Arthur C. Clarke was already one of science fiction’s prominent authors before his work with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey catapulted him to a higher level of acclaim. He’s been written about many times but Gary Westfahl asserts that Clarke was “never properly understood.” His compact critical biography closely yet succinctly examines everything from Clarke’s British childhood through his last years on the island of Sri Lanka, his juvenilia through the numerous “collaborations” that fill the last pages of his bibliography. Westfahl identifies Clarke’s influences as primarily non-fiction, not literature, and explores the paradox of a proponent of “hard science fiction” who repeatedly warned of technology’s unanticipated consequences. In his sequels to 2001, even alien technology falters.
