Book Cover

But man-made obstacles had never stopped him before. Nature was his real antagonist - the friendly enemy who never cheated, always played fair, but never failed to take advantage of the tiniest oversight or omission.

# Review

The story follows Vannevar Morgan, an engineer with a dream to build an elevator to space. The plot involves Morgan navigating the complex technical, political, and economical obstacles to his vision, as well as a flashback parallel story of a Sri Lankan king building a palace high atop a mountain.

This book was written in the late 1970s and it’s cool that Clarke presents a vision of the future that’s not too far from our own, with technical marvels such as a bridge that spans Europe and Africa (there are already cross-sea bridges) and autonomous cars (we’re getting there). So perhaps space elevators can become a reality, along with the colonization of Mars. While the main plot, in the grand scheme of sci-fi, is undramatic, I did enjoy learning about the future that Clarke imagines, such as the Starglider religion (what’s a good sci-fi if it doesn’t have religion undertones).

# Conclusion

My first Clarke novel; not as exciting as most other sci-fi but has some interesting themes.

# Overall rating: 7.4

What does the rating mean?