Arthur C. Clarke

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.

The mysteries of the monoliths are revealed in this inspired conclusion to the Hugo Award–winning Space Odyssey series—“there are marvels aplenty” (The New York Times). On an ill-fated mission to Jupiter in 2001, the mutinous supercomputer HAL sent crewmembers David Bowman and Frank Poole into the frozen void of space. Bowman’s strange transformation into a Star Child is traced through the novels 2010 and 2061. But now, a thousand years after his death, Frank Poole is brought back to life—and thrust into a world far more technically advanced than the one he left behind. Poole discovers a world of human minds interfacing directly with computers, genetically engineered dinosaur servants, and massive space elevators built around the equator. He also discovers an impending threat to humanity lurking within the enigmatic monoliths. To fight it, Poole must join forces with Bowman and HAL, now fused into one corporeal consciousness—and the only being with the power to thwart the monoliths’ mysterious creators. “3001 is not just a page-turner, plugged in to the great icons of HAL and the monoliths, but a book of wisdom too, pithy and provocative.” —New Scientist

When 2001: A Space Odyssey first shocked, amazed, and delighted millions in the late 1960s, the novel was quickly recognized as a classic. Since then, its fame has grown steadily among the multitudes who have read the novel or seen the film based on it. Yet, along with almost universal acclaim, a host of questions has grown more insistent through the years: Who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What purpose lay behind the transformation? What would become of the Star-Child? What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space? What could drive HAL, a stable, intelligent computer, to kill the crew? Was HAL really insane? What happened to HAL and the spaceship Discovery after Dave Bowman disappeared? Would there be a sequel? Now all those questions and many more have been answered. In this stunning sequel to his international bestseller, Clarke has written what will truly be one of the great books of the '80s. Cosmic in sweep, eloquent in its depiction of Man's place in the Universe, and filled with the romance of space, this novel is a monumental achievement.

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city—intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began. But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?

Rama est revenu ! Rama, ou plutôt son double, son clone, son jumeau : Rama II. Soixante-dix ans plus tôt, un mystérieux engin extraterrestre traversait brièvement le système solaire, donnant corps à cette fabuleuse révélation : l'homme n'était pas seul dans l'Univers. Et voilà qu'en cette année 2196, le scénario se répète ! Un deuxième vaisseau interstellaire, exactement semblable au précédent, se matérialise dans l'espace... L'humanité, pour la seconde fois de son histoire, envoie une équipe de savants à la rencontre du visiteur. Mission exaltante, bien sûr, mais les intentions des uns et des autres sont-elles aussi nobles qu'elles le paraissent ? Sans oublier celles de l'étranger : pourquoi la nef infléchit-elle brusquement sa course vers la Terre ? Que dissimulent les flancs de Rama II ? Des merveilles... ou un danger mortel ?

Arthur C. Clarke, creator of one of the world's best-loved science fiction tales, revisits the most famous future ever imagined in this NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, as two expeditions into space become inextricably tangled. Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monloiths, must again confront Dave Bowman, HAL, and an alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Just a few islands in a planetwide ocean, Thalassa was a veritable paradise—home to one of the small colonies founded centuries before by robot Mother Ships when the Sun had gone nova and mankind had fled Earth. Mesmerized by the beauty of Thalassa and overwhelmed by its vast resources, the colonists lived an idyllic existence, unaware of the monumental evolutionary event slowly taking place beneath their seas... Then the Magellan arrived in orbit carrying one million refugees from the last, mad days on Earth. And suddenly uncertainty and change had come to the placid paradise that was Thalassa.

Clarke's masterful evocation of the far future of humanity, considered his finest novel. Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it held powers that rule the stars. But then, as legend has it, the invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, a Unique, to break through Diaspar's stifling inertia, to smash the legend and discover the true nature of the Invaders.

This Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel is reissued in this trade paperback edition. Vannemar Morgan's dream of linking Earth with the stars requires a 24,000-mile-high space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political, and economic problems while allaying the wrath of God. Includes a new introduction by the author.

Space writers holiday. When a celebrated science fiction writer takes to space on his first trip to Mars, he's sure to be in for some heckling from the spaceship crew. But Martin Gibson, man about space, takes it all in his stride. That is, until he lands on the red planet. Once there the intrepid author causes one problem after another as he stumbles upon Mars's most carefully hidden secrets and threatens the future of an entire planet!

Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, The City and the Stars, and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke is the most celebrated science fiction author alive. He is—with H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein—one of the writers who define science fiction in our time. Now Clarke has cooperated in the preparation of a massive, definitive edition of his collected shorter works. From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre," through classics like "The Star," "Earthlight," "The Nine Billion Names of God," and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel, and movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God," this immense volume encapsulates one of the great SF careers of all time.

On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered. So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system. But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong... One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end.

Upłynęło sześćdziesiąt lat od momentu, w którym na księżycu odnaleziono pozostawiony przez przedstawicieli wysoko rozwiniętej kosmicznej cywilizacji Monolit. Profesor Heywood Floyd jest ostatnim żyjącym uczestnikiem ekspedycji, która została wysłana na Księżyc w roku 2001 w celu zbadania tego tajemniczego znaleziska. Po latach, po raz kolejny trafia w okolice Jowisza, by znów zmierzyć się z potęgą obcych. Czy tym razem dowie się czegoś więcej o przyszłych losach człowieka? narrator – Krystyna Czubówna w rolach głównych: Heywood Floyd – Mirosław Zbrojewicz Rolf van der Berg – Tomasz Sapryk Chris Floyd – Michał Żurawski kapitan Smith – Marek Barbasiewicz kapitan Laplace – Adam Ferency w pozostałych rolach: Oleg Głazunow – Marek Kalita Rupert Chang – Dariusz Odija George – Władysław Grzywna Jerry – Leon Charewicz Victor Willis – Przemysław Bluszcz Cliford Greenberg – Sebastian Konrad Dmitrij Michajłowicz – Michał Piela Yva Merlin – Krystyna Tkacz Margaret M’Bala – Aleksandra Popławska Paul Kreuger – Grzegorz Pawlak doktor Chant – Łukasz Lewandowski doktor Anderson – Szymon Kuśmider Rose McCullen – Agnieszka Wosińska drugi oficer Chang – Rafał Zawierucha sir Lawrence Tsung – Artur Krajewski David Bowman – Dawid Ogrodnik Hal – Robert Jarociński oraz Adam Borysowicz, Marek Ciunel, Robert Czebotar, Paweł Dudziak, Grzegorz Gutkowski, Piotr Jabłoński, Mateusz Michnikowski, Paweł Mitrowski, Maciej Motylski, Ziemowit Pędziwiatr, Katarzyna Rybska, Jan Staszczyk, Piotr Szwajgier, Mateusz Trembaczowski, Jakub Wieczorek, Leszek Wojtaszak, reżyseria – Grzegorz Gutkowski tłumaczenie – Jędrzej Polak wykorzystano utwory z biblioteki Audionetwork lektor – Jarosław Łukomski nagranie – Grzegorz Gutkowski, Piotr Szwajgier montaż i edycja dialogów – Grzegorz Gutkowski, Piotr Jabłoński atmosfery – Tomasz Bogacki miks i opracowanie muzyczne – Kamil Sajewicz koordynacja realizacji – Katarzyna Rybska realizacja – Stereotyp Studio skrypt – Jan Bratkowski produkcja – Karolina Dąbrowska, Audioteka koordynacja produkcji - Ewa Kamińska, Audioteka kierownictwo produkcji – Aleksandra Dąbrowska, Audioteka 2061: Odyssey Three Copyright © 1987 by Serendib BV All rights reserved.

ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S FAVORITE STORIES THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD -- A short-term course for computer the way to God. TROUBLE WITH TIME -- Martian time proves that crimes doesn't pay! NO MORNING AFTER -- Drink, drink and be merry, for tomorrow there will be no morning after... THE POSSESSED -- Or, why the lemmings drowned. ENCOUNTER AT DAWN -- The day the gods came to Earth. THE SENTINEL -- The story which inspired 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; when man sets off the galactic burglar alarm, who will answer the call?

"Entertaining. . .[Clark] handles both ideas and characters with deftness and wit; in short, the outstanding living science fiction writers is romping".-- "Chicago Sun-Times". In the year 2110 technology has cured most of our worries. But even as humankind enters a new golden age, an amateur astronomer points his telescope at just the right corner of the night sky and sees disaster hurtling toward Earth: a chunk of rock that could annihilate civilization. While a few fanatics welcome the apocalyptic destruction as a sign from God, the greatest scientific minds of Earth desperately search for a way to avoid the inevitable. On board the starship Goliath Captain Robert Singh and his crew must race against time to redirect the meteor form its deadly collision course. Suddenly they find themselves on the most important mission in human history--a mission whose success may require the ultimate sacrifice. "Clarke is still at the top of his game".-- "The Detroit News". "As good as any anything he's written. . .for a hard-science-fiction treat, I suspect "The Hammer Of God" won't be topped".-- "Star Tribune", Minneapolis. "Classic Clarke. . .a good story".-- "The Denver Post".

