This book has the longest history of any I own. Not just the novel itself, but the very copy I just read.
I was a science fiction kid, and so was my older brother, Rick. Rick had some problems in his life, one of which was a lack of respect for the property of others. I know of a period where he and another guy were breaking into houses. Rick thought nothing of helping himself to other people’s things, but he'd have a fit if anyone touched his possessions. I remember an early occasion where he was stealing from our mother’s money stash.
Rick could talk me into anything. He had the idea that we could sneak books out of the school library, doctor them up, and keep them. Me, the little brother, went right along with it.
We’d remove the protective covers and ease off the stickers, but the stamps on the outer edges of the pages were more difficult. He and I would sit in the garage and use sandpaper to get rid of them.
I feel bad about it now. The Statute of Limitations are long past, but maybe I’ll burn forever in Library Hell.
Our mother found the books in a closet, freaked out, and ordered us to return the books. That presented another problem. How would we do that? They were already altered. We both figured we’d only get in further trouble if we gave them back.
I ended up passing books along to my best friend. He kept most of them, while I lost all my boyhood possessions in my turbulent life.
My friend Dennis died a few years ago, and his family eventually contacted me and asked if I wanted his books and movies. Of course the answer was yes.
I got a bunch of great movies and some cool books. About fifty Doc Savage titles, some SF, and other odds and ends. There were a lot of conspiracy theories and flaky pseudo-science books by people like Zecharah Sitchin. The latter ones went to a thrift store. Dolphin Island was among the books he held on to for half a century.
I liked Arthur C. Clarke, especially Childhood’s End, Rendezvous With Rama, and his short stories. I never, however, read Dolphin Island. It appeared to be more of a boy’s adventure story than a science fiction novel.
In a way, it is a boy’s book. We called them juveniles back then. I guess young adult sounds less condescending.
It’s a classic setup. A boy sees a landed hovership in a nearby body of water and manages to sneak aboard and stowaway for an adventure. He gets exactly that. The ship was already having troubles, but it completely breaks down over the ocean and is destroyed.
The boy, Johnny, escapes the sinking ship and floats away on a piece of flotsam. He nearly perishes from sunstroke and thirst but is rescued by the people of the sea.
By that I mean dolphins. They push Johnny along to an island where scientists are conducting research on dolphins and their natural enemies, killer whales. The idea is to find a way to prevent the whales from eating dolphins while making sure enough fish are left for both species as well as the local fishermen.
Johnny fits in well and sees a future for himself on Dolphin Island. The novel culminates in a dramatic hurricane which leaves members of the team in dire medical need. Radios are broken and the nearest island is a hundred miles away.
Johnny turns to his new best friends, the people of the sea, for help.
Dolphin Island is a quick, easy read. Written in the early nineteen sixties, it seems like an obvious attempt to follow in the very successful footsteps of Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile books. Clarke doesn’t quite fill those shoes, but Dolphin Island is a lot better than other books of its type. Isaac Asimov’s clunky “Lucky Starr” series of juvenile science fiction books come painfully to mind.
Arthur C. Clarke was a scientist, a futurist, and an oceanographer. He loved diving and vivid depictions of barrier reefs are the most potent parts of Dolphin Island. I wouldn't call this a mandatory book, but I enjoyed this belated reading.
The research and development of the dolphins and whales are done with electronic impulses. In an afterword, Clarke says that experiments in Electrically Controlled Behavior began in the nineteen thirties, and there were enormous advances by the sixties. He says the process is terrifying, but the doctors in Dolphin Island have benevolent motivations.
That was sixty-five years ago. How advanced is the science now? What means are used to control others? Are the motivations benevolent? I think about how ninety-nine percent of us carry electronic devices everywhere we go. I think about how many people use headphones or earbuds. I’m not the only one to wonder about what smart phones are doing to our brains. How much of our behavior is being manipulated?
Pah. That’s nonsense. Science fiction crap dreamed up by egghead writers a long time ago. Forget I brought it up.
