Sonali Tandon từ Kodjé, Togo

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11/05/2024

Dữ liệu người dùng, đánh giá và đề xuất cho sách

Sonali Tandon Sách lại (10)

2019-08-10 05:31

Cái Tai Và Cuộc Phiêu Lưu Kỳ Thú Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Phương Huyền

I have finished reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I've never really been a fan of Clarke, which is probably a holdover from HOW FREAKING MUCH I hated the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, although granted I hate most movies and I haven't read the book. In fact, I don't know that I've read ANY other books by Clarke; my exposure to his style has been short stories in compilations here and there. He's always struck me as a technically efficient writer, but with little insight into human nature (which, let's face it, is most of the reason I read). So if nothing else, Childhood's End was a bit of a departure from that and throughout the course of the story some interesting observations are made. We are introduced to the concept of this world in "present day" which I guess is sometime in the 1950s when the book was written. Man is developing scientifically and looking toward the stars only to be thwarted by the benign arrival of a technologically superior alien race we come to know as "the Overlords". Not there to conquer exactly, but mastering the human race all the same, the Overlords guide mankind into a utopian state free of war and wanting where everyone has access to all he needs. Some of the characters struggle with this and lash out against it. Perhaps it's just because it is a concept that resonates with me (the sense of struggling to find a purpose in utopia, that is), but I would like to have seen more of this explored. Clarke predicts a great shift in morals and dogma as demanded by scientific acheivement. I found this particularly humorous: "This extention of human apprenticeship so far past the beginning of physical maturity had given rise to many social changes. Some of these had been necessary for generations, but earlier periods had refused to face the challenge - or had pretended that it did not exist. In particular, the patterns of sexual mores - insofar as there had ever been one pattern - had altered radically. It had been virtually shattered by two inventions, which were, ironically enough, of purely human origin and owed nothing to the Overlords. The first was a completely reliable oral contraceptive: the second was an equally infallible method - as certain as fingerprinting, and based on a very detailed analysis of the blood - of identifying the father of any child. The effect of these two inventions upon human society could only be described as devastating, and they had swept away the last remnants of the Puritan aberration." So hmm, oops. Guess DNA tests were bound to ruin mankind eventually, I just always figured it would be borne of a particularly violent episode of Maury Povich. Instead of continuing down this examination of the impact of advancement on morals, the plot switches abruptly again. I say "again" because it switches a lot. Rather than reading like a comprehensive novel, it seems more like a series of intertwined short stories. And when I say "plot" it's sort of a loose term. It really seems that mid way through he just changed his mind about what exactly the idea here was and went off on some completely different direction. A direction that REALLY fell apart at the end. At first it was about the Overlords on earth, and then humanity's reaction to that, and then about the supernatural, and then about travel into space, and then back to humanity and its boredom with perfection, and then its evolution, and then about the Overmind and then some weird shit happens and... yeah. I'm not sure I know what the point WAS other than an odd chronicle of the growth, evolution, and destruction of mankind. But that criticism aside, it actually was an enjoyable read. The characters, although you only barely get to know them before they are gone, are interesting and have hints of complexity. The concepts are thought provoking enough that I wonder if Clarke ever pursued them in other stories. There were a few surprises along the way, and a discussion as to the importance of art and innovative creation to the human psyche, so all in all I'd say it was pretty good. I'm not going to be rushing out to buy any of his other novels, but I might not avoid Arthur C. Clarke so much in the future. You know, assuming any of us HAVE a future.

Người đọc Sonali Tandon từ Kodjé, Togo

Người dùng coi những cuốn sách này là thú vị nhất trong năm 2017-2018, ban biên tập của cổng thông tin "Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn" khuyến cáo rằng tất cả các độc giả sẽ làm quen với văn học này.