Arthur Clarke is Dead

Arthur Clarke, author of a number of important science fiction books, member of the British Interplanetary Society, co-inventor of marvelous technologies, and accomplished scuba diver, has died at the age of 90, in his long time home of Sri Lanka.

My favorite book of his was Childhood's End, which I read when I was about 12. I remember almost nothing about it, but somehow it impressed me. Ha. I just read Dave Bacon's post on Clarke, at The Quantum Pontiff ... Yes, Dave, I have exactly the same feeling:

Although I learned to cringe at some of Clarke's writing as I grew older, I have very distinct and fond memories of reading "Childhood's End" and "Rendezvous with Rama." (Like all such memories, I dread rereading these for fear of losing my even now foggy recollections of the joy these books brought me.)

Well said.

Clark said in an interview many years ago that the reason he lived in Sri Lanka is because it is one of the two spots on the earth over which dead and dying satellites tended to congregate (owing to some gravitational anomaly).

Here is the web site of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation.