The book is always better than the film, but I'd never read 2001 before. What I didn't know, until reading the foreword, is that this novel was literally written in tandem with the film, with Clarke and Kubrick feeding each other ideas. At some points, however, filming overtook writing, or vice versa, and the two stories, though similar, split along two different paths.

After reading the book, the film becomes little more than a very well crafted container: It's pretty and neat to look at it, bu More...

The opening scene , a tribe of ape- men ,in Africa,finding a strange gyrating monolith .Another rock to these few primitives, at first.But after the light show,the tribe is fascinated.It teaches them how to make and use tools.Kill animals and prevent their own extinction. With an unlimited supply of food and not be dependent on plants and fruit ,for survival.Very rare during the long drought conditions(millions of years long).The human race might reach its destiny ,for better or worse ,after all More...

Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disc More...

Subversive, mysterious, incredible, mind-boggling, and ultimately hopeful, Arthur C. Clarke's "proverbial good science-fiction" novel--written concurrently with his and Stanley Kubrick's screenplay--is the ultimate trip into the universe and mankind's cycle of evolution. The apes of the first section evolve into spacefaring humankind, and then the protagonist, David Bowman, morphs into the Star Child, showcasing hope that from the darkness and the slime, this fragile human species might see beyo More...

Real quick, the author co-wrote the screenplay with Stanley Kubrick and wrote the novel at the same time. As they were filming Clarke would see what was being shot and make changes to the novel and screenplay. I am unaware of other books being written like this. It's pretty interesting.

I try not to compare books and movies. In this case they complement each other. I believe both are needed. I last saw the movie in high school and look forward to re-watching it, because:

The book makes sense...mos More...

I'm not a wide reader of science fiction, having just read the major classics, however this book is without a doubt my favourite of them all.

Written in 1968, A. Clarke writes with a knowleageable confidence about a future world of space travel that has only just dawned on him in the light of the first moon landings; he does so as skillfully and imaginatively as Orwell did when writing 1984.

Clarke succeeds in capturing the magnificence of our solar system which he makes accessible to any reader, More...

Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey

Roc, Mass Market 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 1969.

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 o More...

I could not put this down. Of course I am a fan of the movie. What smart guy isn’t? But after repeated watchings I still walk away scratching my head. The book tells a very similar story with more detail. The monkeys are still at the beginning and the travel sequence is at the end. The parallel between HAL and the intelligence that left the monolith is more obvious. HAL's actions are more humanly desperate. There is more story around Dave Bowman. But the ambiguous ending of the book seems to be More...

my father used to read beautiful selections from this book to me before bed as a child. "they became farmers in the fields of stars."
in ninth grade, i read it in it's entirety and enjoyed it so much that i read it under the big lab tables in physical science instead of paying attention to my misogynistic science teacher, "coach rutledge". ugh. coaches should not be allowed to teach science. i learned more from arthur c clarke under the table.
a beautiful book of remarkably poetic nature for it's More...

A Wonderful Classic: 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 co More...

I was listening to the radio a few weeks back, and I came across an interview with a film critic and historian who'd recently published a book of 1000 movies everyone should see before they die. The host of the program asked about this film and that, how the book was compiled, what the author's favorite movies were, things of that nature. And then he asked him what he thought the most overrated film of all time was, to which the author immediately replied "Citizen Kane."

And of course he is quite More...

This book just has to stand out there as one of the books to be revered as a wonderful mind blowing sci-fi brought forth by this great human mind- Arthur C Clarke.
The very conception of such a brilliant idea to equate our progress or evolution as pre-ordained as an experiment by super intelligent aliens, itself has both my arms up in praise for this genius. (I guess this very idea was actually extrapolated to make plots for movies like Prometheus- by Ridley Scott)
I always tried to watch Stanle More...

2001 is an adaptation of the famous screenplay by the same name. While being fleshed out as a novel allows more detail to be added to the story, especially the beginning and end, it suffers from the same problems the movie does. It is boring. Attempts to increase the tension by foreshadowing fall flat. The most interesting character, the HAL 9000 AI, gets essentially the same treatment the alien monolith does: it's an unknowable alien thing, but the implications and parallels between the alien a More...

2001: A Timeless Odyssey

What makes a book memorable? In my opinion, it is the book ability to change your perspective on a matter, and the book, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, does just that. This classic sci-fi novel brings engrossing themes to the table including human evolution, the dangers of technology, and the magnitude of the universe. As the reader progresses through the three very different, but equally compelling, stories in the book, he or she will be continually amazed

More...

Unlike many other reviewers, I will treat my impressions of 2001: A Space Odyssey independently to that of the Kubrick film.

For a novel written in the 1960s aimed at predicting the technology of a decade ago and marrying it with a fantastical, dream-like narrative, it's pretty accurate.

Clarke even predicts the iPad - I mean, he come so close, even calling it a Newspad! The video-phone reconnaissance was pretty spot on too! HAL, the intelligent computer for the Discovery that takes on human-lik More...

