Merry Christmas with Arthur C Clarke: Book Review

Amazed once again by the rich imagination of Arthur C Clarke as an idea-driven Sci-Fi writer... Just read the second para below (only if you are in a hurry) and get your mind blown!!

Firstborn, the first intelligent species to ever evolve in the in the Universe, despite of their objective to preserve and nurture all other evolving intelligent species, decide to end humanity for greater good. For this, a massive gas giant planet (15 times the mass of Jupiter) from star system Altair (16 light years away) is chosen. By complicated orbital mechanics, with minimum energy using comets and asteroids, this Jovian is slingshotted out of the system at 5,000 kilometers per second towards us.

After a thousand years, the gas giant races into the solar system, on a trajectory directly into the Sun. The year on earth is 4 BC. Three sages, who call themselves "the magi" watch this 'comet' in awe and start following it. The planet crashes into the Sun, causing temporary yet strong magnetic storms, which in turn stimulate religious experiences in the brains of earth's population. Meanwhile, with magnetism messing with the neural networks, a baby born in a shabby cottage in Bethlehem begins seeing visions he could not understand...
The crash itself starts a series of oscillations at the core of the sun, whose complex interference pattern is going to peak two thousand years later, in April 20, 2042 CE, resulting in an monstrously huge sunstorm that would thoroughly sterilize earth. The novel is about how humanity faces this threat. Absolutely mesmerizing.

Merry Christmas guys.... 😛

First posted on Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/abarajithan11/posts/10207020316017828