Reviews

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

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filthlain's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

gioow's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

dyno8426's review against another edition

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5.0

Like Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation of the same name, reading this sci-fi classic makes one realize how much ahead of its own time this work was. Simply the fact that both the book and the movie turned out even before the first human landed on the moon is astonishingly impressive. Focusing solely on the book here, it is a prophetic vision of the progress and fate of humanity as a civilisation. Right from the man-ape gaining the first form of intelligence, to man’s confrontation of evidences of life outside planet Earth, to the conflict of power and control between man and man’s creation, this novel envisions the development of human mind and the consequences it bears on the level of the universe beyond. There was an amazing introduction by Neil Gaiman in the Penguin Galaxy edition that I got to read. Gaiman points out that science fiction is a literature of ideas; rather than the story, language and characters, it’s the idea imbibed within the speculation of science fiction which shapes the above three. And I found the idea of consciousness being a pivotal part of existence which drives the story here. The story has three connected but separate storylines and in each of them, abstractly speaking, the transformation or evolution of human consciousness is shown as the fundamental force which drives (and probably will drive further) the fate of human civilisation as the intelligent forms of life in the universe. The author has pushed to the limits of speculation in not only a prophetic language, but also with a prophetic conclusion - something which borders the spiritual. That the human sentinence is borrowed and so is the human evolution. And the universe is something similar to an experimental table for super-advanced life forms which surpass the dimensions and definitions of space and time known to man. The form and possibility of such life outside earth, and its implications on human consciousness, both are mind-blowing and immensely futuristic. Clearly these were the ideas that served as inspiration for many fictions and theories alike which followed this. The detailed speculation about space and time in the story, conjured during that early period when space exploration was full of possibilities and unexplored theories, also show the thorough scientific research that the author undertook. He achieved all this with such a plausible consistency, and at times even with reasonable accuracy, when compared to the present state of scientific knowledge and technology. This book has easily become my favourite science fiction among all that I have read yet.

To those who have watched only the movie yet: this book explains the ending properly and coherently, at least from the author’s perspective, as compared to the movie director’s perspective which was very open-ended (but confusing nonetheless).

codssss's review against another edition

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5.0

first sci fi book I've read and it was amazing, so many differences from the movie it's crazy, I don't know what I like more the book or the movie cause they're both so strong