Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

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Submitted by John Barrymore 
(Oct 29, 2001)

This is one of the giants of science fiction; up there with Brave New World and 1984. Though the plots of the other 2 books are much more in the real of actual possibility, Childhood's End is their absolute equal in terms of insight into human nature.

I made reference to this book to a friend, recently, in the matter of our current predicament with terrorist. He pointed to this website and the comments on Clarke's book. Let me add my nickel to pot-first adding that I am glad to see such a healthy debate. Childhood's End is a modestly remarkable book. Clarke could have fleshed out his idea even more and there is something to wonder about- why not? The book begs us to examine where the idea of Satan came from and there by begs the question of God. What if we fear some archetype in our memories and that misapprehension is the root of the mythology of a God? Charming idea, isn't it? A fear that grows from not understanding a future sequence of events and causes us to fear our liberation from the petty tyrannies we evoke on each other: economic systems; self sustaining philosophies, the cruel weight of the majority on the minority, our false superiority over the collective beings on this planet. What, if after you have shed the ruse of the Easter bunny and the foil of Santa Claus, you are presented with an argument that God isn't? That God is the countermeasure of the Devil and not the other way around? How goes the course of human history then... where does it lead? Read Childhood's End for some interesting and possible conclusions.

As long as I live, Childhood's End will be "the" book that changed me more than any other. How can I be so certain? Well, I was an advanced reader who's fourth grade teacher wanted to challenge. This story changed the way I perceived the entire world, and in fact, life as a whole. Was this only because I was 9 years old? I don't think so. This book was published in 1953, so it had already been around for almost 20 years before I read it. A.C. Clarke has always had the innate ability to envision the wonder of alien contact found in so many of his stories. Chilhood's end is the earliest example of the alien arrival, where the aliens are here, purportedly to help, not invade. First and foremost, this is Science Fiction, but Clarke magically keeps the story interesting with multiple character storylines, and plot twists, and tops it all off with an ending that left this human child hungry for the future...whatever it might bring. Read this book. Have your children read this book.

I had to read this book for 9th grade summer reading, and let me be honest, it was not good at all. There are way to many plot twist and characters. The language is very hard to follow. You can barely understand what is going on. I don't know how the author could have thought up such a weird concept. If you have the choice, don't read this book, its a waste of time.

I've had this book on my shelves for about 4 years now, and lately it even occupied my "to-read-very-soon" sf shelf, but for some reason, I'd never gotten around to it.

Then I decided a couple weeks ago that it was about time I read this. After all, it's a classic of sci-fi, and I am still catching up on my classics.

As I read it, I was struck by two things:

1) Even though the book is around 40 years old, it is still extremely pertinent SF.

and

2) You would be surprised how many people have ripped this book off. :-)

As for the first, Clarke was and still is very good at the reason I read SF. It's about the future of humanity, is it not? A genre to explore the problems humans may face in the coming years (oh, and it doesn't hurt to throw some cool space battles into the mix every now and again).

First contact situations are an old stand-by in science fiction. They're a good stand-by, to be sure, and nowhere do our collective geek hearts skip a beat more than at the prospect of the *very* first human contact with an alien species.

Clarke knew this even back in the fifties, of course, but put a twist on it. What would happen if the aliens came, but didn't show themselves? And what would happen if, when they finally did reveal themselves, they turned out to be something so primally horrid, that it explained a lot of man's early history and religious writings that we hold dear?

There are many elements of good hard sci-fi in this book, and I expect that if you read it, you'll see many things that people have since used in their work.

Which brings me to my next point.

Out of nowhere and without warning, huge circular ships appear in the atmosphere and position themselves over the major cities on Earth.

Sound familiar? Right, it's the first five minutes of "Independence Day". "Childhood's End" begins the same way. Of course, Clarke is a lot smarter than turning the aliens into primitive beings hell-bent on mindless destruction of everything in their path.

The aliens turn out to have an agenda, but a secretive one. They claim that they are protecting and guiding earth, but many back home are extremely skeptical, and go even so far as organizing a resistance to these "helpers".

Sound familiar? Right, it's the basic plot to "Earth: Final Conflict", the one SF show I'm surprised is actually still running.

My point, in case you missed it, is that this book has proven to be a primary source for SF writers with brain farts and writer's block.

Just kidding. It's inspired people to write SF based on classic themes created by an acknowledged master.

Just kidding there too. Actually, I think a lot of people have found Clarke's ideas pretty neat, and I do as well.