The Star is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as Star of Bethlehem.

On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered. So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system. But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong... One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end.

On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong...One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end.

Enormes naves extraterrestres surgen de la nada y se posan sobre las principales ciudades del planeta… Todos reconocemos esto como un recurso múltiples veces utilizado como preludio a una invasión extraterrestre. En esta ocasión, en la obra de Arthur C. Clarke, con la llegada a la Tierra de una raza extraterrestre bautizada como superseñores, la humanidad conocerá sus mejores tiempos. Bajo su tutela, se acabará con las guerras, el hambre, las fronteras…Pero algo no va bien, nadie ha visto nunca a un superseñor y esto hace que surjan grupos radicales contrarios a la política de los superseñores. Karellen, interlocutor por parte de los superseñores, hace público que en cincuenta años se presentarán a la humanidad, cuando ésta esté preparada…

Rama Revealed (1993) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. It is the last of three sequels to Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama by these authors. The book picks up the story immediately after the end of The Garden of Rama. The book follows the story of Nicole Wakefield and her escape from imprisonment left at the cliffhanger of the previous book.

In the year 2130 a mysterious spaceship, Rama, arrived in the solar system. It was huge - big enough to contain a city and a sea - and empty, apparently abandoned. By the time Rama departed for its next, unknown, destination many wonders had been uncovered, but few mysteries solved. Only one thing was clear: everything the enigmatic builders of Rama did, they did in threes. Eighty years later the second alien craft arrived in the solar system. This time, Earth had been waiting. But all the years of preparation were not enough to unlock the Raman enigma. Now Rama II is on its way out of the solar system. Aboard it are three humans, two men and a woman, left behind when the expedition departed. Ahead of them lies the unknown, a voyage no human has ever experienced. And at the end of it - and who could tell how many years away that might be? - may lie the truth about Rama...

Después del impacto de un enorme asteroide que destruye Padua y Verona, se crea un sofisticado sistema para averiguar la trayectoria de cualquier objeto que se detecte desde la Tierra. De esta forma se descubre Rama, un extraño asteroide que, gira a una velocidad increíble y que, según todos los cálculos no volverá a pasar jamás por el sistema solar. Pero lo más inquietante se produce cuando aparecen indicios de que Rama pueda ser artificial, con las implicaciones que ello conlleva. Clarke es el novelista de ciencia ficción más sólido en activo y uno de los más conocidos y galardonados tanto en el campo literario como en el científico. Su obra "Cita con Rama", es una de las obras más premiadas de todos los tiempos (premios Nebula, Locus, Hugo, Júpiter y John Campbell Memorias, entre otros) y sin duda una de las mejores novelas escritas por el autor. Todo un clásico para los aficionados a la ciencia ficción.

"Książka, którą zamierzacie przeczytać, jest niewątpliwie o wiele bardziej złożona, niż można by się spodziewać po przysłowiowym dalszym ciągu wcześniejszej powieści bądź filmu. Tam, gdzie pierwsza część i film różniły się, pozostałem zazwyczaj wierny wersji filmowej; jednakże głównym celem, który mi przyświecał, było uczynienie obecnej powieści bardziej zwartą i tak dokładną przy opisywaniu faktów w świetle dzisiejszej wiedzy, jak tylko jest to możliwe." Arthur C. Clarke Wystąpili: Narratorka – Krystyna Czubówna Heywood Floyd - Mirosław Zbrojewicz Tatiana Orłowa – Katarzyna Gniewkowska Walter Curnow – Olaf Lubaszenko Wasilij Orłow – Jacek Mikołajczak Doktor Chandra – Jarosław Boberek Katierina Rudenko – Joanna Kurowska Hal – Robert Jarociński Aleksander Kowalew – Mirosław Baka Dymitr Moisiejewicz – Zbigniew Suszyński Profesor Chang – Dariusz Odija Maks Brajlowski – Kamil Kula Żenia Marczenko – Aleksandra Radwan Nikołaj Tiernowski – Wojciech Stagenalski David Bowman – Dawid Ogrodnik W pozostałych rolach: Katarzyna Bagniewska, Marcin Beme, Gabriel Brzeziński, Ewa Dałkowska, Doda, Grzegorz Gutkowski, Bernard Lewandowski, Grzegorz Pawlak, Ziemowit Pędziwiatr, Maciej Piotrowski, Paulina Raczyło, Robert Samot, Alicja Sajewicz, Olga Szmańda, Piotr Szwajgier, Marek Szymański, Olena Yahodina, Wstęp czytał Jarosław Łukomski. Miks i opracowanie muzyczne – Kamil Sajewicz Nagranie narratora i realizacja atmosfer – Tomasz Bogacki Reżyseria, nagranie i montaż dialogów – Grzegorz Gutkowski Realizacja – Stereotyp Studio Produkcja – Audioteka

