It is the end of a 1,000 year journey. Frank Poole, frozen for a 1,000 years has been recovered by humans from Earth. An opportunity arises for Mr. Poole to help out the people of Earth one more time from the grasp of the monoliths that continue to raise alarm and suspicion. He teams up with his old crewmate, Dave, who has become an energy being, living like a virus within the monolith that swallowed him up at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is the culmination of a thousand years of waiting for Dave and Frank to help the rest of humanity to no longer be under the power of the great monoliths. While I will not say how the story ends, let us simply say that it a story that remains true to the characters that Arthur C. Clarke had originally developed in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Here's a quote from the beginning of the book that helps to set the stage for the rest of the story: Then it came close enough for visual inspection, and Captain Chandler realized, with awed astonishment, that some patient historian was still checking the earliest records of the Space Age. What a pity that the computers had given him the answer, just a few years too late for the Millenium celebrations! "Goliath here," Chandler radioed Earthward, his voice tinged with pride as well as solemnity. "We're bringing about a thousand-year-old aastronaut. And I can guess who it is." Pages 12-13 Arthur C. Clarke had a vision of the future, a little different than Gene Roddenberry's, but it still holds true that humanity will eventually see past its differences and come together as a large community, instead of allowing nationality, and other issues get in the way of advancement. I recommend this book because it carries to a conclusion of one of the best known science fiction stories written in the recent past. Mr. Clarke uses science fiction to postulte possibilities of humanity's future, much in the same way as Gene Roddenberry does, as well as Isaac Asimov. Science fiction is good story-telling, and so long as people are listening, then there is hope for a better, brighter, future.
Title: 3001: The Final Odessey |
3/20/05
