The Black Cloud is a 1957 science fiction novel by British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. I read it in ebook format in April 2018 (ebooks are a wonderful alternative for reading older books which might be hard to source in traditional book format).
Published in 1957, the book details the arrival of an enormous cloud of gas that enters the solar system and appears about to destroy most of the life on Earth by blocking the Sun's radiation.
Richard Dawkins, writing in the 2010 Penguin Classics reissue, claimed the novel was "one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written."
The story is grounded in hard science and that is one of the things I really liked. The detection of the cloud is described using physics equations, all of which are included in the book. Hoyle brought his experience and knowledge as the Director of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society into the book. And unlike many science fiction, it is set in the here and now, rather than at some time in the near or distant future. As such, it relies only on what we already knew in 1957 - and that was a lot! This was very refreshing.
This was not a once-off novel for Hoyle. He wrote science fiction novels, short stories and radio plays, and co-authored twelve books with his son, Geoffrey Hoyle. And of course, he was a wonderful scientist.
The novel has a recurrent theme of the duplicity and shallowness of politicians compared with scientists.
You can read an insightful review at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/23/black-cloud-fred-hoyle-review.
Definitely one of my science fiction highlights of the year. From page 1, you can't put it down, and you will finish it in days rather than weeks.
I was reminded of the wonderful book 'The Poison Cloud' by H.G. Wells, part of the Professor Challanger books, surely one of the quirkiest and best series of science fiction around, all written a century ago.
The Dark Cloud is highly recommended.
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