Childhood’s End
// January 28th, 2009 // Books, Recommendations
As much as I love sci-fi I can’t say I’ve read a lot of it. I just finished Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke last week and I really enjoyed it. It’s a well known book to any regular reader of sci-fi, but in case you aren’t familiar with it, I highly recommend you give it a look. It came out back in 1953 and brought some interesting new ideas with it. The book has inspired many and for good reason.
Here’s the premise: A bunch of aliens suddenly appear over all the major cities in the world (Yep: ID4) and they tell the people of earth that they will help lead them to a new era… world peace, improved health, scientific breakthroughs… all the good stuff. The catch is that they will not physically reveal themselves or explain who they are.
It’s an interesting idea that is ripe for a fancy plot twist. However, the book is not built along that one “twist” as it goes far, far, far beyond it. I won’t say more.
It’s not hard sci-fi, it’s a quick read (around 200 pages), and the prose is simple and fluid. Give it a shot even if you don’t like sci-fi… I think you’ll like it.
