"This reviewer laughed out loud when reading it, a result Clarke may have intended. ®"

I doubt that very much, George. Do you think you lost the point of the plots along the way?

Don't worry though, Bletchley/Hanslope Park type boffins will carry y'all into a Brighter Future. Think Orange AIgents 42 give yourself a clue as to what is going on around you.

Clarke will have to go a long way to out-laugh Matthew Reilly, whose heroes pilot 747's down lift shafts and have to defuse doomsday devices whilst locked inside tanks that have just been pushed out of a plane by neo-nazis...