The Fountains of Paradise Hardcover – 1979

“Because politics is the science of the possible, it only appeals to second-rate minds. The first raters only interested in the impossible”

In “The Fountains of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke





Believer: “Clearly the reason spacefaring never came to pass was the sheer cost and risk of escaping earth’s gravity well. Plough resources into establishing a counterweighted space elevator at L1 and/or L2 and suddenly we're cooking - transit into orbit is virtually free and amongst the safest travel imaginable. Establish this, everything else will follow fairly easily. The cable material - probably carbon nanotubes, with a theoretical tensile strength of up to 300GPa, more than twice that required - now exists, what we have now is difficult but not insurmountable manufacturing problem, on which many are already working (for the myriad other uses of the same material). Space commuting in my lifetime - so close I can smell it ...”

Physics enthusiast: “The Earth-Sun L1 and L2 are outside the Moons orbit and they don't rotate with Earths spin. The Moon would chop your cable. The Earth-Moon L2 is also outside the Moons orbit. The L1 is inside but obviously orbits the Earth at the same speed as the Moon (~28 days) whereas your cable, being attached to the ground has to orbit once per day. Your cable would end up wrapped around the equator east to west. You should put an asteroid into geosync orbit and use that as your counterweight, eventually letting it get a bit higher than geosync orbit so the centripetal force keeps the cable taut.”

Humanist enthusiast: “I know jack shit about cities in space, but seriously - I better get some recommends for knowing that the Rick Guidice illustration was used on 12" singles for Regal Records back in the 1990's...”

Speculative Fiction enthusiast: “Yes, we've ALL read “Fountains of Paradise”! Ringworld here we come!” ( )

Where I've recently read one or two Hugo-winning novels recently that I may or may not have exactly wished were winners, I have no qualms in announcing that this 1980 winner is a real winner.

It's a true pleasure to read on several levels. While the official "story" sometimes feels a bit tacked on and ethereal, the themes and the characters and the science is all top-shelf goodness.

The themes and feels are well known for fans of A. C. Clarke. He has a serious devotion to space elevators, the reduction in superstition and religion, a truly hopeful outlook on life, and a serious devotion to space elevators.

The characters here are especially awesome. Ram is the eternal can-do man, the scientist-engineer hero that battles technical issues, economists, politicians, pop scientists, and sheer bad luck. Sometimes this hero arc is an old cliche in SF, but here, I felt none of it. He was a real joy to follow. Even better was place and history AS character, with ancient mountain palaces, kings, and the weight of time and even the help of religion, leading to the final foundation of this admittedly awesome space elevator. We were able to revel gloriously in setting and history as the novel built up to the crescendo within "The Stairway To Heaven". This is theme and novel structure firmly in control of a master storyteller, and I am giddy even now just thinking about it. :)

But never fear, if you're worried that nothing much happens, because the novel is full of ideas and conflict of an intellectual and engineering perspective. A robot probe sent from an alien race comes and tells us that we're idiots, which should come as no surprise to anyone reading this review, but more importantly, it serves as a very smart impetus for us to get off our asses and solve our problems before we get the "real" introduction to the galactic races. Yay! If only I could wish for such a fortunate event for us!

The novel ends on some pretty cool action, in case you adrenaline junkies were wondering, but this novel is not really one of those novels. It's a smart and gorgeous growth and maturation of a grand Space Elevator and everything that it means for us. As a goal, there are few realistic short-term goals as beautiful or useful.

I loved it, and saw in retrospect that this novel is one of the primary conversations in hard science SF through the years. Kim Stanley Robinson continues and responds to this novel directly in his Mars trilogy. Stephen Baxter gives great nods to it. It's still a dream for us all. Me too.

We really shouldn't forget one of Asimov's old axims... don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Let's get out there, people! ( )

Probably the most unbelievable science fiction novel ever written, mostly because there's this certain object within it that defies all logic and defies all reason. On the other hand this science fiction work belongs to Arthur C. Clarke, a man behind Randezvous with Rama and Space Odyssey series that have enriched the lives of those who've read them, so you can already see and you can already tell that this one is also very good and that this one is also a science fiction masterpiece waiting for any science fiction buff to have his or her way with it, and devour it in a single sitting, or during a very long space elevator ride. ( )

This book is less about building a space tower, and more about the the hurdles needed to be jumped when building a space tower.

There's some interesting characters in this, and while there's no great "character building" moments, I never felt that they were cardboard cutouts. Saying that, anyone who reads books for the characters is probably going to be disappointed.

The plot was simple but had lots of entertaining elements, with the random "history" of the island coming back to relevance in interesting ways. Although, I can't be the only one who knew exactly what was going to happen as soon as the legend of the butterflies was brought up, and the weather monk then decided to wander off. It's not like Clarke to be predictable, but it did make for an amazing part of the book, so the obvious foreshadowing can be forgiven.

I think of all of Clarke's books I've read, this is the one where his love of science most shines through, and it's got me interested enough to start googling about the realistic future of space lifts. ( )

Sti Lanka, ca år 2100
Indeholder "I. Paladset", " Kalidasa", " Ingeniøren", " Fontænerne", " Djævleklippen", " Set gennem teleskopet", " Kunstneren", " Gudekongens palads", " Malgara", " Tynde tråde", " Broen over alle broer", " Den tavse prinsesse", "II. Templet", " Stjerneskibet", " Skyggen ved daggry", " Stjerneskibets belæring", " Bodhidharma", " Samtale med Stjerneskibet", " Parakarma", " De gyldne sommerfugle", " Ved Saladin-søens bredder", " Broen, der dansede", " Kendelsen", "III. Klokken", " Apostat", " Manden i Månen", " Guds finger", " Kredsløbsroulette", " Natten før Vesak", " Rumstation Ashoka", " Den første prøve", " Det sidste stykke", " Kongens legioner", " Exodus", "IV. Tårnet", " Rumekspressen", " CORA", " Svimmelhed", " Stjerneskibet plus firs", " Den nådesløse himmel", " Diamanten på en milliard tons", "V. Himmelfart", " Området med de tavse storme", " Den kvæstede sol", " Endestation", " Meteor", " Død i kredsløb om Jorden", " Sikkerhed fremfor alt", " En hule i himmelrummet", " Den rette mand", " Edderkoppen", " Hinsides nordlyset", " Nat i villaen", " Køretur med rystelser", " En strøm af ildfluer", " Manden på gesimsen", " Medpassageren", " Udbrændt", " Relativitetsteorien", " Sammenkobling", " Udsigten fra balkonen", " Det sidste daggry", " Epilog: Kalidasas triumf", "Efterskrift og kildeangivelser".

Clarke har lavet lidt om på Sri Lanke og kalder øen for Taprobane. Johan Oliver de Alwis Sri Rajasinghe, kaldet Raja eller Johan, har trukket sig tilbage som leder af verdensregeringen og bor nu i al ubemærkethed på tiende år på Taprobane. Han opsøges af Vannevar Morgan, som er chefingeniør og har stået for konstruktionen af broernes bro, der rækker over Gibraltarstrædet.

??? ( )