9. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama. New York: Ballantine, 1973.

Ok. I'm going to come right out and admit that I actually read this in September but never got around to reviewing it. Now I'm sitting here, two months later, with the book at one elbow and a coffee cup in hand. I'm sitting here and staring at the screen trying desperately to remember why I liked the book so much. (Which is ultimately why I do a book blog to begin with.)

I know that I liked it. Liked it a lot, actually, but I can't remember precisely why. It's classic sci-fi and I always enjoy noting which ideas are still relevant and which have become quaint with time. Rama's ideas have actually remained current (see I'm starting to remember). The idea of physiology dictating the form of artifacts I think is still very interesting consideration. It's probably the fault of Star Trek type popular sci fi that many of us take it for granted that if we encounter extraterrestrial life that it'll be of a similar layout to ours; they will be two-armed bipeds with opposable thumbs etc. Heck, we can't even assume hands let alone the rest. I think Rama did a good job of pointing this out without going over board with theorizing.

Additionally, with sub-lightspeed travel the distances involved implies such a vast amount of time that the idea what interstellar ships would have to look like and how people would survive the travel is not often consdered. It ends up being one of the central mysteries of the book and, therefore, fascinating.