The Fountains of Paradise

By: Arthur C. Clarke

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Vannemar Morgan's dream is to link Earth to the stars with the greatest engineering feat of all time: a 24,000-mile-high space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political, and economic problems while allaying the wrath of God. For the only possible site on the planet for Morgans Orbital Tower is the monastery atop the Sacred Mountain of Sri Kanda.

©1953 Arthur C. Clarke (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1980
• Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1980

Another Arthur C. Clarke classic

Personally, I feel what makes any audio book, movie, or show great is its ability to pull you into the story and hold your attention. Perhaps also in its ability to enlighten, or help take away from one's problems for a little while.

I find most of Clark's stories to be able to do this quite well. 2001 may be his most famous work, but I much prefer stories like Rendezvous with Rama, and this one. It's not that there's anything terribly exciting or adventurous, but more-so organically descriptive. Clarke always has a good balance of character and plot. In this book, he stays evenly on-point with a steady plot direction (unlike King), which I enjoy. The conservative narration is soothing, never annoying. Some may think all this boring, but I find it relaxing, like either watching an interesting scientific documentary, or just letting it play in the background while dosing off.

The neutral gender articulation is also very nice. Nothing more annoying than over-articulate male vs female narration.

Overall, it's an easy listen, and forms nice imagery. As with most Clarke novels, it's an enjoyable meld of Earthly culture and scifi.

Human Obstacles

Technical, political and social obstacles obstruct a dream. These are overcome and the dream becomes reality...and a basis for further Arthur C. Clarke novels. This book is more about the obstacles and human foibles than the sci-fi. If you like that, you'll like the book.

science based science fiction

This book feels like it is rooted in what is possible. It is an excellent story about humanity.

Clark At His Best

Here is a sci-fi story that will not disappoint. It builds slowly, but the prelude to the "real story" is important, so just enjoy and be patient- the story is well written beginning to end.

Give this one the "100 page rule"

You need to give this one the "100 page rule" and you will be rewarded with a good story. The first several chapters are pretty tough to read because you are given lots of details, names and places about a place that you don't even know why you care about it yet. About chapter 9 it takes off and you begin to fully understand the context. I really enjoyed this book. Since I live in the Puget Sound Area there was a nice surprise mention of galloping Gerdi....the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse.

slow start but a great story that still holds up.

interesting mixture of religious myths and technology. a little too much religious fiction at the start

Truly engaging

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Arthur Clark is so adept at bringing complex science to the masses and the concepts in Fountains of Paradise is no exception. The idea seems so audacious and futuristic that a space elevator could be created that it boggles the mind yet he describes it in such detail and loving attention that I kept thinking "why hasn't this already been done!" I love Clark's fascination with India and how he weaves his own passion for that regions culture and ideals into his books. It brings a depth of flavor to the story that other writers miss telling them with more traditional Anglo-Saxon backdrops. I can feel the spray of cool water and see the splendor of the gardens through his narrative and long to see this beautiful country. Space elevators are now almost common place in science fiction and hopefully someday the idea will have become a scientific reality to bring man to orbit and then to the stars. The narrator was engaging and I loved the flow of his performance, worth listening to again and again.

classic sci fi

This book introduces space elevators. Many mock the idea of such a structure. Still, the story inspired me to dream. It's style reminds me of Heinlein.

The narration was pleasant and easy to listen to.

The gold standard of Sir Arthur's novels

This is a typical Clarke novel, in that the characters are left mostly ambiguous, the story takes place with great leaps of time and space, and the focus is on atmosphere and the awe that was clearly felt by the author as he wrote. It is also typical in being fantastic. Vietor does a good job of narration, though not a stand-out of his. Highly recommended hard-science fiction fare.

liked it

I always feel bad not loving a classic, or something written by a founding father of a genre, but I didn't love it. just looked it ok.