Childhood's End

In a way, this book is the opposite of Rendezvous with Rama. In both books big stuff from outer space approaches, and whereas in Rama ultimately nothing happens to Earth, in Childhood's End ultimately everything happens to Earth. Childhood's End is 20 years younger than Rama, and I found it much harder to like. Although the novel starts promising, the biggest problem I experienced was my growing disbelief. Clarke acknowledges this in his 1989 preface:

When this book was written in the early 1950s, I was still quite impressed by the evidence for what is generally called the paranormal, and used it as the main theme of the story. Four decades later (...) I am an almost total sceptic. (...) It has been a long, and sometimes embarrassing, learning process.

Seen in this light, (...)

Please read the full review on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It.