Earthlight Author:Arthur C. Clarke A vivid and realistic novel of the future...The tie that binds...The human race had been born on a unique world...a world loaded with mineral wealth, unmatched elsewhere in the solar system. This accident of fate gave a flying start to man's technology...but it made man dependent on his home world. What were the independent republics on Mars and... more » Venus to do? United in a Federation, they were still dependent on Earth for such essentials as mercury, lead, uranium and modern technology could not survive without them. There had to be a better way...« less