ArthurCClark

Deblovestoread

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur Charles Clarke

#12DaysofChristmas #September

Thanks to #ClassicLSFBC this was a favorite of September.

@Andrew65

Andrew65 Love his books. 17h

45 likes1 comment

rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

Driving a tourist bus on the Moon, Pat Harris gets caught in a moonquake and his bus sinks in the Sea of Thirst's moondust. We follow the passengers and crew, the rescue team, and the journalists covering the story.

The moondust in the story doesn't actually exist, though it was a reasonable speculation at the time of writing. Yes, the characters were firmly rooted in the 1950s but the author still provided an exciting, suspenseful story.

rwmg #ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963 3mo

28 likes1 comment

rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

TO BE THE SKIPPER of the only boat on the Moon was a distinction that Pat Harris enjoyed.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

ShyBookOwl I've never heard of this Clarke book but I'm intrigued! 3mo

Bookwomble @ShyBookOwl We read it for the Classic Litsy Sci Fi Book Club in September. #ClassicLSFBC if you want some comments and critiques 😊 3mo

24 likes2 comments

rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

#coffeeandabook

Belated #ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963

29 likes

Deblovestoread

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

#WeeklyFavorites

September was full of some pretty great reads.

@Read4life

Read4life 💙💙💙 3mo

51 likes1 comment

RamsFan1963

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

96/150 I loved this kind of book when I was young, hard science science fiction was my favorite genre. After 60+ years, it does feel a little dated, but it still holds up well. It still makes for a tense, exciting read as the rescue team struggles to save the passengers & crew of the Selene. Like any good disaster movie, just when the heroes think they've got things beat, a new problem comes along to gum up the works. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #ClassicLSFBC

RamsFan1963 96th book finished for #Readaway2024 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES @Andrew65 3mo

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 3mo

Bookwomble I think this is one of the most enjoyable books the #ClassicLSFBC had read so far 😊 3mo

55 likes1 stack add3 comments

kwmg40

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

This story about a tourist shuttle trapped in a sea of dust on the moon seemed somewhat dated, in that the roles of men and women reflect very much those of the time. However, it was still a very good hard science-fiction story with a lot of tension, as the shuttle's occupants and scientists on the outside work on a rescue.

#ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella
#192025 #1961 @Librarybelle

Librarybelle Hooray! 3mo

Ruthiella Nice review! 👍 3mo

37 likes2 comments

Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 Clark portrays a positive view of the future. Yes, there are sexist assumptions in it, but it also envisions a multi-cultural, peaceful human society. He also made a few predictions about human culture in the 21st century. What did he get right and what did he get wrong?

BookmarkTavern, wanderinglynn, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward, Books_et_al

Bookwomble I thought his vision was fairly progressive, and of course he was still influenced by assumptions of his time, such as sexist tropes of men being more rational and women more emotional, but I don't recall him being outright misogynistic. His multiculturalism was well done, even if there was a racial slur, though at the time of writing it was still largely used within that community without having been reclaimed. Again, on the right path, I think 3mo

Lesliereadsalot I liked the way that one guy stepped up to keep all the passengers engaged and busy so they wouldn‘t think too much about what was happening. If that book was written today, that guy would probably be a woman! I liked his old fashioned ideas: making a deck of cards, reading aloud from a book. 3mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble @Lesliereadsalot Maybe this is low hanging fruit given capitalism, but he also got the commodification of Space right, even though humans haven‘t yet colonized the Moon. He indicated that only fairly well off folks could afford the trip. So far, we just have billionaires who can indulge in Space tourism. 3mo

See All 7 Comments

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm Unfortunately I couldn‘t get my hands on a copy so I had to sit this month out. 3mo

Ruthiella @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I understand. I belong to two county library systems and one city library and none of them had it in print, kindle or audio. I read it on Hoopla on my phone, which I find inconvenient. There‘s a free audio version on YouTube, however, that I also accessed which was good: https://youtu.be/4CHboOyhGtE?si=yuB-jT02sgwMkYb5 3mo

kwmg40 @Ruthiella I agree about the commodification of space, especially in the area of space tourism, which I expect to increase greatly in the future. The assignment of leadership roles to the men and supporting roles to the few women who appear in the novel does seem a product of the time, and I expect Clarke would be surprised by how things look today (though, as @Bookwomble said in another thread, we still have a long way to go). 3mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 Sally Ride went into space in 1983, so during Clark‘s lifetime and 20 years after this book was published. But as you note, we still have a long way to go. I think what @Bookwomble said about women being perceived as more emotional and men more rational is still widely held, for example. (edited) 3mo

43 likes7 comments

Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 This novel definitely skews toward hard science fiction. The plot is pretty much one of problem solving with either technology or psychology. Did you enjoy this aspect of the book?

BookmarkTavern, wanderinglynn, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, Larkken, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward, Books_et_al

Bookwomble I thought the problem solving aspect was excellent, and weirdly prescient of what actually happened IRL with the Apollo 13 crisis. The issue of CO2 poisoning due to air filters overloading was one of the hazards the Apollo team had to contend with, even though the specifics and solution were different. Knowing this, and knowing ACC was writing before it happened, was pretty awesome. 3mo

Ruthiella I thought of Apollo 13 too and how Ron Howard made the movie tense and exciting even if anyone who knew history knew how it would end. Very similar vibe here. I never doubted the outcome, but Clark was still able to maintain the tension. (edited) 3mo

kwmg40 I do enjoy hard science fiction, so I liked the problem-solving aspects of the novel. I think Clarke included the right amount of description, so that the reader got a good sense of the science but didn\'t get bogged down in a lot of technical jargon. 3mo

See All 10 Comments

Ruthiella @kwmg40 I agree that the balance was pretty good. If a book is too technical, it can lose me. 3mo

Deblovestoread I agree with @kwmg40. I appreciated that I could picture it all in my head as it was happening. 3mo

Ruthiella @Deblovestoread It does lend itself to the visual. If you check out @swynn ‘s review, you can see that @Bookwomble has cast it with 70s movie and television stars. 3mo

AnishaInkspill This looks interesting, and wondering what is #ClassicLSFBC, I\'m guessing a monthly read, pls add me, I may not always be able to join in but interested 🙂 3mo

Ruthiella @AInkspill Great! I will add you to my tag list for discussion questions and ask @RamsFan1963 to add you to the tag list for voting on what we read next. The book for October if you want to join us is

Sundiver

3mo

RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella I will add @AInkspill to the list so they can vote for November's selection 3mo

AnishaInkspill @Ruthiella thanks for info and thanks for the add @RamsFan1963 😊 3mo

35 likes10 comments

swynn

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

(1961) A freak accident traps a lunar tour bus under fifteen meters of moondust, resulting in a disaster-and-rescue story that somebody should have enmovied fifty years ago. The pace is rapid, suspense is maintained, and if the character development takes a back seat to the engineering -- well jeez, that's just the kind of book this is and I liked it much.

#ClassicLSFBC

Bookwomble Unless I'm misremembering, Clarke wrote in the introduction to my edition that he had optioned the film rights to the book, but the film didn't happen. Maybe that's a good thing, as he might otherwise have been too busy to collaborate on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The book certainly reads cinematically. 3mo

swynn @Bookwomble That's an interesting perspective. I like 2001 very much, almost certainly better than any film "A fall of moondust" might have become. But I agree that it reads very cinematically and in the right hands could be a terrific movie. 3mo

Bookwomble @swynn It reminded me of the '70s disaster movies like Towering Inferno, though as I've commented elsewhere, The Poseidon Adventure is closer in terms of the nature of the disaster, and even shares some very similar and specific characters with Clarke's earlier novel. I'm not alleging plagiarism, but I'm also not not alleging it! 🧐 A Moondust movie or limited series would be great, for sure. 3mo

See All 6 Comments

RamsFan1963 @bookwomble @swynn If Irwin Allen, King of the Disaster Movies, had gotten the rights to Moondust in the 70's, who would you like to have seen him cast as the book's lead characters? 3mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 So an early 70s production... 🤔 Robert Shaw as Commodore Hansteen; Ryan O'Neal as Pat Harris; Sue Wilkins is trickier - I initially thought of Lynda Carter, then Lyndsey Wagner, but after scrolling through a list of '70s actresses, I'll plump for Pamela Sue Martin as Allen *did* cast her in The Poseidon Adventure! Chief Engineer Lawrence has to be Walter Mathau, which would pair him with Shaw, his co-star in The Taking of Pelham 123. 3mo

rwmg I like this cover 3mo

35 likes6 comments

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books