This has several narrators and music, which I thought at first would lead to a great experience. Parts of the book sound like something Robert Reed would write about today, the Grand View and great lengths of time involved. Isolationism and not wanting to leave our comfort zone is a big part of the book. Though some see this as a depressing novel, I feel that the spot light on unique people who are willing to challenge the system as very uplifting. This will appeal to anyone who has ever felt different. He does not give into peer pressure and he stays unique. The main character is unique and does not fit into the society he lives in. One reason for that is that it takes place billions of years in the future and unlike what most writers do, he does not knock man back into cave man days. Fantasy readers would not recognize it as fantasy, but in comparison to most of Clarke's hard Sci-Fi this could be a fantasy. This is so much different then most of what Clarke writes. I must mention here that this audio club has the greatest sales. When I read it years ago I loved it and so when it went on sale I bought it.

The Science Fiction Book Club pick this as one of there favorite books written in the 50's. But for better or worse, not even Alvin can guess. On his return he brings with him something so strange, so alien and powerful, that it will change the world forever. And he begins his fateful journey to the stars and back. When he finally escapes, he discovers a place he could hardly have imagined: a country called Lys. In fact he has an overwhelming curiosity, a drive to explore, to see what lies beyond the sterile boundaries of the city. He also has no fear of the outside world. And no child has been born for at least 10 million years. Its people have an unreasoning dread of the unknown, of the world outside the city. No one has entered or left Diaspar since anyone can remember. People are called forth from the Hall of Creation they live for 1,000 years and then are recalled, stored in the Central Computer's memory, to be born thousands of years later, over and over again, with memories of earlier lives intact. It is a domed, isolated, technological marvel run by the Central Computer. A journey of discovery that will shake the foundations of everything the people of Earth have ever believed.ĭiaspar is Earth's last city - surrounded by deserts, on a world where the oceans have long since dried up.

Arthur clarke city and the stars