Some Spoilers Ahead
I enjoyed Rendezvous with Rama immensely, and also plowed
through it in two days, despite reading two other books at the same
time. Arther C. Clarke creates an engrossing world and populates with
interesting mysteries - and to me, the most interesting was the utter
lack of interest in humans, the complete irrelevancy of our actions to
Rama itself. It struck me that alien contact might be like that. We
always assume we'd be the centre of anyone's universe, but we may not be
as interesting to others as we are to ourselves.
Another important aspect
of the book to mention is the complete rationality with which all the
characters act (with the possible exception of the Hermians.) Even the
religious character acts swiftly, decisively, following the chain of
command, and with a mind to issues larger than himself. The commander
embodied this, making decisions that put peace and science above mere
survival.
I might like to think First Contact would be handled
like this, but somehow, I doubt it. But it is interesting to read a book
premised on that idea.
This wasn't an action-based book, but I found it both fascinating and engrossing.
Booklinks:
I read this book as part of an attempt to read all the Hugo Nominees
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