2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

What can we truly know of the universe? Is the universe simply beyond our comprehension or are we just too ignorant to see what is actually in front of us? What if there is life beyond Earth? What if we can discover it for ourselves? What if, our curiosity gets the better of us all?

This book seems to pose many questions to what knowledge we already possess yet, are we looking at life in the right way and how we come to use the environment of Earth around us. It takes us through the story of the human race and how we have expanded our skills and knowledge to become a race which is both rational and intelligent enough to discover the final frontier, space. But what comes after all of this? This is just as an important question as the one in which we ask of how we all got here in the first place.

The great thing about this book is that I feel like if you read it before watching the film, you would probably have a better appreciation for Kubrick's vision. In fact, it could be believed that this book should be a must before even getting to that stage. You don't necessarily connect to the characters like you would normally do in any kind of book, but I think that this is done on purpose. Almost like this character is simply a small fragment of the human race, almost pointless to note, but still essential as you would probably have similar behaviours to them if given the chance.

However, what I really enjoyed out of all of this book is the ending. Weird, especially for myself as I am more of a middle person gal truly. Not really much into endings and how you can never seem to repeat the journey that you have just gone on. Although, I feel like this is crucially one of the most poignant parts of the book. So, if you truly want to commit, you have to go all out and read the end to get the real meaning. I must tell you, it's definitely one that you will be thinking for the next few days, as you try to decipher not only the book, but also an evaluation of your own life on planet Earth and the small amount of time that we truly do have of it. It's also one that can be seen to challenge individual beliefs of what could be known of how other worlds can be seen to collide and the belief that we have been ingrained with as children.

It's almost as though there has been no stone unturned, with leads to history, philosophy, science, sociology, psychology and maybe a little bit of spirituality and mysticism. Clarke really goes to town and incorporates some part of all our lives to make us all understand that there is a world that we do not know no matter how far we tinker and try to better ourselves. There will always be something that we will not be able to outdo or create in order to protect ourselves from some greater evil that tries to thwart us all.

Four stars from me today!

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