2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only Clarke ended up as the official author. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, including "The Sentinel" (written in 1948 for a BBC competition, but first published in 1951 under the title "Sentinel of Eternity"). By 1992, the novel had sold three million copies worldwide. An elaboration of Clarke and Kubrick's collaborative work on this project was made in the 1972 book The Lost Worlds of 2001. The first part of the novel, in which aliens influence the primitive ancestors of humans, is similar to the plot of Clarke's 1953 short story, "Encounter in the Dawn".
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only Clarke ended up as the official author. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, including "The Sentinel" (written in 1948 for a BBC competition, but first published in 1951 under the title "Sentinel of Eternity"). By 1992, the novel had sold three million copies worldwide. An elaboration of Clarke and Kubrick's collaborative work on this project was made in the 1972 book The Lost Worlds of 2001. The first part of the novel, in which aliens influence the primitive ancestors of humans, is similar to the plot of Clarke's 1953 short story, "Encounter in the Dawn".
Tan bueno como la fama que atesora, poco mas se puede decir, ha envejecido mejor de lo que cabria esperar para un libro con tantos años
Better than the movie, though that's not saying much.
Better than the movie, though that's not saying much.
This book covers a very grand, epic scope, starting with the dawn of man and then skipping ahead 3 million years to the present time (kind of. The time is ~33 yrs in the future of when this was written). There's a lot more in this book than I expected. It's kind of a compendium of most of the common/great sci-fi tropes/plots into one story.
As such, if you've been reading science fiction for a while, this will of course seem dated, in a couple ways. First, this was written as hard science fiction, and as such, lots of particulars have now proven totally wrong, such as many details about Jupiter and other planets/moons. Second, because it is so concerned with explanations of minute details, and also because of the sheer amount of times it completely changes scope/time/place, there is little room left for much towards character development or very …
This book covers a very grand, epic scope, starting with the dawn of man and then skipping ahead 3 million years to the present time (kind of. The time is ~33 yrs in the future of when this was written). There's a lot more in this book than I expected. It's kind of a compendium of most of the common/great sci-fi tropes/plots into one story.
As such, if you've been reading science fiction for a while, this will of course seem dated, in a couple ways. First, this was written as hard science fiction, and as such, lots of particulars have now proven totally wrong, such as many details about Jupiter and other planets/moons. Second, because it is so concerned with explanations of minute details, and also because of the sheer amount of times it completely changes scope/time/place, there is little room left for much towards character development or very personal/interesting human factors that we normally look for in a story. There are two characters that have a bit of an arc, and one of these--arguably the more interesting--is actually an AI. The other is an astronaut whose reactions to things are rather normal and predictable, an everyman, if you will.
So those are the weaknesses of the story. Normally I would scorn a story so weak on character development and growth. Also this is not a literary work in terms of the prose or style, although there are a couple of beautiful moments. Nevertheless I found this work to be actually rather engaging and interesting. Why?
If you imagine the dawn of the space age (this was written one year before the first man set foot on the Moon in 1969), the context makes the story make sense. The attention to detail, explaining how so many things could work, makes more sense in a culture that was still trying to overcome its incredulity that man could ever reach into space. I can imagine the excitement of reading this and thinking, for the first time, yes: maybe man really can do it.
Second, so many of the science fiction tropes/plots that we know today probably stemmed from this work in the first place. This work is kind of like the books of myths written thousands of years ago, these stories with the bones of plots that would be used over and over and over again in literature because they are so powerful. This book is like such a book of myths in a microcosm specific to the arena of science fiction. I don't know enough about the history of science fiction to know how many of these were written for the first time in 2001 A Space Odyssey, but doubtless, simply compiling them into one early work in such a clear form is worthy of our attention.
One of the most powerful stories within this story is that of the AI, Hal. Spoiler ahead. This plot is a retelling of the story of Frankenstein: man makes a living thing, and that thing eventually turns against its maker. This is explored in a totally new way, but is still very powerful.
I will forego going into any more of the plot, and simply conclude by saying, I highly recommend any reader of science fiction to go back and read this classic. It will help you make sense of so much in the world of science fiction. It may not be as fast-paced as more modern sci-fi, or delve as deeply into characters. It is undoubtedly slow in parts. But if you engage your mind in terms of when this was written and what the first audience would have been experiencing, I think you will find it an enjoyable as well as elucidating travel. Bon voyage.
It had been a while since I last read this one. And since this book and I are both celebrating 50 years this year, I thought it was time. Now I have to watch the movie again.
I'm glad I finally listened to this. It made so much more sense than the movie.
Much better than I was expecting, but I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting a really good book.
Dates certainly, but still worth a read.
I'm glad I finally listened to this. It made so much more sense than the movie.
Much better than I was expecting, but I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting a really good book.
Dates certainly, but still worth a read.
worth reading becouse of its place in history. But not that amazing.
