This book changed my lifeThe Goat writes, "Some books have made a huge impact on my life." It's true. It wasn't until the b3ta mods read the Flashman novels that we changed from mild-mannered computer operators into heavily-whiskered copulators, poltroons and all round bastards in a well-known cavalry regiment.
What books have changed the way you think, the way you live, or just gave you a rollicking good time?
Friendly hint: A bit of background rather than just a bunch of book titles would make your stories more readable
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chthonic, Thu 15 May 2008, 15:11)
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Interesting...I found the Rama series to be a mixed blessing. Rendezvous With Rama was excellent, typically Clarke in the way the story is easy to visualize at the expense of the somewhat cardboard characters - Captain Norton himself should be singled out here as being a stereotypically bland astronaut, familiar to anyone who watched footage of the Apollo missions.
There were some masterful visionary elements though, the long staircase from the hub of Rama to the inner surface of the cylinder, the fragile human powered aircraft being used to traverse the central sea and the sense of utter bewilderment of Rama's purpose that's left hanging at the end of the novel.
Incidentally, I gather that a film adaptation starring Morgan Freeman is in the works.
The follow ups were much, much darker - indeed Clarke co-wrote these with Gentry Lee who has a very finely honed ability to add flesh to the bare bones of the characters.
(, Fri 16 May 2008, 14:45, Reply)
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