2001: a Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey Series)

When you consider that most films are derived from books, and this book is the opposite. The book was written after the screenplay for the movie was done. (Any true SCI-FI buff knows that.) This book may be one of Arthur Clarke's best books. It does a great job of fleshing out the characters of the movie, and gives some really great understanding of motivations of the civilization that left the monoliths,

I am proud to have my first edition hard back in my personal library, and I recommend this book highly to any real Sconce Fiction aficionado. And if you have not seen the movie lately in HD do so. For a movie from the late 60's it is GREAT.

It is too bad our political leaders failed us so badly after the Apollo Missions.

Arthur C Clarke's 2001 is probably his most famous book to date due to the remarkable movie made by Stanley Kubrik, but it is definitely not his best. To me, it is written in the same vein as his earlier novels such as Childhood's End and the City and the Stars, but for sheer majesty of language and relevence today, 2001 cannot stand up to his previous works.
I agree that 2001 was an extremely enjoyable and oftentimes thought provoking read. However, this cannot disguise the fact that several portions of the novel have not dated very well. The portions about the NASA scientist's flight into orbit and docking at moonbase seemed rather mundane in the face of recent technological developments, though admittedly at the time of publication, 5 years before the moon landing it must seem spectacular.
Much more successful are his descriptions of the dull monotony of the mission to Saturn, which ultimately ends in disaster. HAL 9000 is enigmatedly wrought and even at the end we are still unsure of whether he indeed developed intelligence.
To me, the most successful portion of the novel is the ending, which is truly awe inspiring. I found his descriptions majestic, so much so that I myself had difficulty envisioning such wonders.
2001 is definitely a thought provoking read. Clarke makes us wonder as to the nature of evolution with his revelation that humans received extraterrestrial help in prehistory. We wonder if man is to advance further, he must receive help from the stars.
It is true that 2001 develops rather slowly, but I rather liked the way it was written, slowly revealing the answer to the monolith, only for us to uncover even more enigmas. The ending is rather enigmatic and for me chilling, when the starchild mirrors moondancer's words at the end of the first section of the book:
He was now the master of his world. He did not know what to do, but in time he would find out.

First and foremost, I'll say I have not seen the movie. Only thing I knew going in was that the movie is a classic, and HAL turns evil. Needless to say, I had some surprises waiting for me.

What I enjoy about good science fiction is how the author can make the most fantastical events seem not only possible, but downright plausible. Compared to say, Star Wars, space travel in 2001 is difficult, slow, and impossible when looking at moving beyond the reach of our own sun. This all is shaken when an alien artifact is found on the moon, and is indisputably declared 3 million years old.

Oh, did I mention 3 million years old? Let me back up a moment. The book starts 3 million years ago. Forget the 10,000 years Asimov spans with his Foundation series; here we've got 3 million crossed in the span of a few opening chapters. It's an enjoyable bit, watching as aliens effectively guide the evolution of man, alerting them to the ideas of tools, and therefore inescapably, warfare.

Of course, here I am expecting some sorta space shuttle with a killer AI program, and instead I get cavemen and alien objects on the moon. Loved every second of it, too. I want good science fiction to give me ideas, things to ponder over or wonder about the implications. An alien object waiting for us on the moon, which gives out a signal when dug up? What does it mean? Is it a warning? A guide? Will spaceships arrive to Earth, and if so, in how long? Will they be friendly? Ready for war? Or do the aliens even still exist 3 million years later? What sort of empire could endure for that long, what with us silly humans ready to nuke ourselves into dust within a few years of actually launching into space?

Anyway, the HAL segments actually intrigued me the least. Maybe by now I've just read and seen too many rogue AI stories to be surprised by this one. From what little I know, this segment is much longer in the movie, and given the variety of topics covered in the book, this is probably the strongest and wisest area to expand.

It's after HAL is disconnected that things get really interesting. I'm sure there are plenty who don't like the ending, but I LOVED it.

*spoiler*

Gimme big. Gimme epic. Gimme a reprogrammed man with god-like powers arriving at Earth, blowing up the moon, and floating amid the debris trying to decide just what to do with his new home. That image is awesome, the potential stories following incredible.

*/spoilers*

Was the book perfect? Naah. Slow at times, outdated in others, and its emphasis on difficult, yet tedious and uneventful, space travel had more implications when every shuttle launch was a risk. Myself, having grown up with Star Wars and Star Trek, enjoyed this like a breath of fresh air. This was an adventure in a space filled with mysteries and implications, and I was glad I came along.

I recently heard the audio-book of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's a fascinating story about man's first encounter with alien intelligence, and seems relevant today where the creationism vs. evolution debate still rages. Clarke throws in his unique explanation of human intelligence. Almost 40 years ago, I saw the move and was completely lost. Then I read the book, and loved the fact that I finally understood the movie. After that, I revisited the movie, and loved it. I cannot say what I would have thought of this novel without having seen the movie first. If you are going to read the novel, plan to see the movie before and/or after. Arthur C. Clarke was actually supposed to write a screenplay, but found that he needed to write the novel in order to contribute to the screen play. And so viewing the movie is integral to the 2001 experience. While humans are not traveling in space as much as Clarke anticipated, I was amazed at how much the author anticipated the role of computers and technology in the future he envisioned back in the late 60's. This novel is a classic worth picking up. It does not have a dated feel to it. It's fun.

This is one of the greatest books of all time. The Author wrote this with the most brilliant image of space travel and horror mixed into a highly top secret discovery mission. This is one of the only books I could say that I understood it for its fullest and I would like to reccommend it to anyone who loves a highly intelectual and errie plot. Author C. Clarke wrote this book with hardly any dialouge and the book has one of the greatest plots and is the most interesting book os all-time. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a look of human evolution and the becoming of man to a discovery on the moons of mars. I also like the way the author made it an Odyssey and not just an ordinary investigation of a discovery. It was a very scarry book and made me (the reader) think a lot about the coming of man and the discovery and technology we are hoping to see as a race. The book is excellent along with the movie. I would say the book explains more about the mission and the adventure and danger of the space travel to the moons of Saturn. The movie was concidered a masterpeace the book is a thing of art and understanding. If you love books which are unspected and very mind visioul i would get this book as soon as possible the book is one of the greatest science fition books of our time and of any time. It is a sure masterpiece. Also a book you will enjoy and think about.

I saw Kubrick's film (1968) several years ago and I thought it was simply too ambiguous to understand or appreciate. However, the novel clarified things greatly.
Granted that some of Clarke's ideas have been falsified (e.g. in the novel, the Chinese visit the Moon three times by 2001, over 30 nations have nuclear weapons, a permanent base is established on the Moon and the Soviet Union still exists), the novel still remains remarkably plausible. Clarke thought that the space race of the 1960's would continue at the same feverish pace throughout the late 20th century, alas, he was wrong. It is true that the International Space Station is due to completed soon, there have been no further manned ventures to the Moon. Clarke is the typical writer of Golden Age science fiction in that respect.
The description of Discovery (the space ship of the novel) is entirely realistic with its limited food reserves, sublight speeds, hibernation and A.I. computer that controls the ship. The computer that runs the ship, HAL 9000, was well executed in the novel and the sudden betrayal of the computer is explained much better than in the film...<Clarke explains in the introduction that was completely coincidental and that HAL stands for Heuristically ALgorithmic computer, it is nonetheless amusing to compare HAL to Big Blue and the general suspicion that many people seem to have that big corporations are evil. That said, the fall of HAL is beautifully explained in the novel and compared to the film, which if I remember correctly, simply has HAL suddenly attacking with no explanation.
My overall impression in comparing to the novel to the...It strove to evoke wonder but it failed because it was simply too mysterious. The ending makes much more sense; it is amazing how much difference narration makes. There does seem to be a theme in Clarke's works of humanity maturing and then growing into something completely different (e.g. see Clarke's "Childhood's End"). In both works, humanity, under the guidance of aliens, transitions into immaterial existence and fondly regards it time on Earth as an adult looks back on his childhood.
However, the ending in the novel drags somewhat due to the lack of dialogue. Clarke has obviously done some research into astronomy for he describes stars, and other astronomical phenomena with great accuracy. Yet, it feels like it is degrading into mysticism laced with astronomy.
It is an interesting novel and it is a good treatment of a perennial SF theme; first contact with aliens. The aliens of the novel are loosely described as paternal as one of the most memorable passages of the novel says, "And because, in all the galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers of the stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped." (pages 243-244)
Given a choice between a grand, ambiguous film and comprehensible novel, the choice is clear.

2001: A Space Odyssey is the quintessential science fiction book, filled with both inspired visions of the future and startling philosophical questions about humanity's place in the cosmos.
At the core of the novel is humanity's connection with an alien intelligence. The novel begins with primordial man encountering an alien intelligence--an encounter that would forever change human history. Several thousand years later, evidence of this alien intelligence (a black monolith) is discovered on the moon. The monolith, and its mysterious radio signal directed towards Saturn, compels mankind to initiate an interplanetary journey to the distant planet to uncover the monolith's origins and meanings. Unbeknownst to the human crew, only the ship's onboard computer (the HAL 9000) has full knowledge of the journey's actual mission. The final parts of the novel pit the human crew against the "self-aware" HAL 9000 computer. In a stunning conclusion, the true meaning of the monolith and man's connection to it are both exposed.
This is a fascinating book that reads surprisingly quickly. Clarke is masterful in his details and paints vivid pictures for the reader throughout the novel. Beyond the interesting and provocative story-line, 2001 constantly asks the reader to think deeply and philosophically about humanity's place in the universe. Clarke beautifully captures the scientific and intellectual spirit that has driven humanity throughout the ages (from primordial man to intergalactic man).
Most people are more familiar with the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001" than with this novel (the novel and screenplay were written at the same time). A careful reading of this book (preferably before seeing the movie) provides invaluable insight into what many perceive as a perplexing and convoluted movie. The novel more clearly explains and connects the plotlines and allows you to more fully appreciate the cinematic masterpiece that 2001 is.
This is a great book for anyone interested in science, science fiction, futurism or related subjects. I do believe that the book does hold valuable meaning for general readers as well because of its philosophical roots and because of its place in the annals of science fiction greatness. And for all those people who are confused by the movie, pick this up and read it--it will be sure to shed some light on the subject.

Arthur C. Clarke's monumental novel 2001: A Space Odyssey is top-notch science fiction that more than earns its spot among the greatest works published in the genre. Reading the novel is quite a different experience from watching Stanley Kubrick's wildly famous movie adaptation of the story. The movie is far too abstract and vague for my tastes, concentrating more on visual wonders than sound plot development. Many of the questions left unanswered in the movie (along with some questions and answers the movie never even addressed) can be found in the novel, and this made for a much more rewarding and satisfying 2001 experience for me. Moviegoers had to wait sixteen years to learn the real story of Hal's failure, but Clarke explains it (and in more detail) in the pages of his original 2001 novel. There are actually a surprising number of differences between the novel and the film, which strikes me as somewhat strange given the fact that the book was inspired by the idea of the film; as a matter of fact, much of the writing took place during the film's production, and Clarke has said that some movie shots led him to make changes to the novel as he was writing it.
The story begins in the ancient past, providing much more detail about the appearance of a huge black monolith on earth and its deliberative interference with the man-apes of the area. The film fails to convey the overwhelming impact of the alien monolith on the evolution of life on earth, and that is one important reason why I find the film too vague. The events of Clarke's first few chapters are of great importance in one's understanding of the story, and all the facts become clear in this book. One will also find some major differences between the novel and the movie in terms of the setting of the final events. In the novel, the crucial mission goes to Saturn, whereas the movie takes us no farther than Jupiter; this doesn't change anything really, but Clarke has said that Kubrick made the right decision and saved him some embarrassment from making a visual representation of Saturn that later failed to hold up to more recent scientific discoveries about the ringed planet.
Many of the crucial events onboard the Saturn-bound spaceship Discovery also differ significantly between book and movie. Clarke's exposition of the growing doubts expressed by Captains Poole and Bowman over the performance of the onboard supercomputer Hal works much better than Kubrick's lip reading explication, and there is a lot more information provided here about the whys and wherefores of Hal's troubling and duplicitous actions. The pivotal events of Hal's takeover of the ship play much better in the book as well, and the events as described here are actually much more exciting and convincing than the events you see in the film. The novel concludes with a much more revealing look at Bowman's journey beyond Saturn into infinity. Here, Clarke even goes into some detail about the creators of the monoliths, which is a topic the movie never really addresses at all.
In the end, the novel is just much more compelling than the film, and for that reason I would recommend watching the movie before reading the book. Kubrick intentionally left his film rather vague and open-ended, and a reading of the much more compelling and informative novel may well rob you of whatever small joys you might otherwise find in the film. In the same vein, the paucity of answers in the movie does little to detract from one's enjoyment of and fascination with the novel.

A scientific expedition uncovers a tall black monolith, purposefully buried below the moon's surface. Exposure to sunlight triggers a powerful radio signal from the mysterious object. NASA determines the signal's destination: Saturn. Although, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey centers around the discovery of unquestionable proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, what is truly being commemorated in this science fiction classic is mankind's own investigation and realization of the wonders around him. In an age when so many other authors of speculative fiction were predicting nuclear extinction, Mr. Clarke took a very different stance, presenting a goodhearted, intelligent mankind ready to tread that final frontier and meet with what or who received that signal. From the account of man-apes using rocks and sticks as the first tools and weapons in the story's prelude to a human being looking down at an unexplored planet through the window of a space craft in its later parts, every vividly painted scene of this incredible novel seems to gasp at the scientific accomplishments of mankind and our potential for even greater enlightenment. Mr. Clarke believes that we are ready to join the other intelligent denizens of the universe and he wrote a heavily contemplative dazzler of a novel explaining why.

This book is subject to many interpretations, and that alone makes it a great story while it also tends to send people off arguing their own points. I'll try to stick to just one in this review, the one I believe is central to enjoying this book. 2001 (book) reveals more of the details of the story than the movie and that there are some differences (going to Saturn in the book, Jupiter in the film, as an example). This doesn't effect the overall read, but I thought it important to point out that the two (book/film) are different enough to be confusing. Many people have seen the film, or parts of it, and that can bring some to seek out the book and others to wonder why they would bother. The story is of Biblical proportions not only in the sense of the widest timeline in a movie (over 3 million years) but that it covers mankind's history without resorting to a long narrative, but by book ending history or in essence - their is no middle story. Man's destiny is outlined in rather 'dry' terms with little detail. Our ancestral relatives are mysteriously guided by the first monolith and we assume this leads us to our intellectual evolution as the 'bone weapon' becomes a space ship (that's from the movie). No time is wasted explaining the change, you just have to accept it. The second monolith, buried on the moon as a marker for us to discover, assuming we did evolve, sets off the two major parts of the story - Mankinds' curiousity vs. his need for secrecy, which is portrayed by the ignorance of the astronauts to their 'real' mission and the hidden knowledge of the on-board computer entity the HAL 9000. The characters are very flat, as is HAL, and that partly distracts the reader from realizing that technology itself is the central theme. This story is a warning about the inhuman direction that mankind is making with technology. Why wouldn't the actors be dull? We are diluting the individualism of mankind even now. I'll dare say that Kubrick intended to expand on the dryness of Clarke's stories (The Sentinel, for one) so as to remind us of mankinds' foolish dependence on the technology we surround ourselves with. I mention the movie here as it reveals how the collaberation with Clarke had influenced the book. Clarke wrote this novel in tandem with his input on the movie screenplay and besides, Clarke is well known for taking on big issues instead of filling out characters. Back to the story. The malfunctioning of HAL leads to the final shedding of any human element in the story by simply discarding all but one of them. From here on, you experience the story through David Bowman. Victorious over HAL, Bowman has no one to share his final life experience with. The huge monolith, orbiting Saturn, leaves Bowman with a final mission - before he dies, find out what he can. Curiousity wiining out over survival, which seems impossible. This leads to a trip through 'unknown space', a place so 'alien' that Bowman cannot interpret what is going around him. Being nearly driven mad, he is left to viewing some last remnants of his race before he is transformed. Here the book better explains, without revealing any reason or purpose. Bowman is left, in a form he can get his mind around - an infant in space - to contemplate mankind's future. A not so subtle reference is made to the elimination of nuclear weapons. So, the end of the book, which in itself can be interpreted many ways, shows that a superior presence may yet guide us to a better future.
This is only one, of many, interpretations I have had of this book/movie since I first read/viewed it, back in '68. The title is, or course, very dated, but it still harks of a future yet untraveled. I found the trip through this book even more 'mind-expanding' than the visual ride through the Jupiter monolith in the movie. So, it is because this story has so open an interpretation that it excels and also tends to baffle some readers and disgust others. It is in the 'not answering' the questions that I give this book 5 Stars. If Clarke had succumbed to giving the reader his own interpretation it would have poisoned the very 'mystery' the book had built. After all, how can you describe something that could be God or a future human species, or anything else in between? Much less give a reason for their actions that would make sense to us mere humans.
2001 is a great read that will leave you thinking the ultimate thought - your very existence. The fun is in the trip, not the destination.

I'm 21 and haven't seen the movie. Yeah yeah, I know, I know. Am I the only one? So I've heard all this hype about the movie, and I always see the book at local bookstores, so one day I just picked it up.
This is an awesome book. It reminds me of Carl Sagan's "Contact" in a way. Actually, it reminds me of so many other science-fiction books...which is probably because so much of our outer space culture is based off of the ideas in this book.
This book is a classic. It really is. It talks about issues that Man probably thought of a while ago, but never had the technology to actually think of doing it. Like cloning...the book mentions cloning organs, so people with heart/lung/tissue damage can live. Then it goes further, saying: Is that all we can do to help ourselves live? What about bionic skin? What about instead of putting one artificial organ into us, why not put one of our organs into something artificial -- like our brain into a machine? Then we'd live (or our thoughts would live -- what else are we?) for a much longer time.
But this is just one of the MANY concepts the books goes into. I can't say enough about this book, except that I can't believe I still haven't seen the movie yet. I doubt, even though all I've ever heard was wonderful things, that the movie can even halfway compare with the book.
*reminds himself to add Clarke to the new favorite author list.*

2001 is a much different work of science fiction than any other of its time or since. There are no ray guns or aliens in it, no spectacular space battles or things more associated with Star Wars or Star Trek, where science fiction is concerned. All the action in this book is a showdown between a human, astronaut David Bowman, and the life-like computer, HAL. It almost seems as if, throughout the whole book, the most human character ends up being HAL himself, witnessed by his last words as Bowman tries frantically to disconnect him. So the other characters were a bit static in a way, like Heywood Floyd for instance, but I can live with that.

