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Arthur C Clarke



I've read Rendezvous with Rama and I'm trying Childhood's End. 2001 Space Odyssey is ranked higher than those two novels but those are the three top ones on Goodreads. I've seen the movie, so I don't need to read that one.

I think it's cool he lived in Sri Lanka from 1956-2008. He was in the military during WW2 and he worked on radar, and also flew and was a flight instructor. He got a first in maths at King's College London. He became a commentator and had lots of shows. He was popular in Sri Lanka and when Heinlein came to visit the military flew them around in a helicopter. He was married briefly but it only lasted 6 months, and he was mostly gay it seems. He went to Sri Lanka because the laws were more lax regarding homosexuality than in England. 

He's in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in KC.


Links

Wikipedia

7 min biography on YouTube


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