Earthlight

This is another member of the small collection of paperbacks that I had over my bed in my early teens. They were all re-read multiple times, including this one so I have fairly clear memories of it reinforced by flicking through the SF Gateway Masterworks edition that I bought recently.

I really enjoyed the book at the time, it was an exciting story that, despite the central conflict, painted an optimistic picture of humanity’s future in space. Looked at now there are some flaws, which must be acknowledged. Despite being a futurist by trade, and inventor of the geostationary communications satellite, Clarke seriously under estimated the progress of technology in science and personal lives – his characters still develop astronomical photographs with chemical baths in the dark room, and punched cards are still a common place item. These are minor points easily remedied.

More problematic is the almost total lack of female characters, or indeed anyone other than white males (something that was much better handled in, for example, Rendezvous with Rama).

The story structure itself is interesting, initially we follow an accountant sent to audit the finances of a lunar observatory but actually coerced into spying for the earthside intelligence services. What starts out as a spy thriller then switches viewpoint to two of the astronomers who take a lunar rover on a barely illicit trip to a secret installation, and find themselves in the middle of a space battle.

The viewpoint switches again to the post-battle events in space before jumping forwards in time with the accountant (unsuccessful as a spy) trying to tie up the loose ends.

It is a clever structure that keeps us close to the action and gives us a good look at how life on the moon might work, be lived, starting with the outsiders view and switching to the “old hands” in the lunar rover.

Overall I think this still holds up well, only the social mix and some of the technologies would need to be updated to turn this into a good film.