The most visionary and versatile thinker of his age gathers together in a single volume his most significant and prophetic non-fiction writings to present a personal view of the twentienth century. Each essay has a new introduction by Clarke.
Witness the awesome workings of Clarke's intellect as he predicts the role of geosynchronous satellites decades before they existed; anticipates the internet decades before it happened; reports from Kennedy Space Center; scripts the best sf movie ever made; discusses Star Wars, giant squid, and numerous other fascinating topics.
Clarke has been both a technological prophet and a cultural conscience for many decades of his century, celebrating the great scientific powers of man -- and simultaenously warning of the perils of a world where power and greed reign unchecked. Clarke can provide a unique coda for the last century of the second millennium.

A comprehensive anthology of the essays of Arthur C. Clarke, one of my "big three" of the science-fiction pantheon. Clarke, though, is more than just a sci-fi novelist. He began his career as a mathematician, an engineer and science writer, and is also a technological prophet, with great faith in the powers of science and technology to solve man's problems - even the problems they have created. Largely, I share this faith, and welcome Clarke as a voice of reason and intellect in today's wilderness of New Age and Fundamentalist thinking. It was Clarke who first sugested using geostationary satellites for worldwide communication, and he anticipated the Internet decades before its fruition. Among the writings here are tributes to the many other giants of the field he has known, his dealings with Stanley Kubrick while collaborating on "2001: A Space Odyssey" and his hopes for man's return to space in the near future. The final chapter is a - sort of - tongue-in-cheek prediction of the coming century, which is worth the price of admission alone. For all our sakes, I hope it comes true. ( )