#4 "2001: A Space Odyssey" By Arthur C. Clarke

Scanning the seemingly never ending list of "1001 Books to Read Before You Die", I will admit my decision initially is based on familiarity with the title thanks to Stanley Kubrick's film version. "2001: A Space Odyssey". It is on both my book list as well as "1001 Movies to See Before You Die" but I have never actually seen the movie. Going into it I know the setting is in space. DUH!! I know it was a movie made in the 1960's. The story depicts where this world would be technologically in the future. I guess I pictured something like "Back to the Future II" but more in the weird style of the 60s-70's.  The 70's science fiction movies like "Blade Runner"and "Logan's Run" are just weird to me. I guess you just had to be there. Lastly, I recall Hal, the mind of the spaceship, and how he created many problems for the travelers as if he was plagued with a computer virus. I suppose what I knew about "2001: A Space Odyssey" could be gleaned from a movie preview.

Why won't you die?!

Movie Previews!! They are so funny sometimes. Every movie looks like a blockbuster in previews. There's BIG explosions, people getting KILLED, funny lines, and if that's not interesting enough- a little sexy make-out blurb giving the fellas that thought maybe there will be some BOOBIES in this!! Come on guys, if this wasn't true the marketing guru's wouldn't keep making previews like this. When we finally choose to see one of these movies we are flabbergasted to find out that what the previews sold us on was a sham!! The only funny scene in the movie, the only skin shot, and the mass carnage we hoped for consisted of what was shown in the previews.

This is how I felt when I finally finished the novel. So this is it? Hal wasn't even a blip on the screen. It was interesting but it lasted 10 pages maybe and the rest was weird psychedelic details only Sheldon Cooper and his gang (The Big Bang Theory) would appreciate. Ok, so the story is a big black monolith sent down to Earth by aliens or some greater power in the beyond looking to experiment on the minds of Earth's inhabitants. Why? I have no clue. Interest? Boredom? It manipulated the minds of a few apes that eventually spurred on the advancement of the new race to what we see now in humans. It caught my interest initially. The story continues to the present time where humans found a black monolith on the surface of the moon and the rest of the story basically was trying to discover what the black monolith was. The story of Hal was just a side story. What else can I say about the novel. I would much rather have wasted my time watching a bad movie than enduring this novel. On this list I suppose I will run into quite a few stories that are not up my alley. Oh well. C'est la vie!!