Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by herm333s
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
5.0
This was outstanding.
*(mild spoilers)*
I’ve been obsessed lately with black holes and how they stand as what I’d consider to be the most exemplary “observable” mystery in the universe. In their paradoxical existence I’ve come to somewhat satisfy my childhood wish of witnessing magic. These entities exist on the fringes of what we know and one can only ponder upon the complex scientific explanations or simply just admire such phenomenon.
Space Odyssey takes the reader on a trip through one bizarre possibility. It explores an alternative where humanity’s relationship with space is far ahead. The technological advances projected from the author’s time in 1968, include a lunar space station, an AI that attempts at human intellect and a mission to Saturn. Things that only recently have been prioritized in our own technological efforts.
The storytelling enchantment lies not only in the author’s talent for imagery but in the technical language. Arthur C. Clark was a futurist and a science fiction writer, but his passion for space exploration propelled him to write critical science papers and even proposed a space station communications system. All which certainly influenced his ability to convince in storytelling.
I’ve yet to read other works from the author, so I wonder if such narrative prowess was the result of the exercise by simultaneously writing the script and the book. There are instances where the narrative voice details in a “zoom in/zoom out” perspective similar to those of a cinematic lens. Allowing for a spectacular apprehension of the planetary scale of the novel.
I had seen the movie before but I’m grateful to have forgotten most details because since my time in Dune, I hadn’t come across such thought-bending material.
Although humanity’s evolution is observed since the start of the book set 3,000,000 years ago, through the character of David Bowman, Clark questions its future. Humanity has reached for the stars and on a mission to Saturn they will journey through them.
Not long after the story deals with the topic of artificial intelligence with the entity HAL, it propels onto an exploration of interstellar travel. A fascinating sequence of events that resonate with the speculations of the machinations of a black hole. A journey through singularity and what Bowman finds inside and on the other “end.”
From the quantum physicists that question how information behaves in a black hole to the fellows who theorize on Saturn’s hexagonal vortex, the mystery of inter dimensional events continue to hold a place in our list of questions as a species in this ever expanding universe.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey the answers are scarce (most certainly found in the rest of the series which spans four books.) And although there’s no explicit mention of a black hole, the object in play resonates of one. But apart from it being a fictitious work that tries to give an account of an event that escapes language, under Arthur C. Clark’s penmanship and experience, the reader traverses an awesome, epic tale.
The novel also explores themes of nuclear war, the mortal dangers of space travel, and the things that would keep a desolate crew member halfway out the solar system tied to his sanity and humanity.
I’m still debating whether to continue the series because I enjoyed it way too much on its own. I find myself speculating on its ambiguous “conclusion”, on Star Child and on what Bowman witnessed on and through Saturn’s moon, Japetus.
A wondrous piece of science fiction that manifested with my recent black hole/space synchronicities. Affirming my believes in magic, even if its through speculation and even if it exists only inside the most condensed, strange “object” known to man.
*(mild spoilers)*
I’ve been obsessed lately with black holes and how they stand as what I’d consider to be the most exemplary “observable” mystery in the universe. In their paradoxical existence I’ve come to somewhat satisfy my childhood wish of witnessing magic. These entities exist on the fringes of what we know and one can only ponder upon the complex scientific explanations or simply just admire such phenomenon.
Space Odyssey takes the reader on a trip through one bizarre possibility. It explores an alternative where humanity’s relationship with space is far ahead. The technological advances projected from the author’s time in 1968, include a lunar space station, an AI that attempts at human intellect and a mission to Saturn. Things that only recently have been prioritized in our own technological efforts.
The storytelling enchantment lies not only in the author’s talent for imagery but in the technical language. Arthur C. Clark was a futurist and a science fiction writer, but his passion for space exploration propelled him to write critical science papers and even proposed a space station communications system. All which certainly influenced his ability to convince in storytelling.
I’ve yet to read other works from the author, so I wonder if such narrative prowess was the result of the exercise by simultaneously writing the script and the book. There are instances where the narrative voice details in a “zoom in/zoom out” perspective similar to those of a cinematic lens. Allowing for a spectacular apprehension of the planetary scale of the novel.
I had seen the movie before but I’m grateful to have forgotten most details because since my time in Dune, I hadn’t come across such thought-bending material.
Although humanity’s evolution is observed since the start of the book set 3,000,000 years ago, through the character of David Bowman, Clark questions its future. Humanity has reached for the stars and on a mission to Saturn they will journey through them.
Not long after the story deals with the topic of artificial intelligence with the entity HAL, it propels onto an exploration of interstellar travel. A fascinating sequence of events that resonate with the speculations of the machinations of a black hole. A journey through singularity and what Bowman finds inside and on the other “end.”
From the quantum physicists that question how information behaves in a black hole to the fellows who theorize on Saturn’s hexagonal vortex, the mystery of inter dimensional events continue to hold a place in our list of questions as a species in this ever expanding universe.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey the answers are scarce (most certainly found in the rest of the series which spans four books.) And although there’s no explicit mention of a black hole, the object in play resonates of one. But apart from it being a fictitious work that tries to give an account of an event that escapes language, under Arthur C. Clark’s penmanship and experience, the reader traverses an awesome, epic tale.
The novel also explores themes of nuclear war, the mortal dangers of space travel, and the things that would keep a desolate crew member halfway out the solar system tied to his sanity and humanity.
I’m still debating whether to continue the series because I enjoyed it way too much on its own. I find myself speculating on its ambiguous “conclusion”, on Star Child and on what Bowman witnessed on and through Saturn’s moon, Japetus.
A wondrous piece of science fiction that manifested with my recent black hole/space synchronicities. Affirming my believes in magic, even if its through speculation and even if it exists only inside the most condensed, strange “object” known to man.