His premise of the development of mankind is fascinating to say the least--that we were "enhanced" by an alien species and owe our early survival to them. This is truly a unique and groundbreaking work of science fiction, much better than anything anyone else could have written. But I take off one star for the lack of "humanness" in some of the characters.

2001 may not have arrived exactly as Clarke planned, but maybe 2050 will be as he described in this book? It makes one wonder, if only the Apollo program were not stopped short...

**Some Spoilers!***

Love how Clarke uses factual science like the most obvious crater on the moon to house the monolith, the tycho crater, as well as the very strange Saturn moon that has an all white side, Iapetus. How more obious can an alien make it for us to make first contact by keeping monoliths in the center of these obvious places? Besides the changes from jupiter orbit to the Saturn moon as staging grounds for the stargate I found the book to be similar to the movie/ book "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Not sure if you've seen or read, but i think Carl has read 2001. His story involved his character going through a wormhole to end up in a familiar earth environment (the beach) as well so as to be comfortable. Very similar here although in 2001 it is a hotel room, from that point however the stories change. A signal from deep space was sent to earth in Contact and from the moon monolith to deep space in 2001.

I did know that Bowman became something more from watching the sequel 2010 but not from 2001. Wonder why Kubrik left all that out.

Reading 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time nearly 50 years (!) after it was written I found it the most visionary and uncannily prescient work of science fiction I have ever read. The world in 2001 as envisioned by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the conceptual science he put forth with regard to space travel, technology, astronomy, computer science and even the international political landscape, his forecasting of the next millennium was so predictive that one might be led to think the book was written at a time more contemporary to the date in its title. Having had the pleasure of recently having met and spoken in person to Dr. Steve Squyres, the leader of the ACTUAL Mars rover missions (a modern day Dr. Heywood Floyd if you will) makes me appreciate even more the uncanny accuracy of Arthur C. Clarke's almost clairvoyant vision of space exploration and how closely it has been borne out in reality. From the principles of propulsion, navigation and gravitational maneuvering in space, to the technological advances in computer science and electronics, to modern archaeologically derived knowledge of the evolutionary history of the human race, the book is replete with examples of such prescient science fiction writing that if one is not paying close attention one may almost mistake its spectacularly intuitive imagination for mundane factual details. Beyond the science, foreseeing global political events such as an amicable end to the Cold War (please remember how inconceivable this was at the time of its writing) and the emergence of China as a competing world power and a peer to the Western powers in space exploration add to the prophetic nature of this work. It is a literary masterpiece that has lived up to the much overused cliche of being "ahead of it time", to such an extreme that it belies its classification as a work of "science fiction" and reads more like a work of contemporary "fictional science" writing. 2001: A Space Odyssey defies the narrow limits of genre, or indeed of literature itself. It is more than that: it is a prophesy of the stars.

. . .serious science fiction novels ever written. This reviewer has to agree.
From a beginning 10 million years in the past, to the "creation" of whatever it is that David Bowman becomes, 2001: A Space Odyssey grips the reader and doesn't let go.
Much has been said about this book; and I'm not going to re-hash what other reviewers have written. I just wanted to add a few thoughts:
1) In the third novel in this series "2061: Odyssey 3" Clarke admits what became evident in the second book (and in the original movie). There are significant differences between the book and the movie, most importantly, the replacement of Jupiter for Saturn as the destination of "Discovery". While Saturn's moon Iaptus was a more "believable" destination (and location for the Monolith) the story could not have been sustained over several novels.
2) From a perspective of 35 years later, it is interesting to see Clarke's perspective of the "Cold War" and how it would affect man in space.
3) Clarke's theology is present in this book -- and only becomes more clear throughout the subsequent volumes. It is an utterly humanistic theology centered on the evolution of mind. Nevertheless, there remains still hints of the transcendent (also visible in several of Clarke's other novels) which clearly disturb the otherwise cold rationality of his thought.

I have seen the Stanley Kubrick film of the same title hundreds of times before I decided to read the book. As the opening credits in the film state, "Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke". Because the movie and the book were written simultaneously, I never thought the book would be much different. Once I began reading, however, I was stunned at how wrong I was, where in fact there was more than I dreamed of. What the movie could not convey, or maybe even did not want to convey was exposed in the writing. Clarke writes with clarity and passion; not just for writing, but also science as a means of expressing ones own existence. That existence being the ultimate question of man's relationship with the universe and the environment he has created for himself. The book is existential as well as mystical: scientific as well as theological: revaltory as well as inquisitive. The story follows the same track as the movie, yet with inner dialogue of the apes on Earth and their first meeting with the Black Monolith, describing how the impact of this clean, smooth, black mystery impacted their means of survival through the use of weaponry and tools. Following some 2001 years later into deep space towards Jupiter we meet H.A.L., another enigma that similarly impacts man and his ability to control his fate or destiny. For anyone who has seen the movie, the book will not surprise you as far as the generic structure of the story, yet Clarke's handling of the subject completely unknown at the time is simply startling.
Published in 1968 (a year before landing on the moon), Clarke dedicates this book to Stanley Kubrick. Likewise, Kubrick made a similar gesture with his film. This new edition includes some thoughts on the year 2001, as well as a small write-up on his relationship with Stanley. Highly reccomended.

Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey

Roc, Paperback, 2000.
12mo. xx, 297 pp. To Stanley - In Memoriam [v-vi] and Foreword to the Millennial Edition [vii-xviii] by Arthur C. Clarke, 1999. Original Foreword, 1969 [xix-xx].

First published in 1968.

Contents

To Stanley - In Memoriam
Foreword to the Millennial Edition

Foreword

Part One: Primeval Night
Chapter 1: The Road to Extinction
Chapter 2: The New Rock
Chapter 3: Academy
Chapter 4: The Leopard
Chapter 5: Encounter in the Dawn
Chapter 6: Ascent of Man

Part Two: TMA-1
Chapter 7: Special Flight
Chapter 8: Orbital Rendezvous
Chapter 9: Moon Shuttle
Chapter 10: Clavius Base
Chapter 11: Anomaly
Chapter 12: Journey by Earth Light
Chapter 13: The Slow Dawn
Chapter 14: The Listeners

Part Three: Between Planets
Chapter 15: Discovery
Chapter 16: Hal
Chapter 17: Cruise Mode
Chapter 18: Through the Asteroids
Chapter 19: Transit to Jupiter
Chapter 20: The World of the Gods

Part Four: Abyss
Chapter 21: Birthday Party
Chapter 22: Excursion
Chapter 23: Diagnosis
Chapter 24: Broken Circuit
Chapter 25: First Man on Saturn
Chapter 26: Dialogue with Hal
Chapter 27: ''Need to Know''
Chapter 28: In Vacuum
Chapter 29: Alone
Chapter 30: The Secret

Part Five: The Moons of Saturn
Chapter 31: Survival
Chapter 32: Concerning E.T.'s
Chapter 33: Ambassador
Chapter 34: The Orbiting Ice
Chapter 35: The Eye of Japetus
Chapter 36: Big Brother
Chapter 37: Experiment
Chapter 38: The Sentinel
Chapter 39: Into the Eye
Chapter 40: Exit

Part Six: Through the Star Gate
Chapter 41: Grand Central
Chapter 42: The Alien Sky
Chapter 43: Inferno
Chapter 44: Reception
Chapter 45: Recapitulation
Chapter 46: Transformation
Chapter 47: Star-Child

===========================================

You know, there are those books after reading of which one is never the same again. Those are the books that transport you into another time and another world, or another times and another worlds to be more exact; they provoke you, shock you, charm you, seduce you; they destroy tons of ideas you thought imperishable, but they also create myriad of new notions to replace them. After the last page the entropy in your head is close to the maximum, for there numerous facts, feelings, theories, hypotheses and what not relentlessly occupy your brain until you are almost driven crazy. Then it calms - until the next reading, which causes the same mental hurricane until descriptions such as ''literary classic'' or ''science fiction'' start looking unbearably shallow and stupid. For me, Arthur Clarke's ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' is precisely that kind of book. Which is why I surmise its review would prove a trifle too much. Well, let's see.

But please remember: this is only a work of fiction.
The truth, as always, will be far stranger.
[Foreword.]

If you are brave enough to open this book, you will immediately be thrown three million years back, until the times when some of the earliest predecessors of Homo sapiens trod on the African savannas. There Moon-Watcher, as the smartest and the most accomplished among his fellows, is chosen to be the beginning of the future mankind, no less. The evolution of the human race is the goal of a grand experiment, and obviously a successful one since the vast scope of human civilisation passes in the blink of an eye: from the momentous discovery of the hunting and the fire, through the typical for man endless wars, all the way to the development of the nuclear weapons. Finally, a 2000-year-old dream comes true and man reaches the Moon, not only that but he actually colonises it. Dr Heywood Floyd is a scientist who is accustomed to working with periods of time that are lost in the mist of the past, but on the surface of the Moon, or a little below to be exact, he is confronted with a mystery that has a lot more to offer than immense time scales - extraterrestrial intelligence.

You want a break? There's no time for that! Instead, you are sent in the open space, on the board of the spaceship Discovery and in the company of the astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole - and of course the board computer HAL 9000, a last-generation highly intelligent machine that can navigate the whole ship independently and make conversation with a voice very much like human's. The mission of Discovery, at least the official one, is to reach the mystically beautiful Saturn, perform scientific measurements for 100 days and then become a dwarf planet; no matter that Saturn already has no fewer than fifteen of these, one of them as big as Mercury. But things turned out somewhat differently. Going through one almost personal tragedy, a merciless fight with an inhuman opponent, the receiving of some totally incredible - literally - news from Earth and, finally, one creation of unimaginably advanced mind, the space odyssey of Dave Bowman will take him beyond the boundaries of the wildest imagination and most abandoned fantasy, where the spirit is relieved from the chains of the flesh. In case you wonder what Moon-Watcher, Heywood Floyd and Dave Bowman have in common, I'll only tell you that this is one mysterious monolith, black and absorbing light to the point when it looks almost immaterial, with ideally smooth surface and perfect proportions 1:4:9, which had been left by a civilisation advanced enough to explore the space in times when our predecessors thought that to reach the Moon one simply has to climb a higher tree.

Arthur Clarke is the man with a genius for writing and all-embracing erudition who mixes scientific facts, daring hypotheses, vivid characters and dramatic events in a cocktail that once read is never forgotten. His brilliant writing style combines in a most subtle manner lots of popular science, including enough astronomical figures to a make one dizzy, with suspenseful action that may often take your breath away. On the top of all that, philosophical digressions that invite you to look deeply into some of the darkest corners of your soul are not missing either. As a special bonus, there is of course Arthur Clarke's delicious sense of humour. His sarcasm as regards the mental capacity of our ape-like ancestors or his sharp irony about the life at zero gravity - from the buoyant walking to the eating in sticky sauces and the peculiar use of the toilet - are hilarious and unforgettable. One can laugh one's head off a good many times and one can learn a great deal of interesting tidbits from the world of astronomy, but what really makes 2001: A Space Odyssey a truly great book and an outstandingly powerful experience is the fact that in mere 300 pages - duodecimo format - you can immerse yourself in three completely different worlds: man, the technology invented by him and an extraterrestrial intelligence way too sophisticated for us even to start to comprehend its wonders.

''Would you like to go to Earth?''
Her eyes widened with astonishment; then she shook her head.
''It's a nasty place; you hurt yourself when you fall down. Besides there are too many people.''
[Chapter 10.]

Man. For three million years he has conquered and nearly completely devastated the Earth; but mere half a century after his first foray into space, he has already founded colonies on the Moon where the first generations ''Spaceborn'' come into existence. Since the Moon's gravity is six times weaker than the Earth's, the moon people grow twice faster but age twice slower than their earthly fellows; curiously, their attitude towards their former planet is most frankly expressed by a four year old girl (who looks as though she's eight). The Moon episode in the book is an excellent opportunity for a little nostalgic glance back to the Cold War, and we can also remember what is the difference between mass and weight, but that's just about all of its significance. Man already looks much further in space, towards Saturn and Jupiter, and with the stupid arrogance typical for him thinks that, if he knows something about hibernation and plasma drive, the space will immediately reveal all of its ancient secrets. There's only one thing that the Master of the Earth has not foreseen: the danger that comes, not from the outside, but from the inside - from his own creations.

''Poole and Bowman had often humorously referred to themselves as caretakers or janitors aboard a ship that could really run itself. They would have been astonished, and more than a little indignant, to discover how much truth that jest contained.''
[Chapter 16.]

Technology. Without doubt the favourite baby of mankind, with ever-increasing abilities, especially in the field of computers, technology constantly surprises even the most optimistic. Generation after generation, the intelligent machines become faster and cleverer, more powerful and more versatile, with stunning achievements which fascinate people rather than scare them - perhaps it should be the other way around. For some very difficult and very dangerous questions are bound to arise, and no one can give certain answers to them. Can a computer think? Can he be enthusiastic? Or make a mistake? How does one fabulously intelligent machine perceive human values, feelings, nightmares - honour, responsibility, pain, death? Nobody knows. We can at best speculate about these matters, yet is it not a little too naive to leave a human life entirely in his power? In the midst of the vast interplanetary desolation, a single space ship is too small for two brains, one of them electronic. (Can he be vicious?) The collision between man and machine is inescapable. It is bound to be epic and grand and merciless. The time and the place cannot be predicted, but we would do well to be prepared - otherwise the Earth may well communicate with the next aliens on behalf of somebody else.

''And this at once raised another problem: could any technique, no matter how advanced, bridge the awful gulf that lay between the Solar System and the nearest alien sun?''
[Chapter 32.]

Extraterrestrial intelligence. Every man with IQ above 30 has asked himself ''Are we alone in the universe?'', and though many may reply boldly ''Of course not!'', very few of them probably really think so. Because small talk to kill time and boredom is one thing, but to find a solid evidence that proves the existence of alien civilisation light years ahead of us in terms of technology - that is quite another story. Under such circumstances it becomes most obvious how pathetic the nature of Homo sapiens really is. (''Wise man''? Is this a joke?) The eternal and enormous human vanity - the essence of our minds - has such astronomical proportions that it knows no boundaries even in the open space. All right, aliens do exist. In this case, they must be human-like and therefore slaves of the flesh; if anybody thinks differently, he is promptly ostracized and put in the despised guild of the spiritualists. Our skull's internal volume is supposed to have increased significantly since the times of our ape-like ancestors, but in the half-empty space there prejudices and preconceptions still reign supreme; an epic narrow-mindedness that would have been amusing, had it not been pathetic instead.

We are strange creatures, the humans: we always care much more for our bodies than for our spirit. No, this is not some lousy sermon for the salvation of your miserable soul. Far from it. But, seriously, how often does any of us manage to break the bondage of the flesh and feel the real power of the human spirit? Very seldom - if ever. I even doubt if there are such people in the history of mankind at all, people who really have succeeded to detach completely their spirits from their bodies and achieve at least an illusion of freedom. The famous conditions of nirvana or the contemplation of God by the mystics sounds rather trivial in this case, almost silly; about methods such as sex, drugs and rock'n'roll I needn't talk at all. The artistic creation is perhaps the only human activity that can make some feeble claims to have ever achieved an absolute freedom of spirit, if only for a short while. But do you really want to know what that is, what such a fabulous liberation from the slavery of flesh, so that time, space and matter are of no consequence anymore, really is? Ask Dave Bowman. He knows.

''But the barriers of distance are crumbling; one day we shall meet our equals, or our masters, among the stars.''
[Foreword.]

''2001: A Space Odyssey'' was first published in 1968, by way of being a result of Arthur Clarke's collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on the screenplay of the movie with the same name; the movie is so stupendous a failure in every aspect except the visual one for its time, that it really doesn't deserve a single sentence of its own. Later the great British sci-fi writer published three odysseys more: 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), 2061: Odyssey Three (1988) and 3001 The Final Odyssey (1997); even the worst of these - the last one - is thoroughly readable and highly enjoyable, but even the best one among them - the second - lacks the epic grandeur and philosophical depth of the original odyssey. But one should always bear in mind that ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' gives a lot - from the global psychology of mankind, through the chilling depths of the electronic brain, finally to the ultimate release of the human spirit from the severe limitations of the flesh. But this is a book that asks a lot too. It asks from the reader his full intellectual potential and the most daring flights of imagination he is capable of. Only thus can you get all it has to offer. May everybody have one day the opportunity to babble incoherently as Dave Bowman did:

''The thing's hollow - it goes on forever and - oh my God! - it's full of stars!''
[Chapter 39.]

P.S. By the way, ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' may also serve as an excellent mental self-test. If you read this book carefully and it doesn't cause at least for a short time an explosion of your grey matter, that simply means that you are an idiot!

==========================================

Note on the edition.

This more or less anniversary edition - on the verge of the new millennium and year 2001 - contains a most fascinating preface by Arthur Clarke concerning his work together with Stanley Kubrick on the screenplay of the eponymous movie which eventually led to the writing of the novel as well. Included is a long quote from the book especially dedicated to this bizarre working relationship: The Lost Worlds of 2001(1972), again by Arthur Clarke, charmingly described in this foreword as ''(mostly) nonfictional account of our enterprise''. Indeed, the title page of the book bears a telling indication of that: ''Based on a Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.'' But that's another story for another review.

