1979 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Vannevar Morgan
is determined to build a bridge linking Earth to geosynchronous orbit,
but humans and physics are going to get in his way.
This is a Clarke book, so you know you'll get some things and not
get others. In spite of one or two flashbacks, Morgan is essentially a
cipher; we don't really learn why he's so enthused for this
particular project, though there are some possibilities hinted at. He
has no close friends. And he's about the best-developed character
here. Clarke is clearly trying to humanise this grand project, but by
sticking to a small cast who all know each other he makes it feel like
someone's garage-based hobby put together with a few friends rather
than a massive cooperative enterprise.
On the other hand there's lots of physical detail about the space
elevator, including due credit to Artsutanov for inventing it in the
first place; and if the various objections to it are generally put in
the mouths of comic figures in order to be dismissed, Clarke does at
least put them into the book.
Like much of Clarke's work, this is a very gentle book; even the
action-filled climax essentially consists of sawing through a bolt to
detach a dead battery. The earlier major concern is that only one site
on Earth is really suitable for the ground terminal, and the monks at
the top of the mountain want to keep it; this isn't so much solved as
coincidentally removed, though it's unclear whether the error that
leads to this is deliberate or accidental.
All this is interspersed with occasional passages from the history of
Taprobane (Sri Lanka shifted a few crucial degrees south),
particularly King Kalidasa (Kashyapa I). This offers some
foreshadowing, but is mostly scene-setting. There's also some mention
of Starglider, an alien probe passing through the solar system (shades
of Rendezvous with Rama) which chats happily by radio… and quietly
demolishes the human demand for religion, except for Buddhism. This
fits about as well as Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings; it
feels as if it's escaped from a different story entirely, particularly
since the general absence of religion is not necessary for or relevant
to the rest of the story.
I find some of the minor details particularly telling. Morgan's latest
project was the Gibraltar Bridge, with 5-km-high pillars and a span
(presumably) of 20+ km… which is a lovely futuristic idea, but all
Clarke can think of to do with it, perhaps considering the Severn or
Golden Gate bridges, is to run cars over it. The Øresundsbron, at a
mere 8 km (12 including the tunnel), has train tracks too.
It's OK. It's grand in theoretical scope, but surprisingly small in
practice. I just wish it had a different story, and some human
characters, to go with the excellent core idea.
Reread for Neil Bowers'
Hugo-Nebula Joint Winners Reread.
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