Songs Of Distant Earth
(Arthur C. Clark)
?Songs from Distant Earth? is my favorite Arthur C. Clark novel! Set several thousand years in the future, ?Songs? is the study of a single planet ?Thalassa? colonized by humans in a ?Sea Monkeys? sort of way, (a spaceship arrived and hatched humans) and what happens to this tropical paradise, when old humans, who were on the planet Earth shortly before the sun went red giant, arrive and start disrupting the culture.The Earthlings are only intending to be on Thalassa a short time. Most of the million or so of them are still in hyber-sleep. But their ship uses an ice shield that need replenishing. While they?re there, however, there?s treason, greed and hierarchal thinking that the Thalassans are simply not used to. By the time the Earthlings return to space the Thalassans are enriched but troubled. The blessing continues to be mixed as a left behind Earthling seizes power but then repels an attack by a native life form that has shown remarkable intelligence.What makes this book work is its grace, science and the genuineness of its characters. Thalassa is a beautiful world and the reflections back on Earth are moving. ?Songs from Distant Earth? is a piece of music played in the book. Clark makes a number of excellent extrapolations about space travel and the difficulties of colonization that are dead on. Additionally, Clark, not normally known for character development, introduces us to not one but several recognizably pleasant or unpleasant characters. They move around each other in a natural way that is uncharacteristic of Clark.This is not a great developmental work of science fiction like some of Clark?s earlier work but it is most enjoyable. It is just the sort of book for reading while flying on an airplane or lying by a pool.
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