Reviews for The wind from the sun

The average rating for The wind from the sun based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-15 00:00:00 Harold Phipps In the preface to this book, Clarke states that all of the short stories he wrote in the 60's (and three from the early 70's) are included. There are 18 stories here, most of them quite short but all packing a punch as relevant today as back in the Space Age when they were written. We spend time in deep space, in the deeps of Earth's oceans, and deep within Clarke's amazingly creative imagination. He asks What If? about many topics, and builds answers that make you think. What If a newly installed satellite telephone network took over the world? Dial F for Frankenstein, June 1963 What If the biggest giant squid we know about is just a scout for a true giant? The Shining Ones, December 1962 What If there was only one way to avoid destruction by a rogue Black Dwarf? Love That Universe, October 1966 What If an ancient Intelligence from the far reaches of space has come to the conclusion that something must be done about the illogical signs of supposed intelligence coming from the third planet from the sun? Crusade, October 1966 What If Man could visit Jupiter? A Meeting With Medusa, February 1971 These were the ones I liked best, but my favorite story of the collection was when Clarke asks What If a race of Beings whose ancestors had colonized Earth arrived with the cure for the disfiguring disease that ruined lives and changed history millions of years ago? Reunion, November 1963. I've read this book many times, but I never get tired of it. Thank you, Mr. Clarke!

Review # 2 was written on 2015-04-23 00:00:00 Thomas Riner THE WIND FROM THE SUN brings more sense of wonder from Arthur C. Clarke OK, maybe I'm on a real Arthur C. Clarke kick right now. But after all, he is my favorite SF author, perhaps my favorite author, period. THE WIND FROM THE SUN is a collection of short stories, some of them trivial, others full of the sense or wonder that Clarke seemingly evoked so easily. I didn't re-read this entire volume, instead I concentrated on the more substantial stories. The title story, "The Wind from the Sun," is a suspenseful tale of a race using spacecraft that use only the pressure of sunlight as propulsion. It's also famous for being published only a month apart from a Poul Anderson story using similar themes but a very different storyline. The Anderson story was titled "Sunjammer," and in a further coincidence that was the title Clarke's story appeared under in its magazine appearance. The fact of the stories appearing only a month apart made it clear that one couldn't have stolen the idea or title from the other. I can also recommend "Maelstrom II," which has one of the great opening lines: "He was not the first man, Cliff Leyland told himself bitterly, to know the exact second and the precise manner of his death." Leyland is, after all, in quite a pickle. He was hitching a ride aboard an otherwise unmanned cargo craft being shot from the Moon toward the Earth, but a malfunction sent the capsule heading back toward the Moon with no one to rescue him. Another highlight is "Transit of Earth," in which an astronaut trapped on Mars fulfills his duty to record the sight of the Earth moving across the face of the sun. But the best-known, and deservedly so, story here is "A Meeting with Medusa." A 1972 Nebula Award winner, it concerns an astronaut who pilots an airship down into Jupiter's atmosphere. I don't want to spoil the rest of the story because much of its enjoyment comes from the many delights of the physical world that Clarke evokes with scientific believability and smooth prose. But it's one of my favorites, and I've read it at least three or four times. It would make a great short film. Some of the other, shorter tales here are pretty minor, many of them aiming at humor. The success rate is hit-and-miss. But the four stories detailed above are themselves worth the price of admission.