# Any Athur C. Clarke books that DON'T end with mystical mumbo-jumbo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2005, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873 "2005-08-20T11:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/1 "2005-08-20T11:37:34Z")
I won’t spoil it by mentioning the titles, but I’ve read two and they both end in psychic phenomena and so forth. They had their merits, but I didn’t like the endings that much. Are there any that are more straightforward sci-fi? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/2 "2005-08-20T12:01:15Z")
His short story collections come to mind. The space station ones and the moon landing ones. Oh yeah, and the tales from the Whirt Hart shorts. Still, it’s his style, more or less, to get all wavy about cosmic topics. Even in many of his shorts or even if it’s simply in passing. It’s Clarke’s schtick. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/3 "2005-08-20T13:21:38Z")
Rendesvous with Rama steers clear of the mystical mumbo-jumbo, as I recall. The sequels, however, are to be avoided at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/4 "2005-08-20T14:46:16Z")
**A Fall of Moondust** ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/5 "2005-08-20T16:14:12Z")
[Imperial Earth](http://www.sfreviews.com/docs/Arthur%20C.%20Clarke_1975_Imperial%20Earth.htm) is pretty much straightforward sf. One aspect of its conclusion has a bit of a “big picture” theme to it, but is nonetheless based on classic sf kind of speculations and response. I haven’t read it for years, but a couple of things that I remember from it were his accounts of what we would now call a PDA, plus the internet: I’m now living in the future that made me say “cool” when I read about it in a sf novel. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-athur-c-clarke-books-that-dont-end-with-mystical-mumbo-jumbo/317873/6 "2005-08-20T17:39:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Rendesvous with Rama steers clear of the mystical mumbo-jumbo, as I recall. > > The sequels, however, are to be avoided at all costs. And stay away from Cradle. I got through the Rama books but I could not slog through Cradle. Gentry Lee just lays the religous stuff on a bit too thick. It’s only a little more annoying then ACC’s complete hostility to religion in some of his later books.