The book is a mixed bag. Most of it is just normal everyday life stuff but set in the future. It goes over what life will be like in the perceived future of the 60's. That said, the outlook was done more realistically than usually found back in those days. Many of the things found in this book did actually come true, and a lot of them will probably come true eventually... and that is extremely cool.
When the book isn't just showing every day life, there is actually a very serious science fiction story happening. When these plot points peak, the story suddenly has a genre, whether it be action, war, or even a horror situation. These moments are very cool, but they are the minority of the book's contents. Most of it is just people doing extremely ordinary things in a very cool futuristic environment.
The story does unfortunately assume that evolution is true, but it can't just let it work on its own. They need alien involvement for any of it to make sense. If it had not been like this, I probably would have hated the book. I already considered evolution to be fiction, so if the author is going to present it in a fictional way then I really could care less. I actually liked how it all worked out from beginning to end. Heck, I've even ordered the next book in the series. I had no problem with it.
I think it is very important to say here that if you were confused about the ending of the movie, the book explains absolutely everything and does it in a great way. But more than anything, if you go into this book, please know that it is 100% a science fiction. Although some parts of it are surprisingly realistic and predictive of the future, the main story concerning extraterrestrials, evolution, and transhumanism is pure science fiction. It's all made up, and what exists here is well written and wonderful to read. And besides, even if the author believes in evolution, he had to invent his own version of God to make it work anyhow. Good stuff.
I absolutely recommend "2001: A Space Odyssey." It tells a story of many things that would inevitably happen and likely shows stuff that are still to happen given enough time. For that reason, it is a damn cool book to read. Christian or atheist, put it on your list.
This blog was written on February 2, 2023.
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The book was written ALONGSIDE the making of the movie. Very unusual. It seems the clarity of the book turned what seemed like nonsense into excellent science fiction.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was a little weird. I mean literary adaptations are done that way, but this was way more work than usually gets put into that sort of things.
DeleteAs long as we can separate fact from fiction we can enjoy works like this for what they are. Funny that Arthur C. Clarke had to make his own version of God to justify evolution. I believe I would prefer the book to the movie, I might one day check this one out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's the only way to make it work! If they bother to do it, you might have some interesting fiction on hand.
DeleteShowing everyday life helps to ground science fiction in reality. The more fancy it gets, the less there is to learn. It is best when you can truly see yourself in that world.
ReplyDeleteThat really was a genius move. So many sci fi books from that era was full of silly stuff. This is kind of like the advent of hard sci fi.
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