Review: Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations

Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations by Arthur C. Clarke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is amazing how well, even before the moon landing and the Space Age in general, Clarke's speculative essays hold up for remarkable insight and being a joy to read. The initial, title piece I recall reading as a youth (perhaps in a different anthology) and still the point of view of imagined Martians seeing our rust-inducing atmosphere rich in oxygen and water vapor as a dangerous environment that may preclude much life. This type of point of view reframing I think is beyond entertaining -- it is enlightening. That is the most overtly science fiction contribution. Mostly what we have here is lectures and articles written imaging the future, where Clarke foresaw the internet, wireless communications, etc.: "During the next decade we will see coming into the home a general purpose communications console comprising TV screen, camera, microphone, computer keyboard and hardcopy readout device."

Some of the things he perceived campe to pass by this publishing and postscripts and introductions touch on the accuracy (such as $10 billion to reach the Moon, compare at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_...) and even inaccuracy.

There is some very good mental exercise here in the reframing Clarke uses and the Zen koan-like interruptions to linear thought that he employs, such as bringing in a discussion of the painting "The Blind Girl" and the poem "Blind" by Harry Kemp to illustrate how diffent the experiuence can be for alien life able to see ultraviolet, feel magnetism, etc.


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