Tony's Review of Sunjammer

Sunjammer by Arthur C. Clarke is a great science fiction story that takes the idea of solar sailing and turns it into a competitive sport. Like much of Clarke's best work, the science is not simply there as background. It is the reason the story works.

What makes the story particularly interesting for me is how seriously Clarke treats the science. Solar sails were largely theoretical when the story was written, yet the basic concept is very real. Light carries momentum, and given a large enough reflective surface, that tiny pressure can move a spacecraft. Clarke takes that scientific idea and asks what people might eventually do with it. His answer is very human. We would race them.

There are parts that reflect the period in which the story was written, but the central science has aged remarkably well. Solar sailing has moved from speculation into real spacecraft experimentation, making Clarke's vision feel less like fantasy today than it would have when the story first appeared.

A clever piece of hard science fiction that reminds us that if humanity reaches the stars, we will probably find a way to race when we get there. Just as sailing has become a sport for us now.