Absolutna klasyka literatury science-fiction. Ponadczasowa powieść, powstała w 1968 roku w wyniku współpracy autora, Arthura C. Clarke’a, ze Stanleyem Kubrickiem nad scenariuszem do filmu o tym samym tytule, uznawanego dziś za jeden z najwybitniejszych obrazów tego gatunku w historii kina. Na wyjątkowość “Odysei kosmicznej” na pewno miało wpływ doświadczenie autora, który od najmłodszych lat interesował się nauką, w szczególności kosmosem. Arthur C. Clarke był członkiem, a następnie przewodniczącym Brytyjskiego Towarzystwa Międzyplanetarnego, najstarszego towarzystwa zajmującego się wspieraniem i propagowaniem astronautyki i eksploracji kosmosu. Jego wizja stała się podstawą dzisiejszej techniki satelitarnej - orbita geostacjonarna, często nazywana orbitą Clarke’a, wykorzystywana jest przez satelity telekomunikacyjne, meteorologiczne i telefonii satelitarnej. Audiobook Audioteki “2001: Odyseja kosmiczna” jest słuchowiskiem z pełnym podziałem na role, tłami dźwiękowymi oraz muzyką. Partię narratora czyta niezrównana Krystyna Czubówna, a w głównych rolach usłyszymy m.in. Dawida Ogrodnika, Mirosława Zbrojewicza, Antoniego Pawlickiego czy Roberta Jarocińskiego. Od superprodukcji “Odyseję kosmiczną” odróżnia brak efektów dźwiękowych, które nie mogły zostać dodane do audiobooka ze względu na zapisy w licencji.

In the title story of this collection, Earth has entered its final ice age—precipitated by the cooling of the sun. In this forbidding climate, a small tribe of nomadic human survivors travels toward the equator ahead of glaciers moving down from the North Pole, carrying with them a handful of relics from the 21st century—and racing against the ice to preserve them from annihilation. This collection is a showcase of groundbreaking stories that wrestle with the moral, psychological, and ethical implications of scientific advancement—written by one of the foremost science fiction authors of our time. Table of contents: Introduction Foreword 1. Travel by Wire! 2. How We Went to Mars 3. Retreat from Earth 4. Reverie 5. The Awakening 6. Whacky 7. Loophole 8. Rescue Party 9. Technical Error 10. Castaway 11. The Fires Within 12. Inheritance 13. Nightfall 14. History Lesson 15. Transience 16. The Wall of Darkness 17. The Lion of Comarre 18. The Forgotten Enemy 19. Hide-and-Seek 20. Breaking Strain 21. Nemesis 22. Guardian Angel 23. Time's Arrow 24. A Walk in the Dark 25. Silence Please 26. Trouble With the Natives 27. The Road to the Sea

Em plena Guerra Fria, enquanto russos e americanos se preparam para a corrida espacial, imensas naves surgem sobre as principais capitais do mundo, revelando um dos grandes mistérios da humanidade: O homem não está sozinho no universo. Seus ocupantes, chamados de Senhores Supremos, dominam a Terra de forma pacífica e melhoram substancialmente as condições de vida. A ignorância, a guerra e a pobreza deixam de existir, dando início a uma era de ouro. Porém, uma dúvida assombra a humanidade: quais seriam os verdadeiros objetivos dos Senhores Supremos? Até quando suas políticas iriam coincidir com o bem-estar dos homens? As respostas para essas questões podem revelar uma verdade aterradora.

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.

