Clarke (with an e) is all about the big ideas, even if the execution can be a little clunky at times. I enjoyed the Childhood's End miniseries adaptation a few years ago, but you could tell that major changes in characterisation etc. had to be made to make it work on screen.

Clarke had a warped sense of humour too e.g. the physical appearance of the Overlords (which I won't spoil) is simultaneously a nod to human history and mythology and a big middle finger to Christian sensibilities and to religion in general. I could say that about the whole book (mild spoiler): religion could not and does not survive in the face of a far grander but weirder reality.