Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous with Rama. NY: Bantam Books, 1973 (originally published in 1973 by HBJ). 303pp. $6.50 (paper). 73-3497. ISBN 0-553-28789-3. C.I.P.
Every science fiction book gives us a mental adventure in the story itself and permits us to explore the abilities of the author to conjure up alien creatures, places, concepts, thought. Some authors are content to merely describe the green bug-eyed monsters and the consequences of human interactions with them, be they belligerent or benevolent. Some test the reader's credulity by introducing devices or weapons or spaceships that operate far beyond the limits of the known laws of physics. Still others probe the mental processes of alien forms, via inference or telepathy, or by blundering about among alien social structures and mores. All such subjects are fair (and sometimes all-too-standard) game for science fiction writers. But I find special delight in science fiction that presents a fascinating story, well interwoven with realistic scientific explanations of the phenomena involved, and that invokes no arbitrary, ad hoc scientific "laws." This book, published in 1973, is one of Clarke's best. It has an abundance of suspense, perils, and wonderments in the exploration of the huge, unoccupied spaceship that plunges into the solar system from far beyond. Although no sentient forms appear to be aboard, there is an amazingly imaginative array of self-perpetuating robotic forms (biots), each designed to perform a specific maintenance chore and presumably have been doing so for the countless millennia that the ship has been traveling from somewhere in the stars. Although the fabulously complex design and engineering of the ship-the how-is vastly beyond human concepts, it remains within the realm of scientific possibility. However, on the other hand, the why is discussed and debated at length by humans throughout the solar system and left tantalizingly hanging. A classic.—Edwin Roedder, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
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