**Some Spoilers!***

Love how Clarke uses factual science like the most obvious crater on the moon to house the monolith, the tycho crater, as well as the very strange Saturn moon that has an all white side, Iapetus. How more obious can an alien make it for us to make first contact by keeping monoliths in the center of these obvious places? Besides the changes from jupiter orbit to the Saturn moon as staging grounds for the stargate I found the book to be similar to the movie/ book "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Not sure if you've seen or read, but i think Carl has read 2001. His story involved his character going through a wormhole to end up in a familiar earth environment (the beach) as well so as to be comfortable. Very similar here although in 2001 it is a hotel room, from that point however the stories change. A signal from deep space was sent to earth in Contact and from the moon monolith to deep space in 2001.

I did know that Bowman became something more from watching the sequel 2010 but not from 2001. Wonder why Kubrik left all that out.

The book that started many people reading science fiction in earnest and still probably Clarke's best known work. I have always thought it a good book, but certainly not one of Clarke's best. The beginning is still one of the best I have ever read as Clarke looks at primitive proto-humans and suggests that the monolith, representing an extra-terrestrial super-intelligence stimulates them into acquiring skills that appear basic but could mean the difference between survival and extinction at the hands of the less intelligent yet vastly more powerful beasts around them. The subsequent stages i.e. the discovery of the monolith on the moon, the voyage of the Discovery, the quirks of space travel, the showdown with the HAL computer and then the final denouement out by the moons of Saturn must have been awesome when the book was first written; today, many decades later, they are inevitably dulled. Yet having said that, the story itself is gripping: the struggle of humanity in the face of odds, with a kindly helping hand at the right time - almost in some ways an experiment in a vast laboratory. The story is humbling, suggesting as it does the sheer insignificance of earth in the universe (a Clarke specialty unlike Asimov who goes the opposite direction). As always, Clarke's writing style is top drawer - sparse to the point of terseness at times (this is a very short book for all its huge time horizon), yet filled with subtle humor and sly digs at ourselves.

Getting past the movie hype, this was a master hypothesizing as to what we would do with artifacts left in space. An ideal subject for a 'bull-session', you could examine the intentions of whoever created the artifacts. Would they install beacons, maps or Easter Eggs? -by that, you could argue that knowledge of space travel is dangerous, powerful, useful or best integrated a little at a time. Certainly, by reaching the second monolith, Dave achieves an existence to be envied by Earth-bound philosophers.
Or will artifacts be machines for their owners' use, as in City of Ruins?
Perhaps the introduction, by Gordon Baxter, is effusive, but the story has achieved cult status.

While I consider the Kubrick film one of the most profound, hypnotic, beautiful, and astonishing movies ever made, I never got around to reading the Clarke book until a few days ago. Since it is a short novel written in a conventional narrative style, I read it in just an hour or two. While Clarke's expansion on life at "The Dawn of Man" is gripping and imaginative, and the descriptions as a whole are phenomenal, this story is much more impressive in the film. One of the major problems with the book are the utterly flat, dull characters. Clarke may be a master conceptualist of the Infinite, but his understandings of the ordinary human mind are a bit vague. Every character in the book serves a strictly narrative function and no more. Dave Bowman has to be one of the blandest main characters in modern fiction, Frank Poole and Dr. Floyd are no more than ciphers, and the remaining inhabitants of the book are basically a string of names and no more. I know that Kubrick deliberately exploited this aspect of the story in the film, exaggerating the banality of human interactions beneath the shimmering veneer of our advanced technologies (and suggesting as well that not much has changed in the day-to-day activities of the human race since its earliest times) to underscore the idea that humanity has become stagnant and is ready for the next "phase". Frankly, both Kubrick and Clarke are guilty of exalting an abstract idea of "humanity" (which, I must say, does not really seem to include women) or "mankind" over the messy, emotional and fleshly reality that is our lot. Ultimately, I found this book very disturbing for the following reasons: its blatant worship of authority and technology, and its impoverished view of human relationships. It is no wonder that Clarke's book still resonates with confused adolescents: this is the perfect book for insecure, alienated teen-agers who really don't want to grow up and become part of the human race. Nevertheless, I do give the book 4 stars because of the vastness and intelligence of its concept - there aren't that many popular novels which make you think about the enormity of the universe. I just wish that Clarke's vision of the ultimate in human potential did not entail total submission to one dominant male or another.

I'll be brief. As a kid I grew up with the move 2001 A Space Odyssey. I didn't ever feel I really understood it, and compared to Star Trek and Star Wars it was quite vague for a child. I don't know why I waited this long to read it in my adult years, but this is how the story was meant to be told. Nothing against the movie, but the book leaves a lot less ambiguity but still let's the imagination race. I can't wait to see the movie again in a new light.

The book has aged very well if you suspend the fact that our space race stopped with Apollo 17. I was particularly impressed with the idea of a tablet computer to read news on.

After reading Arthur C. Clarke's short story 'The Sentinal,' filmaker Stanely Kubrick enlisted the author's aide in creating what he deemed the 'perverbial good science-fiction movie.' The result of this great collaberation was '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The novel, which came out after the movie but was created at the same time, is a stirring tale of human evolution, exploration, and hope. The story begins with our ape-like progenitors and their discovery of a odd object- a black monolith, that boosts their IQ to a level that will promote thier evolution. Fast forward three million years: NASA discovers a strange object- a black monolith, buried beneath the lunar surface. When the sun hits it for the first time in three million years it sends a signal across the solar system. The expedition that follows is filled with hope, but will it succeed? The novel does have several minor differences from the 1968 film- for instance the planet of destination is Saturn, not Jupiter. But if you have seen the film and are a little confused as to what the monolith is and just what transformation the astronaut Bowman underwent, the book will answer you questions. A marvel of science-ficton!

If one were to gauge what makes a perfect science-fiction story, what elements would have to be in place? You could start with a very open question. For example, who else is out there besides us? You could take realistic human beings, bound by the laws of science as we know it today, and throw them at that question. Throw in an epic journey through space, a nearly unstoppable adversary and a mind-warping ending that exceeds the wildest expectations. And to top it off, wild sex with beautiful alien women. 2001: A Space Odyssey has all of these elements but one. It is a nearly perfect sci-fi experience.

Now I’ll admit to one little bit of sci-fi fandom heresy. I’ve never seen the 2001 movie. I’ve seen countless other classic science fiction films, but for some reason just never watched it. I was just thinking recently that I should watch the film, but as I'm on a bit of a classic reading stint right now I decided to read Clarke's book first. Really I have no idea what took me this long. Aside from Michael Chrichton, Clarke was my introduction to science fiction. I read Rendesvous With Rama in middle school and absolutely loved it. Having returned to reading Clarke after so many years, I can say with a surety that he is one of my favorite science fiction authors.

If you asked who the book's main character was, I suppose I would have to say that it's David Bowman. But 2001 doesn't really follow a typical format where one character can be pinpointed as "it." The book has several acts, two just happen to be smaller than the last acts featuring Mr. Bowman. The book starts 3 million years ago, when humans handn't quite developed from man-ape... things. Our POV character here is Moon-Watcher, a man-ape that encounters a monolith, one such object that each "main" character will encounter in 2001. This monolith, obviously extra-terrestrial in origin, changes Moon-Watcher and sets in motion a change in the entire human race. Fast forward three million years, give-or-take some centuries or so. Our next POV character, Dr. Heywood Floyyd, a famous scientist, is called to the moon to view a new discovery. Yet another mysterious monolith has been revealed, hidden from the news-mongers on aearth under the pretext that it's a plague broken out on the lunar base. This brings us to David Bowman.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and Bowman and a few other crew members are hurtling through space in a new state of the art ship, on a mission whose purpose isn't revealed until the end of the story. Their constant, ever-awake companion is an on-board ship AI with an agenda of its own. ("What're you doing, Dave? I can't let you do that, Dave.") Though I haven't seen the movie, I've known about Hal since I was a child. Being surrounded by movie quoting nerds my whole life, it'd be impossible not to. Hal is an immediately recognizable sci-fi icon and it was entertaining to finally learn what it was all about, even if it wasn't the medium that most people first experienced "him" in.

I don't want it give anything else away for the few people like me who don't know the story. In summation, I will say that 2001 has everything I love and forgot I loved about science fiction. With a great mystery to look forward to, I was eager to know what was going to happen from the first few pages onward. Clarke's writing is fantastic. Not only was he a visionary (he wrote this book before the moon landing for frakk's sake!), his writing was incredibly detailed and gripping. I am absolutely never bored when I'm reading Arthur C. Clarke. He pulls beauty out of the plain and excitement out of the mundane. During Bowman's journey, you will have no trouble believing that this is exactly what mankind's first trip to the outer planets will really be like. I felt like I was really staring at Jupiter and Saturn and seeing it with amazement through Bowman's eyes. While the ending of the book is worth the wait (not that this is a particularly long book) and utterly mind-warping in scope, the true majesty of 2001 is realizing the wonder that already exists in our own non-fictional universe. Everyone who is even remotely interested in science fiction or who just loves a good story about human discovery should read 2001: A Space Odyssey

Sci- Fi doesnt get any better than this. Written in 1968 (concurrently with the movie), this book is about how man came to be, what might lie ahead. Written just before the US landed on the moon, this book stands the test of time and addresses man's quest for exploration, increasing understanding of the universe and extraterrestial life.

The history of man is one of finding things we do not yet understand. Imagine finding a huge monilith buried under the surface of the moon and then later another one near Jupiter. What do they mean, how did they get there, what threat if any, do they pose? What response should the government and scientific community take?

Arthur C Clark does a masterful job of exploring these questions. You may disagree with his conclusions, but his answers are certain to provoke thought and a new perspective on life as we know it now. Isn't that what good literature always does?

When I saw the movie 2001, I was completely confused. I understood the basic plot line but didn't understand any of the nuances. I found the end especially baffling.
Reading the book cleared up my confusion and answered my questions (and created a few more). The premise of the book is excellent. Instead of having a typical face-to-face run-in with aliens, the characters in the book come upon evidence of alien intelligence: a black monolith which pre-dates modern history. As they try to discover who left the monolith, questions are answered and many more questions arise. The storyline was unique, and although the characters were underdeveloped they were believable. The imagery in the book was wonderful: I could picture Jupiter, Saturn, and the moons of the planets as Clarke described them. I found it amazing how accurate his descriptions were considering what we know now about these heavenly bodies compared to what they knew at the time the book was written.
I would recommend this book to science fiction fans who aren't interested in violence. This doesn't have any of the wars or combat that many SF books have. I would also recommend it to technical-oriented people who have an interest in learning more about astronomy.

2001: a Space Odyssey by Arthor C. Clarke is a must read for all Science Fiction lovers. It is such a classic and yet revolutionary for its time. In fact, this book was so revolutionary that it set a trend for Science Fiction books to come. It is filled with many captivating thoughts that really get you thinking. It shows you an interesting idea of the rise of man and another look into its future. The book also has several plots that link and merge together throughout the course of the book.

If you enjoyed the movie, you'll love the book. It is extremely detailed and you'll feel as if you're right there watching the events as they play out. The author spends a lot of time describing every important person and thing. Though this can get boring, it adds a nice touch to the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Arthor C. Clarke is brilliant. I would definitely recomend this book, especially if you enjoy Science Fiction. This is why I give this book 4 stars.

Okay, there must obviously be a good reason why I have such a high opinion of Arthur C. Clarke in general and this book in particular. The reason is that real sic-fi for me should be scientific! I think highly of books like "Dune" and "Lord of the Rings", but I just don't wish to call them sci-fi. They are good fantasy, very imaginative and well written. However sci-fi should have more, it should excite my imagination by showing me a picture of the future world, a place where we or our descendants could actually go in the future. In that respect Arthur C. Clarke is without peer, and hence the best sci-fi author ever. He actually wrote about satellites long before they were made, like Jules Verne wrote about submarines. Real sci-fi is about real technological possibilities and the effect those advancements will have on us and our social structures.
The one shortcoming of Clarke, his unscientific indulgence is his belief that the mind can exist without material basis, a sort of "mental energy". Also his ideas on evolution could be improved upon. In a later book he converts Jupiter into a sun to hasten the evolution of the species on its satellites, but any such dramatic ecological change would not hasten evolution, but wipe out all existing species. But there is so much more realistic thought provoking visons of the future that I easily forgive him that. To come back to 2001, yes it is his most popular book and probably his best. The idea that another civilization left behind a tripwire to tell them of when mankind has reached a certain level of intelligence, fantastic! Read also "The City and the Stars" for another fantastic yet realistic vison of the future.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark is a scientific fiction book in which the past and presented are connected by a giant monolith, which seems to be alien. The book starts off in the time of the man-apes who gathered berries and other non-animal food sources. The monolith appears one day and starts getting into the minds of certain tribe, making them act strange. One of the man-apes eventually was taught that he could make tools to kill animals. This saves the man-apes from extinction. The story jumps ahead to 2001, which at the time the book was published, this was pretty far into the future. We meet Dr. Heywood Floyd who travels to the moon where the monolith has been uncovered inside of a crater. Lastly, new characters, David Bowman and Frank Poole and their intelligent robot Hal, are aboard a spaceship to Saturn where things take a turn for the worst. There is a very strong theme of fear of technology in this book. As man creates more and more advanced technology, there is fear that it may used for evil. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a real page turner that really caught my attention at times. I definitely didn’t think a book about extraterrestrial life would leave me thinking about human evolution.One of my only criticisms is that the characters are very bland and lack their own personality. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi books or is just genuinely interested in a good read.

Arthur C. Clarke's sensation, 2001, is a classic of our long century of books. This classic is very entertaining, and will keep the reader engrossed for a matter of hours. A very important book for everyone to discover. Each reader will close the book with a new understanding of space and humans. The sequels following this novel are inferior, (exception 2010), and do not have the Clarke touch and creative wit of the original.
So, the story starts with the dawn of humankind, when man apes discover a black monolith one morning. Eventually as we see, this started us on the road to technology. Millions of years later, Heywood Floyd discovers the same type of monolith on the moon. This one is known as the "Tycho" monolith. A mission to Saturn is eventually sent, to investigate strange noises coming down from Saturn to the monolith. The "Discovery" spacecraft carries Commander Dave Bawman, Frank Poole, and the infamous HAL 9000 supercomputor. The computor malfunctions and disaster strikes when an enormous monolith floating adjacent to Jupiter is discovered. I cannot tell you the ending. It is fantastic and will blow you away.
This novel is re released in a brand new, updated paperback with a foreward by the author. Discover the triumph of technology in this revolutionary piece.

Arthur C Clarke has returned to his favorite theme - that of the proverbial First Encounter. We've had them in the RAMA series and in CHILDHOOD'S END. But this time we meet them by proxy. Everyone is quite familiar with the story but the originality and suprises (aided by an extraordinarily perceptive cinematic translation) just keep coming. It's like the author is drinking from a well of originality and talent that won't run dry.
I loved the man-machine/man-monolith/man-Jupiter interactions. Clarke has ventured into the metaphysical here and the movie perfectly suggests to the viewer what we, the readers, can only imagine from the text.
The idea of an extraterrestrial boost to Earthly intelligence has been suggested before (along with the idea that life itself arrived from outer space via meteorite). One still has to ask the question: OK, so where did THAT life come from? Clarke simply assumes that "it is" without questions.
Another theme present in almost all his works is that we on this planet are still children of the universe, we are in the learning stage and must and will learn from the more "advanced" races. Whether this happens or not - my personal opinion is that it won't - it is still a good concept to bandy about.

It's been a while since I first read this (I was in high school), but it is still every bit as entertaining. I did skim through the "Dawn of Man" section quickly, as I wanted to get back into the space journey portion. As I read the book, scenes from the movie came back very vividly. I loved 2001 the first time I read it, and it's just as good now. I agree with other reviewers who say "see the movie first, then read the book." I've never read the sequels, and they are now on my Kindle awaiting my attention.

The theme of this book is essentially the same as Childhood's End, another of Clarke's classics: a superior alien intelligence aids mankind in achieving the fabled next step of evolution that will cleanse us of our imperfections and make us into new creations. I haven't watched the famous film version of this book yet, but as a Clarke fan I figured I ought to read the book that thrust him into the public spotlight. I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as Childhood's End or Rendezvous with Rama (considered by many to be Clarke's two best), but the book still highlights why Clarke is such a joy to read. He achieves a perfect balance between adventure sci-fi and hard sci-fi, by imagining future world scenarios that are both believable and exciting. Clarke is no master of characterization, but he is a master of evoking the wonder of the cosmos. On the worldview level, I am tempted to be amused at the concept of aliens that aided man in his evolution from monkey to human and then on from human to demigod. All worldviews posit a human problem and propose a solution that will bring mankind into his ideal state. Clarke's version is interesting, but still ultimately a fantasy. The Christian worldview claims that the problem is not an unfinished state of evolution, but sin, and the cure is not an alien intelligence, but the atoning work of Christ.

In the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke faces the same problem Stanley Kubrick did with the movie: how do you sum up human existance in a way so compact that it can be clearly comprehended? It may seem like an impossible problem, but thirty-four years ago there was born one very good answer.
The human species, as Clarke philosophizes, is a four million year experiment. Extraterrestrials are a key part of it, but ultimately 2001 is a story about the ways of humanity itself. Without spaceships and space pods we could not have navigated the heavens, but in order to truly capture the human spirit we have to look beyond anything than can be seen, or touched. The heart of it all is the human mind. It's that simple philosophy that drives this epitome of science fiction from the plains of Africa to the fires of that red sun, somewhere beyond our galaxy.
The book should be read before watching the movie, I wholeheartedly agree. I did the opposite; after watching the movie so many times, some of the book's effect was lost. Read the book first so you can take in the subtle genius of the movie with a fine-tuned eye. In any case, I loved both and they come very well recommended!

Great book, hard SciFi, thought provoking story and good speculation on how the next stage in human evolution could be, what could mean (or be) God, self enlightenment, our origins, the immortality...

I actually had to read the final part more than once and I even went on the web and read some explanations, but in the end I finally got the meaning or better saying, could came up with my own understanding of it!

In short, a must read for science fiction fans and also a good option for the ones not so much into it.

For me now, the next stage is: "2010: Odyssey Two".

