Prelude to Space
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
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By:
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Arthur C. Clarke
About this listen
Here is the compelling story of the launching of Prometheus - Earth's first true spaceship - and of the men who made it happen.
Dirk Alexson, chronicler of the greatest space adventure of all time: He was chosen to immortalize the incredible story of the men and their heroic mission.
Sir Robert Derwent, Direct-General of Interplanetary-London Headquarters for the International Space-Flight Project: He was the man who got the mission off the ground and into the pages of history.
Professor Maxton, the world's leading atomic engineer: He designed the huge ship's drive units and he waited with the rest of the world to see if the project would be a success.
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June 1958 issue of If. It was later expanded into the novel of the same name. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
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Related to this topic
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Am Epic Original SciFi Read Worth Your Time...
- By Michael on 07-01-12
By: Greg Bear
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Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
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Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
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Footfall
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.
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Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at Their Best
- By Flatlander on 06-24-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
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The Tar-Aiym Krang
- A Pip & Flinx Adventure
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings - two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers - a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip.
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The First of the Flinx and Pip Novels AT LAST!
- By Chris on 01-20-09
By: Alan Dean Foster
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The Last Man On the Moon
- By: Eugene Cernan
- Narrated by: Eugene Cernan
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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This is the story of a unique American hero who came of age as an astronaut during the few dramatic years when man reached the moon. Cernan's career spanned the entire Apollo program, from the tragic fire that killed three of his comrades on Apollo 1, through the moment when he left man's last footprint on the moon as commander of Apollo 17.
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Yet Another Perspective
- By Shellbin on 12-28-12
By: Eugene Cernan
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Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
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Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
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The Enceladus Mission
- Ice Moon 1
- By: Brandon Q. Morris
- Narrated by: Doug Tisdale Jr.
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In the year 2031, a robot probe detects traces of biological activity on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. This sensational discovery shows that there is indeed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Fifteen years later, a hurriedly built spacecraft sets out on the long journey to the ringed planet and its moon. The international crew is not just facing a difficult twenty-seven months: if the spacecraft manages to make it to Enceladus without incident it must use a drillship to penetrate the kilometer-thick sheet of ice that entombs the moon.
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Robotic performance, potentially interesting story
- By Opa on 02-21-19
What listeners say about Prelude to Space
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jim "The Impatient"
- 04-18-14
PRELUDE
Most likely no other novel has been title so accurately. This was written in 1947, published in a magazine in 1951 and hardback in 1953. It is written before the Apollo missions and reads like a How To Manuel. If you are a Clarke fan, you have to read it ,as it his first book to be published. If you are not a fan or you are just getting started this is not the place to start. It is fairly dry science and since it is before actual space travel, it is wrong in a lot of places. It is hard to write Science Fiction of the near future, as you can soon be proved wrong, that is why you find most sci-fi stories take place way in the future,.
The City and The Stars is my favorite. Most people like the Rama books, as I do too. 2001 is what he is most famous for.
The narrator is great and makes the listening better then reading.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Kevin J. Bouffard
- 03-15-16
Old time SF
A good story and well written, as one would expect from Clark, with good narration. The novel is more interesting for its view of the future, already our past. References to mimeographs and electronics with vacuum tubes amusing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Darryl
- 10-28-12
Another good early Clarke
again a serious novel filled with interesting ideas at the dawn of the "space age". Some ideas are prescient, like the winged vehicle for reentry. Structurally it is similar to Sands of Mars in that there is a writer visiting the site and reporting etc. and getting info explained to him. Early Clarke may be more for his fans, of which I am one, but if you are interested in the early ideas of how all this might be achieved this is good.
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1 person found this helpful
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- CMT Hogan
- 01-02-23
Interesting view into past thoughts
Besides being a good story as one would expect from Arthur C Clarke, this also provides a fascinating view into what the world was thinking of space exploration a decade and change before it happened. So many false assumptions and expectations. But the assumptions at least were not unreasonable given the science of the 1940s. Highly recommend.
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