In this, which many consider this to be Clarke's best novel, Vannevar Morgan is the greatest civil engineer of the mid-22nd century. Having built a bridge across the Straits of Gibraltar, he dreams of an even greater accomplishment, a bridge to space: a "skyhook," or "space elevator." This will be a cable stretching from the Earth's equator to an anchoring satellite in geosynchronous orbit. First Morgan must deal with the monks who own the ideal real...