I haven't seen the movie (now I fully intend to!) and I don't read that much sci-fi, so I'm really impressed with Clarke's intriguing notion that modern humans came to dominate the world because of an extraterrestrial spark that "inspired" their evolution from ape-man to man. I really like this premise because I often wonder why, after billions of years, humans are the only species that have evolved the ability to control nature to any appreciable extent.

Clarke's attention to detail is also fas More...

For those of you who know me to be a Christian who supports the authority of God's Word and his biblical account of His creation of the Earth, my support of this book may come as a surprise. But let me say that I gave this book 5 stars not for its content, but its presentation of its message. I had an epiphany when I finished this book, an enlightenment of the Theory of Evolution that I as a homeschooler (with minimal exposure to said heresy...I mean scientific hypocrisy...no wait, the word is h More...

EDITORIAL REVIEW: A deluxe hardcover edition of the science fiction classic...now with a new introduction by Arthur C. Clarke!It has been over thirty years since the publication of *2001: A Space Odyssey*, the science fiction classic that changed the way we looked at the stars--and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, Arthur C. Clarke takes us on a journey unlike any other.This allegory about hu More...

2001 A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke

The precursor to the classic science-fiction movie, this book was exceptionally interesting, bringing to mind our own ignorance of the planet we call home and the possible existence of extraterrestrials. Arthur C. Clarke clearly put thought into this story of a scientific expedition in 2001 to explain the origins of the strange monolith TMA-1.

The story begins with the story of the Man-Apes, the emotionally and intellectually ignorant relatives of the modern hu More...

2001: A Space Odyssey is a book about a spaceship traveling to Saturn. The book starts off with a group of man-apes who are struggling to survive. Then, on their way back from a daily hunting, they stop at a mysterious rock and are instantly hypnotized by it. This strange “rock” causes them to slowly evolve into what man is today. The book then goes into future where astronauts are preparing to go off into space. This is a unique trip because this is the first time the spaceship used the compute More...

2001: A Space Odyssey is a book about a mission to Saturn gone wrong. The story begins when man-apes living in harsh conditions, struggling to survive come across a monolith that brainwashes them so they are able to adapt and evolve. Over hundreds of thousands of years, what once were man-apes have grown into men and went from creating tools out of natural matter to building nuclear weapons. The story then picks up in 2001 when a group of men are sent to Saturn on a secret mission, that they the More...

I really enjoyed this book. It was written from 1964-1968 about moon colonies and space travel in 2001, and the most interesting thing was noticing the things that Clarke predicted that have occured, and those that haven't. Moon colonies and trvel to Saturn and Jupiter has not happened - the device that displays the world news sounds just like an iPad. Phones have the ability to show video - but are not mobile. A businessman opens a briefcase (whoow! remember them?) and takes out all his papers More...

E’ morto da non molto Arthur Charles Clarke, appena 9 mesi, ma il suo nome non verrà di certo dimenticato, non foss’altro perché è indissolubilmente legato a quel cult movie che oramai è 2001 Odissea nello spazio.

La genesi di questo romanzo è un po’ anomala. In realtà, l’idea di base per il film di Kubrik nasce da un racconto di Clarke, “La sentinella”, nel quale gli uomini scoprono una piramide di cristallo sulla Luna, che emette un segnale verso lo spazio una volta infrantane la barriera prot More...

This is one of those books that I read again every few years, and I have just read it again. You would think on a book that I read over and over again I would give it a higher rating but.

The story is written in three parts, the beginning of man, the current time, and then a time out of time.

This is a great story on it's own but taken with the movie I think it serves as a wonderful companion. I am not here to rate the Movie but it is by far one of the most scientifically accurate Scifi movies an More...

-Arthur C. Clark is obsessed with exposition.
-He loves the idea of first contact with aliens to the point of sickness.
-He thinks that humans (who matter) are essentially rational technocrats, making their behavior both boring and puppet-like.
-The only female characters in this book were ape-men [sic] and two stewardesses.
-There were several pretty problematic passages, like the following:

"Yet already...the warmth and frequency of the conversations with their girls on Earth had begun to diminish More...

There is no need to recap the story of 2001, as it has become a staple of science fiction in both its novel and film forms. Unfortunately, in the film, much of the story is left untold, and the viewer either loves it or hates it. I was one of those who hated it. I found it pretentious, annoying, ambiguous, and wholly boring. The novel is quite different, not because the story itself is different, but because it is unmarred by Kubrick's tendancy toward artistic austerity.

Clarke is the exact oppo More...

Let me preface this review by saying I've never seen the movies. Ever. I knew about Hal, sure, but who doesn't know that at this point? He's like the grandaddy of all our favorite evil AIs (SHODAN, GLaDOS, etc).

Anyway, this book was okay. I was scratching my head at points - the ending almost made me bang my head against the wall in frustration - but I sort of... kind of... get it. Maybe?

Well, what I liked about this book was that it didn't go out of its way to lecture me. It didn't scream that More...