Well written but lacking in the scope, vision, majesty, and impact of Kubrick's supreme cinematic artwork. The story is far too literal, and the mystery and awe of the film is reduced to readily explainable scientific phenomena (eg in the film, the monolith is representative of many things: evolutionary forces, the unknown, etc, etc. In the book it becomes a mere tool of advanced aliens, its symbolism, and hence meaning, stripped from it). As an original piece of work it stands on its own, but compared with the film the novel falls short of the mark. And before anyone criticizes me for comparing the novel to the film, I must state my opinion that film as a medium is far more than simple entertainment, it can be ART. Kubrick's 2001 is an immensely impressive and influential work, and while Clarke's novel is well written, it just isn't that great. If you want ground breaking science fiction literature, check out Herbert's "Dune" or Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land". Now that's great sci-fi.

This novel is simply timeless. I doubt, while humans are still around to read it, this novel will ever lose its stark truth and its even more abysmal future for mankind. It touches on many different aspects of human nature and our uncanny ability to just kind of 'mess things up'. It poses a question of intelligence and what that really means for us and for the rest of not only the world but the universe as well.
Hal is just one example of our audacity for intelligence, our menacing show of what we think is right to accomplish. Even the expedition is what seems right, what seems just, and even the explorers were deceptively kept in the metaphorical dark about this mission. It is a chilling reminder of timeless existence of what we are and what we do and its similar consequences. Anybody of 'intelligence' should definitely pick this story up and give it a read. :)

Okay, first, let me say that I do have respect for Stanley Kubrick. His work is probably the best that any director could offer in terms of cinnematography. However, his "vision" of the story which he and Arthur C. Clarke concocted is about as understandable as standard US tax forms. Look at it all you like and you may get a general idea, but I doubt you'll find the details.
Clarke's work takes place on a different planet, with slightly different dilemas, and a different ending (IE a non-cryptic understandable one). One of the best parts of the novel (when Hal opens the air locks) didn't even appear in the movie.
Clarke also consistently follows the laws of physics, something that some science fiction writers have a great deal of trouble with.
The series sparks much thought about our origins and where we're going as a species. The thought provoking and mysterious "monolith" personifies the mysteries of our own origins.
Overall, this is an excellent book and good for anyone who saw the movie, marveled for 2 hours at the pretty colors, then saw the ending and said... "huh?!" Enjoy this and the entire series, they are worth the time.

I like most readers experienced the classic Stanley Kubrick film first. Also like most, I was confused by the often times slow and deliberate pace of the film. I loved the film but at the end was confused as to what had just happened. The film was fantastic, but I find it highly complimentary to this novel. Together they explain the excellent story put forth by Kubrick and Clarke. This is an excellent sci-fi story, although complex. Having seen the movie first I had a good idea how the story would end. However I found the novel GREATLY enhanced the movie. I'm unsure of a proper order of operations versus film and novel, but through personal experience I recommend movie then novel. This way the novel would fill in the gaps recently produced by the excellent film, and further explain what you have just watched. A sure fire five star book and for that matter film, get this book!

Kubrik & Clarke - can't go wrong when they collaborate. Clarke bounced his (always novel) ideas off of Kubrik for the film, which was to be released simultaneously. What resulted was a chilling view of future space discovery and space travel.

One point I loved about the book (which one doesn't find in many other books) was the downplay on dialogue. There's not much conversation, just thoughts and descriptions. I don't think many authors could succeed in doing this, but Clarke comes out on top. After all, he is legendary.

I was disappointed that HAL 9000 didn't play more of a role though the book. He seemed to be in passing through his death, even though he was clearly an intelligent entity (though lacking wit an attitude). More focus should have been given to the Illinois-borne (boo-yea) AI construct.

The ending was a little hard to grasp but, nevertheless, satisfactory.

I suppose I came of age after Star Wars had transformed special effects far, far beyond 2001, but I've never been able to make it past the first forty minutes of the movie. I actually consider it the most deadly boring movie ever made, and see no need to afflict myself with it as long as Arthur C. Clarke has written a much more clear and interesting novel.
So, those Gen X-ers like myself who can't appreciate the movie for nostalgia, which seems to be the only reason anybody likes it anymore: take heart, the book is actually readable! More than that, it's amazing. Any novel that can start in prehistoric Africa and end with a whole new path of evolution for humankind has got to have something to it. The entire tone of the novel portrays an air of mystery and intrigue, and the ideas and resolutions are fascinating and imaginative.
And, just for clarification, this is *not* Clarke's interpretation of Kubrick's ambiguous 'genius' (ahem . . . ); Clarke and Kubrick wrote the storyline together, and Kubrick actually waited to finish the screenplay until Clarke had finished the novel. Perhaps we should call the movie Kubrick's juxtaposition of his own ambiguous nature upon Clarke's more definite ideas.

Hmmm... I'll be honest - I've never been able to make it through this film from beginning to end, I ALWAYS fall asleep even though I admit that it's a fantastically made film. So I thought, surely the book will fill me in on everything I always sleep through (the part I enjoy the most is HAL) but since I had a long road trip for work ahead of me I picked up the audiobook.

I'll admit that I'm not big on Science Fiction other then a handful of novels (Ender's Game, Day of the Trifids etc). Once I made it past the monkey people in the beginning, I was okay with the dude going to the moon (though the technical detail started making me nod off I prevailed) then on to our dear astronauts headed to Saturn with HAL in tow. I was happy as could be with that part. But once we moved on beyond it... it was an uphill battle to the end. I know that the idea and concept were amazing, the writing was beautiful, but I had to struggle through every last bit of it. I don't think I could have actually read the book, had it not been on my IPOD I think I would have probably lost interest.

I can see why people love this book. And I appreciate it for all that it is... but I can't for the life of me say that I really enjoyed it as much as everyone else seems to. Though the book WAS written at the same time as Kubrick was filming the movie, the book will enlighten the reader (or listener) on many of the parts of the film that leave the viewer of the film scratching their head.

For those interested in the Audiobook quality - the audiobook does include the intro, narrated by Mr. Arthur C Clark himself. The book is read by a very skilled and clear reader without an overbearing accent (so many of them do) and I couldn't have been any happier with the quality of the recording and would recommend it to anyone interested in the story.

The curvature of my review is based on the book written by a famous philosopher called Friederick Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" , the philosophical meaning of the monolith, a contrast between the movie and the novel, the respective "supermen" i.e. David and the chapter "Star Child" and then my opinions on the chapter 27 untitled "Need to Know" as one of the most important chapter of this novel, under the philosophical profile.

The essence of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is "The idea that mankind will one day be surpassed by the superman" in order words this is a form of Darwinism, where there is a law based on the "struggle for existence in which the fittest survive, strength is the only virtue and weakness the only fault".

This concept implemented and sustained by humans and not by our mother nature are 100,000 light , years distant from the real concept of evolution expressed by Charles Darwin.

According to Nietzsche, the evolution of man is based on three stages, for instance:

1) The Ape-Man
2) The Modern Man
3) The Superman

Anthropologically speaking the evolution of the human beings, in a galaxy of the universe, can be leaded by an evil force, in a wrong direction i.e. the love for the human self-destruction, violence and so on.

In my opinion the so called third force is expressed after the appearance of the monolith and its controversial mission.

This risk in not only the clash of cultures but slowly and intrinsically speaking the erosion of our freewill, in other words the monolith is our destiny, we are not able to react , because it is imperceptible like the dark matter.

From millenniums we creed that our freewill depends purely on our choices, unfortunately the truth is completely different.

A substantial difference between the movie and the novel is the interpretation of the "superman" for Kubrick the superman is Dave Bowman, during his deathbed scene, when he becomes aware that his life has been manipulated by the monolith.

In the last chapter of Clarke "Star Child" the philosophical message is believe that the innocence of a baby prevails on the purpose of the monolith, i.e. the hope of regaining of our freewill.

Need to Know (Chapter 27th)

In my opinion this is the most important chapter of this novel, written by Arthur C.Clarke,
the main character of this chapter is Hal, and his main frustration: the human beings.

Hal is not a simple personal computer he is like a human being he has a soul too.

Hal represents the utopia of an evolution where the human being is no longer dominated by the selfish gene, unfortunately this is impossible.
"a snake had entered his electronic Eden"(A.C.Clarke, 2001 a space odyssey, pp.161)

Even Hal has been infected by the original sin, no one is immune.

Cheers

Italo

This book can be stunning at times, what I digged the most was the travel through the void space. The description of this is so vivid, and really takes you there, that I must think that Arthur C. Clarke went there for himself! So how is this possible? Hm.. Well, the definition of what a human is or can be is actually an open definition. So I think that Arthur was carrying a universe around inside of him. Personally it's my experience that there actually exists super-human powers, Arthur actually also touches upon this in the book, where he describes the ultimate Extra Terristials, not as some human-like creatures, but as forces which works on the universe. Clarke is not only a science geek, but he is equally immersed in religion and art.

I read the book for that reason; I found the film compelling but didn't understand much of it literally. The characterization of Bowman is much better in the book, and I understand a lot more about the "monoliths" now. I really wanted more info about the very weird resolution in the film. The book's resolution is also weird but provides more insight into what Clarke was getting at. The book is well-written and provides a good read for sci-fi fans.

This book had me entertained from start to finish. I have to admit I skimmed over the long descriptions of planets, and how the space flights worked, simply because it seemed so very outdated now. Most of the descriptions though, especially later in the book, were ideal. They portrayed the scene perfectly. You really feel like you can picture exactly what the book is describing.
The book isn't nearly as dull and drawn out as the movie. While it does have a few slow moments, it manages to switch around enough so it doesn't start to bore you on one detail. There are just so many plot twists, and the book covers such a grand scale, I found I never became bored. I found the book to be many times better than the movie. Much more detail is given, and the story although mysterious, actually makes sense. A deeply interesting story and great Sci-fi elements make this an all round great book.
- Rirath.com

This is the novel released simultaneously with the film, and it stands with Clarke's most seminal works. A deep examination of the book is beyond the purview of this review, but let me say this: this novel and the film it inspired may bring tears to your eyes, but they will certainly bring a quizzical look to your face and a leap to your heart. Inarguably one of the most philosophically deep SF novels I've ever read. A hearty recommendation to the great Mr. Clarke and this magnificent novel.

The only caveat is the apparent lack of major action sequences: if you're accustomed to less cerebral work, you may have to stay away from this. But the problems it poses (Is HAL insane, for instance?) will trouble your mind for long hours after you've completed the book. The rest of the saga also makes for great reading, but this is the must-read.

Quite simply one of the landmarks of science fiction.

The movie "2001 A Space Odyssey" doesn't play out like any ordinary film. The unique ideas of the story are told almost completely visually. The birth of intelligence in the apes, the vast emptiness of space, Bowman's bizarre journey, and the connection between the monoliths are shown to us, never narrated. No one tells us what is going on, the dialogue is merely an extra in the story. How then, does Arthur C. Clarke wish to put this into words? He defeated the whole idea. The best thing about the movie was Stanley Kubrick's unusual style. Besides giving Kubrick "The Sentinel" (which, by the way, is a fantastic story) and helping with scientific facts, Clarke should have left Kubrick's work alone.I haven't even gotten into some of the absurd parts of the book where, on more than one occasion, Clarke gives too much of the mystery away. The novel is no better than a companion piece to the movie. Only read it if you've seen the film and understand and appreciate the story.

This is one of those classics science fiction novels that never goes away, and with good reason: it's a classic. Yes, in every sense of the word. 2001 is a mind-blowing and thought-provoking space epic that starts out somewhat slow, but is ultimately rewarding (what an understatement). Like in all of Clarke's novels, there is a main underlying theme, but it never gets in the way of the plot. This is an absolute masterpiece of SF, and anyone who is just getting into the genre, well, this should be one of your first reads.
Also, I found this book to be very funny, something which I have found that few other people have mentioned. Maybe that means you have to be a "nerd" to "get" the jokes. Whatever the case, it is a fact that I laughed out loud several times during the course of this book. Read it, enjoy it, and watch the excellent movie version.

2001 was and is my favorite scifi book of all time I 1st read this book in 1970 It is a complex book showing what may have happened to the human race in the mists of time and how we could be so far behind an alien culture as to insignificant in the scheme of the universe. I feel this book is a masterpiece. Clarke did a wonderful job with the few characters in this story. Life of the human race could be in the hands of Alien farmers. Enjoy this wonder of a book as I did.

2001 is a pioneering classic - in my books, along with Star Trek and Star Wars, which opened up a new genre to the world, that of space travel towards finding higher intelligence and sentient species just like ours, as opposed to the earlier cult-sci-fi which tended to paint a picture of space being a dangerous place filled with aliens intent on destroying us. 2001 is an expansive view into a higher order of society, humanity and intelligence. A fantastic journey and in some ways, very real. It inspired me to explore the stars.

If you've seen the movie you have the gist of this book, though the book actually explains all of the screen imagery that might not have made much sense by itself. At least that was my experience with it. Basically aliens bootstrap intelligence around the Universe, and we are one example of that. Humans travel to Saturn to find out what the mystery of the black obelisks are, and the ship's computer goes mad. Don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read Clarke's masterpiece, so get it and read it. And remember, any science advanced enough will seem like magic. Characters take second place to setting and story, unlike most modern books, but still a great read.

This book is much better than the movie, in my opinion. I am glad that I read the book before watching the movie; otherwise I think I would have been confused and bored. Not to insult the movie at all (even though the movie had crazy psychotic background music), but this book, 2001 a space odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke was 100% much more descriptive than the movie, captivating my interest from chapter one, The road to extinction, all the way to the last chapter, Star child. However, when I finished the book I was trying to interpret the ending, which, from reading many reviews I know I wasn't the only one somewhat perplexed. The ending is open to interpretation; you'll just have to read for yourself to determine what I mean. Nothing else I can add that hasn't already been said. The book is an easy read, and it really is truly a very good sci-fi book to read.

This book is, by any standards, a monumental highlight in science fiction literature, as the movie was in science fiction film. It also explains the not so evident meaning of the last shots of the movie.
The main `actors' in this novel are human space travelers, extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence (a computer).
The main actions are an encounter / transformation with / in extraterrestrial intelligence, time traveling in worm holes and the search for immortality.

Vision on mankind
For A.C. Clarke, `perhaps men were barbarians'. With and through artificial intelligence man built a computer, but failed to understand its psychology. The computer could mimic most of the activities of the human brain, but therefore (?) its mind, which never slept, was brilliantly sick. Like a man, it tried to take full power (of a spaceship it controlled).

Immortality
First, artifacts (of metal and plastic) could replace bones, flesh and blood. A further evolution could be the storing of knowledge, not in a brain anymore, but in the structure of space itself. Thought could be preserved for eternity in frozen lattices of light, in creatures of radiation, in pure energy.

Weak point (matter-mind duality)
For A.C. Clarke, `mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body would be no more than a stepping stone to something men had called a `spirit'. And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.'
But, as W. v. O. Quine has said in a famous interview with Bryan Magee: `Processes (like emotions) in physical objects (people) are always accompanied by microphysical changes. In fact, they are those changes.'

Arthur C. Clarke's truly ground-breaking scientific fiction still could not be crazy enough, for as he states himself: `the truth, as always, will be far stranger.'

This novel is a must read for all those interested in the future of the universe.

2001 was what many people consider the greatest science fiction movie of all time.However, I think I like the book more than the movie. It had a lot more detail and had important parts that were left out in the movie. The plot is that in the year 2001, the moon has been colonized by humans(I wish). When they find a strange object on the moon, they call Dr. Heywood Floyd from Earth to check it out. It appears to be a black monolith that was made 3 million years ago, long before there was any life or civilization on Earth. The book had some interesting ideas, such as the fact that every star in the universe is actually a solar system. The book had a great story. Actually, it was 3 stories, but the object was in all 3. The ending still is confusing, but it leaves you to come up with your own ending. Very original book, highly recomended.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a true gem of a science fiction classic. Known. Proven. Timeless. Et Cetra. One of the first sci fi books I ever read, and still one of the best. Truly well done, as the story unfold so that the characters are having the all-encompassing HUMAN experience. His relatively accurate foresight for humanity is quite astounding. I loved each of his story innovations, from the alien monolith device to HAL to traveling through space and time. Beautifully written. Clarke's descriptions of the moons and planets and his use of metaphor in doing so was a joy to read and imagine. And, suffice to say, each one of the characters in the novel, Francis Poole, Dave Bowman, and HAL are some of the most famous sci-fi characters of all time!

Arthur C. Clarke is considered a master of science-fiction by so many not because of finely crafted fictional worlds or highly detailed alternate universes...no, he is beloved and respected because his stories of fiction take place in *our world*. They are highly believable in a very real world way, because (by and large) Mr. Clarke's stories are grounded in the scientific reality of their day and laced with speculative science that is feasible in every regard. You believe in his worlds because they are of our world.
Arthur C. Clarke does not craft characters with rich depth, or twisting plots that are overly complex - he creates simply stories of discovery that delight and astoud, *without* seeming overly unbelievable. Will your children get to live out the imagery of 2001? Maybe, just maybe...

**Some Spoilers!***

Love how Clarke uses factual science like the most obvious crater on the moon to house the monolith, the tycho crater, as well as the very strange Saturn moon that has an all white side, Iapetus. How more obious can an alien make it for us to make first contact by keeping monoliths in the center of these obvious places? Besides the changes from jupiter orbit to the Saturn moon as staging grounds for the stargate I found the book to be similar to the movie/ book "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Not sure if you've seen or read, but i think Carl has read 2001. A signal from deep space was sent to earth in Contact and from the moon monolith to deep space in 2001. His story involved his character going through a wormhole to end up in a familiar earth environment (the beach) so as to be comfortable. Very similar here going through a stargate although in 2001 feeling comfortable is achieved in a hotel room, from that point however the stories change.

I did know that Bowman became something more from watching the sequel 2010 but not from 2001. Wonder why Kubrik left all that out.

"No one can truly say he knows God until he has handled something and this can only be in the holiest of holies." Joseph Smith (History of the Church 4:608)

First, I heartily recommend that a Space Odyssey omnibus be published. Have all four of the novels published under one cover, plus include "The Lost Worlds of `2001'" as a DVD disc 2, the one with all the extras and deleted scenes. If "2001" is the essential companion to the movie, then "The Lost Worlds of 2001" is the essential companion to the novel.