Just a few islands in a planetwide ocean, Thalassa was a veritable paradise—home to one of the small colonies founded centuries before by robot Mother Ships when the Sun had gone nova and mankind had fled Earth. Mesmerized by the beauty of Thalassa and overwhelmed by its vast resources, the colonists lived an idyllic existence, unaware of the monumental evolutionary event slowly taking place beneath their seas... Then the Magellan arrived in orbit carrying one million refugees from the last, mad days on Earth. And suddenly uncertainty and change had come to the placid paradise that was Thalassa.

Pre četiri miliona godina, jedan crni monolit bešumno se uzdigao sred afričke savane -- nedokučivi vanzemaljski artefakt koji je u majmunu potpalio prvu iskru svesti ćoveka. Godine 2001. u vreme prve "Svemirske odiseje", otkiće istovetnog crnog monolita na Mesecu podstiče upućivanje prve misije ka Jupiteru.Pohod se okončao pobunom superkompjutera HAL-a i oktrićem trećeg, još masivnijeg monolita na Jupiterovom mesecu Evropi. A sada, u osvit četvrtog milenujima, slučajno pronalaženje smrznutog tela astronauta Frenka Pula, koga je HAL ubio pre hiljadu godina, pokreće lanac zbivanja što vode ka nadasve očekivanoj završnici. Oživljeni Pul upućuje se ka Evropi, koju monoliti čuvaju kao strogo zabranjenu zonu. Roman "3001: Konačna odiseja" nije samo veličanstveno finale najnaznačajnije SF serije svih vremena, nego i testamentarno ostvarenje najvećeg života pisca ovog žanra.

Arthur C. Clarke revisits the most famous future ever imagined, as two expeditions into space are inextricably tangled by human necessity and the immutable laws of physics. And Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must once again confront Dave Bowman—or whatever Bowman has become—a newly independent HAL, and the power of an alien race that has decided Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.

When 2001: A Space Odyssey first shocked, amazed, and delighted millions in the late 1960s, the novel was quickly recognized as a classic. Since then, its fame has grown steadily among the multitudes who have read the novel or seen the film based on it. Yet, along with almost universal acclaim, a host of questions has grown more insistent through the years: Who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What purpose lay behind the transformation? What would become of the Star-Child? What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space? What could drive HAL, a stable, intelligent computer, to kill the crew? Was HAL really insane? What happened to HAL and the spaceship Discovery after Dave Bowman disappeared? Would there be a sequel? Now all those questions and many more have been answered. In this stunning sequel to his international bestseller, Clarke has written what will truly be one of the great books of the '80s. Cosmic in sweep, eloquent in its depiction of Man's place in the Universe, and filled with the romance of space, this novel is a monumental achievement.

Najpre se malo toga znalo o objektu koji se nezamislivom brzinom kretao Sunčevim sistemom. Astronomi su mu nadenuli ime Rama. Bio je ogroman, a težio je više od deset biliona tona. Onda je svemirska sonda potvrdila ono u šta niko nije hteo da veruje – Rama nije objekat nastao prirodnim putem. Neko ga je napravio, i reč je o svemirskom brodu. Istraživači Sunčevog sistema, kao i naučnici na Zemlji, počeli su da se spremaju za prvi susret čovečanstva sa vanzemaljskim oblikom života. Sama pomisao na to budila je najveće nade, ali i najcrnje strahove, jer niko ne zna ko su Ramanci niti zašto su došli. A sada je susret sa njima bio neizbežan – trebalo je samo proći kroz vrata vazdušne komore na Rami. Jedna od najboljih Klarkovih knjiga i suštinski roman o bliskom kontaktu, Susret s Ramom je klasik naučnofantastičnog žanra čija će aktuelnost svakom proteklom godinom biti samo sve veća.

No alvorecer da humanidade, a fome e os predadores já ameaçavam de extinção a incipiente espécie humana. Até que a chegada de um objeto impossível, além da compreensão das mentes limitadas do homem pré-histórico, prenunciasse o caminho da evolução. Milhões de anos depois, a descoberta de um enigmático monólito soterrado na Lua deixa os cientistas perplexos. Para investigar esse mistério, a Terra envia para o espaço uma nave tripulada por uma equipe altamente treinada, assistida por um computador autoconsciente. Do passado distante ao ano de 2001, da África a Júpiter, dos homens-macacos à inteligência artificial HAL 9000, penetre a visão de um futuro que poderia ter sido, uma sofisticada alegoria sobre a história do mundo idealizada pela mente brilhante de Arthur C. Clarke e imortalizada nas telas do cinema por Stanley Kubrick.

