4||0|1318|0|yes
0|0|0|||1||Revisiting an Old Friend|Gryphon||00:37:45|05/03/2011|I%27ve just finished rereading %28or%2C well%2C technically this time I listened to the audiobook edition of%29 one of my favorite books%3A Arthur C. Clarke%27s %5Bi%5DRendezvous with Rama%5B%2Fi%5D.%0D%0A%0D%0AThis isn%27t really a review so much as a reflection on the book%2C and will include spoilers%2C so if you %5Bi%5Dhaven%27t%5B%2Fi%5D read it and you think you might like to - and I highly recommend that you do - you should back up now and not read the rest of this post until you have.  It shouldn%27t take you that long%2C it%27s not a terribly big book.%0D%0A%0D%0AAnyway%2C onward.%0D%0A%0D%0A%5Bb%5DThe book jacket stuff%3A%5B%2Fb%5D %5Bi%5DRendezvous with Rama%5B%2Fi%5D was first published in 1972 and won a whole fistful of awards%2C including the familiar Hugo and Nebula.  A movie version has been in Development Hell since sometime around 1999.  It inspired the creation of an actual astronomical effort.  It also has a number of sequels%2C but only in the sense that %5Bi%5DHighlander%5B%2Fi%5D has a number of sequels.  More on this later.%0D%0A%0D%0ABasically%2C the idea behind %5Bi%5DRendezvous with Rama%5B%2Fi%5D is a simple one%3A An object which is obviously of artificial construction enters the Solar system in the 2100s%2C and the human race%2C which has never encountered concrete evidence of extrasolar intelligence before%2C scrambles to learn as much as possible about it before it leaves again.%0D%0A%0D%0AI%27ve seen this book dissed by more contemporary reviewers as %22dry%22 or %22dull%22 or %22stilted%22%2C and after thinking it over for a while%2C I%27m pretty sure I%27ve worked out why they think so.  It%27s not a very %5Bi%5Dmodern%5B%2Fi%5D book%2C this.  The main characters are the crew of the Solar Survey spaceship %5Bi%5DEndeavour%5B%2Fi%5D%2C who end up being called upon to board the alien artifact %28which got the name %22Rama%22 when astronomers still thought it was just an asteroid nobody had noticed before%29 because they%27re the only ones close enough to its orbit to intercept it.  And they%27re not space cowboys or roughneck asteroid miners or any of a dozen other sci-fi archetypes we%27ve come to expect in these latter days%3B they%27re %5Bi%5Dastronauts%5B%2Fi%5D.  Which means they%27re professionals.%0D%0A%0D%0AAs such%2C they don%27t plot against each other%2C scheme to curry favor with their superiors or the brass back at the United Planets%2C chase after glory%2C pursue strange and shadowy political agendas%2C act as double agents for hostile planetary governments%2C or betray the ship at any point.  They just %5Bi%5Ddo their jobs%5B%2Fi%5D in a quiet%2C competent%2C diligent manner.  Apparently this makes them two-dimensional and boring.  Well%2C maybe so.  But you know what it also makes them in my book%3F  %5Bi%5DNot tiresome.%5B%2Fi%5D  The crew of the %5Bi%5DEndeavour%5B%2Fi%5D spend the whole book out there getting the job done with a minimum of bullshit%2C which is such a refreshing breeze after a couple of decades%27 worth of jaded modern stuff in which heroes are only named ironically and stories are dismissed as %22simplistic%22 if%2C just for a change%2C things %5Bi%5Dare%5B%2Fi%5D what they seem.  %5Bi%5DRendezvous with Rama%5B%2Fi%5D is%2C in this respect%2C old-school SF%2C written right on the cusp of the old school becoming pass%26eacute%3B%3B it feels to me more like it%27s from the %2750s than the %2770s%2C and you know what%2C I%27m OK with that.%0D%0A%0D%0ABesides%2C there %5Bi%5Dis%5B%2Fi%5D political maneuvering in the book%3B it%27s just taking place where political maneuvering is %5Bi%5Dsupposed%5B%2Fi%5D to take place%2C %5Bi%5Damong politicians.%5B%2Fi%5D  %28Well%2C and scientists%2C but most of the scientists we see in the book are scientists with at least some political significance%2C since what we%27re seeing are the workings of an international committee put together to make policy on matters pertaining to Rama.%29%0D%0A%0D%0AEverything about %5Bi%5DRendezvous with Rama%5B%2Fi%5D is just... devoid of irony%2C and devoid of histrionics too.  There are tense moments%2C but never the kind that you sense have been ramped up just for the sake of the tension itself%3B they result from the things that are happening to drive the story forward.  There are strange creatures%2C but no monsters%3B there are accidents%2C but no gratuitous fatalities %28so%2C unaltered%2C it would never make it as a 21st-century motion picture%29.%0D%0A%0D%0AMost intriguingly of all%2C there are insights%2C but not many answers.  Rama is a deeply mysterious artifact%2C and even once the crew of the %5Bi%5DEndeavour%5B%2Fi%5D have seen a great deal about how it works%2C it somehow seems only to get more baffling.  One of the nicest touches%2C I think%2C is that we %5Bi%5Dnever actually see%5B%2Fi%5D what the creators of Rama looked like.  They don%27t seem to be present%2C and even as Clarke unfolds other surprises during the explorers%27 time aboard%2C he never resorts to trotting out an actual Raman%2C or even a picture of one.  The closest we get%2C in a brilliantly tantalizing moment near the end%2C is a look at a hologram which the explorers think depicts some kind of clothing for them.