Excerpts: McAleer on Clarke

Excerpts from
Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography
By Neil McAleer

This page: Foreword by Sir Patrick Moore

Permission to reprint these excerpts was granted to MysteryVisits in 2004 by Neil McAleer. MysteryVisits is proud to be able to make this material available online. For the full account about Sir Arthur, however, please obtain the complete book, published by Contemporary Books (Chicago USA) and Victor Gollancz Ltd. (London UK).

Foreword by Ray Bradbury
Foreword by Sir Patrick Moore – This page
Preface by McAleer
Chapter 1: New Moon over Somerset
Chapter 28: 1984 [Part One]
[Part Two]
Photos of Sir Arthur: May 2004
Editorial reviews

Return to introductory page

Foreword by Sir Patrick Moore to the British edition,
titled “Odyssey: The Authorised Biography of Arthur C. Clarke” [Order the U.K. edition through Amazon.co.uk.

Mention the name of Arthur C. Clarke and what comes instinctively to mind? One of two things, probably: the first idea of the communications satellites which have become so vital in the modern world, or the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The first of these shows Arthur in his role as a scientific prophet, the second in his alternative guise of a scientific prophet plus fiction writer.

At right: Sir Patrick Moore

In fact, Arthur is in many ways unique. He is an excellent scientist in his own right, and equally skilled as a writer, but he has been able to do more than combine the two; he has blended them together, true, but has also added something extra which marks him out from everybody else.

He has had a varied career. During the war he served with the Royal Air Force with distinction (and in this book I read wryly about his involvement with FIDO; I once brought an aircraft in that way, and it is not something I would want to do very often, to put it mildly). It was soon after this that he made his classic contribution to Wireless World, which will never be forgotten, and also began that series of remarkable books which took us not only to the Moon and the boundaries of the Solar System, but further out in both space and dimension. I suppose that everyone has his (or her) ‘favorite Clarke’. Dare I give my own? It is, I admit, The Sands of Mars, but I know quite well that Arthur has written books of much greater importance than that; I am bound to be prejudiced, as an astronomer with a special interest in the Red Planet!

Many of his predictions have come true, though when he made some of them, in his earlier days as a writer, they were regarded as far-fetched. I venture to suggest that many of his later predictions will prove to be equally close to the mark, even though we may not know for several decades yet – in which case neither Arthur nor I can hope to be around to judge. But I believe that anyone of the year, say, 2080 who reads Neil McAleer’s biography will realise the wisdom of what Arthur proclaimed.

It is significant, too, that his work has had a great influence not only upon ‘the general public’, but also upon officialdom and even upon Governments. He has received many honours and will receive more in the years to come – and he richly deserves them, because his contribution to human progress has been so great.

I have spent many hours with him over the past half-century or so, and I have been privileged to broadcast with him, both on ‘steam radio’ and on television. He is above all fluent, but you always know that when he begins a sentence he has something worthwhile to say. Some may disagree with him, but nobody can suggest that he is not talking eminently sound sense.

This is Arthur’s first biography, and Neil McAleer has performed his task splendidly. He has given us an accurate, readable and enthralling account of Arthur’s career, and he has carried out a tremendous amount of research.Many of the other great characters of the Space Age are here, ranging from Wernher von Braun, Willy Ley and Hermann Oberth, to Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin; all these have been anxious to pay tribute to him as one who has been an inspiration. I can speak with authority here, because I too know (or knew) them – though in most cases probably not as well as Arthur did. And all the way through Arthur Clarke’s personality shines through; though he has never himself ventured into space, and though he has made no major scientific discovery, he will be remembered with respect and with great affection long after most of his contemporaries have been forgotten.

I am honored to have been asked to join in this tribute to one of my most valued and long-standing friends.

Patrick Moore
June 1992

© 1992 by Patrick Moore

Biography of Sir Patrick Moore.

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