Second, if we remember that "2001" is primarily a film event, then we can understand this book on its own terms. This book is intended to be merely a companion to the film, and a reminder of that cinematic experience in the pre-cable, pre-VHS, pre-DVD days of a few decades ago. That is why the early edition has the stills in the middle.

In a side sense, you see how the filmcraft changes the book--instead of Jupiter, the book takes Bowman to Saturn. In addition to being more plausible, stopping a Saturn would have been more dramatic and have better special effects. If you have seen "Silent Running" and the Voyager images, you see what problems this would have caused. But Saturn would also undercut the thread in the rest of the novels. So, "The blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny."

To be sure, the story is thin--a good example of when to be minimalist, and how less can be more. That we never see the aliens is the perfect touch. Like Lovecraft, Serling, Hitchcock, and "Signs", we just infer things from the operation of the black monoliths, and what happens to Bowman in the ordered course of events. But it is our wild-running imagination that chills our bones and tingles our spines.

(BTW, In "The Lost Worlds of `2001'", the alien scientist Clindar is given a front and center treatment. Thus story just seems to be a run-of-the-pulp-mill tale, with not mystery and therefore no magic.)

The minimalism also allows for several comparisons and contrasts: The Monolith versus Moon-Watcher, Moon-Watcher versus One-ear, Moon-Watcher versus Dave Bowman, Dave Bowman versus Frank Pool, Frank Pool versus Hal, Dave bowman versus Hal, and Hal versus the Monolith. Each character seems to have several mirrors-be they Hubble Telescope precise, or fun-house absurdities.

Thematically, however, the story is nothing new. Clark previously explored the idea of alien uplift in his book "Childhood's End," which reaffirmed ideas that were first articulated by Doc Smith in the Lensmen series. Uplift, uplift, uplift.

Thus, what is so surprising about this book is how Christian it is. We have these alien Overlords who manifest themselves with the intermediary monoliths, and whose objective is to nudge other life forms up the evolutionary ladder. Replace aliens with God, the monolith with Christ, and evolution with salvation, then you have the core Christian message.

As Athanasius said, "God became man so that man might be god." And as C. S. Lewis observed, "In Christ a new kind of man appeared; and the new kind of life which began in Him is to be put into us." This is both Moon-Watcher and Dave Bowman. The implication is that it is us, too.

The only drawback of this book is the under-the-breath dread that the rest of the franchise does not have the same charm as the first book. "2001" is euphoric, "2010" is idealistic, "2061" is optimistic, but "3001" is sarcastic. So as I reread the franchise, I keep bracing myself for a crash landing. Too bad--this series had so much potential.

After 30 plus years this book says more in its 200 pages than much of the 600 page TOR opuses that pass as current sci-fi and which are grossly in vogue today. Unlike much of current sci-fi it speculates on mans past as well as his future. It also has something intelligent to say within the action as opposed to the hack and slash of some if the contemporary sci-fi dreck being shilled out these days. Many people are more familiar with the classic movie than the equally classic book. 2001 the book is just as great as the movie and certainly less ambiguous. It is not just a movie adaptation.
I think Hal is remembered too much. Maybe it's the movie's fault. He isn't the first threatening machine in sci-fi there was Robby the Robot from "Forbidden Planet" and that giant robot from "The Day The Earth Stood Still". And like those movies we remember the machine more. This is unfortunate for HAL has become this ingrained pop icon for malfunctioning computers that he overshadows the hero, Bowman. Bowman is one of the classic sci-fi heroes. He is on par with Rand's Roark, Heinlein's Valentine Michael Smith and Tolkien's Aragorn. He is Clarke's Ideal Man and an inspiration for our real lives. He has a lust for life that is unafraid, committed and with a thirst for knowledge. He takes control of his own destiny despite the deepening circumstances that surround him. He literally descends into the unknown without blinking. Like Bowman don't sit idly by depending on computers to do you're thinking take control of your own destiny. Hmm...sounds like something out of the "Matrix". Some people think Clarke wrote uninteresting and underdeveloped characters, I disagree, at least with Bowman. If you think sci-fi is for teenage boys this book will change your mind.

I wanted to watch the movie by Kubrick, but decided to read the book first.
Arthur Clarke and Stanley Kubrick were both working together when making the movie, and that, for sure, gives this book a dazzling uniqueness.

This is a very different sci-fi book focusing on the possibility of humans encountering alien life.
After finish reading it, I now understand why the movie has been mentioned as the best sci-fi movie screened so far.

The story presents various features of a great sci-fi story involving A.I., drama and philosophical questions. Yet, I loved how the story rapidly and dramatically ends leaving the reader with a lot of philosophical questions (i.e., what the hell happened!).

People who only watched the movie, seemed to be struggling more with understanding the ending of this novel.

Remember: Kubrick and Clarke both said in interviews that if the viewer realized the ending of their work very clearly, then they had not done a good job. So, enjoy guessing and comprehending the ending.

I loved the movie so much that I absolutely needed to read this book an he sequels.

Though several parts are differenf from the movie, I can not help but appreciate this book for the more complete storyline that brings out a more profound understanding of the movie and the motivations of the Monolith.

It is too bad that the Movie did not reflect this Storyline which I felt was more interesting especially after the deactivation of Hal.

In short, if you liked the movie, you'll love the book. (So true in many cases even if he reverse is rare.)

I saw the movie first and I loved it. Then, my dad said I should read the book and I took his advice. This book is simply astounding and I could not stop reading it. Even the part with Moon-Watcher was incredible. My favorite part though was the "hotel suite" sequence when Bowman realises that he is the first person to come in contact with another alien race. This book is really well-written and Clarke is a genius. The only thing I didn't like but also sort of enjoyed was knowing almost nothing about the aliens. It leaves the story to the reader's interpretation. They started evolution with Moon-Watcher and they decided to try again with Bowman. Although he was master of the world he was unsure on what to do next. But he would think of something...

This book starts at the point humans evolve from man-apes, then quickly leaps forward to a future where we have space colonies and thinking computer entities that struggle with emotional dilemmas. Its at this point that humanity finds something that rocks the foundation of humanities beliefs and points towards one of saturns moons where humanity is just becoming capable of reaching.

This book was a fairly good read and it is amazing how some of our current technology could have been predicted so clearly at the time this book was written.

Also from reading this book I see where a lot of ideas from this book are now seen all over Scifi Tv series and modern movies. This book was groundbreaking and prophetic.

I don't know that I would classify Clark as a creator of great fiction; as mentioned in other reviews, the "human equation" in his works is largely missing. Clark excels and creating vivid descriptions of technology and alien grandeur, but his books are a bit lifeless at they have almost no character developement or interesting dialog.

I've read most of his books, and find he is a great alternative in those times I would find myself reaching for an atlas or a National Geographic. Honestly, I think AC Clarke is one of those sacred cow authors--praised by those who think it raises their intellectual profile, and read mainly when bored by those who can see that the emperor, while not entirely naked, could do with more than a loincloth.

I see this book as a useful handbook for understanding the film. However, Clarke's treatment is pretty bland. There isn't the penetrating, archetypal feel of Kubrick's masterpiece. (The movie benefited from an almost total lack of dialogue, and a fabulous musical score, both of which this book obviously lack.) This novel seems like merely an interpretation. It is a book that is fun to read, but where is all the philosophical and psychological depth? Its major failure is in trying to be definitive; an open-ended screenplay like 2001 didn't need this approach in its tie-in. Also, shame on Clarke for trying to make money off three mediocre sequels! However, if you like sci-fi, you'll probably enjoy this book, but by no means does it eclipse the movie.

Not that it really matters, but, like the story itself, there has been much mystery and misunderstanding of which came first, the movie or the novel. The book "The Making of Kubrick's 2001" by Jerome Agel, if you can still find it, will clear up this question. The movie was based on Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", published around 1950. Kubrick and Clarke, together, expanded this short story into the screenplay for the movie, while Clarke wrote the novel based upon that screenplay. Matter-of-fact, I have the novel published by Signet Book (copyright 1968), and the cover states the following:
"2001 a Space Odyssey. A novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Based on the screenplay of the MGM film by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke".

Arther C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey is a breakthrough for it's time. Clarke describes black monoliths that help aid the man-apes of prehistoric times and try and stop nuclear warfare in the future. Clarke does a great job of showing how the human race is buiding weapons that could be our undoing.

The book also tackles the issue of man building a machine too powerful for man. Hal 9000 was built as the perfect computer for the space shuttle Discovery which makes its way to Jupiter. During the mission Hal begins to show emotion. Hal's emotion gets to the computer's "brain" and havok occurs on the Discovry. The proceeding events show a great example of machine getting too powerful for man.

Overall Carke gives us an entertaining novel, while warning us of letting our technological power go to far. The accuracy of his fortelling of future space travel also makes 2001 an interesting read.

Kubrick's 2001 was not the adaptation of a book written by A. Clarke; we can rather envision these two works as personal visions on ideas that were initially elaborated by both men. As such, the book clearly pales in comparison to the movie. Book form often enables an artist to add more depth to characters and situations, but Clarke's novel does precisely the opposite: less mysterious, it accumulates words, descriptions and hypotheses while the film lets its ineffable images breathe in silence - the experience Kubrick conveys is impossible to be put into words without being betrayed. As such, the book 'explains' nothing since there is nothing to be explained; everything is to be lived. The relation between the film and the book, for me, is thus analogous to the relation between mystical experience and its inferior, textual expression. The novel remains interesting and well worth reading as a companion to Kubrick's film, but it should not be considered an adequate 'replacement' of the movie.

I first read this back when it first appeared in 1968 and was unable to appreciate the greatness of the book (what 14-year-old can grasp a fine work such as this anyway?) Now I'm almost 60 and I've re-read 2001 and I'm astonished-astonished at how well the story holds up, amazed at the inventiveness and freshness that I missed as a kid. A lot of science fiction seems quite dated to me, especially after half a century: Not so with 2001. A genuine masterpiece awaits your eyes!

There's really not much that needs to be said that other reviewers haven't handled already, but I will say this - revisiting this book (which I originally read in 1983) certainly gives a different perspective on things. If you've only seen the movie, read the book. Despite being written in concert with production of the movie, it's different enough to be worth your time.

The movie was beautiful, but I needed to know more. Reading this book was an enlightening experience. Neurotic HAL needed to "remove the sources of his frustrations". His conflict between telling the truth and withholding the truth drove him over the edge. Sir Arthur C. Clarke also addresses "conflict between mind and matter". As usual, Clarke achieved his goal in providing us with an outstanding read, transporting the reader light years away from our home planet.

An excellent book, which really had an impact on me when I first read it. I had of course seen the movie and loved it. Reading the book though, was a completely different experience - much less frustrating than the film.

The ideas raised by Clarke concerning our own evolution are fascinating and brilliantly presented. The way he mixes these big questions with an eery yet tense sci-fi plot is truly expert. I can't understand how anyone could find this boring.

Another reviewer stated the book came after the film. Not entirely true. The story was actually based on a number of short stories by Arthur C. Clarke, the most notable being 'The Sentinel' written in 1951. Kubrick approached Clarke to collaborate on a screenplay for the film out of which came this novel.

This view of the future, and our past, is not only frightening but exhilerating. As we travel through time and space, stopping at different locations and realizing our fatal mistakes that changed our worlds, we discover how we are only good at one thing: Destroying ourselves.
In "2001," humans believe that with every step we take in technological advancements we evade death, but the reader finds that with each breakthrough, we become closer and closer to the impending apocalypse.
Different characters with different problems. The man-apes with leapords and the Others. Dr. Floyd and the monolith on the moon. Dave and Frank with the evils of HAL 9000.
Clarke's ways of expressing his true vision of things to come and things that have been are very interesting. This book makes you think more than any other I know of.

This is the definitive science fiction novel, exploring every major theme that fits the genre -- extraterrestial intelligent life, man's reach for the stars, the paradox of machines (robots/computers) through which man evolves but which threaten to destroy him, and, ultimately, the evolution of the mind past physical restraints. Most importantly, the book explains the movie's completely nonsensical ending. Indeed, the book perhaps explains too much and, as is a common problem with this genre, the author doesn't have time for character development. Still, Clarke's imagination and vision are extraordinary and the book holds ones attention. I definitely recommend it.

I enjoyed this book very much. Clarke had the right background for the story- obviously he knew what was going on, but I certainly didn't. Before I continued to read the second book in the series, I had no idea what the star child was, and in short, there was too little information given (and the information that WAS given made a very minute amount of sense in my mind.) I think it was a good book, but it could have used a little work. The only area of the book that I could say was roughly perfect was the prehistoric era. This made sense, was to the point, full of information and good detail. I'd say read the book, it was good, but don't have such high hopes for it. No offense, Mr. Clarke.

I've read this book when I was very young ( I think I was 12 yrs old) and even at that time, it really impressed me. After years, I reread the book, and, I found it "Full of stars". I can say with no doubt that this book is much more than a simple Sci-Fi book, It's kinda philosophical and even mystical book. It brings you to another dimension of life... The other strong point of this book is that despite most of Sci-Fi books, it does not bypass any physical rule, it is based on known physical and astronautical rules, simple, and strong. It is one a the best books of the century, and as much as we get closer to the year 2001, it makes more sense to read it again, and enjoy it!

This is the bible of sci-fi. Almost like a holy book for every sci-fi fan. And everyone should read this. This is a masterpiece...
Let me get started. I'm little over 14 now, and I readed this book two years ago and still I haven't forgotten it. It isn't long; well, it is a first part of a trilogy; but it'll enlarge your mind. This is a thinking man's book.
I can't quite compare the movie to this; they're both good in their own ways ( I found the movie still a bit boring compared to the book ), but this wonderfully creates images to your mind. This could be real; in the near future. And questions like What is life? Why do we want to explore outer space? How can life last and why has it always been? awakes. I readed this book in two days; and I readed it again the very instance; second time trying to understand certain parts of the book. But still they remain mystery and so they should. Buy this book, or loan it from the library; either way read this at least twice. Only one read isn't fair to this story. It is the odysseus of the 21th century.
eye of life opens. And first sight it sees is a mystery. What's the monolith. Still, after thousands of generations and technology we'll never know.
Well, maybe I should read this again. And so I will.

I admit I watched the movie before I read this book and although certain parts of the movie greatly amused me I was confused beyond belief. The book is far better. It explains everything in detail and really gives you a sense of bizarre isolation in a way.

Hal the computer still remains my favorite character and in the book his murderous tendencies are not only explained in detail but also have reasoning behind them. Not only this but the monolith and the apes seen in the first scene of the movie are not nearly as ambiguous and they do connect very well with the rest of the story in the book. Nothing is left dangling in the air for the reader to figure out on their own. The ending is the strangest most thought-provoking finish I have read in any book. It really gave me a sense of wonder.

A quick but very good read I suggest this to not only those who like science fiction but also those that like to ponder the big questions.

When the book worked, it was impossible to put down. Mind-expanding, fun, riveting - and creative. I loved the first half especially. But when it wasn't working, it was slow and I had to skim. Too much technical stuff, too much weirdness. It drifted away from the story and characters and turned into a dull astronomy textbook.

I found it interesting that the book was written more or less after the screenplay. For a book based on a screenplay, it outpaced my expectations, and was worth the read. What I also found interesting was that this book was quite a different beast from the movie. Yes, the "Hal" parts overlapped - and were disturbing in both - but the rest struck me as pretty different.

My overall assessment: fairly good junk food. Not too deep, but engaging enough to help waste a few hours of free time...

If I were to rely on this book alone, I would say yes! Although some minor details seem dated in the book, the main concepts and the depiction of the planets are detailed without being boring and sound believable (specially if you are not a professional astronomer).
The book has great pacing (maybe except for the first part where the monolith tinkers with our ancestors brains) and culminates beautifully with the transformation of Bowman into the star-child.
If you have already seen the movie or even read the book previously and enjoyed it, I would highly recommend this paperback edition for the rather lengthy preface by the author. There he describes his partnership with Kubrik, his conversations with Asimov (!) and, among other trivia, tells us that HAL has nothing to do with IBM (can you believe him?).

An outstanding story; well-written.
An alien civilization is portrayed as being so advanced beyond human beings as to be almost completely incomprehensible. The science and technology is very accurate and credible. Predictions are implied in the mid sixties of the technology of the twenty first century. This story became a landmark and set the standard for many science fiction stories to follow.

I read this book after seeing the movie, and while they are both excellent on their own I think experiencing both is essential for the 2001 experience. I really enjoyed how this book was exciting, descriptive, yet very philosophical. The idea that we are not alone in the universe, and will never truly understand the mysteries of the universe. Great read!

A classic!! I love the fact it syncs with the Audible version allowing me to switch between listening in the car and reading on the web or my phone when not driving.

I really enjoyed listening to Arthur C Clarke discuss how the book came about and his work with the movie producer Kubrick. I didn't realize the story was created for the movie and the book followed the movie.

This book is a true science fiction masterpiece. The 2001: A Space Odyssey movie directed by Stanley Kubrick is also a masterpiece, but it really fails to capture the true essence of the novel. The main plot of the novel deals with the creation of man and the possibity of alien life forms, but my favorite subplot has to be the development of the HAL9000 computer as a character just as human as the crew of the Discovery. This novel raises many questions about just what sets humanity apart from others; whether they are apes or sentient computers. Every time I read this book I find some new angle to ponder. If you haven't read it yet, do so.

Alien monument mystery.

The strong point of 2001 as a novel is that it actually explains what the hell is going on in its movie counterpart, from the prehistoric man segments, right on through.

With the discovery fo the alien monument on the moon and the shock that engenders, through to the mission to Saturn to work out what is going with the alien monument makers, and the post-HAL phase with Bowman, leaving you with a far greater understanding and appreciation for what at times can seem a bit of a drug trip otherwise.

Definitely worth reading for that.

