Sentinel [Audio Cassette]

Arthur C. Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1988

Few masters of science fiction have brought us glimpses of the near future as vividly as Arthur C. Clarke. It is the startling realism of his vision that has made classics of his "Childhood's End" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" -- and Clarke himself one of the genre's most successful writers.

To commemorate the fast-approaching arrival of one of the most notable dates in science fiction history comes this special anniversary edition of "The Sentinel," a brilliant collection of Clarke's highest caliber short fiction. Among the ten stories included in this volume are:

"The Sentinel": The story that inspired 2001: "A Space Odyssey," one of the most famous SF movies of all time

"Guardian Angel": The rarely-glimpsed work that gave birth to "Childhood's End"

"The Songs of Distant Earth": A fantastic tale of first contact with an alien world, which became the basis for one of Clarke's most successful novels

"Breaking Strain": The inspiration for the popular book series "Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime"

With an introduction and notes by the author
Illustrations by internationally acclaimed visionary architect Lebbeus Woods

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Originally published in 1983, the "2001 Anniversary Edition" of Arthur C. Clarke's The Sentinel offers insight and commentary on 10 of Clarke's most notable short stories.

In Clarke's introduction, he explores why he became the kind of writer he did, and he offers a look at the very first paragraph he ever published--in 1933. This anthology spans three decades, beginning in 1946 with the second story he published, "The Rescue Party," and offers a chance to read some of the short stories that later germinated into his most spectacular works.

It's a special treat to be able to see the beginnings of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End, along with Clarke's thoughts on how each story came about. The truly amazing thing is that Clarke's short fiction still holds up, by and large. It's unavoidable that time would catch up with Clarke, though. In fact, he almost apologetically reminds the reader that while "Jupiter V" is dated, Sputnik was still six years in the future when it was written in 1951.

While it would have been wonderful if Clarke had added an additional introduction about the human race's journey into 2001 and beyond for this special edition, that was not to be. His most recent words in this anthology were written in 1983. But that's a minor quibble. With exceptional illustrations by Lebbeus Woods, The Sentinel is a must-read, not only for Clarke fans, but for all readers of science fiction. --Kathie Huddleston --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

". . . this collection amply demonstrates Clarke's strengths -- expert storytelling, exciting science, rich characterizations . . . Clarke's humanism and sympathy for mystical concepts are apparent".

-- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Spoken Arts (June 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804511594
• ISBN-13: 978-0804511599
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,150,934 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

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy the kindle version, August 30, 2010

By 

propella - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sentinel (Kindle Edition)

I purchased the collection to read "The Sentinel", and this was a wonderful short story.
But don't buy the Kindle version.
The ebook is awful considering the price. It seems just a OCR'ed text but nobody did proofreading.
It contains a lot of typos, no TOC. Even it is hard to find where a chapter starts.
(I bought it August 17, 2010, and it is possible that new one is improved.)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor editing, September 13, 2010

By 

M. W. Carney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sentinel (Kindle Edition)

The kindle edition is full of truncated sentences, poor formatting. There's no table of contents. Clearly no proof-reading of any kind was done. What a shame. Given the price, a robbery. Too bad; it's an excellent book.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the seeds of 2001, December 30, 2000

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sentinel (Paperback)

In 1948, Arthur C. Clarke submitted a short story, The Sentinel, to a BBC contest; which he did not win. However, the story was published in the Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader in 1951, and in 1964 he returned to the story and began expanding it into a novel. He and the filmmaker Stanley Kubrick used this as the basis for a movie script which, in 1968, became 2001 : A Space Odyssey; for which both received Oscar nominations.

Especially considering the opacity for which the movie is notorious, the story is remarkably spare and straightforward. The narrator, a lunar geologist, recalls cooking sausage one morning at a research base on the Moon, when the rising sun revealed a metallic glimmer on the rock wall of Mare Crisium. He and a compatriot climbed the crater rim and found :

[A] roughly pyramidal structure, twice as high as a man, that was set in the rock like a gigantic, many-faceted jewel.

Though they initially believed it to be a relic of a lost lunar civilization (notice it is much different than the black obelisks which were eventually used in the movie), they soon realized that it must have been placed there billions of years ago by an advanced race from another planet. It took twenty years, but finally they were able to penetrate a protective shield around the crystal by using atomic upon it. Now they understand the structure to have been a kind of sentinel, waiting to alert the beings who placed it there that finally the human race has achieved a sufficient level of development to be worthy of their notice.

I particularly like the way that this tale, written by a renowned futurist at the dawn of the space age, actually resonates with age old religious concerns. The simple idea at its core is that it is by increasing our knowledge and developing our technological prowess that we will become superior beings, even gods. The geologist sagely worries, as must anyone who recalls the Fall of Man and the Tower of Babel, that the beings who left behind this early warning signal may even be jealous of our advances and may not be all that happy to find that they finally have company. Like all of the best tales of the fantastic, The Sentinel, though ostensibly about the future, illuminates the very mundane concerns we've always had about the nature of our being and our role in the order of things.

GRADE : A