# Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/rendezvous-with-rama/ 12 people recommended Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke in Hacker News comments, 7 had mixed feelings and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 2 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 11 of the 12 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Rendezvous with Rama”. **Verdict:** People recommend it for its vivid, truly alien vision and its grand, evocative scenes. Critics often say the plot goes nowhere and the characters are thin. Summary written by Claude from 24 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Favorite read from youth (3 comments in the sample): "I owe Rendezvous a lot though; had I not discovered that book as a kid" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316304)) "one of my favorites as a teenager" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47315988)) "still one of my favourites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316885)) - Truly alien, inscrutable setting (2 comments in the sample): "Rama is truly alien, inscrutable and fulfilling a purpose we don't get to understand." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316368)) "What hit me when I read Rama in the 1980s is how alien it all was." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319996)) - Vivid, grand scene visualization (2 comments in the sample): "I absolutely love Arthur C. Clarke's style of helping you visualize the grand scenes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316085)) "one of the most evocative books I've read by Clarke" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47317532)) ## What people warn about - Plot goes nowhere (2 comments in the sample): "nothing much happened and the story didn't really go anywhere interesting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316118)) "the book did not seem to go anywhere" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316180)) - Weak characterization (2 comments in the sample): "interesting mystery/plot, poor characterization shared with all of his work I have read" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316223)) "Arthur C. Clarke's characters were cardboard cutouts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49964720)) - Disappointing reveal and ending (2 comments in the sample): "When it's revealed that the reason was quite ordinary and kind of distasteful to modern human sensibilities, it's kind of a let-down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318738)) "It was a great story, right up until the lack of an ending." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47316913)) ## Other science fiction novels people recommend - [Blindsight by Peter Watts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blindsight/): 78 recommend, 18 mixed, 23 criticize - [Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/children-of-time/): 64 recommend, 1 mixed, 4 criticize - [Accelerando by Charles Stross](https://hackerapproved.com/p/accelerando/): 63 recommend, 7 mixed, 8 criticize - [There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-is-no-antimemetics-division/): 57 recommend, 34 mixed, 28 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rendezvous-with-rama/ (12 recommend, 7 mixed, 7 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.