The City and the Stars [Import] [Paperback]

Arthur C. Clarke (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575038497
• ISBN-13: 978-0575038493
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)

More About the Author

"SIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE (1917-2008) wrote the novel and co-authored the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey. He has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and he is the only science-fiction writer to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. His fiction and nonfiction have sold more than one hundred million copies in print worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Twilight Years, May 17, 2002

By 

Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Grand ideas of great scope were the hallmark of 'The Golden Age of Science Fiction' and this book certainly fits that mold. Set in the very far future, so far that many main sequence stars have started to die, this is a story of two very different paths that two different groups of humans have taken to the puzzle of existence and life. In the city of Diasper, we have a totally enclosed and static society, where people live for a thousand years, then store their memories for some later computer controlled reincarnation, where anything outside the city is not only totally ignored, its very existence is practically denied. At the other extreme is Lys, where man is just one part of the world of living, growing things, where bio-engineering has been raised to such an art it is buried in the background, and humans have developed telepathic talents. These are the last two areas of civilization on an Earth that has otherwise become a desert, where even the oceans have totally dried up.

Against this background we find Alvin, the first truly new citizen in Diasper in seven thousand years, born without any memories of prior existences, to whom, without any preset thought biases, all things are open to question. When he starts to question the origin of Diasper and ask what exists outside the city, he is met with rebuff and ostracism. Persisting in his questions, he eventually finds a way to leave Diasper and travel to Lys. The things he learns there and the additional questions provoked by this knowledge eventually lead to things far beyond the Earth and a complete revision of 'known' history, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance.

While Alvin and the other characters are reasonably portrayed, this is not the strong suit of this book, nor will you find a great amount of 'hard' science gadgets and plot devices. This is rather a book that will make you think about the long term purpose of man and his place in the universe. There is a painted picture here of just what the ultimate end point is of pure technological development and the stifling effects such an environment has on people, strongly contrasted with an alternative development line focusing on human mental capabilities and its negatives. Both thematic sides are held up beneath the strong lights of hope, pride, and ambition.

There is a feeling of near poetry, a total 'sense of wonder', that pervades this book, a feeling that will captivate and invigorate the reader, that will take him far outside the everyday concerns of today. In certain areas, the great weight of not just millennia, but billions of years of history will press upon you, where the discovery of ages old items will be as much of an adventure as watching our first manned lunar mission.

This book was a near total rewrite of "Against the Fall of Night". While the basic scenario is the same between the two books, the endings are dramatically different, and actually present a different outlook on man's purpose and his part in the grander scheme of things. I have never been able to decide which of the two versions is better - but that just means you should read both, as they are both fully deserving of your time and attention.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarke's masterpiece. An incredible work of imagination., November 3, 2002

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The City & the Stars (Hardcover)

This is the story of the human race as it exists about a billion years in the future. A more ambitious premise for a novel is almost impossible to imagine, but Clarke pulls it off brilliantly. This is an incredibly imaginative work, and before it is over it offers a sweeping vision of human destiny. And all the while it does so by telling a good story too! This is a novel, not a work of philosphy.

This is the story of Alvin, the first child to be born in over a million years in the great city of Diaspar, man's greatest and last city. But Alvin is different than his peers, because he alone in all of Diaspar is not pathologically afraid of the notion of leaving Diaspar, or of venturing into outer space. And thus Alvin's explorations, and the novel's story, begin. A great yarn with a startling and inspiring ending.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps my favorite SF novel, September 23, 2000

By 

J. Gitzlaff (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The City & the Stars (Hardcover)

Many years ago when I was quite young (11 or 12 perhaps) I first read this novel's sister book, Against The Fall Of Night, on the recommendation of my mother. I loved it and soon moved on to The City And The Stars, which I enjoyed even more. Over the ensuing twenty years I have re-read it several times, and cannot think of any SF book that I have consistently enjoyed more.

This is not "gadget SF", where the plot turns on clever use of some little-known technical gizmo. Nor is it "hard SF" that delves deeply into the domain of hard chemistry or physics to drive the story. Instead, this is a "big picture" novel.

A million years pass. A billion years. What happens to the human race? What social impacts might occur after every question we know how to ask has been answered? How might people live when advanced science begins to resemble our conception of magic? This is speculative fiction at its finest, and my favorite Clarke novel.