Many of the reviews here seem to espouse the opinion that Clark's novel is better than the film because it "explains" the film (as if having all the answers spoonfed to the reader is a good thing). One of the characteristics of truly great art is that it does not assume the audience needs all the answers handed to them. Sometimes there are no good answers. In fact, we are seldom given answers for anything that happens in life. Great works of art serve as a medium for us to examine our place in the universe and force us to confront the questions of what makes us human, why things are the way they are, and what the future holds. A work of art that gives simple answers to questions like these can be entertaining, but rarely reaches the status of great.

2001 the novel is an entertaining work of art. 2001 the film is a great work of art. The novel is a standard work of fiction and reads as one. The film transcends mere movie-making and turns us to face questions we would not otherwise ask ourselves. Certainly, the film is less approachable than the novel, but that doesn't make it worse. Is the film any less great because it does not explicitly describe the things the monolith teaches Moonwatcher? Is the film less gripping because we are never told exactly why HAL malfunctions? Does the film cheat the viewer because we are not told the background of the alien race? Absolutely not. The image of the monolith appearing on the scene in the first segment of the film with the familiar strains of Strauss' Also sprake Zarathustra is far more memorable than the bland text from the novel. The character of HAL in the film gives us pause about the possibilities (and dangers) of genuine artificial intelligence, while the novel fails to humanize HAL in the same way. The image of the Star-Child at the end of the film is haunting and hopeful, alien and human all at the same time. The novel falls short of this lofty bar.

2001 is an entertaining work of science fiction that should be read by any SF fan, but it is not better than the film. That's no fault of Clarke, though. Few novels have plumbed the depths of the human condition the way Kubrick's masterpiece has done.

One of the best science fiction books in history, this is one of the few works that you need to read in order to have an education in SF. Whether you like it or not (who could not like this?), if you do not read it any time in your life, you will be a SF poser.
What can I say that it has not been said before? This book has it all; from speculative technology (for it's time, look around you now) to glimpses of the ultimate evolution of conscious life.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the grand master of Science Fiction (Along with many others) did an excellent work with this fine masterpiece.
If you haven't, see the movie as well.

In my opinion, 2001 A Space Odyssey is a very good book. It is not only thought provoking but also very interesting. While reading the book, at times it was rather slow, but when reflecting on the book after finishing it, it is tremendous. I especially enjoyed it because it dealt in-depth with high-tech computers and artificial intelligence. Although we will be no where near Clarke's picture of the year 2001 in two years, it is still interesting to read how he thought we would be living then. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction and anyone else who wants to think.

I'll start by saying I have yet to see this film. I was looking for an imaginative sci-fi novel, and I got one. The book is a generally easy read, the story enthralling and surprising. It's told in a way that seems entirely plausible, with characters that seem like realistic, ordinary humans in extraordinary situations. I was fascinated with space and astronomy as a kid, and this book brought back that feeling of wonder and awe that I haven't felt in a long time.

is this the best book ever written? well, it certainly deserves a serious consideration for the title.it all begins with the haunting description of an ancient civilisation of ape men, then progresses to the discovery of a mysterious monolith on the moon,carries on into the depths of the solar system as a spacecraft is sent out to investigate the source of an ominous signal and finally culminates incredibly in places your imagination will never be able to understand nor believe. this book is probably the most influential sci fi classics of our times,its arguments are cogent, its implications are amazing and its visual images are stunning. its not a book, its literally a transcendent experience. if you're a sci fan devour it, if you're just an avid reader, buy it.everybody must read this book, if not have it on their book shelf. its a piece of history.

The movie glosses over much of the backdrop of this tale and thats a shame. Its a lush contemplative movie but the book really fills in the holes. Didn't you ever wonder what was going on inside the heads of those pre-humans as they met the first obilisk? Ever ponder what was driving the space program or craved more as to what was going on inside Mr. Bowmans or Mr. Poole's head? Curious to know what Hal thinks is going on? If you want to know more you gotta read the book. As a bonus the book is a bit different than the movie turned out to be. This is a classic!

This is my favorite science fiction novel of all time! However, much of the credit goes to Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick and Clarke holed up together in a hotel in Manhattan and hashed out the details for the plot. The movie and the book happened contemporaneously, and I have to say that - as great as the book is - the movie is better (I believe it is the best movie ever made). Even though there are differences between the book and the film (Saturn?), I believe one should see the film first and then read the novel to get a more straight-forward interpretation of what happened.

Recently, I decided to catch up on some older, classic films. One of the first I tried was 2001: A Space Odyssey. While I admit that it gave a great sense of the chilling isolation of space, the ending was too much of a non-sequitur. The special effects (ape-men of the veldt, the final trip) did not age well. However, a friend I watched it with was intrigued enough to read the book. They were very much impressed and recommended it to me. I skeptically decided to check it out.

I'm so glad I did. This is possibly the most important book I have ever read. There is too much that goes on beneath the surface for a film, but it works as a novel perfectly. Many sci-fi books try to be spiritual, but this is the first that I have read, sci-fi or not, to actually pull it off in a profound way. One thing that really sets this book apart is how incredibly plausible it all seems. Yes there are aliens. Yes there are evil computers. But this book is the product of a clearly scientific mind. For as fantastic as the elements are, nothing seemed impossible.

Even knowing (sort of) how it ends, this book has changed my life. It is uplifting and spiritual, and there is simply nothing else like it.

As Clarke says in the forward, "Here is one possible answer to that very reasonable question... The truth, as always, will be stranger."

Although this book was written over thirty years ago, it is still a compelling book and shows very few signs of its age. It makes many predictions, and aside from the obviously wrong ones(nobody lives on the Moon or Mars, retaining 90% of what we learn, the USSR doesn't exist anymore), it has many dead-on predictions as well, such as the population of the Earth, and its story is a great story of what might have been, and it should be read by everyone. I am not a true science fiction fan. I read this book based on a recommendation of a friend. I was not unimpressed.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a captivating novel by Arthur C. Clarke that combines fictitious past and futuristic events in a mind-boggling novel. The book, which is a more enriched account than the movie, also co-written by Clarke, explores the unknown possibilities of both space and technology. Although perhaps farfetched, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a fantastically illustrious novel which should be read by all.

After buying 2001 I was skeptical that I would enjoy the novel but had heard Arthur C. Clarke's name repeatedly and of the infamous, antagonistic computer named Hal and decided to give it a shot. My expectations were low despite the novel's fame. My thoughts were that it would be an obsolete piece of science fiction because of its 1968 publication. I was pleasantly surprised to read a story which would most likely never become old-fashioned because of its realistic depictions of space and exciting near extinction of prehistoric man. I found that 2001: A Space Odyssey was an enjoyable, quick read, and one of few science fiction books that I would recommend others to read.

The novel starts out telling the story of Moon-Watcher, a man-ape, of a dwindling race that is endangered by most of the prehistoric animals and restricted to collecting berries and vegetation. The race is soon encountered by a large metallic monolith which prods their minds and seeing their potential, teaches them the use of tools which help the survival and eventual evolution into the present day human. The novel then continues with the discovery of a powerful magnetic anomaly on the moon which discharges a loud noise and wave signal when dug up. The signal was traced to Saturn and the earth dispatched a crew with the extremely advanced computer named Hal. While three of the crew slept in hibernation for the arrival, David Bowman and Frank Poole are in charge of the day-to-day operation overview while Hal takes care of most of the major procedures. Everything occurs without failure until a device needs replacement outside the ship and Poole is killed by a straying pod, a bizarre accident that has Bowman worried about Hal. After sending word home that the device was in fact working and the second was said to be failing as well, Bowman decides to shut down Hal. Hal, not wanting to be shut down, decides to deal with matters as he wishes. Bowman struggles for his life and the journey to discover of what lies on the moon of Saturn.

The development of characters in 2001: A Space Odyssey is especially important in Moon-Watcher and Bowman. Both are found experiencing completely new scenarios of momentous magnitude and pass their trials to help advance the human race. Humans are developed throughout the novel from the first fully-standing man-ape, to the present inquisitive race, to something far beyond.

Clarke's style is extremely descriptive and imaginative. His insight to the many characters gets the reader interested promptly and his fast pace keeps the novel moving quickly. 2001: A Space Odyssey is certainly a science fiction classic which has and will capture the interest of many for years to come.

..didn't it? I read this before about 5 years ago and it left me astounded. The feeling of total isolation from everything familiar was something I had never contemplated. The book is worth it for that imagery alone, regardless of what happens with the plot.
Second time of reading was still enjoyable and I was able to make more sense of the ending which disappointed me first time around.
I think this is one of those books that anyone who says they are into sci-fi should read. If you haven't, don't even talk to me!
Much, much better than the film.

Such an easy, yet thought provoking, read. The structure of the book is wonderfully original, and some of the concepts and plot devices simply inspirational. Clarke and Kubrick, who were trying to counter the image of the stereo-typical Marsian alien, knew that for the aliens to be truly alien they would have to be incomprehensible to humans. How to describe something that is beyond human comprehension? Substituting the actual presence of the alien being with the monolith was a solution borne out of genius. The exploration of such giant themes as man's relationship to technology (whether it be in the form of a bone or a satellite orbiting the earth, or a super intelligent computer), the evolutionary process, or the human impetus towards worshipping icons and the formation of religions, is conducted in a remarkably unpretentious manner. One must say that the book is in the unfortunate position of being compared as a work of art with the superior Stanley Kubrick movie. The sense of mystery that the film retains in its conclusion and the poetry of the photography and editing, raise it to a yet higher plain. Nevertheless, both book and film owe a great deal to one another, and to the imagination of Arthur C. Clarke.

I had heard this book was impressive and I have to agree. Clarke's masterpiece was a brilliant journey to the father planet as well as a fascinating look inside the world of interplanetary travel. His ability to place the future away from the present yet make it plausible is just one of the things that define him as a mater of science-fiction. In addition to his well-laid plot, characterization is fine. He could have use one or maybe two more main characters to break up the journey to Jupiter. I can't think of any other sci-fi novelist who could have handled a period of time like that as well as Clarke did. The confrontation with the monoliths defined humanity's boundaries as well as its will to reach further. Bowman was a fine character to become the Star Child for he was alone yet could reach out to the world. Although I have not yet seen the movie, I can't wait to see how Kubrick has handled the awesome task presented by Clarke.

I consider 2001: A Space Odyssey to be one of the greatest books of all time. It is not often in life that you come across a book which profoundly changes the way you think. Yet that was its effect on me when i first read it as a young teenager. I have re-read it many times since, and it is as inspirational and haunting each time. The book is sheer perfection.
Consider the time when it was written - at the dawn of the space race when travelling to the moon seemed scarcely possible, when computer technology was still rudimentary, when the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe was still largely a joke to the majority of the world population, before the field of artificial intelligence took off, when the details of space travel, space communications and other planets were still basic. For those of us born after this time, i don't believe we can ever accurately understand what it must have been like.
Consider the practical, realistic, scientific vision that 2001 provides. A breath-taking, awe-inspiring vision, that sweeps us along from primitive human life to what we are now and to what we may become. The issues that the book examines are as relevant and topical today as in the 1960s: the possibility of machine intelligence and the associated ethical dilemmas; the possibilities and problems of working with computers which provide crucial advice and make important decisions; the practical details of undertaking a long space voyage (the psychological impact on the travellers and their families back home, the communication difficulties, the vast amount of time to fill, the small crew each dependent upon the others, the lack of privacy, food and exercise, repairs and maintenance, loneliness and isolation); the possibility of different forms of existence; the possibility of first contact with other life forms; and the possibility of encountering the completely unknown.
The finale is mind-blowing... unsurpassable. Alone, isolated, at the frontier between the known and the unknown, terrified and exhilerated, after an epic, frightening journey. "Oh my God - its full of stars", is surely one of the most memorable lines ever written.

This book made me become a sci-fi fan! Even if you found the film incomprehensible or boring, you must read the book, because it's hugely readable and not boring at all! The ideas involved by Clarke, such as the monolith, HAL and a civilization independent from matter are not only ingenious and creative, but it also goes deeper than sci-fi and makes us wonder about existence, God and the meaning of life.
If this book has a defect, it is the fact that it's hard to find a novel as good. Since it was the first Clarke book I read, it made me read 7 other Clarke's books since then(including the 3 Odyssey sequels) but none as brilliant and uncanny as this, even though Rendezvous with Rama and 2010 are almost as good!

I am so glad I read this book. Many things in the book were left out of the movie, things I think would have been way more interesting than the way the movie turned out. I was hoping the clarification would be there and it was. The ending of the movie almost seemed like a panic of "Oh no! We are at two hours of movie and we need an ending!"

The first book in Arthur C. Clarkes 2001 trilogy. This was fantastic journey through time of the "monolith" and the discovery and re-discovery of it by humans. The author was surprisingly gifted at predicting a lot of the future technologies we would have, although he overestimated somethings a bit. Once you read this book you'll want to finish the trilogy with 2010 and 2061.

One of the classics of science fiction. A few inconsistencies with sequels and with the movie. In the book, the journey is to Saturn. In the movie, they are going to Jupiter. In 2010, action also centers on Jupiter. No matter, I thought it was well-written and really enjoyed it. I'm reading the sequels now. 2010 was really good and I also liked 3001. I'm reading 2061 right now, and this one seems like the weakest of the sequels - a pleasant read, but not up to the level of the others.

This novel is solid, however a little disappointing. A like the destination of Saturn over Jupiter, as the magnificence of the rings, and the depcription of Japetus, make it very awe-inspiring to read. However, I feel that clarke does too much to desctibe the monolith as the creation of physical beings, and looses much of the ominous mysteriousness which made the movie so great, when he actually descirbes the "creatures" process of evolutoin, etc. But overall, this book does a fantastic job of portraying the unimaginable vastness of the universe, the overarching prupose behind its creation.

This book is good. I know- bad start, but it's the truth. It's a darn good book. The way it's written- you can almost call it beautiful, just like the movie. It answers a few questions, so don't think you're gonna open this book, read it, and close it and go "Oh Lord- I know the entire movie!". But- it does help (to me it did) to watch the movie, read the book once (or twice), and then watch the movie again. Usually I read the book, then watch the movie a few weeks after. And it helps, they interact in a way- that both answer questions.
Okay, basically, if you don't know the book- I'll try my best to explain, there's most likely a review that's much better. But, in the beginning of time, back when the apes where on the planet, way way back then, this giant slab of mysterious rock came, and sorta evolved the apes into humans, it took millions of years, but that's what it did. Now, it's the year 2001, and a mysterious magnetic field is coming from the moon (granted, this book was written in the 1960s- so he thinks we'll be living on the moon in huge towns and be flying to the moon and Mars for a little weekend getaway and stuff like that, so, it's sorta dated- but not that bad), so they dig down, to find (surprise) the same "rock" that the ape monkeys found millions of years before. And then- in the middle of the book, you're thrown to the end of our solar system, where you are in a state of the art ship, and two guys and a computer (sounds like a bad sitcom), and about 4 other crew members sleeping make there way to Jupiter, and well, I know it doesn't make sense, but in the end it does make sense. And, I relly can't tell you the ending, because I really don't know the ending well enough to explain it. It's confusing, and it's mindbending...but it's good. I really suggest reading it. I really do, I'm on my 4th time reading it. And I always find something new.

For anyone who likes novels about space exploration, this certainly qualifies.
In many ways, the novel gives a better understanding of the events in the film, such as the first encounter with the monolith.
The space flight of the Discovery is well written. The pace is what one would expect in such a flight; slow, mudane, building toward a climax. Then the routine is interruptted and the suspense builds. Next comes the great mystery of the second monolith and the weird sences it reviels to Bowman.
One can see the similarities Clarke gives between the dying tribe of the man-apes and the future society; both are on the edge of oblivian and have their normal views of the world distrupted by the unseen aliens. And both are given something of a savior that could very well change their world.
Few sci-fi novels can aproach the greatness of 2001. Not even the
sequels can match it. Any true fan of sci-fi is bound to love this!

I first bought this book at a local bookstore and read the first six chapters. They talked about how man has evolved from apes trying to defend their land to the wise humans that we are today. I then put the book down, thinking that I was not going to read the rest of it. However the next day, I read the next few chapters and then could not stop reading it. I read all day for the next couple of days and finished the book in under a week. The book is very easy to understand and follow.
You should read the book before you see the movie. The book however, is a lot different from the movie. For example, the HAL 9000 computer does not deny Dave entrence to the ship as he does in the movie. Instead, he lets him in and then tries to kill him by cutting off the ship's air supply. To me, the book is better then the movie.
If you like science fiction stories, then this book is a must. It is by far one of the best books that I have ever read

2001: A Space Odyssey was written with optimism towards the future. Yet, we have reached 2001, and none of these incredible machines dreamed up by Arther C. Clark have been invented yet. The story tells a tale of a long lost artifact discovered having aged a long time. This spawns the launch of a mission to Jupiter to follow this mysterious signal back to it's origin. Aided by the monitone voiced HAL9000 computer, several astronauts make their way to Jupiter. A small kink in the journey develops when HAL goes berserk, but regardless, Dave (Main Character) makes it to Jupiter and finds the source of the signal. Will we ever make it to Jupiter? Will we ever develop A.I.? I guess we will have to wait and see.
In my opinion, this is an advanced book, with a lot of hidden meanings and ideas. If you are a creative thinker, with a taste for Science Fiction, this is the book for you. Although, I am an avid Science Fiction reader, I found this book difficult to follow.

Clarke's novels are always well structured and are comfortable to read because they always progress forward with as little of flashbacks as possible. the story itself is the first SF novel to examine the possibilities and implications of intelligent extraterrestrial life in light of current knowledge of space explorations,astrophysics, and biology. it is difficult to agree with the author , however, that there are beings who can invent living intelligence( by converting an unintelligent species to an intelligent one), othe than god. it is a real page turner, though.

This was such an amazing story!2001 A Space Odyssey is a must to read! This science fiction novel was really exiting, sometimes even putting you on the edge of your seat with much suspense! I personally loved the way it was written. The beggining was reaally good and gave out much detail for the sory's plot. The roles of the main characters are really cool and important. The events in the story want to make you read on and on till the end of the book. This book takes you to another world of science fiction.

