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June 2004 book of the month

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke


All discussions related to this book should be in this thread. To keep readability of posts, there is no need to use spoilers in your posts unless you feel it is absolutely necessary. Anyone reading the posts in this particular thread must be aware that they may contain spoilers about the plot and characters of the book.

First of all, can I recommend that anyone reading 2001 also try to get hold of Arthur C Clarkes short story, "The Sentinel..." This was the short that the film and book of 2001 was based on....

I must admit, after watching the film, the book helped make sense of the movie... The first part among the man-apes goes into far more detail, and really brings home the fact that outside influence is accellerating and guiding the transformation into man, rather than initiating it... which begs the question, did the aliens responsible really believe that the only way man could evolve and join them in the stars was through warfare? Or was it that the aliens themselves knew no othe rway? Or had the aliens simply found that no matter where you go in the universe war is always the way to the stars....

I thought that the in the book, the only way to evolve was to reach a monolith. When the apes touched the one, they started to evolve by the monolith "telling" them they could pick up tools and use them to give them an edge. The next time a monolith would evolve the human race was when they got to the moon. Then at Jupiter. And when Dave Bowman got to jupiter, he evolved into a kind of god. I guess warfare had to do with it too, because the apes used their tools to win against their enemies, but I don't think that war was the only way to evolve.

MasterWizard, the monilith in the moon did not evolve the human race in any way. All it did was send a signal to the monolith near Jupiter. Also Bowman became a Star-Child, not really a god but an embryo of what the book called The Masters of the Universe, which are pretty much gods, so he is an embryo of a god, not a god yet.

did any one else read this book?

I think they were all so taken with it that they were rendered speechless....

In a desperate attempt to draw comment and start a discussion....hal is the real hero of 2001.... without him Bowman would have revived the crew, studied the monolith for a short while with the scientists and then gone home... Frank served as the sacrifice that enables Bowman to become what he becomes....

Arthur C. Clarke- writes well, but the master of writing books in which, basically, nothing happens. 2001 is glacially slow and is in fact the most action packed of the entire series- the third one is breathakingly empty of actual event, and it is a testament to his good quality writing that you still actually read it.

People tend to read too much or too little into the series- 2001 is simply an intellectual look at the phenomenon of first contact with an alien race.

In any case, the monoliths were, at the very least, milestones at human progress.

unfortunately i've never read the book...since i saw the movie first

if the slowness of the movie is indicative of the book...i would be pressed hard to want to read it then...