Rendezvous With Rama

Very good book. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and well written. Clarke brings home the all too familiar idea that humans will try to destroy anything that they don't understand. Similar to the extreme urge to step on or otherwise kill insects. Sure, there are a lot of people who want to study the unknown, but there will always be people who panic and just want to kill the unknown. This is shown by the people who are living on Mercury who feel threatened by Rama because "It's to close to our territory". The story is very well written and well thought out. The premise is plausible, in the future, but not with our current technology. The story takes place in the distant future, so it's not dated yet. I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Nice read. This book is on most top 100 sci fi book lists and I honestly don't think it should be there. It's enjoyable. The set up is perfect, there's all this mystery and suspense and I couldn't stop reading. Then it gets to the "good part" and it falls completely off a cliff. I was going to read the sequels but everyone on Reddit said the sequels are even worse and they are some of the worst books ever.

Arthur C. Clarke was a master. I’ve read this one several times now, but probably not for about twenty years. As time goes by, science fiction from the classic era gets filtered over and over until not too many books are still standing. This is definitely one of them, in a small group that maybe also includes Clarke’s Childhood’s End and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Much of this one is an adventure story, a throwback for current readers to a time when the wonder of space exploration and first discoveries of alien life was all you really needed or looked for. We passed through, hopefully, an era of high action, high pace where plots hit you with cosmic scale catastrophe and intrigue every chapter. By comparison, Clarke’s plot here rides a fairly even keel. An object has been detected, passing through our solar system. At first it is thought to be an asteroid or comet, but its orbit and behavior give it away. It’s technological. It’s headed for a high speed pass around the sun, and we’ve detected it early enough to mount an exploratory mission, in this year of 2131 when much of the solar system has been colonized and interplanetary space flight is relatively routine. Commander Norton, through whose eyes much of the story is seen, commands the Endeavour to a docking with the object, now named Rama. Rama is a large, cylinder-shaped object 50 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide. That’s big. Big enough to be a generational ship of some sort, or who knows what, given that we have no idea of its origin or purpose. The story is the story of Norton’s crew’s mission to explore Rama and determine as much as they, and supporting scientists, can during the time it is safe to fly along with Rama, as it approaches the sun and then either heads back out of the solar system or alters course in some to-be-determined way. The plot peaks are mostly produced by Rama — its unexpected and enigmatic features and behavior. The plot is also sustained by political and personal conflicts and agendas among the politicians and scientists on Earth and its colonies. To be honest, on my reading, those conflicts and personalities are background, I won’t say background “noise” but close to it, buzzing around the adventures of the Endeavour and its crew. There’s no superhero stuff, although some heroics certainly, and no monsters, although there is certainly danger as well. To really get into the spirit of the book, you have to let yourself fall into the experience of first contact and the wonder and mystery of a truly alien encounter. Not to give too much away, but we don’t meet the Ramans themselves. Also in my reading, that’s a strength of the book (as it is in Clarke’s 2001). As readers we are left to imagine the Ramans, with an uncertainty of 100%. That’s the thing about aliens and their artifacts. They are alien. I can’t let this go without mentioning the parallels between Clarke’s story, written more than fifty years ago, and the real-world passage of ‘Oumuamua through our solar system in 2017. The parallels are eerie, especially if you buy into Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb’s claims that ‘Oumuamua exhibited signs of a technological artifact itself (I don’t).

Rendezvous with Rama is widely acclaimed as Arthur C. Clarke's best book, and it definitely deserves much of the praise it's gotten. That said, the book isn't perfect, particularly when it comes to the characters. Rendezvous with Rama starts when an large, cylindrical object is detected hurtling towards the sun. The object is named "Rama" after the Hindu god. The United Planets sends the solar survey vessel Endeavour under the command of Commander Bill Norton to investigate. The rest of the book focuses on the crew's exploration of the alien artifact. Rama is excellent at evoking a sense of wonder. Clarke manages to convey the artifact's grandeur and to create a uniquely bizarre alien world. The structures and other things encountered do not resemble the familiar sci-fi tropes. I especially liked how Clarke takes advantage of Rama's artificial gravity (generated by the object's spin) to present the astronauts with a new challenge. Even more than the alien structures, I'll always remember the description of Commander Norton climbing "down" the ladder towards Rama's "ground." That said, Clarke demonstrates an admirable amount of discipline in not revealing everything about Rama. Some mysteries remain unanswered, and are thus all the more intriguing. I can only imagine that, when the book was first published in 1973, the effect was even greater and there were fewer books about alien worlds. I haven't read the sequels, but fear they would undermine the majesty of this book. Clarke has always focused more on alien life and technology than on characters in his stories. That said, the characters in Rama are surprisingly serviceable, if not great. Commander Norton gets enough backstory to make him relatable. Norton's interest in and admiration for James Cook, captain of an earlier Endeavour, gave him some depth. For those who know their history, it also infused the story with some foreshadowing over Norton's fate. Most of the crew members at least get a few personality quirks that help distinguish them, although few are actually memorable. The lack of characterization generally works - until it doesn't. At a few points, the book places some of these characters in danger and the reader is expected to care, but I found it hard to do so. For example, two-thirds into the book, a character whom we'd never seen before, Jimmy, suddenly appears, and then the next 15% of the book focuses on him and his trials. At the least the character would have benefitted from some sort of introduction. I've criticized Clarke's problems ending some of his stories in a satisfactory manner, especially his tendency to rely upon incongruous twists or cheats to resolve plot threads (see, for example, my review of Clarke's Childhood's End). Fortunately, Rama avoids this problem. The story ends in a manner that suits the mystery and grandeur of Rama. There is a twist at the end, but it manages to be both subtle and thought-provoking at the same time. I could see how readers demanded a sequel, but the book was designed to - and mostly manages to - stand on its own. Rendezvous for Rama isn't for anybody. This book is about exploration writ large, about drive to explore rather than the discoveries. If you want a fully realized alien civilization, this isn't the book for you. However, if you want a somewhat realistic account of how man's first contact with alien technology might occur, Rama is still a classic.

Ce livre est pour moi l'un des meilleurs de Arthur C. Clarke. Il nous raconte la découverte et la visite d'un vaisseau spatial à la dérive dans une ambiance très immersive. Cette ambiance ainsi que des images fortes sont gravées dans ma mémoire. J'ai lu ce livre en version originale, et je le recommande à ceux qui découvrent la lecture en anglais: c'est court et d'un niveau très abordable.

Incredible story that was easy to follow. Intriguing premise then makes you ask questions along the way.

Originele plot, goed geschreven. Mooie wendingen en verhaallijn. Aanrader voor Clarke liefhebbers. Helaas, ondanks de pseudo internationale setting, geschreven vanuit de Amerikaanse (militaire) cultuur.

The sustained vibe of mystery throughout the novel is incredible. It has elements of horror woven in beautifully. Prior to reading the book, I saw criticisms leveled against an alleged 'jumpy' nature of the book and insufficient resolutions of questions posed, both of which I disagree with. The events in the story are realistically spaced out and only when there is a significant development in the story, is it detailed out. Secondly (minor spoilers), I felt that there was sufficient information in the book for readers to ponder over and come up with possible explanations for the events that occur. Overall, one of the best science fiction books I have ever read.

When you read Arthur C. Clark, you feel like a time traveller. This classic is awesome. I recommend it... enjoy!