2001: A Space Odyssey is a good book, but is also has some interesting things connected to it. As you can probably guess by the title, almost all of the book is set in space, but the book was written in 1968. If you don’t understand why that’s weird, that’s because humans haven’t even gone on the moon yet. So Arthur C. Clarke had to use less accurate information than we have now because space was a lot more mysterious back then, which makes some parts of this book inaccurate.
Another weird thing about the book that is also kind of cool is that the book was also written with a movie adaptation at the same time. Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke worked together, but Stanley worked on the movie while Arthur worked on the book. Also, the movie did differ from the book in some aspects that I will mention later.
The book starts off about 3 million years ago and focuses on a group of apes. The apes are primitive, and are led by an ape called Moon-Watcher. The apes are starving and don’t have much food. But one day, a large black monolith (basically a rectangular prism) appears and starts to take control of the bodies of the apes. It moves the fingers and arms of the apes and it makes them do more complicated movements than they have ever done. After it leaves, the apes forget about it and move on. But then it keeps coming and eventually it leaves, but the apes learned a few things from it. They develop tools and fight back against the predators that they have been oppressed by for so long, and they start to take control of other tribes.
So the book moves to the year 1999, and I don’t want to go to in-depth about all the details, but basically humans find a large black monolith on the moon, and when the humans excavate it out of the ground, it lets out a sharp sound, which scientists later discover is a signal directed to Iapetus. More than a year later, a team is sent to go to Iapetus and investigate what is happening, but the catch is that the people who know the real plan of the mission are asleep while the people who don’t know about the monolith are the ones sustaining the ship on the way there. Also, the ship has an A.I that I’m not going to say anything about.
Iapetus
The book has way more than this for plot, but I’m not going to spoil anything. Moving on, like I said earlier, the movie and the book differ. The movie has the monolith orbiting Jupiter, not on Iapetus. Also, some events in the book are different from the movie, but they are spoilers, so I won’t include them.
Overall I do like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but one thing I didn’t like about it at first was the ending. But after I read the sequels, I did grow on the ending more. So if you do read the book, I would like to hear your thoughts on the ending.
- Mahdi
I like how you drop little hints about the plot throughout your book review. It sounds like a unique sci-fi book. I have a feeling that the AI you decided not to talk about is going to be an important part of the plot. Maybe the monolith comes and goes along with Iapetus's orbit, who knows?
ReplyDeleteHi Madhi. Great review! I haven't read this book before, but I have heard people talking about it. The fact that the author wrote the book before mankind had even gone to the moon was interesting to me, as it would have required a lot of imagination to fantasize how space exploration would have worked. After reading your review, I think I will give this book a try.
ReplyDeleteI have always heard about "The Space Odyssey" story, but I have never really heard about the plot of the novel. This review was detailed yet vague to keep the reader entertained and interested. The A.I part of this novel has me intrigued. This seems like a suspenseful and appealing novel. I definitely have to check this out!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great book review! I have heard about "2001: A Space Odyssey" by other people, and this book review is similar to what they have said. I'm thinking about reading this for a future book review.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of space and sci-fi, and although this book might be a bit antiquated for me, I still enjoyed your description of it. I find it interesting how much the book and movie differed from each other.
ReplyDeleteSci-fi has always interested me. I will check out this book. Good review Mahdi. You got your ideas over clear without spoiling - Rishi.
ReplyDeleteIt's cool how you explain how the author had to use limited information and how that affects the book. This book seems pretty cool and I'm thankful for this great review. I might read this sometime.
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