Arthur C. Clarke, Beatnik


One doesn't usually associate Arthur C. Clarke with the counter-culture, unless it's that trippy scene at the end of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. But it turns out he had a more direct connection. While he was writing the book that the movie is based on, he was staying at the Hotel Chelsea. While there he became friends with both William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. The latter two writers were part of the beatnik scene, a precursor to the hippies. So it turns out that Clarke, besides being a pretty good scientist and an excellent writer, was a far out dude.

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