Tom, a contemporary historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. Tom indeed becomes obsessed. By all logic, the town should have survived, but it didn't and that violates everything Tom knows about history. What's was special about Eifelheim that it utterly disappeared more than 600 years ago? Father Dietrich is the village priest of Oberhochwald, the village that will soon gain the name of Teufelheim, in later years corrupted to Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength across Europe but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, knows science and philosophy, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact between humanity and an alien race from a distant star when their interstellar ship crashes in the nearby forest. It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague.Tom and Sharon, and Father Dietrich, have a strange and intertwined destiny of tragedy and triumph in this brilliant SF novel by the winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award.

    For those of you who are worried about what the neighbors will think, there is what is purported to be an old Martian document which tells us what our nearest neighbor has to say about life on Earth.Later in the book, Clarke goes on to explain the proper etiquette for contacting and dealing with aliens from outer space, or what to do if they get here first...Ranging from the light fantastic to the extremely possible, this collection is divided into five sections: Talking of Space; Outward from Earth; The Technological Future; Frontiers of Science; and Son of Dr. Strangelove, Etc.From Martians to Magi, here is Arthur C. Clarke's unforgettable tour of the Universe - known, unknown and yet to come.