Fine del XX secolo: una razza aliena giunge sulla Terra. Gigantesche astronavi occupano i cieli del pianeta ma i Superni – così gli uomini chiamano i misteriosi visitatori che per decenni non si mostrano e limitano quanto più possibile i contatti – non hanno intenti bellicosi. Usano i loro straordinari poteri non per conquistare il nostro mondo, ma per imporre la fine di ogni ostilità. Tutte le risorse precedentemente destinate agli armamenti vengono così dirottate verso il progresso e inizia una vera Età dell'Oro. Un lungo periodo di pace e prosperità durante il quale però i Superni non consentono viaggi ed esplorazioni spaziali: «Le stelle non sono per l'uomo» avvertono. Solo Jan Rodricks, inquieto astrofisico, continua a chiedersi cosa ci sia oltre l'atmosfera e cerca un modo per aggirare il divieto. In tutta la narrazione fantascientifica di Arthur C. Clarke il tema di fondo è l'avventura della razza umana fra i misteriosi fondali dell'universo, l'enigma del nostro destino fra gli astri. Nelle Guide del tramonto, pubblicato originariamente nel 1953, particolarmente intensa e struggente risuona la nota metafisica, personificata da queste misteriose figure dall'aspetto di demoni giunte sulla Terra con un progetto più alto per l'umanità che non la mera sopravvivenza.

Sa svega nekoliko ostrva usred planetarnog okeana, Talasa je predstavljala pravi raj – dom jedne od malih kolonija koje su, pre mnogo vekova, osnovali robotizovani matični brodovi, u vreme kad je Sunce postalo nova i kad je čovečanstvo moralo da napusti Zemlju. Očarani lepotom Talase i oduševljeni njenim resursima, kolonisti su živeli idiličnim životom, nesvesni monumentalnog evolutivnog događaja koji se polako odvija ispod površine njihovih mora... A onda je u orbitu dospeo Magelan, noseći u sebi milion izbeglica iz poslednjih, potresnih dana planete Zemlje. Neizvesnost i promena naglo dolaze u spokojni raj po imenu Talasa... Artur Č. Klark u ovom avanturističkom romanu o istraživanju svemira i izgubljenom raju maestralno pripoveda o utopijskom društvu u dalekoj budućnosti i usput uspešno obrađuje teme apokalipse, ateizma i savršenog društva, kao i posledice dugotrajnog međuzvezdanog putovanja i mogućnosti vanzemaljskog života.

In the year ten billion A.D., Diaspar is the last city on Earth. Ageless and unchanging, the inhabitants see no reason to be curious about the outside world. But one child, Alvin – only seventeen and the last person to be born in Diaspar – finds that he is increasingly drawn to what lies outside the city walls. Even though he knows the Invaders, who devastated the world, may still be out there… Later rewritten, expanded and republished as The City and the Stars, this early novella by one of the greats of science fiction remains a powerful and evocative depiction of the future of humanity…

2130. Un objet spatial non identifié est localisé dans le système solaire : c'est un cylindre aux proportions extraordinaires - 30 km de long -, et qui se déplace au tiers de la vitesse de la lumière - 100 000 km/h. Il sera baptisé Rama. La curiosité cède cependant le pas à l'effarement quand l'équipage du vaisseau spatial "Endeavour" parvient à pénétrer dans son habitacle. Car cet "Artefact", qui semble n'avoir jamais subi la moindre altération du temps, contient en son sein un véritable monde miniature. Son exploration minutieuse révèle en effet une mer, des reliefs, des routes, des villes... Un univers de silence et de non-vie, où tout semble d'une haute technologie et pourtant vieux de millions d'années ! Qui peut bien être aux commandes de Rama ?

For a million years the bubble had been growing, like a vast abscess, below the root of the mountains. Now the abscess was about to burst. Captain Harris had left the controls on autopilot and was talking to the front row of passengers as the first tremor shook the boat. For a fraction of a second he wondered if a fan blade had hit some submerged obstacle; then, quite literally, the bottom fell out of his world.It fell slowly, as all things must upon the Moon. The sea was alive and moving . . . Every stage of that nightmare transformation was pitilessly illuminated by the earth light, until the crater was so deep that its firewall was completely lost in shadow, and it seemed as if Selene were racing into a curving crescent of utter blackness – an arc of annihilation.In darkness and in silence, they were sinking into the Moon. . . .