[DQI]≫ Read 2001 a Space Odyssey Space Odyssey Series Arthur C Clarke 9780451457998 Books

2001 a Space Odyssey Space Odyssey Series Arthur C Clarke 9780451457998 Books

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2001 a Space Odyssey Space Odyssey Series Arthur C Clarke 9780451457998 Books

The Kindle version of this book was cleanly formatted without any noticeable typos, making this a pleasant reading experience in portrait mode. I did notice there were some issues with not allowing for columns for reading in landscape mode on my iPad, but I prefer portrait mode to reading and it was fine with that.

Onto the actual book:

Having seen the film 2001: A Space Odyssey many years ago and being blown away by how powerful it was, and also a bit scared by it. I loved the way it told a story without necessarily explaining everything, and really allowing one's own imagination to fill in some of the gaps. Knowing that there was also a novel, I had always wanted to read it, but never got around to it...upon seeing this Kindle version on sale, I decided to give it a go.

First of all, it was very interesting reading Arthur C. Clarke's introduction at the beginning. Sometimes I don't like reading such introductions because they either somewhat spoil the book you're about to read or don't add a whole lot, but this one was an interesting read for someone who had seen the film but not yet read the novel. I didn't realize that both the screenplay and book were written at the same time...making this a very unique pair as typically one comes before the other...so although this isn't a novel that simply came before a film like many are, or a novelization of a film that had been made (which is typically not worth the time of day to read), it is a novel written by a fantastic science fiction writer inspired by the collaboration of writing the screenplay with Stanley Kubrick.

Much of the book is very similar to the movie, but the way it is written adds many details without being bogged down...this is a very fast-paced read. The writing is focused on the big picture more so than the characters, but the main characters involved in each individual section get fleshed out well enough that it is very gripping to read.

Being written before we'd ever even landed on the moon, it's amazing how well this story stands the test of time. I enjoy stories involving space travel and a lot of times the era something is written can occasionally take you out of the story by laughable concepts or dated science. The feeling I got from this reading was that it explained things in a way that don't date the technology being discussed in any way that ruins the overall story. Although 2001 is 14 years before the writing of this review and clearly many of the breakthroughs and events leading up to this specific story haven't taken place yet or are different than actual history, it is fascinating on some of the things that are part of our reality now...beyond that, this is full of what ifs related to our own existence within a vast universe.

I definitely recommend this reading, whether or not you've seen the film and whether or not you plan to read the rest of the series. I likely will at some point, but this book is great as a stand-alone title.


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2001 a Space Odyssey Space Odyssey Series Arthur C Clarke 9780451457998 Books Reviews

When I first saw the film version, I didn't like it, I thought it was slow, it didn't have enough character development in it, and I also thought the end was confusing, but it did have some things to offer. I certainly thought it had a good story and plot to tell, and I thought many of the concepts in it were good. So when I found out they made a film sequel "2010 The Year We Make Contact", I decided to give it a look, and I loved it. Unlike the first film, I did not think it was slow, and it was a lot clearer, and cleared up a lot of the mysteries left at the end of the first film. After watching "2010" I decided to give "2001" another try, and although I still think it's slow at times and it could have been better, I do like the first film now. Then I decided to read the novel, and I think the novel is even better than the film.

There are some distinct differences between the film and the novel, most of them I think made the novel better. The man-apes at the beginning go though a lot more in the novel than in the film, there's more character development between them (although trying to do that in a film wouldn't have worked given that they are primitives that can't speak, but in the novel it works great), you actually see what the alien Monolith does to them, you see them gradually becoming more and more human after their encounter with the Monolith, and you see them confront the leopard that has been terrorizing them before they confront the rival man-ape tribe. There's more character development involving Dr. Floyd, Frank Poole, and Commander David Bowman. Our characters have more emotion in this novel rather than being almost completely emotionless as in the film. The novel is a lot clearer than the actual movie. It goes into more detail about the race who constructed the Monoliths. And I found the part where the computer Hal-9000 malfuntions and starts killing the crew more suspenseful than in the film. And instead of the Discovery spacecraft going only to Jupiter as in the film, it goes to Jupiter and Saturn, and it's Saturn where Bowman encounters the second Monolith, not Jupiter as in the film. The only thing I actually liked better in the film was the part were Hal overhears Bowman and Poole ploting against him. Hal's discovery of their intentions to disconnect him are played out differently in the novel.

Like the film though there are some parts that seem slow which is why I'm giving the novel four stars instead of five, but overall, I thought the novel was much better and a lot more suspenseful than the film. I really enjoyed reading this and I think any other sci-fi fan will too.

Highly recommended!
The version of this book was cleanly formatted without any noticeable typos, making this a pleasant reading experience in portrait mode. I did notice there were some issues with not allowing for columns for reading in landscape mode on my iPad, but I prefer portrait mode to reading and it was fine with that.

Onto the actual book

Having seen the film 2001 A Space Odyssey many years ago and being blown away by how powerful it was, and also a bit scared by it. I loved the way it told a story without necessarily explaining everything, and really allowing one's own imagination to fill in some of the gaps. Knowing that there was also a novel, I had always wanted to read it, but never got around to it...upon seeing this version on sale, I decided to give it a go.

First of all, it was very interesting reading Arthur C. Clarke's introduction at the beginning. Sometimes I don't like reading such introductions because they either somewhat spoil the book you're about to read or don't add a whole lot, but this one was an interesting read for someone who had seen the film but not yet read the novel. I didn't realize that both the screenplay and book were written at the same time...making this a very unique pair as typically one comes before the other...so although this isn't a novel that simply came before a film like many are, or a novelization of a film that had been made (which is typically not worth the time of day to read), it is a novel written by a fantastic science fiction writer inspired by the collaboration of writing the screenplay with Stanley Kubrick.

Much of the book is very similar to the movie, but the way it is written adds many details without being bogged down...this is a very fast-paced read. The writing is focused on the big picture more so than the characters, but the main characters involved in each individual section get fleshed out well enough that it is very gripping to read.

Being written before we'd ever even landed on the moon, it's amazing how well this story stands the test of time. I enjoy stories involving space travel and a lot of times the era something is written can occasionally take you out of the story by laughable concepts or dated science. The feeling I got from this reading was that it explained things in a way that don't date the technology being discussed in any way that ruins the overall story. Although 2001 is 14 years before the writing of this review and clearly many of the breakthroughs and events leading up to this specific story haven't taken place yet or are different than actual history, it is fascinating on some of the things that are part of our reality now...beyond that, this is full of what ifs related to our own existence within a vast universe.

I definitely recommend this reading, whether or not you've seen the film and whether or not you plan to read the rest of the series. I likely will at some point, but this book is great as a stand-alone title.