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe spacecraft%27s makers don%27t seem to be present%2C and yet it becomes more and more evident that %5Bi%5Dsome intelligence%5B%2Fi%5D is directing it - but we never see it%2C and the explorers never make contact with it.  It doesn%27t see fit to introduce itself%3B we can never actually be sure %28and nor can the characters%29 whether it%27s even aware of the humans%27 presence.  When it%27s all said and done%2C humanity has absolute proof that%2C at least%2C there %5Bi%5Donce was%5B%2Fi%5D one other intelligent species somewhere in the universe.  We don%27t know who they were%2C we don%27t know if they still exist%2C and we have no idea whatsoever why they directed a vessel past our star.  They might not even have realized that there would be intelligent life in the Solar system when their construct reached it%3B and where Rama is ultimately bound%2C why it was sent%2C and whether it will ever succeed remain %5Bi%5Dcomplete unknowns%5B%2Fi%5D at the book%27s end.%0D%0A%0D%0ASome modern reviewers seem to think this is either a gyp or a cop-out%2C but I think it%27s the main reason why the book %5Bi%5Dworks%5B%2Fi%5D.  It manages to convey the wonder%2C mystery%2C majesty%2C and fear that such a discovery would bring with it%2C completely undampened by the inevitable let-down that too much explication would bring with it.  It raises more questions than it answers and leaves the imagination to chew on the bones for as long as it likes.  Every revelation Clarke makes is carefully calibrated to heighten the pitch of amazement further rather than%2C at any time%2C diminishing it - which is quite a trick.%0D%0A%0D%0AMuch later%2C a series of sequels appeared%2C co-written with %28one might almost say ghostwritten by%2C if one wanted to be unkind%29 Gentry Lee%2C in which scheming%2C untrustworthy people with much more complex motivations %28or%2C as the ironic postmodernist types would presumably call them%2C %22three-dimensional characters%22%29 learn pretty much everything there is to know about the purpose and the makers of Rama.  It%27s all quite hideously dreary - something that can%27t be said about the original book%2C even if you happen to think it%27s wooden.%0D%0A%0D%0A--G.%0D%0A-%3E%3C-%0D%0ABenjamin D. Hutchins%2C Co-Founder%2C Editor-in-Chief%2C %26 Forum Admin%0D%0AEyrie Productions%2C Unlimited  http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2F%0D%0A%5Bi%5DCeterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.%5B%2Fi%5D
1|1|0|||1||RE%3A Revisiting an Old Friend|Offsides||11:24:20|05/03/2011|I don%27t think the sequals were as bad as you make them out to be %28especially the first one%2C %5Bi%5DRama II%5B%2Fi%5D%29%2C but I do agree that they lacked the clean simplicity of the first one.  %5Bi%5DRendezvous With Rama%5B%2Fi%5D felt like it was designed to have follow up stories%2C but it almost strikes me more as a %22there%27s more to the story%2C but I%27ll leave that to everyone else to come up with their own expansion%22 than %22I%27ve got a plan%2C and you%27ll get it eventually.%22  It%27s been a long time since I read it%2C but I do remember enjoying it a lot.%0D%0A%0D%0AI think the real issue is that most people these days think of %22Science Fiction%22 as either %22Science Fantasy%22%2C %22Space Opera%22%2C Techno-Thriller%22 or some combination of the three.  This was none of those - it was%2C at a very pure level%2C %5Bi%5DScience%5B%2Fi%5D Fiction.  And in todays world of explosions%2C politics and hye%2C that%27s just plain %5Bi%5Dboooring%5B%2Fi%5D... %3A%28%0D%0A%0D%0AOffsides%0D%0A%0D%0A%26%2391%3B...%26%2393%3B in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.%0D%0A    -- David Ben Gurion%0D%0AEPU RCW %23%26pi%3B%0D%0A%23include %3Cstdsig.h%3E%0D%0A%0D%0A
2|2|1|||1||RE%3A Revisiting an Old Friend|Gryphon||18:52:39|05/03/2011|%3EI don%27t think the sequals were as bad as you make them out to be %0D%0A%3E%28especially the first one%2C %5Bi%5DRama II%5B%2Fi%5D%29%2C but I do agree that they %0D%0A%3Elacked the clean simplicity of the first one.%0D%0A%0D%0AYou may be right about %5Bi%5DRama II%5B%2Fi%5D%2C it%27s been a long time.  I was particularly thinking of %5Bi%5DRama Revealed%5B%2Fi%5D%2C which is pretty desperate.%0D%0A%0D%0A--G.%0D%0A-%3E%3C-%0D%0ABenjamin D. Hutchins%2C Co-Founder%2C Editor-in-Chief%2C %26 Forum Admin%0D%0AEyrie Productions%2C Unlimited  http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2F%0D%0A%5Bi%5DCeterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.%5B%2Fi%5D
3|3|2|||1||RE%3A Revisiting an Old Friend|Offsides||19:52:51|05/03/2011|It wasn%27t desperate%2C it was just plain bad... %3A%28%0D%0A%0D%0AOffsides%0D%0A%0D%0A%26%2391%3B...%26%2393%3B in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.%0D%0A    -- David Ben Gurion%0D%0AEPU RCW %23%26pi%3B%0D%0A%23include %3Cstdsig.h%3E%0D%0A%0D%0A
4|4|3|||1||RE%3A Revisiting an Old Friend|The Traitor||07:15:59|05/04/2011|Let%27s just call it desperately bad. Yay compromise%21%0D%0A%0D%0A---%0D%0A%22Together we will build an empire of a million shining suns.%22 -- Dave%2C Dictator of Utopia.