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Summary and Reviews of 3001 by Arthur Clarke

3001 by Arthur C. Clarke

3001

The Final Odyssey

by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (4):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 1997, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 1998, 274 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Now Poole has returned to life, awakening in a world far different from the one he left behind - and just as the Monolith may be stirring once again

One thousand years after the Jupiter mission to explore the mysterious Monolith had been destroyed, after Dave Bowman was transformed into the Star Child, Frank Poole drifted in space, frozen and forgotten, leaving the supercomputer HAL inoperable. But now Poole has returned to life, awakening in a world far different from the one he left behind--and just as the Monolith may be stirring once again. . .

Chapter 1: Comet Cowboy

Captain Dimitri Chandler [M2973.04.21/93.106//Mars//SpaceAcad3005//*//]--or "Dim" to his very best friends--was understandably annoyed. The message from Earth had taken six hours to reach the spacetug Goliath, here beyond the orbit of Neptune; if it had arrived ten minutes later he could have answered "Sorry--can't leave now--we've just started to deploy the sun-screen."

The excuse would have been perfectly valid: wrapping a comet's core in a sheet of reflective film only a few molecules thick, but kilometers on a side, was not the sort of job you could abandon while it was half-completed.

Still, it would be a good idea to obey this ridiculous request: he was already in disfavor sunwards, through no fault of his own. Collecting ice from the rings of Saturn and nudging it towards Venus and Mercury, where it was really needed, had started back in the 2700's--three centuries ago. Captain Chandler had never been able to see any real ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Newsweek
A fascinating picture of our future cities atop needlelike towers that extend into space, the colonization of Venus, the pacification of humanity, and the abolition of religion.

Business Week
3001 The Final Odyssey has an eerie and compelling plausibility.

Rocky Mountain News
A satisfying conclusion to the series . . . It is tightly constructed and stands well in its own right.

San Diego Union-Tribune
3001 is interesting and enjoyable, worth the price and worth the wait.

The New York Times Book Review
Marvels aplenty.

USA Today
Science-fiction master Arthur C. Clarke has taken generations of readers to the far and lonely reaches of the universe.

Author Blurb Buzz Aldrin
From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. 3001 The Final Odyssey is a tour de force that finally answers the questions that sparked the imaginations of an entire generation.

Author Blurb Larry Collins
Arthur C. Clarke's 3001 The Final Odyssey is witty, provocative and scary, a triumphant reaffirmation of his position as the dean of science fiction writing.

Author Blurb Roger Ebert
Clarke's agile imagination stretches our notions of how things can be, should be, and might be in man's unfolding destiny. The novel is a torrent of challenging ideas.

Reader Reviews

rob

well i thought it was good book to read. i only read 2061 and 3001 but i saw the movies 2001 and 2010. thats it from me.
José F. Barral

The publication of Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Odyssey marks not only the 1997 "birthday" of HAL the computer (as given in the novel 2001, though the film had it five years earlier). It is also Clarke's eightieth year and his ...   Read More
Michael Hickerson

File under: beating a dead horse.

Arthur C. Clarke returns to the saga he created in 2001 and continued in 2010 and 2063 with this entry in the series, that is a disappointment in so many ways. Frank Poole is revived in the year 3001 (yes, that ...   Read More

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