3001: The Final Odyssey

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Terraform: 2061 and 3001 depicts humankind as doing this to Mars and Venus. In 3001 there are still centuries to go before Venus will be habitable. Plagued with problems" is how I choose to describe "3001." I echo what J. R. R. Tolkien said about Lewis's conclusion to the Space Trilogy: I think it spoiled it. ( The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 393). In fact, I think this series is a good example of when a good franchise goes bad. "2001" is euphoric, "2010" is idealistic, "2061" is optimistic, but "3001" is sarcastic. The future may have been a let-down, but his books need not be. Pero....¿qué pasaría si nuestros "creadores" no estuvieran contentos con el resultado final de su experimento? ¿y si no les gustara la deriva que han seguido los humanos en los últimos siglos? ¿Y si la información que les hacen llegar los monolitos, sus centinelas, no está actualizada, o llega con mucho retraso? ¿Y si los monolitos empiezan a estar un poco fuera de control y quieren priorizar sus propias creaciones? The body of Frank Poole, lost for a thousand years since the computer HAL caused his death en route to Jupiter, is retrieved, revived—and enhanced. In the most eagerly awaited sequel of all time, the terrifying truth of the Monoliths’ mission is a mystery only Poole can resolve. Hope we will achieve that society from 31 century. (Clarke seems to think so in other of his books, there is always some kind of Utopia there)

More disturbing yet is the peculiar Professor Theodore Khan of Ganymede whose field of interest is the "psychopathology known as religion." His--and obviously Clarke's--ravings against religion and reveal a profound ignorance of religious feeling. He describes some of the cruelties perpetrated in the name of relgion, failing to mention many of the worst. But, he completely ignores the murders of atheism. Let's see--Lenin and Stalin, 40-50 million, Adolph Hitler, 20 million, Mao Zedong, 100-120 million, Pol Pot, a trivial 3 million. Just counting these we a have a total of 173-193 miilion people. That is far more than fell to all the Inquisitions, Crusades, and Jihads combined. Millions slaughtered to produce a world free of God. In his notes on 2010, Clarke notes that the novel is in many ways more a sequel to the movie. In particular, it relocates the action of 2001 from Saturn's orbit to Jupiter's (as the film did). Su pequeño universo es muy joven, y su Dios aún es un niño. Pero es demasiado pronto para juzgarlos. Cuando regresemos en los Últimos Días, ya pensaremos en lo que vale la pena salvar". Of the two astronauts awake on the spaceship Discovery when the super-computer HAL went nuts, Frank Poole certainly drew the short straw. While Dave Bowman ended up an immortal extraterrestrial hybrid with the powers of a god, poor Poole ended up left for dead and floating off into the cold vacuum of space.

seemed to have been slapped together in a week. The actual events that do occur in the story seem to have been thrown in as diversions to are long, dull, obsolete essays by Clarke on his perspective on religion and the moral state of the human race. These soapbox asides are clumsy, polemic, and not substantiated adequately. If you want to read a decent gripe about how self-destructive we are, read something by Kurt Vonnegut instead. The reader, I feel needs to take into consideration that the four books in the set do not comprise a single story, as is already put forth by the writer at the beginning of Book II, III, and in the valediction of Book IV. Being wr

What we wanted was a resolution to the Monolith Enigma, but what we got was an old geezer sounding off on religion, politics, circumcision, society, and religion. Clarke has a gift to taking pre-sent day science, extrapolate it 20 years into the future, and then place today's man into tomorrow's world--exploring humanity's possibilities. Sadly, the "silent artillery of time" has worn down his vision.Then there are the difficulties in projecting future civilization. Clarke honestly admits "A writer who sets out to describe a civilization superior to his own is obviously attempting the impossible. (" The Lost Worlds of 2001Ch. 34). Well, "physician, heal thyself." The cloned dinosaurs and kongs, the brain-computer interface, and using a computer virus to crash the Cosmic Server were science-fiction clichés known to every John Q. Popcorn (P. 265). This was my experience in 1977, nine years after the film’s release, and I had already seen both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which were special effects wonders in comparison. There was just this weird feeling that something happened. The 11 year old that I used to be had just had the second of only two real theophanies I would ever have…the first one occurred when I was six years old.

Think of the Monolith Trinity: Floyd is the wise Father, Bowman the son who dies and is a mediator, and Hal is a fine Holy Ghost. Why, then did Clarke feel the need apologize to people of faith in his endless end-matter? He has just started his own religion with the story. He had to admit that the selection was well done, by someone (Indra?) familiar with the early Twenty-first Century. There was nothing disturbing—no wars or violence, and very little contemporary business or politics, all of which would now be utterly irrelevant.” SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!!! (which I'm only hiding out of politeness. I'd much rather tell you about this book than have you suffer through reading it.)In tying up loose ends, we learn more about the entities that sent the Monoliths to earth. While this novel is not terrific, I’ve enjoyed Clarke’s exploration and vision of these invisible hands seeding the universe and acting as interplanetary farmers. (Note: much of this is speculated in the previous novels so I don’t think they really count as ‘spoilers’.) One millennium later, Poole's freeze-dried body is discovered in the Kuiper belt by a comet-collecting space tug named the Goliath, and revived. Poole is taken home to learn about the Earth in the year 3001. The only bad thing i found was the mid-book exit of a character named 'Dim.' He just vanishes and his fate is only mentioned in passing. The idea of a Braincap is great. I am not sure how we would manage all that with all the crap that we see on the internet now - but it's such a great concept. Basically, it is a commentary on the society present in 3001 as compared to the 20th and 21st century. Many interesting concepts are explored, including the nature of Solar System space activities.