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Books like 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey

The book is always better than the film, but I'd never read 2001 before. What I didn't know, until reading the foreword, is that this novel was literally written in tandem with the film, with Clarke and Kubrick feeding each other ideas. At some points, however, filming overtook writing, or vice versa, and the two stories, though similar, split along two different paths. After reading the book, the film becomes little more than a very well crafted container: It's pretty and neat to look at it, but open it up, and it's empty. There is none of Clarke's vision of how a being we'd call God would communicate with us across unfathomable time spans, or teach us, or lead us into higher consciousness. Stripped away by Kubrick is the sense that this being truly wants us to be in its image, and that the whole breadcrumb trail of monoliths was designed to do just that. And completely erased is the notion that David Bowman, as Star Child, is now one with the Universe, in some Zen-like way, and also much more like something we'd called a god.Don't get me wrong, 2001 is still one of my favorite films, but to get the full meaning and understand the full weight of why 2001 has been called "the perfect science fiction story," you must read the book. Clarke marries science, mysticism, theory, and fantasy in ways like no other. Unfortunately, Kubrick stripped away the mysticism and theory and left us what is, in comparison to the book, only a glimmer at something bigger.Kubrick touched the monolith, but Clarke went inside.

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Lists with 2001: A Space Odyssey

Image of read
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Image of read
  • 185 Books

read

List includes: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein
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films to watch
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@roo638
Image of Not Same you
Image of Not Same you
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List includes: Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby
July 2022
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Image of Books like to read
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  • 11 Books

Books like to read

Sci-fi book
November 2021
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@frankstevenzondeva
Image of Books: Plan to read AKA "The List"
Image of Books: Plan to read AKA "The List"
Image of Books: Plan to read AKA "The List"
  • 132 Books

Books: Plan to read AKA "The List"

List includes: Fahrenheit 451, The Chronicles of Narnia, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
October 2021
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@Reckoning
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Image of Books that will blow your mind
Image of Books that will blow your mind
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Books that will blow your mind

List includes: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Contact, Rendezvous with Rama
May 2021
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Image of Lore Obsessions
Image of Lore Obsessions
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  • 5 Movies
  • 4 Books

Lore Obsessions

Stories containing themes, characters, worlds, or whole universes that I can't get enough of. Various obsessions over the years. If it's on this list, my head is filled with it's lore 💕 (Some items on the list, I may not feel the same as I used to about them. But that doesn't erase the amount of space the lore in my head lol 😂)
January 2021
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@EvlanThings
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Image of Favourite Books
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Favourite Books

List includes: Of Mice and Men, The Green Mile, 2001: A Space Odyssey
January 2021
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@EvlanThings
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Image of Books I Own.
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January 2021
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@EvlanThings
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  • 19 Books

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List includes: The War of the Worlds, Hyperion, Starship Troopers
January 2021
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@EvlanThings
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Image of Space Stories 🚀
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  • 6 Books
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Space Stories 🚀

May include other science fiction stories that are not specifically about space.
October 2020
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@victourwho