Expedition to Earth [Paperback]

Arthur C. Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1998

ELEVEN MASTERFUL SCIENCE FICTION TALES OF WONDER IN THIS WORLD AND BEYOND

HIDE AND SEEK
"K.15 was a military intelligence operative. It gave him a considerable pain when unimaginative people called him a spy. But at the moment he had much more serious grounds for complaint . . ."

SUPERIORITY
"When the war opened we had no doubt of our ultimate victory. The combined fleets of our allies greatly exceeded in number and armament those which the enemy could muster against us. We were sure we could maintain this superiority. Our belief proved, alas, to be only too well founded . . ."

EXPEDITION TO EARTH
"It was in the last days of the Empire. The tiny ship was far from home, and almost a hundred light-years from the great parent vessel searching through the loosely packed stars at the rim of the Milky Way. But even here it could not escape from the shadow that lay across civilization . . ."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are many ways to recapture the sheer fun that science fiction was back when it wasn't even a bit respectable and the idea that Arthur C. Clarke would one day be Sir Arthur was more or less inconceivable. One of the best ways is to go back to a classic short story collection like this, with its bitterly ironic title story of archaeology and its misunderstandings--the classic "Breaking Strain" in which two spacemen struggle over supplies that will do for one--and "The Sentinel," the story that acted as the seed for the late Stanley Kubrick's collaboration with Clarke, 2001.

Clarke always had a more delicate and poetic side, and this collection includes one of his finest stories along this vein, "Second Dawn," in which telepathically gifted aliens without hands deal with the moral dilemmas of science. Many of the stories address a Space Age that never was--Clarke was assuming that things would happen later than they did, but that more would follow quicker; this in itself gives the book charm as an add-on to its considerable conceptual wit. Few short story collections are SF classics, but this is a major exception. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

From the Inside Flap

ELEVEN MASTERFUL SCIENCE FICTION TALES OF WONDER IN THIS WORLD AND BEYOND

HIDE AND SEEK
"K.15 was a military intelligence operative. It gave him a considerable pain when unimaginative people called him a spy. But at the moment he had much more serious grounds for complaint . . ."

SUPERIORITY
"When the war opened we had no doubt of our ultimate victory. The combined fleets of our allies greatly exceeded in number and armament those which the enemy could muster against us. We were sure we could maintain this superiority. Our belief proved, alas, to be only too well founded . . ."

EXPEDITION TO EARTH
"It was in the last days of the Empire. The tiny ship was far from home, and almost a hundred light-years from the great parent vessel searching through the loosely packed stars at the rim of the Milky Way. But even here it could not escape from the shadow that lay across civilization . . ."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st Ballentine Books trade ed edition (October 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345430735
• ISBN-13: 978-0345430731
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,298,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection of Short Stories, July 6, 2000

By 

William M. Rand (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Expedition to Earth (Paperback)

There are 11 short stories in this collection and all of them are truly exceptional but 3 really stand out. The first of course is "Sentinel" which is the basis for the movie and eventually the book, "2001" "Breaking Strain" is a great book discussing the moral implications of two men trapped alone in a space ship when it is quite obvious that if there was only one of them they could survive. With interesting commentary on how people live under pressure and what actions they take, this is an exceptional piece of work. But my favorite is probably "Second Dawn" this story discusses what happens to a group of aliens without hands but with enormous mental powers when they encounter a group of aliens with hands. The interaction of the civilizations and cultures is well described, and though I think Clarke may be taking too friendly an approach to such a meeting it would be nice if all civilizational clashes resolved this way. Overall this book shows that once again Clarke has proven himself a master of the science fiction genre. Though it should be warned that Clarke's writing style is very "hard" in other words he definitely emphasizes technological capability over character development. That being said I think this collections contains some of his best character sketches yet.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good Clarke book!, September 6, 2001

By 

randy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Expedition to Earth (Paperback)

This collection of 11 short stories gather Clarke's best talents in story telling and originality, accompanied by a unrivaled poetry.
Most of the stories are very character oriented (which I particularly like) while science plays a very secondary role.

They are definitely dated though and you have to keep that in mind while reading them. It's obvious that many of these stories were sparked by the dropping of the atomic bomb and its ensuing consequences. Clarke explores the problems and consequences of a discovery that could mean the end of civilization, also showing sapient life's arrogance against nature.

A very enjoyable book, which includes The Sentinel (that's the basis of 2001 Space Odyssey).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Several Great Stories, January 2, 2001

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Expedition to Earth (Paperback)

This book shows why Arthur C. Clarke is a great writer. As the quotation on the front of the book so aptly puts it "In his fiction he thinks at once like a poet and like an engineer-and writes, at his best, like an angel". Indeed. Of the stories in this collection, several stand out. Superiority was issued as required reading at MIT's Engineering courses after publication. "If I Forget Thee On Earth..." is a nice short piece that is in Freshman Literature books. The Sentinel, was, of course, the "inspiration" for 2001. Second Dawn and Exile of the Eons are two other good stories in here. But my personal favorite from this collection is History Lesson, a seemingly very serious story with a last sentence that will have you howling with laughter. Typical Clarke wit. This is a nice book for the ACC fan.