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Scarlet's Reviews > 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #1)
by Arthur C. Clarke
by Arthur C. Clarke
Scarlet's review
bookshelves: best-of-2013, classics, shocking-endings, alien-alert, for-my-future-library
Apr 03, 2013
bookshelves: best-of-2013, classics, shocking-endings, alien-alert, for-my-future-library
Recommended to Scarlet by:
Samadrita
Recommended for:
Jill
Read from June 05 to 13, 2013
I did not expect a book on extra-terrestrial life to leave me thinking about the evolution of mankind.
You won't find any alien action here, no war-of-the-worlds scenario. Instead, 2001 is a book that relies on the sheer strength of ideas - which is what I believe good science-fiction should be about. All those intriguing what-if and maybe questions that can challenge your beliefs and change your perspective.
Maybe light is not the fastest medium there is. How do we know what lies buried on the moon? What if there are aliens out there who are so very alien that it's beyond out human faculties to even think of them as life forms?
Okay, I'm freaking out a little.
My point is, as fascinating as the book is, it's also utterly terrifying because almost everything about it seems plausible. Especially the part about Hal's malfunctioning. My blood nearly froze when that happened. (view spoiler).
I did not fully understand the ending and I don't think I ever will. The implications of that are so immense that it's impossible to get your head around - pretty much like the universe itself.
Or maybe I should say that the ending was too alien for my poor brain to make sense of.
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of those books that have timeless appeal. No wonder this has been labelled as the best science-fiction book ever.
You won't find any alien action here, no war-of-the-worlds scenario. Instead, 2001 is a book that relies on the sheer strength of ideas - which is what I believe good science-fiction should be about. All those intriguing what-if and maybe questions that can challenge your beliefs and change your perspective.
Maybe light is not the fastest medium there is. How do we know what lies buried on the moon? What if there are aliens out there who are so very alien that it's beyond out human faculties to even think of them as life forms?
My point is, as fascinating as the book is, it's also utterly terrifying because almost everything about it seems plausible. Especially the part about Hal's malfunctioning. My blood nearly froze when that happened. (view spoiler).
I did not fully understand the ending and I don't think I ever will. The implications of that are so immense that it's impossible to get your head around - pretty much like the universe itself.
Or maybe I should say that the ending was too alien for my poor brain to make sense of.
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of those books that have timeless appeal. No wonder this has been labelled as the best science-fiction book ever.
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Reading Progress
| 05/15/2013 | marked as: | to-read-soon | ||
| 06/05/2013 | marked as: | currently-reading | ||
| 06/06/2013 | page 69 |
|
23.0% | "Fascinating." 2 comments |
| 06/12/2013 | page 144 |
|
48.0% | "I wish I could board a spaceship and go to outer space like, right now." 4 comments |
| 06/13/2013 | page 297 |
|
100.0% | "Um... What just happened???" 3 comments |
| 06/13/2013 | marked as: | read | ||
Comments (showing 1-13 of 13) (13 new)
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by
Jill
(new)
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 05, 2013 06:40AM
ooh! Excited to see if you like this. Hopefully not another sci-fi disaster à la 5th wave!
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One chapter down and I'm intrigued. The writing doesn't hurt my brain and I sense no insta-love in the future so this should go well ;)Still, fingers crossed.
In proper sci fi books there are usually no insta-loves, trust me! In fact there's no love at all.
"Proper sci-fi" - that's exactly what this book is!! This is going to be good, I can tell :)
This sounds SO good! I got the other sci-fi book Samadrita recommended--Contact by Sagan--at the library yesterday and now I'm wondering if I picked the wrong one to start with!
Jill wrote: "This sounds SO good! I got the other sci-fi book Samadrita recommended--Contact by Sagan--at the library yesterday and now I'm wondering if I picked the wrong one to start with!"Contact is BRILLIANT, Jill. See I typed that in caps to convince you.
Better start with Contact since you already have it and write a kickass review to convince Scarlet to read it as well. :P
Samadrita wrote: "Better start with Contact since you already have it and write a kickass review to convince Scarlet to read it as well. :P "Scarlet does not need a lot of convincing to read Contact! :P
And Jill, The Fifth Wave now seems like an insult to sci-fi! I'm tempted to downgrade it to 1-star ;)
But do review Contact when you're done. Hope it turns out great!
You know what I hate the most? That Carl Sagan did not write any other science fiction apart from Contact. All his other books are works of non-fiction.
Well, if there is anything positive that came from the 5th Wave catastrophe, it's that we all united in an effort to read good and proper sci-fi. I will definitely review Contact when I'm done with it. And Samadrita, even though that's a shame about Sagan's limited fiction output, the reason it's probably good sci-fi is that he had such strong academic background in physics and astronomy. A potential silver lining, perhaps.
Yes, The Fifth Wave has made us appreciate sci-fi, I agree :)I'm sure Contact will be great!
Jill wrote: "And Samadrita, even though that's a shame about Sagan's limited fiction output, the reason it's probably good sci-fi is that he had such strong academic background in physics and astronomy. A potential silver lining, perhaps."Exactly. The ideas propounded in Contact ring so true. Arthur C. Clarke was an inspiration to Sagan and in 2001, Clarke mentions Sagan in the acknowledgements at the end of the book. At least in my edition there was this special essay by Clarke in which he mentions Kubrick and Sagan and Heinlein. Stalwarts of sci fi. :)
This is one of my all time favorite movies. I still haven't read the book, but I really must one day. For some reason I think the book came out after the movie. In any case, you can find websites that discuss the ending. I hope you get the chance to see the movie some day because it's fantastic!
Scarlet, You might try Clarke's Childhood's End, which I thought was a mind-blower at age 15 (and I read 2001 when I was 12-13).
The 1953 "SF Community" awarded the Hugo to Childhood. In 1969, 2001 was not even nominated.
(this may speak more to the time(s) than to more modern more literary sensibilities).
