The Songs of Distant Earth

I picked this book up in a little used bookstore in Northwestern PA.  To be honest, I picked it up because the title reminded me of the title of George R.R. Martin's tribute to Jack Vance: Songs of the Dying Earth. However, this book bears no relation to that collection or its subjects but it is a very enjoyable read.  Arthur C. Clarke has said it was his favorite of his novels, which is interesting because authors are often unwilling to name their favorites of their work.

The only other Arthur C. Clarke books that I have read before this point have been the 2001 tetralogy. I enjoyed all of them, except for the last one which was really pretty bad.  This book however, was quite good.  The science in it is quite interesting and the new world is close enough to be relatable while still having some distinguishing features.  It is hard to say that there is anything superlative about this book, but there is certainly nothing bad about it.  The parts of the book meshed well to hold my interest and the end leaves it both ambiguous and hopeful.

Where this book really shines, is in its description of the events that had happened before it began.  There are multiple chapters devoted to the history of Earth in this universe and I would love to see a story told of those days.  That perhaps might be a better book than this one.  But, as I have said multiple times before, I am a sucker for a complete canon.

One of the more interesting parts of this book was that (with a small enough population) they had "perfected" democracy. Everyone was informed enough and able to vote on every decision. They did have a president, but they were chosen by random lottery and nobody wanted the job because it was basically just being the master of ceremonies at events and listening to people complain.  That may be the most influential thing I take away from this to talk about later.
Overall, I would give this book a 87%.