Rating: 
Summary: Better than the film
Review: 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I skimmed over the long descriptions of planets, and how the space flights worked, simply because it seemed so very outdated now.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
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the movie
Review: 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.
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Summary: The classic search for meaning...
Review: 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!
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Summary: Possiby the Very Best S. F. Book Ever...
Review: 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.
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Summary: Menacing Computers and Marvelous Planets: A Unique Adventure
Review: Do you like thrilling expeditions to other worlds? How about mysterious, cryptic occurences? If so, then you'll most likely love this awe-inspiring science fiction novel! The book starts out with an intriguing few chapters several million years ago, when apes still roamed the earth, creating a sort of background upon which many of the sometimes incomprehensible shadows of the story are thrown. The tale suddenly changes to what when it was written {1969} would be the future: 2001, when the universe has become a prime target for research and daring astronauts. Among these is Dr. Heywood Floyd, who embarks on a secretive mission to Earth's Moon in order to study a peculiar monolith recently dug up that is emitting strange radio waves towards Saturn. Eighteen years later, David Bowman and Frank Poole journey into space to check out Saturn onboard the advanced craft Discovery, which is run by the talking, terrifically, and dangerously, intelligent HAL 9000 computer. However, what the duo does not realize, which HAL guiltily does, is that the odyssey is really a quest for extraterrestrial life, hinted at by the Moon's compelling monolith, but all will not go as planned. When a horrible tragedy occurs, brought on by HAL losing all control of his mechanical emotions, and therefore, his sanity, only David Bowman is left to strategically continue on with the odyssey alone. Of course, his very survival lies in the hands of the universe, and he finds himself captured by an unrecognizable force which drags Dave into perhaps one of the greatest enigmas of all time...and then makes him a chilling part of it. I must admit that when I finished Arthur C. Clarke's spellbinding novel, I was incredibly confused and a little shaken by the note it leaves off on, but the ingenious plot became clearer after some pondering. The hooking suspense and power of Clarke's masterful language alone make the book a great read, besides the unforgettable adventures to beautiful wonders in the universe and extremely thought-out, interrelated plot twists. Whether because of its astronomical appeal or undeniable brilliancy, this is one odyssey which will always remain, in my mind, an absolutely exhilarating tribute to the cosmos and the entire human race itself. The movie may be fairly enjoyable, but the actual book is a quintessential part of anyone's and everyone's bookshelf.
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Summary: It Was Wonderful For the Most Part...
Review: "2001" is a wonderful novel about an Earth that is very involved in the solar system and studies it like today's world studies the human body. The book starts off with a prologue type of part that tells how human relatives that lived in the Ice Age found a rock that had to come from extraterrestrial life. From these opening chapters you are drawn into a fascinating science fiction tale. On Earth's moon, an object that is being dubbed the TMA-I has been found and it is being concealed from the moon's public and Earth's as well. We are then taken to an odyssey, "the" odyssey which the title refers to, as a matter of fact, that is being led by a computer named Hal. When the book starts you don't really know what this odyssey is about, unless you are critical and pick up very apparent things that take place at the beginning of the novel. All that you know is that the ship called the "Discovery" is going to the planet Saturn. This is the premise for "2001: A Space Odyssey." This book is very fast paced and this fact makes for an added plus towards your enjoyment of the novel. Arthur C. Clarke is a pretty good author that knows how to weave an intriguing science fiction tale. Clarke thankfully gets into some scientific facts and this is a bonus for readers that have an interest in science, mainly astronomy. My major qualm with this book is what took place towards the end. I got bored with the novel and couldn't care less for what was going to happen when I was bogged in Clarke's philosophical commentaries. I'm normally not bothered by an author doing this but Clarke just wrote about his feelings so much that hardly related to the plot that I was just plain bored. I'm sure that not all readers will feel the same about Clarke's commentaries as I did, but these are just my feelings. I also think that Clarke's commentaries also got me so bogged down that I couldn't really enjoy the ending, which was very interesting in itself. "2001" was monumental in the science fiction genre when it first came out and it is ranked as one of the genre's classics today. This is a must read for a fan of science fiction but beware that this book does get boring when Clarke gets into philosophy and what not. This book will most likely be enjoyed and will be worthy of a re-read some time around. Happy Reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Confusing
Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke was very confusing at the beginning because the cover shows a man in a space helmet and on the back it shows some type of spaceship leaving a docking station in the middle of space. But in the beginning the book it is about these apes that live on earth and how they fight to survive. After looking at the cover and the title I thought what does this have to do with space?
In my opinion 2001: A Space Odyssey would get two stars (out of five) from me because half of the time I was lost or if I wasn't lost I was bored out of my mind. After the first couple of chapters it started to make sense when Dr. Floyd travels from Earth to the Moon to cure an epidemic on the Moon. That was about the only part of the book that made sense at all. When Dr. Floyd got to the Moon the author, Arthur C. Clarke was describing how people had to walk and it was so confusing I had to read it over about three times because I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Then the Discovery which is the ship goes on a mission to the farthest planet in the solar system with Hal which is a chatty computer that guides your life and the course that the Discovery is headed in. Hal takes over the Discovery and the only human on board tries to take back control of the space ship. In order to find out what happens you have to read the book.
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Summary: Arthur vs. Stanley
Review: Everybody has at least heard of this work or has seen the movie, and that's the crutch of the whole idea. In the early 1960's Stanley Kubrick (the movie's director) ask Mr. Clarke to work with him on a screenplay for a new-style science fiction movie. Something about this issue that is interesting is that Kubrick kept the publication of Clarke's book from the public until after the movie had been introduced and was already a huge success for the director. The already famous author offered an idea based on a story that he wrote back in the 40's called "The Sentinel". But this story was only the seed on which the movie/book was based. If I read the book 2001... without any knowledge of the movie (which I have seen about 100 times), the story would have stood on its own and the book would have been one of my favorites. The only problem is that I have seen the movie many times and the visual ideas were constantly in my mind as I read the book. The two stoies are somewhat distinct. In the movie version, the Discovery's mission is to Jupiter but in the book the final destination is Saturn. Sometimes the visual images I received from the reading were vague and I found myself relying on my memory of the film to try and paint the correct picture in my mind. Anyway, it is a fine piece of literature and is without a doubt, the most famous science fiction story of all time. Other fantastic compilations of a similar nature include Asimov's "Foundation" series, Herbert's "Dune" series, Robinson's "Mars" series, and Card's "Enders" series. I hope this helped!
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Summary: A Space Odyssey: 2001 is Mind Tingling
Review: 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!
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Summary: Evolution of Man
Review: 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.
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