I think the thing about Clarke is that actually he's pretty useless at writing characters. They are always just vehicles for whatever gadget or concept he has. You don't much care about them, and the stories aren't really "deep". It's not Booker Prize stuff.
On the plus side, that means you can just enjoy the invention.
If you've never read one, and want an easy intro, try the short story "The Nine Billion Names of God", which is all in the last line. Take you about ten minutes to read I should think.
Here you go, you can read it for nowt.
urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
All the comments above I think are equally applicable to Asimov, except for him it's not "the gadget", it's "the situation". He's great at creating a situation with absolutely no way out, and then of course...
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