Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke

I bought this at a second hand bookstore while waiting to see 2001: A space odyssey at the Astor. This is a short book set in the "not too distant" future, and tells the story of a new colonial conflict between Earth and colonies on Mars and Venus. We see this conflict through the eyes of an accountant from Earth, who has been sent to a Moonbase as a reluctant spy for Earth's interests.

Usually I can't stand science fiction writing. 99 times out of 100 "science fiction" is an excuse to throw all pretext for believability and logic out the window and indulge in anything goes storytelling where scientist==wizard, things are given stupid names because they sound "sciencey" or "spacey" and the "twist" usually consists of impressive sounding nonsensical gobeldy gook to conveniently allows the hero(s) to out science the forces of space Mordor. Never mind that anyone worth talking about (ie, not the Harry Potter lady) who does write about wizards and magic has learnt that in order to create an immersive and believable world you have to establish a set of rules that are consistently applied and can't just be changed to suit your latest contrived plot device. Basically, every time I pick up a science fiction book I'm expecting something written by 35 year old fat Star ____ nerds living in their parents basement for other fat Star blank nerds of the same ilk and usually put down the book 100 pages later wondering why I ever thought it could be otherwise.

This is not the case with Earthlight. Arthur C. Clark does a beautiful job of extrapolating from current technology and describing a world that is both socially and technologically believable. Everyone's actions are precisely constrained by the laws of physics and everything from Sadler's first arrival on the moon base, communication within the base, right up to the climactic space battle are thought through to the tiniest detail create a complete suspension of disbelief.

This is not to say that this is a dry technical book where every action is described in detail with regard to being physically correct. The story of colonial conflict is captivating and would be familiar to anyone born from the 19th century onwards. Alright, I'm sick of ranting, but I really enjoyed this book. It was superbly researched, had a compelling storyline, was paced well and was never dull. This is without a doubt the best science fiction book I've ever read and would recommend it to anyone. I look forward to reading more of Clarke's work.