The Nine Billion Names of God [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Arthur C. Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1974

Over the last thirty years I have written about a hundred short stories, in such varied locales as wartime RAF camps, islands on the Great Barrier Reef, New York hotels, Miami apartments, London suburbs, transatlantic liners, and Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. They have appeared in magazines ranging from Astounding Stories to Vogue, from Galaxy to Playboy, and since 1953 have been published in the five collections: Expedition to Earth, Reach for Tomorrow, Tales from the "White Hart," The Other Side of the Sky, and Tales of Ten Worlds. In addition, these stories have appeared in various combinations with six novels in the anthologies Across the Sea of Stars, From the Ocean, From the Stars, and Prelude to Mars. This is all very satisfying, but for some time I have felt the need for a single volume containing the stories which I like best.

Every author must have his favorite stories, though he would often be hard put to give reasons for his preferences. Sometimes these may be completely illogical - or at least unliterary. A story written at a time and place associated with pleasant memories may be more highly rated, in retrospect, than a much better tale provoked by unhappiness or penury - the to greatest sponsors or art.

Whether this selection is free from such bias, I have no idea; whatever the reasons may be, these are my favorites.

- Arthur C. Clarke, New York, August 1966

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: NAL/Signet; 1ST edition (June 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451075897
• ISBN-13: 978-0451075895
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More gems than the average collection; solid, wholesome., August 17, 2009

By 

M-I-K-E 2theD "2theD" (The Big Mango, Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nine Billion Names of God (Paperback)

Nine Billion Names of God (1952) - 4/5: Nepalese monks hire an IBM computer to print all possible nine letter words in a special language which could be the name of their god. 7 pages

I Remember Babylon (1959) - 3/5: Non-fictional story from Clarke about his conversation with a telecommunications traitor to the USSR and their plans for the unrestricted American airwaves. 11 pages

Trouble with Time (1959) - 3/5: Upon reaching your Mars destination, please reset your watch to the local Martian Standard Time. 6 pages

Rescue Party (1945) - 5/5: Menagerie of aliens on a solar system exploration ship stumbles upon a sun about to go nova- Earth's sun. They whisk away to Earth to rescue anyone they can, only to realize that no one is there except the intact structures and subway system. Being that the humans have only had radio for 200 years, where could those humans have gone? 25 pages

The Curse (1946) - 3/5: Narrator in post-nuclear Europe describes the scene in a quaint town where a tombstone lays facing an approaching river. Who is buried there? 3 pages

Summertime on Icarus (1960) - 3/5: `Advice at the front of the Spaceman's Manual- "When you don't know what to do, do nothing."' 11 pages

Dog Star (1961) - 3/5: Man's best-friend remains faithful beyond death in the memory of a scientist in a moon base. 6 pages

Hide and Seek (1948) - 3/5: Hunter recalls tale of a spy in pursuit towards Mars and the spy's clever survival on the moon on Phobos. 11 pages

Out of the Sun (1957) - 4/5: Solar observation center on Mercury views a solar energy phenomenon. 7 pages

Wall of Darkness (1946) - 5/5: Be sure to approach the dark unknown with enough tools, instruments and money to throw at the problem. Can the village philosophers untangle the mystery and tape the pieces together? 18 pages

No Morning After (1953) - 4/5: A drunk receives dire message from the stars. Does he shrug it off and hit the bottle or does he warn the populous? Ask yourself which would make a better story. 6 pages

The Possessed (1951) - 3/5: A Swarm of alien energy-like intelligences falls to Earth after escaping their stars destruction. One part of the Swarm begins to evolve a lizard while the rest sweep across the sea of stars to find a suitable intelligent host. What will become to the lizard's evolution and the rest of the Swarm's quest? 5 pages

Death and the Senator (1960) - 3/5: Senator confronts his eventual death in a myriad of ways, comes to peace with it but is interrupted by a doctor who says he may be able to be saved. 20 pages

Who's There (1958) - 3/5: Why cats make bad pets on earth or in space. 5 pages

Before Eden (1960) - 4/5: Alien life on polar Venus proves to be resourceful. 11 pages

Superiority (1948) - 4/5: War-torn aliens find themselves eager for new weapons, which they develop and try to implement, only to be defeated little by little by the persistent human force. 11 pages

A Walk in the Dark (1945) - 4/5: A man confronts his imagination during a 4-mile walk in the pitch dark on a galaxy-edged planet, when he remembers a haunting tale of chitinous sounds beyond the arc of a flashlight... too bad he doesn't have a flashlight. 10 pages

Call of the Stars (1957) - 3/5: Man seeks space-borne self-determination against the advice of his father. 4 pages

Reluctant Orchid (1954) - 5/5: Wimpy Hercules becomes the owner of a carnivorous orchid but is persistently visited by his masculine aunt and her behemoth dogs. Shall we attempt to put one and tone together? 9 pages

Encounter at Dawn (1950) - 2/5: Galactic Survey discovers another human-like species on a distant planet. How to befriend a simpleton, gain his trust and leave him in your dust. 11 pages

"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." (1950) - 3/5: Child reflects on humanity's post-apocalyptic planet with hopes of a brighter tomorrow. 5 pages

Patent Pending (1953) - 2/5: Bar tale of a French invention which can record emotions. Lesson- Don't drink the drug you deal. 10 pages

The Sentinel (1948) - 4/5: Lunar geologists spot a reflective point on a mountain and head off to investigate (being the trailblazer for 2001: Space Odyssey, you can imagine what it is). 10 pages

Transience (1947) - 5/5: Drawn to the sea for destined for the stars. 6 pages

The Star (1954) - 4/5: Priest exploring supernovae remnants finds a revelation. 6 pages

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking read, especially now..., June 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nine Billion Names of God (Hardcover)

It is 15 years since I read this book. The short story referred to in the title has been replaying itself in my mind, intiated by talk of the Human Genome project, and also by our proximity to the new Millenium. I have searched extensively for a copy of this book (I think my Mum threw out the old one!) without success. A great thought provoking read.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Short Stories, some that suffer from their age..., March 31, 2011

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C. Juliet (Redding, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Nine Billion Names of God (Paperback)

This book has some great short stories, my favorite being "The Wall of Darkness". It is about a strange and very small universe and what that could look like for the inhabitants exploring it. Any time AC Clarke writes about a fantastic science fiction, I know it to be realistic in the sense that it is within the realms of the scrutiny of science possible. That's what makes his stories so enjoyable.

For those of you who love hard science fiction (science fiction stories with some existing science to back up the fiction) of which Sir Clarke I believe to be the best, some of these stories suffer from their age. "The Sentinel" which was expanded upon to make "2001 A Space Odyssey" was written in 1948. Science has learned a lot since that time, because of its age we are told that the moon had oceans and plant life in "The Sentinel". Some landmarks of the moon are in fact called seas although it is now been found to be the remnants of molten rock from possible collision in the past. It doesn't detract from the story that much but it does make you think, "hmmm... yes, they used to think that". Another story gives an incorrect date in which we may visit the moon since at the time these stories were written, we hadn't visited it yet.

Again, these are great short stories, not on the cutting edge of science of course due to their age, but the author is stringent in using factual science of that day to craft his stories of which he does a great job.