The City and the Stars

Book cover of The City and the Stars

Book description

Clarke's masterful evocation of the far future of humanity, considered his finest novel

Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it held powers that rule the stars.

But…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The City and the Stars as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Keith Wiley

Author

This book feels different from the other four. It predates the others by several decades and wears its unique era in Clarke’s voice from a previous generation.

The most astounding thing about Clarke’s depiction of the future is how prescient he was, writing in the 1950s: a city-wide supercomputer that runs all of society, a population whose minds are stored in the computer’s data banks with a subpopulation rendered physical at any time in the form of uploaded people who live different lives over and over again.

How did Clarke envision these concepts becoming commonplace four decades later in the…

From Keith's list on mind uploading.

Michelle Evans

Author

Those who know me, understand that Arthur C. Clarke has been my favorite author for as long as I can remember, and they would probably be surprised at my pick of this novel over his most well-known book 2001: A Space Odyssey or even Childhood’s End. Let me put it this way, I’ll recommend anything written by Clarke, but this book stands out for me because of its profound look at the far future of humanity, which has fallen nearly to the point of extinction. It is a work that serves as a warning to us all, but also…

From Michelle's list on to contemplate our place in the universe.

Spoliation

By Ian J. Miller,

Book cover of Spoliation

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What is my book about?

To hide a corporation’s failure to properly service a space ship, Captain Jonas Stryker is prosecuted but saved from imprisonment by a dying man, who hires Stryker to collect asteroids for their mineral content. Stryker soon finds he must stop a shadowy corporate group called The Board, who employ space piracy, terrorism, and even weaponised asteroids to overthrow the Federation government.

Set in Lagrange points, space stations, the Moon and outback Australia, it is a fast-moving story with some speculative future technology. If you were interested in the NASA attempt to alter the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos, you might…

Spoliation

By Ian J. Miller,

What is this book about?

When a trial to cover-up a corporate failure ends Captain Jonas Stryker's career, he wants revenge against The Board, a ruthless, shadowy organization with limitless funds that employs space piracy, terrorism, and even weaponised asteroids. Posing as a space miner, Stryker learns that The Board wants him killed, while a young female SCIB police agent wants retribution against him for having her career spoiled at his trial. As Stryker avoids attempts to kill him, he becomes the only chance to prevent The Board from overturning the Federation Government and imposing a Fascist-style rule.
A story of greed, corruption and honour,…

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