This novel is crap story. This is the best science fiction story I have ever read in my life. I am telling you, Arthur C. Clark is no ordinary author. He takes science fiction to the max. This is one of the author's best written stories. The book may be a little tricky for some youngsters to read. The ending of the story is just brilliant, but I wont tell you how it ends. You should read it and find out. You would be surprised of what some of the main characters are. There re a bunch of turning points in this story, so this makes the story a lot more interesting to read. The mood of the story is what really turned me on. It is very lonely, dark, and suspenseful. I dont think many authors would create a story like that, the kind of stork that would carry out through the rest of the story. I think the climax of the story is the best part of the book. You would never think that the climax in this story cahanges as it does. You wouldnt beleive how the story ends. It is really unusual and acually really scary if you understand what is going on near the end. This book is the best.

I thought that the book was excellent. I gave it four stars for many reasons, which include the suspense, the way the author used his imagination, and for the description. To start, this book was written a long time ago. Man had just walked on the moon, and from there space exploration had no limits. Clarke had an image of what he thought the world would be like thirty years from when he lived. He saw people living on the moon and flights that took less than an to dock with a space station. It is fun to read how he portrayed what he thought today would be like. The second thing is the suspense. It keeps you reading and you just can't wait to see what happens. What is HAL going to do next? It is a real "on the edge of your seat" type book. I never saw the movie, but I would recommend seeing it after reading the book. Finally, the description of everything. He describes everything so well. From going to the bathroom in space, to what they found on the moon, you get a clear picture of what is going on in your head. He uses words very nicely. I took one star for only one reason. That was the dragging of the book. It kind of contributes to the suspense. It takes so long from one scene to the next. There is, I thought, a lot of unneeded information. Like the part when he is reading the newspaper on the plane. Overall, I thought it was a good book and I recommend it to anyone. 5-9-00

2001 is one of only a few science fiction novels that I've read and I enjoyed it tremendously. Clarke is clearly a distinguished writer and provides every 'part' of the book with a particular feel. This style provides an interesting contrast to Kubrick's movie version. Whereas scenes from the movie seem slow moving and almost static, the book flows smoothly. Though essentially the same story, both end up leaving you with an entirely different feeling. As a result, both are definitely worth the time.

Many books survive the translation into the medium of film, but the converse is rarely true. 2001 is one of those rare exceptions.
This is due in no small part to the very key role that Clarke played in the making of the film. The central and critical theme in the film came from "The Sentinel" a story that Clarke wrote long before Kubrick's involvement. Consequently, the film was built on a secure literary foundation and the concurrent novel could be sourced upon the muse of writers and not that of directors.
The other secret to the novel's success is Clarke. A lesser author would have floundered. But Clarke is one of the grand masters of the genre and, in addition to the prodigious intellect and creative powers that he could bring to bear, his reputation allowed him the freedom to depart from the film's script and impose his own vision on the novel. The result is a book with enough differences from the film that it can be separated from its twin sibling and judged on its own merits. This is especially important when we consider how large an effect the film has had on the genre's psyche.
So many superlatives have been heaped upon this work, that there is nothing to be gained in further praising it. More useful then, is defining who will not like it.
Those who wish their thinking done for them will not like this book. It asks too many difficult questions and has the temerity to leave them unanswered. It even implies that some questions can have no answers. Some people will find that this messes with their minds to a totally unacceptable degree. Likewise, it will not appeal to action junkies. The pace of the book reflects something of reality. For example, the journey to Saturn is described in much the way such a journey might feel - leisurely and methodically, with the crisis arising at the end and not a series of emergencies manufactured just to pump up the plot. The descriptions of astronaut routine are fascinating, but only to those who have cultivated a sense of patience. Those with the attention span of a flea will find this book boring.
Most of all, this book won't appeal to those who want comfort: whether the comfort of formula, the boundaries of the purely human, or the reassurance of what is already known. This novel has earned its reputation because it seeks to expand our minds, beyond the human and into the unknown. There is absolutely nothing formulaic about it.
The only beef I have with Clarke is that he didn't leave well enough alone. None of the sequels remotely approach the quality of the original and some of the subsequent explanations destroy much of the mystery that made 2001 so unique.

A classic sci-fi. I'd seen the movie but never read the book until now. Be aware that the book and the movie differ, its a big difference but doesn't really change all that much. Having seen the movie the book adds a lot of detail thats nice to have.

Most people know the story already. I haven't seen the movie but I know enough about pop culture that I knew what to expect. Some of the movie situations differ from the book but since I am ignorant of the film it didn't bother me. I have read quite a few Clarke books and I can't say this is my favorite, but it's still good.

Where will we go as the human race? How have we come to our present existence? If you like science fiction, the tension of space, and artificial intelligence then this book is for you. It’s a slow start, but once things are revealed, it takes off. Liked the book, but was bored by the movie.

Kubrick's movie was groundbreaking, original and did a lot to establish space movies as a genre. But, like most post-Strangelove Kubrick, it did so at the expense of a narrative. In the book, Clarke takes care of such mundane matters as givign the reader an idea of what's going on. Indeed, the book is more visionary than the movie in many ways. Clarke's brief discussion of the aliens' history -- from biological creatures, to robotic intelligences, to something far greater -- is the sort of thing Ray Kurzweil writes happily about (and Bill Joy writes unhappily about) today. But Clarke wrote it over 30 years ago. As usual, he was ahead of his time.

I consider myself as a big Sci-Fi fan, with Star Wars on the top of my list, and i never thought that i would one day experience something that culd move so close to beat SW. A.C. Clarke is immensely creative, and writes to such perfection and detail that you realy know what it's like to live in space or travel to the moon. It's Thrilling from start to end. This is the best book i have ever read, and i will enjoy this book for many, many years.

This book shows (creatively) how the world might be in 2001. On the moon, archealogists have discovered a black monolith, but the US governement regards it as nothing serious to the press and examines it. The rock turns transparent and send a signal to one of Jupiter's moons! Two astronauts are sent off on a four-year journey to locate its destination. The ship's super computer goes mad, and that's where this gripping page turner really starts.

A strange object is found on the moon, strange waves travel through space towards Saturn, a computer tries to take over the mission... These are just a few of the events that occur in Arthur Clark's "2001: A Space Odessey. A large piece of alien material is found buried deep inside the body of the moon. Scientists believed that it's age is around three million years. Its finding is kept very secret and governments from around the world try to keep it that way. A group of scientists is sent to study why the big, black object on the Moon sent waves towards Saturn. On the way, they run into many obstacles leading to an incredible climax.
In "2001: A Space Odyssey," setting is a very important part of Clark's book. Since it is set in the future, a lot of description is needed to establish an atmosphere that the reader has never seen. Clark describes the Discovery spaceship, it's shape, it's contents, it's feel; he writes about the space stations, and the planets using vivid metaphors and details. When the main character is describing the planet Saturn, you feel like you are there with him, looking out the space craft window. Although his writing is very rich and almost vibrant, his visions are so complex that it can be difficult to grasp his ideas and to really picture them in your mind. If you enjoy exciting science fiction, this is the book for you!

Arthur C. Clarke's tingles the mind of any reader with this masterpiece. The story of David Bowman and his incredible incounter with extraterrestrials is amazing and facinating. This is no ordinary run-in with E.T., but a complex and imaginative ride through time and space. The story connects a man-ape 3 million years ago, a specialist on the moon and a solo astronaut all together with shining black monoliths spred across our galaxy before recorded time, and on its ways composes brillant answers to the unspoken question we all ask whenever we gaze at the star. "What's it all about?" "How did it all happen?" The story's answers tickle the brain and establish new more elaborate questions while generating a sense of perspective about how small and obsolete we humans really are. The new perspective rids teh mind of worrisome burdens and give the reader a clear outlook on life and how large the universe is. Clarke's discrete descriptive style and attention to detail paints pictures in the mind that only the human imagination could create. His wording allows the reader to conceive the biginnings of vassly complicated new worlds and plains of life and energy, leaving our world and matter altogether behind. If you liked the movies, you'll be astounded by the book. A great story. A must read. Five stars!

This is one of the most absorbing novels I've read in some time. A discovery on the moon leads man to journey in to the depths of space to find it's and perhaps mankinds origins. The book is written beautifully and you acually feel as though you are out there in space yourself. And then there is HAL, the computer system that runs the ship who, in my opinion, makes this novel a classic (and how many times has HAL been copied since). Do not judge this book on the tremendously boring Kurbrick film, read Clarke's novel instead. The novel has far more atmosphere and makes ten times more sense than what Kubrick produced.
Get it and read it, it it totally worth while.

Clarke is a master. I always thought the movie was good but the book blows it out of the water. His description of the planets is stunning. If you want a writer that will help you feel powerful as a human and insignificant at the same time, Clarke will do it.

i loved Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, but what this book does, is it makes you look at the history of man in a completly different perspective. What should literature do? Inspire, provoke thought and emotion, challenge? Well you go through some of the most unique emotions as you read this as it is like peering into an unknown thread of your brain and having it tingle where it once was numb. Recommened for everyone on the planet.

Loved the movie, loved the book even more. Highly recommended whether or not you are a fan of the movie, or prefer the movie. There are differences, but those are explained by the author. I happen to think books > movies, although directors would disagree.

This is a GRADE A, 100% SUPER-KICK-ASS BOOK! It is the greatest book in the entire world and Arthur C Clarke is the best sci-fi writer on earth. I would reccommend this book to anyone and I am buying 7 copies to give out to my family. A few words of advice, DON'T SEE THE MOVIE! It is the worst movie in the entire world and i seriously went to sleep during it. But the book approx 500 billion better! A MUST-READ CLASSIC!

I guess I won't say too much because the consensus is that it is a great book. I was utterly confused by the movie so I bought this book and suddenly things became clearer. The three sub-stories threaded so well together and the amount of detail is staggering, but not overwhelming. I never considered myself a science-fiction fan, but Clarke and Kubrick hit the nail on this subject and it was just fun to read this book.

Wow, thank you Arthur C Clarke, the best science fiction writer in English ever. The movie was superb and the book is no slouch either. If you have a vivid imagination you will go far into the universe of space and possibilities.

I didn't love 2001: A Space Odyssey, but space travel in general doesn't really do it for me. The original concept, taking into account when it was written and how far we've come since then, is well beyond anything conceivable and I believe that is one of the main reasons this book is so highly regarded.

Unfortunately, this book is all concept. The pacing is slow and the story drags for the majority of the book. What should have been terrifying never really effected me as it should have. The characters were hard to become emotionally attached to and most of the time I found myself rooting for the "villain" to win so the book would come to an end. Even the actual ending of the book felt like a disappointment.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a classic science fiction novel and hugely loved by most. While I can see why it's been enjoyed by the masses, I just couldn't garner the enthusiasm others have had. I appreciate how imaginative and unique the book would have been considered in the sixties, but given a first time reading in the present day, it failed to impress me.

The book kept me interested in what was going to happen next! Don't miss the very beginning where the author describes how & when he wrote the book...additional fun facts. Now I have to watch the movie!

I felt the book was much better than the movie itself. Also after reading the book, the movie made more sense. I think the two would go well together. I am looking forward to reading the other three books in the series.

I found 2001: Space Odyssey the Movie to be confusing, boring at times, and vastly overrated. The book, however, is fantastic. Plot details that I feel you couldn't possibly glean from the movie are clear in the book. The story actually makes sense. Questions like, "Why did HAL go crazy?", "What exactly happened at the end?", and "What was the significance of the ape-men at the beginning?" all become clear.

Besides the plot, the book was quite satisfying for me on a technical level. Clarke describes many technical aspects of spaceflight in prophetically accurate detail.

This book is about a monolith that was left behind many years ago by aliens. The purpose of the monolith is to give knowledge to others to help them evolve. Dr. Haywood Floyd is there to determine what the monolith is for. Be sure to read this and it's many other books (2010:Odyssey Two, 2061:Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey). The story isn't over until you read them all!!!

There's no need to read this book. Stanley Kubrick's "2001" is one of the great films of the twentieth century. Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" is deeply ordinary. The things that make a film great a different from the things that make a book great, and a book that dumbly follows its parent film's lead cannot amount to much. I can think of one, and only one, (weak) reason to read this: if you are curious about all the weird stuff at the end of the movie, Clarke offers an explanation, of sorts. But I keep forgetting just what the explanation is. Kubrick's images are indelible.

This book was fantastic!! It was FAR better than the movie (though the movie was good). The descriptions of the Discovery and other crafts are
pretty outdated, but after all it was written 30 years ago. HAL and company are very interesting characters. If you are looking for a realistic, but intertaining sci-fi read I sugggest 2001!

Kane Lynch
[email protected]

First of all, I like science fiction. However, I have never read any sci-fi book; therefore, this is my first book. Secondly, I am still learning English. With these in mind, I find this book rather hard to read. The detail is too much while I can only grasp a big picture at the end of each cluster of details. In fact in some scene, I could hardly imagine the overall picture without rereading it many times. However, for a starter like myself to both sci-fi genre and English, I find this book rather fascinating because of the process of the voyage and the questions, I believe, implied. Hopefully, I will be able to complete the series.

2001 is a book about exploring hummities origens and what our purpose in the universe is. Clark shows us a world that is on the end of its life and shows how mankind is going to destroy each other and are time on earth is limited. This right here takes reference from the Time Machine written by H.G. Wells. The world of 2001 is a one that no one cares about the future or past of their origens. Clarks theory that aliens helped our ape ancestors is out there but rember in the introduction Clark said "The truth is always stranger." Some say that this book is for teenagers you are lost but this is a book that will stimulate your thought a make you question how did mankind come about. As for the people who say that a computer like the HAL 9000 is impossible I would like to say something to them. Nothing is impossible it is impreable that something like that will happen in our lifetime but sometime in the future it might happen. We will never know if that is the truth but look at how fare technolgy has come in few years. In conclusion I say buy the book and jugde it for yourself. You can not waste anything by reading.

Once again a book that I should have read years ago only to find that it is simply amazing. I've seen the movie and while I have to say it did a great job...the book just has sooooo much more. It is hard to believe that this was written prior to the moon landing!!

The title of my review says it all, but I will go a little further for those of who want to know more about my favorite book. I loved the movie so I decided to read the book. Good decision. Do the same! Once you start you'll want to finish it in one sitting! The marvelous storytelling of Clarke is truly spectacular! The riveting plot, and plots don't get any better than this, folks, compells you to read on! For the last time, READ THIS INCREDIBLE BOOK. You won't regret it.

Wow! What a good read!

He is detailed, and that may bore some people who don't care about technical specifics.

The story is interesting, if you find space exploration entrancing.

The ending has a couple massive twists some people may not appreciate, if they are consumed by appreciation for hard science only. ;)

This book makes one realize just how small our planet and most of our lives are. Having seen only the movie, this answered a lot of my questions which came towards the ending. Like most of the books I've enjoyed and reviewed, one can truly come away from reading this and feel closer to a full understanding of life. This book is also a part of Easton Press' Masterpieces of Science Fiction and is most definitely a worthy addition to anyone's personal library.

Not quite as confusing as the movie, but it does try its hardest. It's also much shorter than one might expect, given the fact that the movie is just shy of 54 hours long.

This book is an absolute pleasure to read. The science is well-researched and is presented in a fascinating way. Arthur C Clarke has a beautiful writing style. It is incredible to believe that it was written 44 years ago. I have no idea why I have never read this novel before!

There is no other science fiction novel as good or as compelling as 2001 A Space Odyssey. I first saw the movie when I was young and I read the book last year. Every now and then, there is a science fiction novel or story with such description and intelligence that it becomes a legend in which lives in our society (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, A Sound of Thunder, etc.). Even from the first page, I knew it would be great. That's just an understatement. Even if you are not a science fiction fan, I recommend this to anyone. It has got to be the greatest book I have ever read. After reading 2001, you could read 2010, but to me, 2010 does not match up to 2001. I guess you can say you get spoiled after reading 2001. Read this! It is the science fiction novel by which every other novel is judged.

I finally read this book years after having seen the movie. I wish I had read it sooner. I think this book blows the movie away. Sure the movie was pioneering for its time and is timeless but the book is not as abstract as the movie. If you take the movie and make it as clear as crystal, and slightly more enjoyable, you've just read the book.

2001 is a wonderful achievement. It's pace is much faster than 2001 the movie, yet still manages a slow feel, as a book should in the space environment. Yet, after watching the film, with its
Strauss and Kucrick aplenty, the literature seems dwarfed to a microscopical size. But read the book first so it wont be spoiled for you.
When it comes to the style of Clarke's writing in this book, you'll find it so explicit that you expect the left in the air ending of the film to be answered just as Clarke explains the monolith directing the apes to perform simple tasks to test their intelligence and potential. But, alas, the ending is in ways more mysterious than the film. But Clarke adds a few more situations to the book, such as a comet fly-by and some looks into the minds of the characters (the infamous personality-drained characters that Clarke has created for your enjoyment). So, those who have already seen the film should see this as the best movie companion ever created in the history of time. So I would at least reccomend it.

2001: A Space Odyssey was everything a great science fiction novel should be. The day I started to read this book I found it so engrossing that I finished it the same day! The book does a magnificant job of rendering detailed images to us in mankinds' quest to reach intelligent life. The book touches on so many powerful themes, like man vs. machine, the struggle for survival, and humanity's rise to the space age that one can't help but think about these issues in a whole new light after finishing this great novel.
The addicting storyline, along with its pleasant, easy-to-read style will help make this book a favorite of everyone's who can get their hands on it!
My personal thanks to Arthur C. Clarke for creating a literary masterpiece that will stand for all of time!

2001: Space Odyssey is the SF book every SF fan should read. I most confess that some parts are boring, but the story is greate, epic and it keeps you coming back for more. When Bowman begins his journey, you almost feel as if you were there with him. Clarke has a great talent when dealing with the misteries of the aliens. A most read !

If you know nothing about this book or the movie I envy you. This is hands down the greatest book I have read in my life and I only wish I had read it before seeing the movie. The story, the writing style, the mystery and adventure. It is all perfect. If you are into space or good books in general; read this book.

