2001: A Space Odyssey

Rating:
Summary: what is "inteligent" life?
Review:

A superior science fiction novel that is based in science fact and thought out inscience fiction. Everyone has there own veiw on what the book truly represents; yet most, myself included, agree that it is based on the quetion: what makes us different from other primates?

Clarke attempts to answer this with a fictionus account on what started it all. But how much fiction is is...

The next question: what is this "intelligence" we have that others do not seem to posses,a and how would we know we know it when we say it? Clarke answers this question in the form of HAL. The arficialy intelligent computer onboard <i>Discovery</i>, the ship carrying Bowman and Poole and 4 hipernauts headed for Saturnanian moon, Japetus. The only crew meber onboard who knows exactly why is HAL, who becomes dangeroussly obbsessive with his sole reason in "life", to get to Japetus and carry out the mission. He feels he could do it better wthout the crew. So acts upon those thoughts.

And the final question: whart would other intelleigent life be like outside our own planet? Clarke answers this with what was Bowman, now the Star Child immortal.

This is a book for anyone interisted in astronomy and the the querstion of who we are. Truly one hell of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Even though I think that the movie is one of my favorites and one of the best of all time, the book was ten times better. Definately read this

Rating:
Summary: A fabulous novel! The movie dosen't do it justice!!
Review: 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 The descriptions of the Discovery and other crafts are pretty outdated, but after all it was written 30 years ago.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 [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: An SF classic, a journey spanning millions of years
Review: A great work of written SF which shares credit with the greatest SF movie, and one of the greatest movies, ever made. A good, thought provoking read for the SF lover and for the non-SF reader alike

Rating:
Summary: Certainly better than the movie
Review: It is not the most creative work but it is certainly interesting. I think, the movie, however, was horrible. How would anybody who didn't read the book be able to understand the movie. No one in a million years would be able to make the connection that the black slab that appears on Earth 3 million years ago is what gave early man the idea of using bone fragments as a mean for hunting for food. The book is definitely 10 times better than the movie. If anybody has a comment or anything to say of interest feel free to email me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Arthur C. Clarke is a genius in his story of alien contact.
Review: You're the capatin of the ship 'Discovery' on your way to Saturn; to find something that holds a 3 million year old secret. Your actions in this voyage will determine the fate of humanity, and yours as well. Arthur C. Clark paints a world of the furture that is about to find out the answere to a question humans have asked for years; are we alone in the universe?

Rating:
Summary: Really imaginative!
Review: This book is a little ahead of its time. It
makes me think about what could've
happened in our technology.
The book is very interesting all the way
until it reaches the end, where I become
very confused. Still, I feel this book is
very worthy of a person's time

Rating:
Summary: One of the first "movie tie-in" books.
Review: Written _after_ the film was made, the book has one major advantage: it contains something of the intended ending that Kubrick was never able to film. All that slit-scan and hotel room footage at the end was intended to substitute for the realistic alien creatures Kubrick was never able to achieve. Now that there is CGI, maybe he'll come out with a "Special Edition"... For better "First Contact" novels, try "The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven and Pournelle (with Heinlein ghostwriting!), or "Rendezvous with Rama" by Clarke

Rating:
Summary: Simply the greatest book, ever.
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Read it if you liked the movie...
Review: Well, unlike some of the others here, I don't consider it to be one of the greatest sci-fi books ever written or anything like that. (Childhood's End might qualify...) However, it IS a solid sci-fi book, not to mention novellization of the movie. Standing on its own, it's a bit dry, but raises some interesting questions. Mostly having to do with the Monolith and those that created it. However, it is best read as a sort of guide to the movie. It certainly won't answer all the questions, NOTHING will ever do that, but it will give you a lot better idea what's going on in some cases. However, don't take what he says to be fact. After all, when he wrote it, they were still going to send the Discovery to Saturn. (until they realized what a pain making its rings would be) And the ending, I think, is way too literal, although I have no idea how you could have a writen equivilent of the movie's purely visual end. Incidentally, if you ask me, the key to understanding the movie is noting that