The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C Clarke
The countdown to doomsday began with the discovery in 1956 of the neutrino, a particle with no mass and no charge. By the year 2001, the significance of this phantom particle was understood: it was a harbinger. A cosmic event was imminent, and would be close enough to touch. Soon the Sun would go nova; the demolition of Earth was assured. And so it happened in the year 3620. Over the centuries of knowing the end was at hand, humanity pulled together to launch probes into space. Primitive ships, at first, carrying embryos to distant systems, relying on machines to incubate and rear the first people of a virgin land beneath an alien sun. On Earth the Lords of the Last Days lived with no need to care for the future of the world; it was the wildest of times, and the saddest. Last to leave was the Magellan carrying a million homeless; when cataclysm struck, its voyagers witnessed through telescopes the death of Earth and all its wonders, saw the Atlantic boil dry, the pyramids disintegrate, the land of Antarctica briefly bare of ice before fire consumed everything. Then the million slept. Five hundred years later, the Magellan must make planetfall to repair its quantum drive. Its sleepers awake to find themselves visitors to Thalassa, where a cvilization has, in fact, survived. A clash of cultures unlike any before brings danger, despair, and some very tough decisions for two different peoples far from Earth - and its distant songs.
'Clarke's simple, musical style never falters in this novel, which is a sobering yet far from bleak commentary on humanity's longing for the starsHighly recommended' Library Journal
Born in Somerset in 1917, Arthur C. Clarke has written over fifty books, among which are the science fiction classics 2001, A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, The City and the Stars and Rendezvous With Rama. He has won all the most prestigious science fiction trophies, and shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of the film of 2001. He lives in Sri Lanka.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780007115860 |
| ISBN 10 | 0007115865 |
| Title | The Songs of Distant Earth |
| Author | Arthur C Clarke |
| Series | Voyager Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Year published | 2001-08-20 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |