Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
List Price:
Our Price: $2.84
You Save: $4.15 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Arthur C. ClarkeEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Published: 1987-05-12
ISBN: 0345347951
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of Childhood's End
Book Review: A feel-good doomsday scenario
Summary: 4 Stars
I have read many of the latter works by Clarke, and I find them imaginative, intelligent and thought-provoking. So when I turned my attention to some of his early works, Childhood's End came very highly recommended, and I'm glad to say it lives up to almost all its high praise.
Though presented as a novel, this could easily be three short stories, dealing with three different subjects: contact, utopia and apocalypse. In fact, the book is divided into three parts, which are bound together by a century of life on Earth following humanity's first contact with an alien race called the Overlords. The first two parts are vintage Clarke: a chilling and suspenseful depiction of first encounter laced with clues that will keep any reader guessing at just what might come next and who are these "benevolent" Overlords. The second part describes a utopia that for all intents and purposes has humanity feeling content with itself. As with all utopias in science fiction, we know what to expect next... and do we ever get it.
[Spoilers]
However it is here that the story takes a strange and anti-climatic twist. In short, all that was obtained by the grace of the Overlords, all of mankind's population, and even the Earth itself is entirely eradicated simply to fuel the next evolutionary step for humanity. On one end Clarke, stresses the fact that humans are quite insignificant and not "meant of the stars" and yet just a few pages later mankind's offspring can gobble up their home planet while undergoing their ascendance to the next plane of existence. Not only has this evolutionary step no biological basis, but it is heavily steeped with religious and paranormal implication, the first of which were summarily denied in the first part of the book by the Overlords. Despite all the hints and clues that Clarke purposefully scatters throughout the book about the Overlords, their appearance, and their true intentions, in the end it is humans themselves who inevitably destroy everything; not because of misguided intentions or horrendous mistakes, but simply to fulfill their destiny. The author heavily emphasizes that this is a good way to go, but I find many logical pitfalls in this conclusion. Besides the ones listed above, another glaring one is the destruction of the Earth and all its life, which could have produced other species that eventually become capable of reaching this much-desired enlightenment that humans attained. Clarke gets most of these problems sorted out by his later works, but Childhood's End, while being very imaginative is very raw and heavily influenced by the general outlook and political mind-set of its decade.
A classic worthy of reading? Certainly.
But a masterpiece?...not quite.
Summary of Childhood's End
Without warning, giant silver ships from deep space appear in the skies above every major city on Earth. Manned by the Overlords, in fifty years, they eliminate ignorance, disease, and poverty. Then this golden age ends--and then the age of Mankind begins....Clarke, Arthur C. Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in My favorite Classic Science Fiction
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fishby Douglas Adams
Del Rey; Published: 1999-03-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Trilogy)by Douglas Adams
Del Rey; Published: 1995-09-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
The Restaurant at the End of the Universeby Douglas Adams
Del Rey; Published: 1997-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.41
Price in other shops:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyby Douglas Adams
Del Rey; Published: 1995-09-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
The Silver Metal Loverby Tanith Lee
Spectra; Published: 1999-05-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.67
Price in other shops:
A Case of Conscience (Del Rey Impact)by James Blish
Del Rey; Published: 2000-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.19
Price in other shops:
Midsummer CenturyDoubleday; Published: 1972; Hardcover; Book
Nightfall and Other Stories (Crest Science Fiction, P1969)by Isaac Asimov
Fawcett Publications, Inc.; Published: 1972; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Nine Tomorrows (Tales of the Near Future)by Isaac Asimov
Fawcett Crest; Published: 1970; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $125.00
I, Robot (The Isaac Asimov Collection)by Isaac Asimov
Doubleday; Published: 1988; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
Rama II: The Sequel to Rendezvous with Ramaby Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee
Spectra; Published: 1990-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
The Left Hand of Darknessby Ursula K. Le Guin
Ace Trade; Published: 2000-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarkeby Arthur C. Clarke
Orb Books; Published: 2002-01-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.58
Price in other shops:
The Stars My Destinationby Alfred Bester
Vintage; Published: 1996-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.68
Price in other shops:
Foundation (Foundation Novels)by Isaac Asimov
Spectra; Published: 1991-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.94
Price in other shops:
2001 A Space Odysseyby Arthur C. Clarke
Published: 2000-09-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $62.30
A Canticle for Leibowitzby Walter M. Miller Jr.
Eos; Published: 2006-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Stranger in a Strange Landby Robert A. Heinlein
Ace Trade; Published: 1991-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops:
Songs of Distant Earthby Arthur C. Clarke
Del Rey; Published: 1987-04-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Rendezvous with Ramaby Arthur C. Clarke
Spectra; Published: 1990-12-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops: