The Light of Other Days

By: Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The Light of Other Days tells the tale of what happens when a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses the cutting edge of quantum physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments. It amounts to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy - forever.

Then, as society reels, the same technology proves able to look backwards in time as well. Nothing can prepare us for what this means. It is a fundamental change in the terms of the human condition.

©2007 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein succeeded. . .and now Stephen Baxter joins their exclusive ranks, writing science fiction in which the science is right. A sheer pleasure to read." ( New Scientist)
"Extraordinarily rich in ideas." ( Los Angeles Times)
"A sweeping, mind-boggling read!" ( Booklist)

Absolutely incredible!

Absolutely incredible! So well written and narrated! A must read! One the best sci-fi stories ever!

When Seeing All is not Understanding All

Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter do not disappoint in their joint effort, "The Light of Other Days" If clones, wormholes, cloaking technology, brain implants, and the ability to alter the space-time continuum tend to rock-your-world - then this read/listen is for you. The unfortunate passing of Arthur C. Clarke marked the end of a science-fiction era of heyday popularity and futuristic envisioning. If there is another dimension available to this beloved carbon-based biped - I hope he has journeyed there and is happy discovering new mysteries of our universe.

One has to wonder if Clarke ever progressed beyond his early obsession with ground-controlled approach radar. Without an instrument landing system or modern navigational capability one would be entering the unknown in a hazardous fashion, counting only on the guidance and accuracy of a ground-based air traffic controller. There are some similarities in the journey of the main characters in this novel, but, to avoid spoiling the plot I will end now.

Great concept, lack of story

I was really excited about this book, but felt let down in the end. Much more time was spent on philosophy than story, to the point that it began feeling like a bias text book on humanity. The story's concept was great, and fairly solid. The writing itself is beautiful. I just would have liked more story, more plot progression, and more character development. It often felt like a study, and that the characters and story were in the way of both authors exploration of what humanity means. Unfortunately the narrator sounded like a professor reading said text, completing the illusion.

Wonderful story of realistic future

I love this book! Recently I've been considering the possibility of using quantum wormholes for "seeing" the past - no need to actually go there when we can just look and learn all we want about distant times. So it was by chance I stumbled upon this book about just that subject. Clarke's writing is always a joy to follow and his consdierable sciantific insight was brough to bear on the subject. I found the story to be believable and rooted in the current knowledge of theoretical sciences. His characters were well rounded and added to the intrestingness of the story. And for me, the ending was superb! Although pure fiction, for now :), I found myself searching the bookstore for more information on wormholes and quantum theory. If you're into such subjects, whether fiction or nonfiction, this book will be an excellent read!

A must read

what A spectacular look into the future. This book tugs at your brain as well as your heart. simply amazing

UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME

OH... DEAR... GOD...

Life just wants to live on.

Please go to the Three Body Problem trilogy.

Instant Classic! How Is This Book Not Ubiquitous?

Loved this one. I'm currently on a mission to read every single work of fiction that Arthur C Clarke ever wrote. I've just started to dive into some of the books he wrote with Stephen Baxter and I was quite impressed!

The narrator is a little dry at first and gets better over time. I enjoyed his French accent and his voice for Hiram Patterson. I won't intentionally seek out other audiobooks read by this narrator, but I won't avoid his readings either. He was good but not quite great.

Most stories written by or written with Arthur C Clarke explore broad science fiction topics and their wider impact upon the human race as a whole. This story is no exception. Might be a better fit for a Clarke super fan like me as the Wormhole / past viewing / Joined mind / human resurrection sci-fi topics in this book are a little heady and the authors go to a surprising depth with these topics. There's a ton of speculation and suspend your disbelief springbroading off of interesting hard sci-fi theory that I found incredibly addicting as the book unfolded.

I found the rabbit holes that the narrative took me down in the world of sci-fi theory to be more interesting than the characters being used as vehicals to move the plot along. I usually feel this way about most Clarke stories. Maybe because Baxter was involved but these characters felt a little more real and a little more interesting than I normally expect from an Arthur C Clarke story.

Ultimately, it was the adventure of plunging into the unknown through a wormhole into the deep past that got me on the edge of my seat! the first time they did that, I was a little bored and like, "so, what?" about it... but the last time they dive into the deep past... wow! And the ending was fascinating.

Lots of food for thought in the one. A great read!Not for the casual fan, the light reader, or a newbie to Arthur C Clarke but a stirring adventure of the mind for those who wish to dive into it!

Amazingly imaginative!

I love it when authors combine up to date theory, fact and imagination. Great read.

I read the print book of this first…

The performance does a better job of capturing the intensity between the characters, but this story- of the impact a past viewer could make, for good or ill- is poignant and timely. Man the Year 2000 seems so long ago.

Interesting Idea Bathed in Narm.

Narm: when something that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of becoming unintentionally funny. It can be extremely subjective. (via TV Tropes)

The novel's most attractive point is that it explores how society can be impacted by a machine that can show the present and past *exactly* as it occurred. The novel touches upon how the execution of the legal system would have to be redesigned, how most of human history cannot be reduced to a simple logical narrative, and the implications of immsersive virtual reality technology.

However, a story is introduced in order to feed these abstract ideas to the audience without putting it to sleep. The plot is a vehicle for exploring these ideas. As a result, I feel that many moments that could have been written into more dramatic forms are wasted. One character suddenly experiences emotions after a device in his brain stops repressing them (How an emotionless child-like rich playboy company manager could *be* a playboy and a company-manager escapes me). Another character is forced by a shrink to admit that her memories cannot be trusted as evidence in court (She wins the case but is kept imprisoned for no apparent reason). The best way I can describe this story whose potentially more dramatic plot points are mishandled is like this: The story is full of narm. It requires you to suspend your disbelief to a higher degree than most stories.

The central focus of the author is the technology and its impact on society as a whole, not the characters he introduces to explore said technology/impact. As a result, the characters and plot feel like disposable cups (convenient and easily forgotton).