guess they were hard up for beta boy-fornicating writers back then.

>>8466470
Space Talos? Also if they're so white washed do you think that's why Gentry Lee or whatever made racism a point of focus in the sequels?

Clarke's always a slog. I can tolerate him in shorter doses (Childhood's End, short stories, The Road to the Sea) but he's like Margaret Atwood: he doesn't give a shit if anything exciting or interesting is happening or not, as long as he eventually gets where he's headed.

>>8469345
I personally don't mind that, something about dry and dull sci-fi gets me.

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>Some women, Commander Norton had decided long ago, should not be allowed aboard ship; weightlessness did things to their breasts that were too damn distracting. It was bad enough when they were motionless; but when they started to move, and sympathetic vibrations set in, it was more than any warm-blooded male should be asked to take. He was quite sure that at least one serious space accident had been caused by acute crew distraction, after the transit of a well-upholstered lady officer through the control cabin.

What did he mean by this?

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>>8466470
>are so whitewashed

hello plebbit

>>8466470

Oscar Wilde literally fucked boys and yet he's worshiped by legions of middle class readers with "correct" views on sex and consent.

See also: Burroughs. Burroughs isn't quite as sainted, people take issue with the fact that he shot and killed his wife, yet all the Moroccan bumboy episodes slip under the radar. . .really makes you think.

>>8463316
THIS, I can't imagine reading the trilogy

>>8467945
>>8469640

>whitewashed

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/whitewash

>Deliberately attempt to conceal unpleasant facts about (a person or organization)

I suspect you are using some SJW Newspeak usage of the word. I used it to mean that Clarke's characterizations of his elite socialist explorers remove realistic human quirks in order to aggrandize them as ideals.

>>8469640
Bloody Edinburgh. Disgusting.

>>8469448
Jiggly space boobs make me so horny that we can't allow big boobs on ship anymore because it'll distract the crew and endanger all aboard