This is the best science-fiction book I've read! Arthur C. Clarke is a true visionary of the future! Almost all the fields knowledge are here, from History to new techonologies. And, if you think of the evolution of technology over the past 30 years, you see that in many aspects Arthur C. Clarke predicted how it would be. Just to give you an example: the approach maneuvre of the spaceship Discovery to the planet Saturn was exactly the same approach used by the Voyager probe! Fantastic!
Other interesting aspect of this novel is the story of the evolution of the human being. Ironically, it can be more credible than the myths of any religion!
I could pass my whole time talking about this excellent novel, and it still wouldn't be enough. I'll give tou just one advise: read it! It's worth it! Thank you Charles!

The picture shown by the seller is Frederik Pohl's Gateway, not Clarke's book. same publisher.
Nothing I can say will change anyone's mind about, the story, the movie, the book, the author or the director. But, you should read the story, then read the book, then see the movie, that order.

Having done the obvious thing and read the Odyssey series in reverse order (from 3001 backwards) I can safely say that this book is simply the BEST book around.
3001 was quite bad, 2061 not much better, 2010, however, started to get quite good and 2001 was amazing.
ACC - you are a genius, but why oh why was 3001 so bad??

2001: A Space Odyssey is the first book in the four part series written by the visionary Arthur C. Clarke. The other three books in the series being 2010, 2061, and 3001. This book of imaginative ideas paints word pictures inside the readers' head.

The book begins in late B.C. with the journey of a band of apes. The apes encounter a strange rectangular "box". The box, which will later be referred to as the Monolith, always shows up to change the world's way of thing. The Monolith is the alpha and the omega, it created the world and it can rebuild the world as it wishes. The main character and his crew search for the Monolith and find much more then they ever bargained for.

2001 really was ahead of its time when it was written (Clarke was writing about space and its travels before the first NASA space shuttle was ever launched.) The book really makes the reader think about creation and what happened to create the world and why the world changes like it does. It tests the boundaries of which normal people think. It may change the readers mind on many subjects including the way people are born, grow, age and die.

By reading this book, the reader will gain new knowledge about life. The reader will be compelled to read it again, as I was. Nothing could stop me from reading the other three books, all as imaginative (but not really as good) as 2001. I did see the movie directed by the late Stanley Kubrick before I read the book, but I feel that the book has more impact. (Though the movie is one of the best I have ever seen.) I strongly recommend watching the movie after reading the book; it will connect many things that may not have been as clear.

I loved this book, and if the reader enjoyed it as much as I did, the reader will want to read again and again.

This book will blow your mind.

If you enjoyed the movie, then the book will help you sort out some of the things that were not clear. This book elaborates on things, much more than the movie did. This can probably be explained by the fact that the screenplay was written by Stanley Kubrick as well as Arthur C. Clarke. On a whole a very enjoyable read.

Maybe one of the greatest sci fi books ever written, simple to read and relate too, obviously not set in a fantasy galaxy far far away, but much more closer to home and where we are at now in human technology. This book is so much more better than the movie and I can't wait to start reading the next books. Couldn't put it down once I started reading and pretty much read it in one sitting.

Without a doubt one of Clarke's best novels. Overlooked by some as nothing but the tag along novel of the feature film, this book is so much more and rivals his others novels such as Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama.

The writing is a little awkward and doesn't flow particularly well. Clarke would have done better speculating in a nonfiction book what the future of space exploration would be like, but in a novel where you have to include plot and character development, it's a failure. Not surprisingly, the mundane actions of the "major" characters are described in utmost detail to explain how things such as walking will be different. This is interesting, but not enough to sustain readers' interest.

Clarke sometimes goes out of his way to explain the physics of the future. His science is sound except for the human capability to survive in vacuum. The plot lacks depth and is slow to develop, and the only real exciting part of the novel is when HAL rebels against the crew of Discovery. You never develop a repoire with the major characters because they do not really matter in the story; they are just set pieces to Clarke's theme of the obelisk initiating evolution. The last part of the book, like the movie, is a complete waste, nothing more than a description of a changing vista before the astronaut's eyes.

@001 a Space Odyssey is an important book. Arthur C Clark is an important writer. Just think about the Clarke belt where the manmade satellites are. The Monoliths are a neat idea. The Artificial Intelligence description of HAL is well done for the 1960s. Hopefully Aliens who read this book some day will be cheering for the Humans in it. The spaceship Discovery is a technological marvel. Read the other books in the series as well.

This book written many years ago still facsinates us by its brilliant exposition of man's power of imagination !! Mr Clarke though by present standards indicates the specifications of the HALl computer as one even lower than some of the present generation computers Anyway this makes great reading

Science is not fantasy in this book.
A very enjoyable journey through the solar system and an ultimate frontier to reach for a human. If you liked the movie you'll like the book even better. Pay attention to the scientific details. Also, this novel makes you wonder if human minds and electronic minds are any different, it seems stress affects computers too.

I've never finished a book so fast in my life. So many books are called "page turners", and this book pretty much showed me what that means. 2001: A Space Odyssey is by far the best book I have ever read. It keeps you hooked all they through with it's compelling storyline and suspensful and descriptive writing. Read it if you haven't, and even if you have, read it again.

Space Odyssey is a well-told, space-age tale,
with intriguing views about evolution, life and the stars. The book turned out to be much better and different than I expected! If a book's value is judged by how hard it is to put down, then this one is definitely a must-buy, especially if you like SF.

This is without a dought the best book I have ever read. It realy makes you think and wonder. The space tech and idea of the Aliens contact and motives are truly believable and imagitive. I wish I was able to talk to Clark becouse i have a 2001 questions about this book.

It is hard to believe that it has been forty years since 2001, the book and the film, was released. In 1968 it was a strange, mind bending, fascinating vision of the future. It is a worthy monument to the vision of Arthur C. Clarke, bard of the space age.

Clarke expanded this from his short story "The Sentinel," and it's among the best "first contact" scenarios, having as it does quite a mystical feel to it. (Clarke is an atheist who somehow always packs his novels with spiritual imagery. Hm!)

Decided to read this again after 30 some years. Even though I Remember the final outcome. I was captured by Arthur C. Clark"s descriptive narrative. Once more he capture my attention and keep me captivated. Which proves great story telling never gets old.

Stanley Kubrick got together with Arthur C. Clarke to make "the proverbial good science fiction movie," and then proceeded to sift through Clarke's works for an idea. They settled on "The Sentinel" and a few bits from "Encounter at Dawn." Kubrick could have made Childhood's End into a film, used the same special effects budget, and made a much better movie. As it is, Clarke and Kubrick have created a massive albatross, a "classic," a visual masterpiece on the screen, and one of the most boring books you're likely to read. Clarke is partially to blame, of course, since he is known for writing about big concepts and remarkable speculative technologies, not characters.
2001 is such a part of the culture now, I don't think I'll be blowing any secrets here by revealing plot points. But just in case you haven't seen or read 2001, you have been warned. The book (and the movie--from here on, I'll talk about the book) starts at "the dawn of man," three million years ago, on the African plains. We confront our ancestors, Australopethicus, or whatever they're called. They're starving, vulnerable, and afraid. Then a strange object appears, probes them, and begins to give them ideas. The hominids begin using animal bones as weapons. The object, a black, featureless monolith, disappears, and leaves the hominids to their destiny. The book fast-forwards to our age. The movie does this really well, by using a sight-match between a bone thrown up in the air and then a space station orbiting the planet. The point being, the use of tools became the basis of human evolution.
We come to the present, 2001. There is regularly-scheduled traffic to the moon (courtesy of Pan Am, which has disappeared and reappeared in the real world), a space station orbiting the moon, and a complete lunar base. It's all straightforward technological speculation. However, as you read, you find two very obvious things wrong: there are no characters worth considering, and nothing much seems to be happening. The tools seem more interesting than the people. When we come to the Discovery mission, heading for Jupiter, we come across two of the flattest characters known to science fiction: David Bowman and Frank Poole. We almost welcome the presence of the schizophrenic, flat-voiced computer, HAL 9000. HAL makes things interesting by killing people. The flatness of David Bowman becomes useful once he encounters the Monolith. Then the narrative becomes nothing but descriptions of what Bowman sees. Clarke, after all, is best at describing the remarkable and the alien, not for portraying human reactions to them. So by the end, Bowman is transformed by the Monolith, and once again we are looking at another stage of human evolution. The book, anyway, is better at explaining "what the ending means" than the movie is. The visual feast of the movie allowed Clarke to write a successful sequel 20+ years later. The second book is the best of the lot. You might be better off just reading that one, since it summarizes much that is in 2001, and takes off from there. Just because 2001 is a "classic" doesn't mean you have to like it.

This book is what I expected, and more. You could never put it down, as if youre traveling through space by reading this book written in the best discriptions ever. If you are a true Science ficton fan, there is no way you can let this book pass you by.

I'm sure this book is a great example of what being in space is really like since it's so dull so much of the time. Still it has its strengths and a very interesting premus. All and all a worthy effort but by no means the classic so many say it is. It is better than the movie whose appeal has always dumbfounded me.

I read this book in my teenage years and have since reread it a number of times. I think maybe because my understanding of the concepts become clearer each time. In a time where every sci-fi story leans on the elements of this film and later the book, its hard to remember that this came first. Perhaps the film is more memorable than the book due to its cinematic magnificence, the written story is worth a read as it helps the viewer understand better the confounding finale! A classic which will remain so for many years to come.

This book is so deep. The ending is AMAZING. I can say nothing but that Clarke is a god of the genre, and he kept me glued to the pages of this one for two sittings of enjoyable reading. Beginning with the evolution of man, and ending with one man's rediscovery of the race that prompted their evolution, this book is a masterpiece of SF.

I just want to remind everyone who has read the book and/or seen the movie of something: The book is ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S interpretation of Kubrick's movie. The truth is that no one know exactly why Kubrick did certain things in his amazing film, not even Clarke. So if you read the book for clarification of the movie, keep in mind that it isn't explaining Kubrick's film, it is simply an interpretation, which (after reading Kubrick's great biography by Vincent LoBrutto)probably isn't even very accurate. The book is great, and will help your understanding, but it isn't the Bible.

From a freshman: I thought this book was a story that can't be put down. You just keep reading and reading. I liked it because it made your mind dart to different conclusions every sentence. it linked the evolution of man with finding signs of civilization on Saturn. All in all, this book was one of the best I've read.

When you're little and you figure out how to put the sphere in the round hole or the cube in the square hole and have that moment of understanding and acceptance of your world. That feeling is this book.

Throughout literature, there are expressions which have "stuck" and those which haven't. Hal stuck. Everybody remembers who Hal was, even those only slightly familiar with science fiction. 2001, the truth, didn't. Dispite the protests of those who know the Gregorian calander started with year 1, they are largely ignored. Clarke's brilliant work may help researchers to understand why some imaginary things stick in the masses minds while some true facts don't.

For sheer epic drama, for heartpounding excitement, for thought-provoking power, no book has ever moved me as profoundly as 2001, except perhaps "The Triumph and the Glory". What a magnificent theme !

What else can I say? I read this book as a teenager and it began a lifetime of thinking and questioning. Humankind is nothing if we do not question. This book opened my mind to the whole world. Please read it

2001: A Space Odyssey was an incredible work of science fiction. While I was reading this book I could not put it down. The characters seemed so real to me. You should read this book. Also read its sequel 2010: Odyssey Two. Incredible book!

I think the book was right on. It expresses the Space based mentality of Area 51 with the concept of pet dolphins and youngsters seeing their father take to space and get messages over video cameras until they are their parents age. Going to Jupiter isn't like going to Mars. Taking a life time. A little premature because in real life we're still checking out Mars. Sooner or later the Cuban fiasco or the Chinese fiasco or the Russian Fiasco will cause us to require our Government to go into defensive paranoid mode.
hence the adventure 2001. Seven months left y'all.

2001: A Space Odyssey was a terriffic book, I'd like to tell you all what happened but I dont want to spoil it for everyone. What basically happens is this (Man-Ape) called Moon-Watcher, he is the only one that can walk up-right as well. This guy and his tribe are always struggling for food. And for survival, yet it always turns out in his favor as he invents stuff. Moon-watcher fit perfectly into the world, he was in.

It starts off in what we call today Africa. Its like Armaggedon a little bit but I think its better. Theres things in this book that are mysterious and deaths that change course bigtime. Im looking forward to reading the next book that he came out with as Clarke did a great, fantastic job in this one. I recommend you read this book and make sure you read everyline. Like i said mysterious things are everywhere in this book. And I want to finish all of these books as well.

2001 is an increadible science fiction novel that takes you on an adventure that points to the creation of mankind. When a mysterious monolith is discovered on the moon, it is dug up and points a signal to the outer solar system. A manned mission already headed that way is altered to discover what exactly the signal leads to. I loved the book, and recomend it to anyone that likes science fiction.

If you are looking for entertainment, don't go here. If you are looking for insite into the human mind, and how destructive it is, this IS the book for you. I hear people say all the time that this book is dry, and boring, and not worth reading, but I also find that these people are complete ediots! This is THE BEST book I have ever read. The symbolism and ideas presented are wonderful! If you want something out of a book that is more than entertainment, read this. If not, I hear Mother Goose is pretty good.

2001 has been called the "definitive science fiction book of all time." I have read a fair amount of science fiction. I plan to read a lot more. I found 2001 merely average. The three sections of the book are almost stand-alone tales; the transition between is mildly confusing. It took me quite some time to read this, as I was not terribly engaged with the tale except during Hal's defection. Even that, though, was a little telegraphed. The alternate creation myth was thought-provoking, but not terribly engaging. I do; however, want to know what happens next, so I will be picking up 2010 shortly.

I believe this book Is Great, it would have to be my very favourite book. I thaught it was so good that i went to my local video store and hired it straight after i finished and watched it and to my dissapointment it was hopless, fair enough it is a classic but it has everything and if i hadn'y first read the book i wouldn't have understood it at all, But getting back to the book, it is marvelous.

I'm surprised by all the five-star reviews this book is getting. It took me months to finish this book because it was so boring. After discovering a black slab on the moon that is thought to have been planted by aliens, a team is sent to Saturn to investigate. The first half is utter torture to read, as the book jumps from one story to another, leaving the reader frustrated. Things picks up in the second half when HAL, the ship computer, begins to act up. But overall, this book is a big disappointment. I haven't seen the movie, but it must be better than the book.

This book, as well as the movie, has been an integral part of my growing up into adulthood. As a science fiction writer myself(H.C. Beckerr), this is classic stuff yet...so much more. It is undatable (other than its title) in scope of humanity and vision. Anyone who desires to read real sci-fi needs to read this and have their imaginations reassigned.

I say 'Forgets the Medium' because the Medium is a book, this is more than just a book. It can be fully understood by all. If you read this book and said, "Huh?" you understood it. If you read this book and said, "I wonder what everybody thought was so complicated?" you understood it. And if you don't know what I am talking about you obviously haven't read this book...Do.

I recently saw the movie 2001 as interpreted through Stanley Kubrick's artsy fashion and was left thinking "huh?" So i decided the get the book and boy what a great move. This book just keeps getting better and better. The ending is unbelievable and after reading it you think about what it all means. Definitely buy it and get 2010 as well. If you really like them pick up the other 2. They're pretty good reads.

2001: A Space Oddysey lives up to all of the hipe! At first I thought that it was just some stupid classic Sci-Fi book based on a corny old movie, but after so many reccomendations from my friends I finally read it-boy was I surprised! This is a very good book- if you haven't read it, you should!

A great book! Even though it can be slow sometimes, once you read the whole book you will see that it was worth it. The good thing about this book is that in the end it leaves you with more questions than answers. This book is a must read for science fiction fans. I can't wait to read the other 3 books in the series.

2001 is simply awesome . It might well be one of the best books of the genre ever written .

The concept is great , the compilation even better . Only Clarke could have written this book . His style oozes all over it . It raises many philosophical questions , as all good science fiction should. The cold narrative style of ACC in this book grips you .

If you haven't read 2001 , you haven't really read science fiction .

I am not sure how else to describe the amazing adventure that takes place in this novel as anything other than brilliant. The depictions of life as we know it and the subtle hints at religion and mythology disturb, inspire, and intrigue. This is Clarke's best book and should be read by everyone who can afford the time.

2001 is Mr Clarke at his best, with the added bonus of having Mr. Kubrick peeking over his shoudlers.What more could one want?? Forget we're so close to 2001.The issues treated in this wonderful book are still relevant, technically and philosophically.This book represents Science Fiction at its best, transcending genre. Just read it!!!!

Thank you Mr. Clarke for bringing this book into existence!
The many ideas brought forth in the book (especially written decades ago)are so fresh and mind-blowing even as we review them today...
Read it and see if you agree.

The amazing thing about this book is that it isn't dated. I mean, the internet, for instance. Art didn't see the form we have today, but he did forsee e-newspapers. The plot wears well, and reminds us how the world was in the '80's, we thought they would push the button and turn the key, and blow civilization away long before now. Mr. Clarke's solution to the problem is unique, to say the least.

It had been several years since I watched the film, when I listened to this audiobook, and I remember not really liking the film very much. This book; however, is great and is probably one of the best, if not the best, science fiction books I have ever read. The story is compelling and interesting all the way through, but the best part of the novel is that it makes you THINK.

I am a 10th grader and I was assigned to choose a book for a book report. I heard of 2001 and I decided to try it. The book was so symbolistic and so amazing that I re-read it twice. Just the plot of the story is amazing. Imagine, an alien life far more advanced than ours, and they helped to create US. I reccomend this book for anyone who loves science fiction, and mostly anyone who doesn't.

I read a version of this book that was published before the movie, and then I saw the movie. Even though there are serious changes between the two, (in the movie their going to Jupiter, in the book Saturn.) I still think that if the version from after the movie is as well written as mine that every one on the planet should own a copy of it.

This book makes you think about life, death, other forms of reality, and mankind in general. The frightfulness of Hal (The artificialy intelligent computer who turns into one of the books great mysteries) generated much fear in my mind. I've never been fearful of a computer in a book before and I don't think I ever will again. A great book to make you think about how we got here and why.