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Rendezvous with Rama
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams...and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits - just behind a Raman airlock door.
BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, who explains why Rendezvous with Rama will make the listener "feel both humbled and exhilarated at the same time".
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Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1973
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Featured Article: The best audiobooks about aliens for curious humans
Throughout the history of storytelling, we humans have been curious about the possibility of worlds beyond Earth and its inhabitants. Thanks to our endless fascination with extraterrestrial life, there is a mountain of literature, from novels to memoirs, exploring the potential outcomes of interacting with creatures from other planets. Without further ado, here are 20 of our favorite listens about alien life.
Related to this topic
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2001
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Don MUST Die
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Performance
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Story
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Food for Thought
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Proxima Rising
- Proxima, Book 1
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- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Late in the 21st century, Earth receives what looks like an urgent plea for help from planet Proxima Centauri b in the closest star system to the Sun. Astrophysicists suspect a massive solar flare is about to destroy this heretofore-unknown civilization. Earth's space programs are unequipped to help, but an unscrupulous Russian billionaire launches a secret and highly-specialized spaceship to Proxima b, over four light-years away.
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Story is great, format is not
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Prelude to Extinction
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- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.
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Don MUST Die
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By: Andreas Karpf
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Triplanetary
- By: E. E. Smith
- Narrated by: Edward Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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-
-
Doesn’t hold up as well as some in the “test of time” . . . 😱
- By David D. Schneider on 11-21-20
By: E. E. Smith
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The Medusa Chronicles
- By: Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first human astronaut to explore the atmosphere of Jupiter - and a combination of human ingenuity and technical expertise brought him back. But he is no longer himself. Instead he has been changed into an augmented human: part man, part machine, and exceptionally capable.
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Almost stopped listening. Glad I didn't.
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The Skylark of Space
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
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Space Operas - Good Story telling!
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Earth Strike
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There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point. But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary - by total annihilation if necessary.
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Forget the Characters, Just Bring on the Action!
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The crew of Moonbase Columbus makes an amazing discovery on the far side of the Moon - a massive alien structure is erecting itself, built up atom by atom by living machines, microscopically small, intelligent, and unstoppable, consuming everything they touch. The mysterious structure begins to expand and take shape, and its creators begin to multiply. Is this the first strike in an alien invasion from the stars? Or has human nanotechnology experimentation gone awry, triggering an unexpected infestation?
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Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style
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At the turn of the 22nd century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to journey to neighboring exoplanets long known to harbor life. A team of these explorers, Ariadne O’Neill and her three crewmates, are hard at work in a planetary system 15 light-years from Sol, on a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds.
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"Gay & Lesbian"?!? This is solid Sci-Fi
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Altered Starscape
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The year is 2162. Thirty-eight years after first contact, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair leads the Tellus Ad Astra on an unprecedented expedition to the Galactic Core, carrying more than a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and AIs. Despite his reservations about their alien hosts, St. Clair is deeply committed to his people - especially after they're sucked into a black hole and spat out four billion years in the future. Civilizations have risen and fallen. The Andromeda Galaxy is drifting into the Milky Way. And Earth is most certainly a distant memory.
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painful
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By: Ian Douglas
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Seveneves
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A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
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Twenty years after the discovery of artificial wormholes launches Earth space exploration to unforeseeable heights, Starplex Director Keith Lansing investigates a mysterious vessel that soon threatens the station with intergalactic war.
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Under the guidance of James Calvert this nuclear submarine had navigated through polar ice packs, braved atrociously cold conditions, and broken through layers of thick ice to arrive at their destination; the northernmost point of the world. This mission, however, was not just about completing a seemingly impossibly feat of Arctic exploration. It also had huge implications for military strategy during the height of the Cold War.
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Great moments in Submarine history.
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Liam Saunders-Chang is one of the last humans left on Mars. The son of two scientists who have been racing against time to create technology vital to humanity's survival, Liam, along with his friend Phoebe, will be on the last starliner to depart before Mars, like Earth before it, is destroyed. Or so he thinks. Because before this day is over, Liam and Phoebe will make a series of profound discoveries about the nature of time and space and find out that the human race is just one of many in our universe locked in a dangerous struggle for survival.
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Great story, great narrator
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Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at Human-Puppeteer (Citizen) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacks is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from.
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On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.
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A Definitive Summary of Our Manned Space Missions
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What listeners say about Rendezvous with Rama
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Readalot
- 12-01-08
Great book and very believable
I hesitated to buy this book because of the date it was written/published. I thought it would be very dated, etc. But, I was wrong: although, you could get picky on some of the references. I imagine now, that the way the book describes the encounter is pretty close to accurate, if Rama was friendly. My only complaint is the narrator for a couple characters was pretty much mono-toned. Hope this helps, JWP
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22 people found this helpful
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- NorbReviews
- 02-21-16
Great science fiction, but could use better characters
If you like hard scifi, this is definitely the book for you. The story was intriguing, and the pacing wonderful given the--ironically--down-to-earth nature of the story. (By which I mean, aside from the extra solar ship showing up, nothing else was really all that theatrical, and certainly I found no unnecessary theatrics.)
