Help: Rendezvous with Rama

[krishna_lit]

I once heard of this book "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C Clarke.. Fortunately I found it at a bookstore recently and bought it and was very exited to read.. (I'm very interested in sci-fi novels alongside other fiction/non-fiction).

But when I started reading the book, it felt very different from what I expected. I'm past ten chapters by now and the most part of the book's pages were about the description of the Rama, the object found in space. No character building was there in the book at all. The conversations are very minimal.. The main problem I'm facing is that I'm unable to visualize the vast descriptions of the surroundings written in the book Actually this has happened to me twice before with Philip K Dick's books 'The Divine Invasion' and 'The Man Who Japed' I'm always being unable to visualize the sci-fi book descriptions... But what to do?? I just can't let alone this genre, I'm interested in exploring sci-fi stuff very much I'm actually depressed because of my this inability

I request you, friends, to please suggest me something that will help me understand science fiction better.... Is there something I need to do to be able to visualize the descriptions from classic sci-fi books?? Anything that can help my situation??

[Vota]

I love this book. Yes, character building and dialogue are practically obsolete. The object, Rama, really is the "life" of the book. That and the adventure of finding and exploring it.

Now, as for your problem. You may not be a highly imaginative person. I do not mean this as an insult. Creating a mental image of something that doesn't exist in the real world may be, and always be difficult for you. The best I can do is say, pay close attention to the details that he does give you about the color, size, and shape of the environment. If I recall correctly, the environment was not that intricate in it's layout or look, but elegant in it's hugeness and barren disposition. Coldly withholding it's deeper secrets.

Try to associate what he does give you in description, to the best of your ability, to things at least remotely comparable in the real world. If he mentions size, consider the size of a football field or baseball stadium. A football field is 100 yards long. If you are told Rama(making this number up here) is half a mile high, and 2 miles in length, then all I can say, is that your mental picture should be something FRICKIN HYOOGE in size. The back wall in a construct that big would be a tiny dot way off in the distance.

That's about the best I can offer. I absolutely love, love, LOVE quality science fiction and fantasy, but it takes a very visual and imaginative nature to fully absorb what these types of books have to give.

I personally used to read nothing, but sci-fi and fantasy. I eventually came to the conclusion that I was limiting myself. I also came to learn how much I missed in books I had read in the past because I was so good at immersing myself into the story and actually being there, that I would miss many details, many allusions, many hidden meanings and symbols. Even more, there were many terms I completely glossed over, and aspects of books I completely missed do to my lack of understanding and education at the time I read the work. I have to make sure I pay close attention to detail when I read. I think what you need is to try the visualizations I mentioned, and perhaps try to let yourself go more when reading sci-fi and fantasy. Let the story suck you in. Become a part of what is happening, instead of an outside observer. There are science fiction works that are rather deep in concept, and to an extent these promote a certain distancing of the reader from maximum immersion, but I do not believe Rendezvous With Rama is this kind of work based on my dusty recollections.

That's about all I can say. Hopefully it was useful to ya.

[krishna_lit]

Thank you so much Vota... Your response is really going to be a great help and a motivating factor for me.. I found out the things I need to do enjoy those books to the fullest

[Calidore]

Just like most every genre, there are many different subcategories of science fiction, plus every writer has his own style. If Clarke and Dick don't work for you, try someone else. Don't take it as a failure on your part if someone isn't to your taste.

There are many "best of" anthologies of sci-fi stories out there. Check out some of those to find authors you like.

[mentallyblind]

Try to associate what he does give you in description, to the best of your ability, to things at least remotely comparable in the real world. If he mentions size, consider the size of a football field or baseball stadium. A football field is 100 yards long. If you are told Rama(making this number up here) is half a mile high, and 2 miles in length, then all I can say, is that your mental picture should be something FRICKIN HYOOGE in size. The back wall in a construct that big would be a tiny dot way off in the distance.

Scaling up is good advice. You can also think about the distances directly. If intersections in your city are 1 mile apart, think about how far you have to walk to reach the next intersection. If the height of the wall is 1/4 that length, that it wouldn't be a dot but actually a large plane you could easily see. So thinking about the complete structure is a good way to check your details.

That's about the best I can offer. I absolutely love, love, LOVE quality science fiction and fantasy, but it takes a very visual and imaginative nature to fully absorb what these types of books have to give.

Your visualization tips are good, but you don't really need to visualize to appreciate sci fi. Hard sci fi is all about the exploration of science and technology in fiction. To appreciate a Clarke story about starships racing with solar sails, you don't really need to see the sails, you need to understand the technology. You need to get that they're mile-long rotating sheets of mylar held taught by centrifugal force, propelled by light pressure from the sun. You can have an accurate spatial sense of the sails and understand these details without seeing any images at all. Still, its great if you can visualize. It'd certainly make the story richer.

[Sido]

I personally love novels by Arthur C. Clarke, and have read and enjoyed the book you mentioned and its sequels. However, just as Vota mentioned, the character building and conversations are virtually nil in them. And if you are new to sci-fi, even though you normally have no problem in visualizing scenarios in books, this could make you feel lost, confused and even make you lose interest in the book.

Trust me it's perfectly natural and you are certainly not the first person to go through that

What I would suggest is that, instead of jumping right into novels, try reading sci-fi short stories written by this author and others. For example if you could find it, try reading Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke or I, robot by Isaac Asimov.These will allow you to ease in to the genre and familiarize you with it.

Or if you still want to read novels, try out books like Enchantress from the stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl which is a combination of sci-fi and fantasy but is presented in a less dense manner.

Oh, and you are right not let alone this genre , because once you get familiarized with it, you will find that sci-fi is one of the most interesting and fun genres around

[kev67]

This is interesting to me. Arthur C Clarke is one of the greats of Sci-fi, but I have never read any of his books. I considred reading Rendevous with Rama, but eventually settled on The City and the Stars, which I have not started yet. I think Arthur C Clarke was very good at the science, but not so great on characterization; however, all I have to go on is the film, 2001. The hero of that film had basically no personality, despite being the perfect professional engineer.