I am currently listening to Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke. I first read this book 30 years ago when it was only 25 years or so old. Now it is over 50 years old. Perhaps the most interesting thing for me is not the suggestions of what 21st century would be like but rather the social conditions that lead to vision. So we have the characters still smoking, and one of the main character had to travel from South Africa to London to look up some information - rather than Googling the problem and coming up with the answer in seconds.
The language it self is also fascinating. It is very male orientated, man this and man that. Men were working and women - well they don't seem to. Perhaps the most jarring to our ears is the description of black people. They are called Negroes. This description seems to fit in the text of book but somehow it still jars.
One final thing. Clarke's descriptive skills are superb, especially when compared to his unbelievably stilted conversations between the characters. Again this may be a result of the passage of time but this could be said of Bronte sisters or Dickens. However, it has to be said as I am sure you are aware, I am no literature expert.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
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