Doing my Human Nutrition and Dietetics flashcards, will edit this to an insightful comment within a few hours. Arthur Clarke = Badass 1. I think that the planetary politics was realistic in the types and number of viewpoints. Some people will want to study it, some will want to destroy it, and who wants what changes based off their circumstances, but they are the most likely outcomes. 2. I think this book has aged really well. Commander Norton gave me this feeling of kinship with readers of the 'Gentleman-Adventurer' era of fiction. R w/ R is the futuristic counterpart to Allan Quatermain, Phileas Fogg of Around the World in 80 days, and to some extent Bilbo Baggins. As to the level of technology, that was never really my focus while reading R w/ R, because Clarke uses the tech as a means to an end, as a vehicle for characters and story. The tale of the settling of the American West is about a cowboy, not his horse.