The Fountains of Paradise is a novel written and read for you by Arthur C Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the height of approximately 36,000 kilometers (approx. 22,300 miles). Such a structure would be used to raise payloads to orbit without having to use rockets, making it much more cost effective. Notes written by Buckminster Fuller.
From the back cover: When humanity was about to take its epochal, 1969 first step onto the Moon, the world's most powerful television network picked Walter Cronkite and Arthur Clarke to sit in the broadcasting chairs throughout the many breathtaking hours of that event. Walter Cronkite was a "natural", as America's senior newsman. Why Arthur Clarke? His being for years the most scientific of science fiction writers was not the reason. Here was cosmic reality-we were no longer dealing with fiction. Long before the Russian and U.S.A. military scientists foresaw it, Arthur Clarke had realized that using only enough energy to blastoff and ferry humans over to the greatly reduced gravitational field of the Moon would thereafter require vastly reduced blast-off and ferrying energy to reach any other regions of universe. Arthur Clarke saw that the Moon is our most economically logical launching pad for omni-universe travel. NASA acknowledged his idea and adopted it. Arthur Clarke's scientific speculation is always faithfully predicted on valid but unprecedently daring macro or micro engineering potentials.
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The Fountains of Paradise Read by Arthur C Clarke
Vinyl: VG+ glossy
Cover: VG+ some edge wear and split on top and bottom edges.
SIDE A:
Chapter 1 Kalidasa
Chapter 4 Demon Rock
Chapter 8 Malgara
Chapter 10 The Ultimate Bridge
Chapter 13 Shadow at Dawn
Chapter 26 The Night Before Vesak
SIDE B:
Chapter 47 Beyond the Aurora
Chapter 50 The Falling Fireflies
Chapter 51 On the Porch
Chapter 52 The Other Passenger
Chapter 57 The Last Dawn
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Though Clarke's scientific felicity is quite enough to place him in the number one position of all science fictionists of our times, he gives us very much more than technical feasibility. Arthur is a very sensitive, very wise, very realistic human being. These additional qualities inspire him to people his speculative realizations of human potentials with humans of varying degrees of integrity and social attitudes, from the most selfish to the most generous, from the dullest to the most visionary, etc. So natural are his casts that his 2001: A Space Odyssey made a complete breakthrough into how to realize space age moving picture and television conceptioning. Its unprecedented success made it the prototype of a whole new era of historic cinema successes such as Star Wars, etc.
Arthur Clarke's science fiction strategy is like that of archery. 1) The farther back in history we draw our arrowloaded string, the farther forward we can shoot. 2) The more akin to human experience of our own time are the lives of the ancients, then the more spontaneously acceptable, comprehensible and logical are both the problems and behaviors of the forwardly projected humans in the far vaster cosmic theater.
The more akin to the preferred geographical environment and experiences of Arthur Clarke's own life, the more fascinating are both his speculative historical and tomorrow intercontinuities.
Today, Arthur lives on that jewel shaped Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). He loves it so much, he intends never again to travel away from it.
I am fortunate enough to have been his guest on Sri Lanka, and to have visited Taprobane (pronounced taROB-a-nee) and its magic, awe inspiring Adam's Peak (Sri Kanda), et. al. We flew figure eights around Adam's Peak, the Demon Rock and Ceylon's highest mountain, Pidurutalagala. Below is my own map of Ceylon, including only the locii featured in the story
I have also spent some years thinking realistically about engineering undertakings somewhat akin to those Arthur Clarke incorporates into this moving story and can attest to his thorough respect of physical laws. In 1951, I designed a free floating tensegrity ring-bridge to be installed way out from and around the Earth's equator. Within this "halo”. bridge, the Earth would continue its spinning while the circular bridge would revolve at its own rate. I foresaw Earthian traffic vertically ascending to the bridge, revolving and descending at preferred Earth locii.
I think you will be deeply and unforgettably moved by his Taprobane. I love it. -Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller has been known to many as an architect, a designer, mathematician, poet and cartographer. He is the designer of the GEODESIC film, and designed the United States Pavilion in Montreal for EXPO '67. The author of eighteen books, his nineteenth book will be published by Macmillan early in 1979. At 83 years of age, Mr. Fuller has the longest entry in Who's Who, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968, and has over 40 honorary degrees to his credit. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture, and has been a Charles Eliot Norton professor at Harvard.
A Time-Life editor once asked Arthur C. Clarke about a part of one of his forthcoming books, "What is your authority for this statement, Mr. Clarke?” Arthur's reply was rapid, to the point hot and brevity itself: "I am the authority for that statement." Lest that seem like swaggering braggadocio, it may be necessary for those few who do not know his credentials to indicate that Arthur is not only well-versed in current science but, indeed—and here lies the rub—is about 1,000 years ahead of today in his grasp of what we will become and where we will go.
Arthur C. Clarke was born in England. His prime interest was as it still is: Science. He became the Chairman of the renowned British Interplanetary Society, when to confess to an interest in space was to admit to some kind of advanced lunacy. He began to write for British and American magazines, and his first book was one of the masterpieces of imaginative science fiction, Against the Fall of Night, later re-written as The City and the Stars. Another early book of non-fiction was The Exploration of Space which was offered by the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1952.
More than an author, more than a scientist, Arthur is one of the world's great idea men. Just take a notion of his from 1945 that he developed from concept to mathematical reality, and which became COMSAT, our now standard run-of the-mill synchronous orbit communications satellite some 17 years later. For this ‘notion' Arthur received a Gold Medal from the prestigious Franklin Institute.
By this late date it is doubtful if even Arthur knows how many books in how many languages are to his credit. To mention only a few: Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, the recently published Imperial Earth, the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (Caedmon TC 1504), as well as co-author with Stanley Kubrick of the screenplay of that memorable film.
CREDITS:
Cover: John Schoenherr Photograph of Arthur C. Clarke Copyright © Billye Cutchen
Library of Congress #: 78-741940
© 1979 Caedmon Directed by Ward Botsford
Recorded in Sri Lanka Studio Engineer: A. C. Clarke
Tape Editor: Daniel A. Wolfert SOURCE: FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE, copyright © 1979 by Arthur C. Clarke, published by Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, Inc. New York.
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Product code: The Fountains of Paradise read hot by Arthur C Clarke Caedmon Vinyl Record Album LP TC1606