Written by Mark Sieber
I was a science fiction kid, and so was my older brother, Rick. Rick had some problems in his life, one of which was a lack of respect for the property of others. I know of a period where he and another guy were breaking into houses. Rick thought nothing of helping himself to other people’s things, but he'd have a fit if anyone touched his possessions. I remember an early occasion where he was stealing from our mother’s money stash.
Rick could talk me into anything. He had the idea that we could sneak books out of the school library, doctor them up, and keep them. Me, the little brother, went right along with it.
We’d remove the protective covers and ease off the stickers, but the stamps on the outer edges of the pages were more difficult. He and I would sit in the garage and use sandpaper to get rid of them.I feel bad about it now. The Statute of Limitations are long past, but maybe I’ll burn forever in Library Hell.
Our mother found the books in a closet, freaked out, and ordered us to return the books. That presented another problem. How would we do that? They were already altered. We both figured we’d only get in further trouble if we gave them back.
I ended up passing books along to my best friend. He kept most of them, while I lost all my boyhood possessions in my turbulent life.
My friend Dennis died a few years ago, and his family eventually contacted me and asked if I wanted his books and movies. Of course the answer was yes.
I got a bunch of great movies and some cool books. About fifty Doc Savage titles, some SF, and other odds and ends. There were a lot of conspiracy theories and flaky pseudo-science books by people like Zecharah Sitchin. The latter ones went to a thrift store. Dolphin Island was among the books he held on to for half a century.
I liked Arthur C. Clarke, especially Childhood’s End, Rendezvous With Rama, and his short stories. I never, however, read Dolphin Island. It appeared to be more of a boy’s adventure story than a science fiction novel.
In a way, it is a boy’s book. We called them juveniles back then. I guess young adult sounds less condescending.
It’s a classic setup. A boy sees a landed hovership in a nearby body of water and manages to sneak aboard and stowaway for an adventure. He gets exactly that. The ship was already having troubles, but it completely breaks down over the ocean and is destroyed.
The boy, Johnny, escapes the sinking ship and floats away on a piece of flotsam. He nearly perishes from sunstroke and thirst but is rescued by the people of the sea.
By that I mean dolphins. They push Johnny along to an island where scientists are conducting research on dolphins and their natural enemies, killer whales. The idea is to find a way to prevent the whales from eating dolphins while making sure enough fish are left for both species as well as the local fishermen.
Johnny fits in well and sees a future for himself on Dolphin Island. The novel culminates in a dramatic hurricane which leaves members of the team in dire medical need. Radios are broken and the nearest island is a hundred miles away.
Johnny turns to his new best friends, the people of the sea, for help.
Dolphin Island is a quick, easy read. Written in the early nineteen sixties, it seems like an obvious attempt to follow in the very successful footsteps of Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile books. Clarke doesn’t quite fill those shoes, but Dolphin Island is a lot better than other books of its type. Isaac Asimov’s clunky “Lucky Starr” series of juvenile science fiction books come painfully to mind.
Arthur C. Clarke was a scientist, a futurist, and an oceanographer. He loved diving and vivid depictions of barrier reefs are the most potent parts of Dolphin Island. I wouldn't call this a mandatory book, but I enjoyed this belated reading.
The research and development of the dolphins and whales are done with electronic impulses. In an afterword, Clarke says that experiments in Electrically Controlled Behavior began in the nineteen thirties, and there were enormous advances by the sixties. He says the process is terrifying, but the doctors in Dolphin Island have benevolent motivations.
That was sixty-five years ago. How advanced is the science now? What means are used to control others? Are the motivations benevolent? I think about how ninety-nine percent of us carry electronic devices everywhere we go. I think about how many people use headphones or earbuds. I’m not the only one to wonder about what smart phones are doing to our brains. How much of our behavior is being manipulated?
Pah. That’s nonsense. Science fiction crap dreamed up by egghead writers a long time ago. Forget I brought it up.
Written by Mark Sieber
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