Books: Arthur C. Clarke Dead -- World Awaits His Rebirth as a Starbaby

Arthur C. Clarke, one of the premier science fiction writers and one of the inventors of the geostationary telecommunication satellite, has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

Clarke saw himself as a popularizer and cheerleader of the possible technological advances of the future in his science fiction writing. Yet he often introduced a deeply spiritual bent into such classics as Childhood's End and 2001. He said famously "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

His prescience and championing of space travel have been credited as boons to both the American and Soviet space programs. Ultimately he envisioned space travel as technological advancement used for the good of mankind, a way to balance the cosmic books against warfare.