Space Odyssey
For years I had heard of the film '2001' and that it was the greatest science fiction film ever made, but as it had come out in 1969 I had never had a chance to see it at the cinema, I was too young at the time. Therefore when I saw the book for sale in the local hypermarket I snatched it up immediately.
I found the book to be very interesting and exciting to read which made me even more determined to see the film. As it turned out, this was not to be that long after, as it was shown for the first time on UK TV later that year. Unfortunately, I found the film to be a disappointment. Visually it was spectacular, but the soundtrack or more appropriately the lack of a background soundtrack made the film very grating on my senses, especially the long scenes in space where all you heard is breathing. I know this is what you would experience if you were in space and that is probably why it is the way it is, but as entertainment, it didn't work as far as I was concerned.
The second book was a surprise as I, and I suspect most other readers, was not expecting a sequel after so many years, but once I saw it, I bought it and found it to be just as engaging and exciting as the first book. The film version of this book, in my opinion, was far superior to the first film, which I would say was more style over substance.
As the subsequent books came out I bought them, but while they were enjoyable and interesting they never quite reached the same level of wonder as the first two had achieved.
2001: A Space Odyssey
On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.
So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.
But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong...
Format
PaperbackDate Acquired
26th January 1981Retail Cost
£1.10Number of Pages
256Year Read
1981
2010: Odyssey Two
Nine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft—to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong…and what became of Commander Dave Bowman.
Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter.
Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave Bowman—the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith—streaks toward Earth on a vital mission of its own . . .
Format
PaperbackDate Acquired
8th October 1983Retail Cost
£1.95Number of Pages
297Year Read
1983
2061: Odyssey Three
Two expeditions into space are inextricably tangled by human necessity and the immutable laws of physics.
Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must once again confront Dave Bowman—or whatever Bowman has become—a newly independent HAL, and the power of an alien race that has decided Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.
Format
HardbackDate Acquired
17th August 1988Retail Cost
£9.55Number of Pages
254Year Read
1988
3001: The Final Odyssey
Frank Poole was last seen alive in the vicinity of the United States Spaceship Discovery en route to Jupiter's moons. The year was AD 2001 and the Series 900 HAL computer onboard Discovery had malfunctioned. Grappling frantically with the broken air hose of his spacesuit, Frank died in the blackness and vacuum of space.
In AD 3001 his perfectly preserved body is retrieved by Captain Dimitri Chandler of the space tug Goliath; medical and electro-optical technologies restore his life and then enhance it with a Braincap. Thus Frank becomes a telepathic, machine-assisted inhabitant of the first years of the fourth millennium, with a lot to learn.
The alien Monoliths have been silent since the eruption of Jupiter into a sun in AD 2010. Their last message was a warning: ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE. But Frank Poole is an exception to the aliens' interdict. Or so he hopes. Frank has unfinished business on Europa. Perhaps Dave Bowman, his long lost colleague from the Discovery, is there, a thousand years older, but not dead. And alien.
Format
HardbackDate Acquired
12th April 1997Retail Cost
£16.99Number of Pages
273Year Read
1997