It was a pity that there was no radar to guide one across the trackless seas of life. Every man had to find his own way, steered by some secret compa… - Arthur C. Clarke

All that had gone before was not a thousandth of what was yet to come; the story of this star had barely begun.

No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges — absorbing but never creating. Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day? Soon people won’t be living their own lives any more. It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!

“You’re not too heavily laden, Professor. What are those documents?”
“Star charts,” he said firmly. “The true treasure of our civilization. A few books too—oh, what a horror it was that we were not able to empty the libraries! For once a book is lost to the ice, a little more of our past is gone forever. But as to my personal effects, my pots and pans, I have my own troop of slave bearers to help me with all that. They are called graduate students.”