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Childhood's End
 
 
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Childhood's End (Hardcover)

by Arthur C Clarke (Author) "BEFORE SHE FLEW to the launch site, Helena Lyakhov always went through the same ritual ..." (more)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)

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When the silent spacecraft arrived and took the light from the world, no one knew what to expect. But, although the Overlords kept themselves hidden from man, they had come to unite a warring world and to offer an end to poverty and crime. When they finally showed themselves it was a shock, but one that humankind could now cope with, and an era of peace, prosperity and endless leisure began. But the children of this utopia dream strange dreams of distant suns and alien planets, and begin to evolve into something incomprehensible to their parents, and soon they will be ready to join the Overmind...and, in a grand and thrilling metaphysical climax, leave the Earth behind.


Ingram

One of the all-time classics of science fiction by the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey features a race of aliens who offers mankind a golden age of peace and prosperity, but at the cost of freedom. Reissue. NYT. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
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BEFORE SHE FLEW to the launch site, Helena Lyakhov always went through the same ritual. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

200 Reviews
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4.4 out of 5 stars (200 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Future of the human race, Jun 14 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Childhood's End (Audio Cassette)
This book is one of the most important books ever written. It's authored by a man whose statement: "The greatest human tragedy was the hijacking of morality by religion." was contradicted by the book's major idea, i.e that at some point the 'irrational' will seduce the last generation of the 'children of man'.

There is a statement in some editions by the author that 'The author is not responsible for the ideas within the book. (????!!!) Who then is responsible?

In the last days, the physical world began to tremble and shatter as the minds of the children begin to create for themselves another level of 'being'. a world their parents cannot comprehend. There are two levels of 'oversoul' tenders, one higher level which controlled even the 'controllers' who administrated the children's entry into the higher level...(which seems to me to accord with William Blakes' Tree of Life Allegory, if you want some validation that 'creating mentally' is an idea that's 'out there' in the general realm.)

Read the book as pleasure and as a kind of prophetic description of this time, when the 'mental world' of 'man' has altered so very much as to reconfigure what was pre-assumed to be 'reality', per Newtonian mechanics.

The 'oversoul' of man must be attached to what has been defined as the 'religious domain', a fact that many scientific minds are being corralled into acknowledging in 2004

If the hijacking of morality by religion was indeed a tragedy the hijacking of 'reason' by 'science' must then be a supernatural tragedy. I love the book, it was the most 'affective' book I've ever read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest Classics, Mar 19 2008
By Zadius Sky (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Childhood's End (Paperback)
This book is one of the greatest classic and most influential works that I have ever read. Not only that, it is also the most prophetic novel as it seemed to reveal the culture to which we now live: a new generation being absorbed to a greatest extent in the worlds of cyberspace and mass media where we might as well be under the control of the extraterrestrial intelligence. This is certainly a book that cannot be put down, as I would surly recommend it.

I won't bring here a spoiler, but to say that this book will certainly leave you as uncertain as well wanting to know more and also not knowing what outcome will be. It is very easy to read and relatively a short book. I was quite amazed at the fact that this book was written over a half a century ago because I felt this book is very relevant today as it was then. It is both terrifying and most certainly an eye-opening read.

Recently, the author Arthur Clarke has passed away and he will greatly be missed. His works and legacy has the greatest impact on the modern culture. His classic works, especially "Childhood's End" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," are highly memorable.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly diminished, Aug 30 2006
By Krypter (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Childhood's End (Mass Market Paperback)
Although I have enjoyed many of Arthur C. Clarke's books, this is one that made almost no impression upon me. Perhaps I've gotten used to the conventions of the genre which this book in part set up from scratch, but knowing that a book was groundbreaking in its time and now simply reflects standard cliches does not make it any easier to enjoy. The aliens, despite their initially mysterious behaviour, turn out to be all-too-human and banal; the touching but rather juvenile faith in the UN and other world institutions that permeates most of the book reeks of 1950s transnationalism; and the mystical aspects of the book are rather amateurish and anti-intellectual. Compare this to Theodore Sturgeon's To Marry Medusa and you will find Childhood's End seems like an appetizer in comparison to the literary feast that Sturgeon presents on a similar topic. Unless you're eager to explore the antecedents of modern sci-fi cliches, I can't honestly recommend this novel.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of Clarke's Best
Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008) is one of the masters of the genre of Science Fiction from its golden age. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dave_42

5.0 out of 5 stars I continue to be a huge Arthur C Clarke fan!
Along with Asimov and other great science-fiction authors whose works have added themselves to other great works by other sci-fi masters: "Stranger in a Strange Land",... Read more
Published on Jun 15 2004 by Christopher

1.0 out of 5 stars Childhood's End
Being forced to read this book, I thought it stank. I mean, who wants to read a book about aliens, opps i mean Overlords, taking over the earth and turning the children into... Read more
Published on Jun 12 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Study of Humanity
No one person is the main character of this book. The main character is the Human race. Childhood's end challenges the typical views of humans and forces you to think thoughts... Read more
Published on May 30 2004 by JKlein190

5.0 out of 5 stars SUBLIME
It will now be hard to film Childhood's End because the opening, with the great ships suspended over the cities of the earth, was cribbed, intentionally or by coincidence, for... Read more
Published on May 22 2004 by DAVID BRYSON

5.0 out of 5 stars The best
This is an absolutly wonderful book dealing with the asscention of the human race into "the ultimate being" their most perfect existance. Read more
Published on April 30 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Weird and somewhat pointless science fiction epic
So aliens come to Earth and impose peace and order, along with restrictions. Why are they here? Are they trying to help us? Is is good to be ruled by a foreign species? Read more
Published on Mar 27 2004 by Stephen Sanders

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting book
"Childhood's End" is one of the best novels of the 20th century. Arthur C. Clarke is one of the best writers of the period. Read more
Published on Mar 17 2004 by David N. Reiss

5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed SF classic
It sounds like a story you've heard before: great alien masters descend on Earth and take control of the world, ushering in a golden age that may be cleverly disguised creative... Read more
Published on Jan 17 2004 by Ryan Harvey

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound statement on humanity's role in the Universe
Author Arthur Charles Clarke is renowned as one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time. Read more
Published on Dec 30 2003 by Patrick L. Randall

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