Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

The Fountains of Paradise and over 300,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle � Amazon�s new wireless reading device. Learn more

Quantity:

More Buying Choices

32 used & new from $9.44

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share with Friends

Share your own customer images

Search inside this book

Start reading The Fountains of Paradise on your Kindle in under a minute. Don�t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

The Fountains of Paradise (Paperback)

by Arthur C. Clarke (Author) "The crown grew heavier with each passing year..." (more)
Key Phrases: space elevator, butterfly nut, hundred klicks, Mahanayake Thero, Sri Kanda, Vannevar Morgan (more...)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

List Price:	$19.99
Price:	$17.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save:	$2.00 (10%)

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, July 13? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

17 new from $10.95 15 used from $9.44

Also Available in:	List Price:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Kindle Edition (Kindle Book)		$7.99
Hardcover			70 used & new from $0.65
Paperback			23 used & new from $2.50
Mass Market Paperback			24 used & new from $0.01
Unknown Binding (Large print ed)			9 used & new from $2.38
Audio Cassette			Order it used!
Unbound (Import)			Order it used!
Unknown Binding			Order it used!
Show more editions and formats
Show fewer editions and formats

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Childhood's End (Del Rey Impact)

by Arthur C. Clarke

4.3 out of 5 stars (295) $11.20

Rendezvous with Rama

by Arthur C. Clarke

4.3 out of 5 stars (220) $7.99

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

by Arthur C. Clarke

4.2 out of 5 stars (19) $13.57

The Hammer of God

by Arthur C. Clarke

3.6 out of 5 stars (36) $7.99

The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars

by Arthur C. Clarke

4.2 out of 5 stars (8) $23.99

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Published in 1953, 1952, and 1979, respectively, this trio of novels follow Clarke's recurring theme of humans thrusting themselves into space and then not necessarily liking what they find. The religious images that run throughout Clarke's work also are present here.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Clarke once again sounds his grand theme...man is most himself when he...challenges the very laws of the universe." -- -The New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Aspect (September 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446677949
ISBN-13: 978-0446677943
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #232,972 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#34 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Clarke, Arthur C.

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
The crown grew heavier with each passing year. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
space elevator, butterfly nut, hundred klicks, synchronous orbit

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mahanayake Thero, Sri Kanda, Vannevar Morgan, Gibraltar Bridge, Maxine Duval, Monsoon Control, Venerable Parakarma, Midway Station, Chief Engineer, Professor Sessui, Senator Collins, Warren Kingsley, Demon Rock, Paul Sarath, Prince Kalidasa, Safety Officer, World Court, Category Five, Choam Goldberg, Donald Duck, Ambassador Rajasinghe, Earth Terminal, High Priest, Narodny Mars, Professor Sarath

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 13 books:

The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
City and the Stars, The by Arthur C. Clarke in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne on page 192

See all 13 books this book cites

72 books cite this book:

Arthur C. Clarke: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers) by Robin Anne Reid on 11 pages
Professional Web 2.0 Programming (Wrox Professional Guides) by Eric van der Vlist on 8 pages
Non-Rocket Space Launch and Flight by Alexander Bolonkin on page 2, page 84, and page 105
Teaching Science Fact with Science Fiction by R. Gary Raham on page 6, page 65, and page 66
Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998 by Ian T. MacAuley in Front Matter, page 229, and page 281

See all 72 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Fountains of Paradise (Millennium SF Masterworks S)

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

Discusses:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	66% buy the item featured on this page: The Fountains of Paradise 4.2 out of 5 stars (25) $17.99
	10% buy Songs of Distant Earth 4.2 out of 5 stars (83) $7.99
	10% buy Childhood's End (Del Rey Impact) 4.3 out of 5 stars (295) $11.20
	8% buy Rendezvous with Rama 4.3 out of 5 stars (220) $7.99

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

science fiction(18)

arthur c clarke(5)

goodscifi(3)

clarke(2)

space elevator(2)

2008(1)

alpha rising(1)

bookie(1)

ceylon(1)

easton(1)

engineering(1)

See all 27 tags...

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Customer Reviews

25 Reviews

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To the moon!, July 10, 2000

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fountains of Paradise, The (Mass Market Paperback)

Or not. But close enough. The sad thing about reading this book and reading the later Clarke books is the contrasting quality, this appears to be the last time he had his act completely together, later books have had little sparks of ideas here and there, but mostly lack that roar of inspiration. Not here. Clarke goes for broke, first putting forward an idea that was totally new at the time: a space elevator. For those of you not scientifically inclined, it's basically a long tether connecting a station orbiting the planet, and people could run up and down the cable in cars. Basically it would make spaceflight easier because ships could launch and refuel up there and not have to worry about gravity and escape velocity and it just opens the entire solar system up. These days it's been more commonplace, writers don't even bother centering entire books around it (though Kim Stanley Robinson probably had this book in mind when he had the Martians install an elevator in his Red/Green/Blue Mars book), but back then it was a fairly new idea. And a great one, it's out there but enough so the reader can envision it, the problem with the Ringworld is that I have trouble picturing it within the realms of reality, I just can't, I know it's possible but I just can't do it. Here, it's gloriously real and Clarke takes you every step of the way. He sets the novel in a renamed Sri Lanka and then proceeds to play with the history, framing the story about a king who built a series of gardens to reach the gods two thousand years before. Also there's this alien spacecraft that happens to pass through years before and laughs at the thought of God, which I thought had little relevance (I thought Clarke was just making sly references to Rendevous with Rama at first) and that makes perfect sense as well. It's a quick read, but not a light one, the science concepts are presented so that those without engineer's degrees can follow. Alas it's also out of print (cue rant: WHY?) but well worth your time to find, used book stores should have a copy if you try and look. But if you ever thought that we're reached the limits of our technical achievements, go read this and see just how far we can go.

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Sci-Fi at its best!, August 4, 2000

By	Sailoil (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fountains of Paradise (Hardcover)

This is the story of an engineer using diamond cable to build a space elevator. Along the way we have visions of the Gibraltar bridge and the argument of putting rails on the side or not, since the vehicles on the bridge will be controlled not by occupants but by the road. Here is Clarke writing about stuff that is now in development. Intelligent roads. When will we seriously look at the Space elevator? The book is set in Clarke's favourite place on earth Sri-Lanka, although admittedly he conveniently shifts it to a more favourable latitude for scientific reasons. This book is beautifully written but has a backbone of hard science behind it. Today's writers could learn so much from this man.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Arthur Clarke's finest novels., September 2, 2001

By	Edward Alexander Gerster "miamibooks" (South Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the two decades since THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE was written, the idea of an 'elevator' into space has permeated the science fiction world completely, seen as merely a fact of things to come. In part, I believe it is because Arthur C. Clarke made such an excellent case for it in this novel which builds one up 36000 km (24,000 miles)--from Sri Lanka to geostationary orbit. It combines two of the authors most popular themes, technological evolution & human quintessential development, with sparse prose and moving directness. At the time of it's original publication, it was announced to be the author's last novel, which happily is one of Clarke's predictions which did not come true! Very Highly Recommended.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 25 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Leave this one to the sci-fi devotees. The book is "hard science" fiction, not much of a novel
The problem is an endemic one for sci-fi: the non-hardcore reader often doesn't feel drawn to the characters or the plotlines. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Quickhappy

4.0 out of 5 stars An insightful and low key science fiction award winner...
Coming in to this one I knew nothing about it. The only reason why I picked it up was because it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and thus had to be a good read. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Brian Hawkinson

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 stars - excellent!
Beautifully written, with some memorable and moving sequences. The story about the space elevator is fascinating, and the descriptions put you in the seat as the elevator moves... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Tactitles

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarke Revisited
Motivated by the news of Clarke's recent death, I dredged through what remains of my book collection, inclined to reread this particular book. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Ben B. Barnes

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader
Space Elevator in alternate Sri Lanka.

The main story in this novel is the construction of a space elevator, and all the engineering problems and dangers for... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Blue Tyson

5.0 out of 5 stars An elevator to the stars.
Especially for one grounded in "Hard" science, himself contributing as much or more to "Real" science than his books have to fiction. Read more

Published on November 29, 2006 by B. B. Bridenbaugh

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarke is an excellent writer
Especially for one grounded in "Hard" science, himself contributing as much or more to "Real" science than his books have to fiction. Read more

Published on November 28, 2006 by B. B. Bridenbaugh

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, worth a read....
I read this book after reading mostly positive reviews and enjoying many of Clark's other works. Overall, I liked it but would of rather had a little mroe interaction with the... Read more

Published on January 22, 2006 by Mr. Mike

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Clarke's best
If you like Clarke's style (shallow characters who are either ignorable or clones of himself, but very solid and interesting scientific concepts) then this book is a must read... Read more

Published on October 29, 2005 by Clarke Fan

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good
I was expecting this novel to be a dry, Ben Bova style novel, but was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Read more

Published on September 30, 2005 by The Ersatz Economist

› See all 25 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
science fiction Zero gravity isn't utilized in movies much.	30	3 hours ago
science fiction New Sci Fi TV Series?	3	4 hours ago
science fiction Hard SF Novels With Strong Characterization	18	5 hours ago
science fiction Do you feel for these first time writers doing all they can to sell their book?	43	7 hours ago
science fiction Favorite forgotten SF author	54	7 hours ago
science fiction Good Science fiction should provoke questions	70	10 hours ago
science fiction I need help finding a novel	30	13 hours ago