Title Rendezvous with Rama / Arthur C. Clarke.

SRP 2011 REVIEW: This short book about an alien cylindrical sphere that passes by earth's solar system won the Hugo and Nebula awards for Sci-Fi and certainly lives up to that reputation years after its publication in 1972. Like 200: A Space Odyssey, the author juxtaposes the awesome scale of alien intelligence with that of humankind and the plot moves slowly to a interesting if now dated climax that reveals too little about Rama's builders but enough to keep us thinking. And hence the Rama book series. The geometrically accurate rotating cylinder piqued my imagination and the eclectic cast of characters made the this alien visitation highly believable; I felt like I was one of the brave explorers to land on Rama.