Funk Babblings

I first heard of Arthur C. Clarke as the author of the books on which the movies 2001 and 2010 were based (and yes, heretic that I am, I still enjoy the second one much more than the first). But his novel Rendezvous With Rama was my earliest introduction to "real" science fiction writing (unless you count Daniel Pinkwater's Fat Men From Space).

Starting from Rama, I read as much of Clarke's writing as I could get my hands on. I soon realized that the structures were somewhat formulaic, but the ideas were always fascinating. I even read all the later Rama sequels co-written (and later taken over completely) by Gentry Lee, with interest (ooh, detailed character development!) but gradually increasing disappointment. I especially noticed the later works to lack the optimistic sense of discovery that I'd enjoyed in Clarke's earlier novels.

I think of myself as someone who grew up reading science fiction, but really I grew up reading lots of Clarke, Carl Sagan's lone novel (Contact, which was quite influential on me), and Douglas Adams. In high school I started tracking down Adams' influences (such as Robert Sheckley and Kurt Vonnegut) and reading their books. But Clarke was always the dominant sci-fi writer for me, partly because he was so prolific, and partly because his books were so full of out-of-this-world ideas that ended up so influential.

Clarke lived in Sri Lanka for the past half-century, and in recent years every time I heard about the political unrest there I would immediately think of him. Of course, I also think of him whenever geostationary satellites and space elevators are mentioned.