Childhood's End (Clarke)

Looking forward to reading 2001 again with the GWC this month. On a recent plane trip, I picked up another title by Clarke from the airport bookstore – Childhood’s End. This would make a good selection for the GWC, I think. It is well-written (especially the final third of the book), and there is lots of thematic overlap with BSG about the fate of humanity and whether humanity is ready for it or not.

Interestingly, the publishers printed a blurb from C.S. Lewis (of all people – although don’t forget he wrote some science fiction, too) on the back, praising Clarke not only for the skill of the book but also for its recognition that (I’m paraphrasing here) there are things more important to humanity than “survival.”

Of course, one of BSG’s central question – I still contend, the central question – is the one posed by Adama: “Does humanity deserve to survive?” Although I sitll think (and hope) the series’ answer will be “yes,” Clarke’s book raises the possibility that it’s okay if the answer is “no,” because different and possibly greater things may be in store. Of course, the ethics of “deserving to survive” do not factor in for Clarke: it is simply a Darwinian (maybe?) view of the cosmos – some races can hack it, others can’t. But the contrast between the Overlords and the human race is an effective one, and not all to humanity’s deteriment, either.

So worth checking out!

Wonderful read, as you said, very similar themes to both BSG and 2001. what especially intrigues me about both books is the notion that humanity has the potential (and fate?) of becoming something greater than itself. also the physical appearance of the Overlords (I won’t say for those who haven’t read) and the implications of that are excellently fleshed out by Clarke.

This is a great book! It’s actually very very rare that read a book that not part of some series with countinuing characters. I read Childhood’s End because it was one of the assigned books in a really cool class about Science Fiction I took in college (this was at Northeastern University in the mid 80s) . All we did is read sci fi books and watch sci fi movies.

Yeah, this would be a great book for the club. It’s the only Arthur C. Clarke book I’ve read (bad me! must get 2001 from the library…), but it blew my mind. Strangely enough, I, too, had to read it for a class, but mine was an awesome religious studies course. I’d be very interested to see what fellow GWCers thought of it all.

yea, i think if you liked this book you’ll really like the 2001 series.