Hardcover, 189 pages
German language
Published May 30, 1970 by Tosa Verlag.
Die letzte Generation (engl. Childhood’s End) ist ein Science-Fiction-Roman von Arthur C. Clarke aus dem Jahr 1953. Er thematisiert das Auftreten einer außerirdischen Rasse.
(Quelle: Wikipedia)
This is an absolutely outstanding, albeit disturbing, tale of the future. It is simply amazing that it was written in the 1950s. I place it in a category of must read science fiction.
This book holds up fairly well. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe overly heavy prose or a strict adherence to science. But Clarke just tells the story.
Of course there's anachronisms; it was written in 1953. Like the jarring use of the n-word, even though he uses it to express it's silliness. And although superbly advanced, they still use TVs and faxes. Kinda funny.
But he gets the important things right making the extrapolations thoughtful, even to us future-people. Like check this passage where he gets it so wrong (the time) yet perfectly right:
"If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that's available at the turn of a switch! No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges--absorbing but never creating. Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day?" …
This book holds up fairly well. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe overly heavy prose or a strict adherence to science. But Clarke just tells the story.
Of course there's anachronisms; it was written in 1953. Like the jarring use of the n-word, even though he uses it to express it's silliness. And although superbly advanced, they still use TVs and faxes. Kinda funny.
But he gets the important things right making the extrapolations thoughtful, even to us future-people. Like check this passage where he gets it so wrong (the time) yet perfectly right:
"If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that's available at the turn of a switch! No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges--absorbing but never creating. Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day?" (3 whole hrs, huh Arthur?)
Worth a read for its scientific journey into the mystical.
