Of course, I don’t know how old everybody here is, but It’s kind of shocking to see that people called Podkayne and Enderw24 haven’t read Childhood’s End.
I don’t know if this is normal, but I actually read it as an assignment in High School English. 10th grade, actually. Anybody else? I also read the Hobbit in 12th grade English (different teacher).
I really enjoyed the ending. I thought it evoked a wonderful sense of poignant ambiguity in following the meditations of one human witnessing the transition of the race.
I appreciated Clarke’s restraint in not trying to describe what would be an inherently unknowable state of being, and I was moved by his mournful homage to what humanity has been able to know.
[hijack]
And I was shocked to hear a “Podkayne” talk about having a husband! That name long been fixed in my mind as belonging to a spritely young girl, far too young for marriage. 
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I’m not ignoring you, Podkayne … by the time I got back here, rjk and Steve Wright had the bases covered. Better than I could have managed, too , because I’ve never read Lovecraft. Though I would tend to agree with what Steve Wright said on G.P. It would take some doing to keep up with “Stapledon’s broad vision and intellectual rigor.” It would take … well, Arthur C. Clarke.
Do not slander the Overlords.
That is all.
For you A. C. Clarke fans whom haven’t already heard;
http://www.rendezvouswithrama.com/
over $100 Million budget.
Directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en,etc,…)
Produced by and starring Morgan Freeman
A. C. Clarke consulting on the project
Bleeding Edge Tech CGI
I’m excited!
DarkRabbit
Darkrabbit, color me giddy!
I read this book years and years ago. When the first shot of the first trailer I saw for Independence Day played on the screen, I was excited. “Childhood’s End! They made Childhood’s End!” And then the rest came out. I went to see the movie anyway, and it was god-aweful. (Although I did get laid afterward, so there was at least a little good about that night.) I wish someone had made Childhood’s End as a film (and had done it well) instead of the dreck called ID4.
I read this nearly 30 years ago. Can someone refresh me on the ending. I think I remember it but I’m kinda hazy.
Shhh! We’re waiting for Ender to finish.
Have any of you read Cradle, by Clarke and Gentry Lee? It was written in the 80’s and had a somewhat similar theme. I preferred the ending to that book than that of Childhood’s End. I will forbear to discuss specifics until everyone is caught up on CHildhood’s End.
Gentry Lee! No No Please don’t ever mention him, I still can’t forgive the abortion that was Rama II.
What are you talking about? Rendezvous With Rama had no sequels. It was all a dream, a bad dream! No sequels, I tell you! None! Nada! Zip! Zilch! Zero!
LALALALALALA[sub]I can’t hear you![/sub]LALALALALALA
Just like there were no sequels to Highlander
Brian
Okay, now I really need to go back and re-read the damn thing–it’s been 14 years and I don’t even REMEMBER the ending.
I just remember liking Karellen. Obviously. And now I feel like I don’t deserve my screen name at all.
(grabs keys, heads for book store.)
I liked Rama II. I thought it retained much of the spirit of the original book and expanded on the human scope of Clarke’s original work. I found it exciting and engaging, with very original, compelling characters.
Should a discussion on this be its own thread, or can we talk about this until Ender finishes CE? (assuming that anyone wants to talk about it, that is).
Icerigger, are you an AD Foster fan?
Okay, the hell with Ender. You snooze, you lose, babe!
*** Spoilers Ahoy! ***
What was so chilling about the ending? The transformation of humanity into the unknowable, the unimaginable?
Is this what every parent faces, to some degree? Having a child, something that was once a part of you, grow into something that is its own being? I am not a parent, I’ve never wanted it to be, and after this, I want it even less.
Was it the sinister nursemaids in the form of the Overlords? Boogeymen stealing the children?
When I think back to that scene that made such an impression on me, when Karellen called the children to come to him . . . the children who embraced his alienness without hesitation . . . shudder
YONDAN You are correct, my choice of screen name came down to Icerigger or Ryozenzuzex.
Okay, then, is it too soon to begin discussing the disclaimer which appears in my edition of the book? It reads:
How’s that for a mystery?
Could simply refer to some of the political and philosophical opinions expressed by the characters. Ummm… for example, when Karellen holds his press conference and announces that “The stars are not for man” - I’m guessing this is an opinion which Clarke doesn’t hold himself.
I’m actually in the midst of reading Childhoods End to my 10 yo, just like I did with his older brother before him. It introduces some concepts that kids that age can begin to grasp, with some help. We are at the Boyce party.
In the preface to this edition Clarke states that the “opinions expressed …” bit originally did refer to the idea that the stars are not for man, but that he also means it in regards to the paranormal bits.
Does anyone else see a parallel between individual computers and distributed processing (“The Global Mind”) emergent within networked systems, and the processing power of the individual Overlord vs. the Overmind?
If individual neurons, communicating discretely, can be part of an emergent consciousness incomprensible to the individual units, then can some metaconsciousness be emergent from indidual human minds communicating discretely, incomprehensible to indidual human sensibilties? Can an “Overmind” exist without evoking the paranormal?