My only complaint were the characters. I really wish they were a bit more colorful. Certainly. The Rama Committee was more interesting than anyone on the ship.
The reading, though clean, was pretty stale, which my accentuated the lack of great character development.
It's easy to see why this is a classic, but it's also not unreasonable to point out its flaws, from an entertainment standpoint.
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 12-11-17
Alien contact without "take me to your leader"
Rendezvous with Rama is a classic by Arthur C Clarke that deals with alien first contact. Set in the future, when space flight has led to settlements throughout the solar system, a mysterious object arrives like an asteroid or comet, but clearly from well beyond the bounds of Sol. A manned mission is sent to investigate and the crew finds an artificial, but seemingly lifeless construct. While they have limited time due to orbital mechanics, the crew gradually uncovers evidence of alien lifeforms, but are never able to discern the true nature of the object.
Clarke was certainly exploring the bounds of "alien-ness" to such an extent that humanity lacked the ability to truly understand what lay before it. The "spaceship" seemed designed for long term interplanetary travel, but without a clear purpose. The aliens possessed quite advanced technology, both in terms of devices inside the craft as well as its unique propulsion system. While many suggestions are offered for the purpose of the ship, the possibility that it represents a type of roving pyramid seems most appropriate. Conceptually, the story is quite engaging and compelling, but Clarke really skimps on character development, although he seems to have accurately reflected the competitive nature of the scientific community.
The narration is quite good with a solid range of voices, with reasonable pacing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- B
- 02-24-11
A glimpse of fantastic.
Still mysterious 23 years after first reading. What power and supremacy might exist "out there"!
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- Joshua
- 04-23-13
My six year old reads better
Would you try another book from Arthur C. Clarke and/or Peter Ganim and Robert J. Sawyer (Introduction) ?
Yes I like the way this book is written and it has a good story line.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Rendezvous with Rama?
No real memorable moments the book in general was good. I just wanted to bash my brains out because of how slow the reader was.
How could the performance have been better?
The guy needs to learn to read a little better before trying a book that a lot of people listen to.
Was Rendezvous with Rama worth the listening time?
Not quite done yet but the story is definitely worth the slow moaning of the reader.
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- M M
- 10-04-22
Don’t listen to the haters.
So I saw a LOT of people saying the narration ruined it, and was bad and this that and the other thing. It aaaaalmost stopped me from picking this up, but I’m really glad I went for it anyways. Is it the best narration you’ll ever hear? No, it’s not. Does it ruin the book? Not even a little bit. It’s still and incredible book, the narration is steady, easy to listen to, and overall still a very enjoyable experience. If you have the time and inclination, you might consider reading a copy instead of listening, but for those limited on time, I would only ask that you try the sample, and form your own opinion. Personally, I think it’s well worth it.
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- goddess_of_pipework
- 05-07-16
Great book, not-so-great narration
Rendezvous with Rama is truly one of the greats of the hard-core SF genre, and deserves each of the awards it won. If it has a weakness, it is that the characters are somewhat two-dimensional.
Sadly, the narrator does it a grave injustice. His voice is a near monotone, breathing no life whatsoever into the characters. And his pronunciation of "Rama" truly, truly, truly ANNOYS. I wish it could be re-done with a different narrator -- Scott Brick, perhaps, or James Marsters?
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- Brett
- 10-29-12
One of the Classics
What made the experience of listening to Rendezvous with Rama the most enjoyable?
I remember reading this as a young man and loving every chapter for the wonders it brought into my mind. I went on to read the others in the series but they just never held the magic Rama 1 had. The story is epic, the narrator unfortunately did not match my mental image of the voice of Rama, no fault of the performer! I'm giving it only 4 stars for performance because the narrator through out the entire book seemed distant and uninterested in the grand scale the story tells and a more dynamic reading would have added so much more depth!
What was one of the most memorable moments of Rendezvous with Rama?
when Rama wakes up, the lights go on and the crew is stunned into almost falling off of the "stairway". I wonder what my reaction would have been?
What does Peter Ganim and Robert J. Sawyer (Introduction) bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
A little background, but too self promoting for my taste. This book is Clarks, don't interject your own writings however accomplished.
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- Grace Ausley
- 02-14-16
Great in its Day
I finally got around to listening to this classic, and I must say - not bad. If I had read it years ago when I was younger, I probably would have been much more impressed. However, compared to today's knowledge and standards - where we constantly have to "one-up" everything else, the novel just doesn't quite feel ambitious enough. That it won so many awards back in its day is a testament to its quality, as well as the fact that it does hold up fairly okay compared to other contemporary sci fi novels, but I didn't find anything here that hasn't been redone by many other science fiction authors that, unfortunately, I've already read before this one.
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This is the second arthur C. Clarke book I've read
I read this about a year after reading childhood's end. As someone who is under 40, its a little difficult simply because so many films have borrowed so many ideas from Arthur C. Clarke's works. But I still found this a very enjoyable book, much like Childhood's End. There was never a dull moment in it and I was 100% satisfied. Wasn't crazy about the narrator, but it wasn't bothersome- I just played it at x2 or 1.5 speed and it was fine.
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