2001, A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke

 

Rating...3.5⭐

You can buy 2001 A Space Odyssey...Here

You can find out more about Arthur C Clarke...Here

228 pages

• The Blurb...

Written when landing on the moon was still a dream, and made into one of the most influential films of all time, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY remains a classic work of science fiction fifty years after its original publication.

The discovery of a black monolith on the moon leads to a manned expedition deep into the solar system, in the hope of establishing contact with an alien intelligence. Yet long before the crew can reach their destination, the voyage descends into disaster . . .

Brilliant, compulsive and prophetic, Arthur C. Clarke's timeless novel tackles the enduring theme of mankind's place in the universe.

• Our Review...

I read this book as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. Click here for more info. This week's challenge was "lower case letters on the spine." 

The epithet "sprawling epic" applies to a lot of books but none more so than this one. This book's timespan is literally from from dawn of human civilisation to the end of the world. And there in lies the problem, I feel it's too big to work as a novel. Indeed the novel was developed alongside the screenplay for the film. The film was based on a short story that Clarke wrote many years before. I fear that this muddled and opaque creative process influenced the book. 

The story begins when man is just an apelike creature, no different to all the other creatures. A black obelisk, one morning, arrives and performs some mind altering experiments on the apes. After the obelisk leaves the apes have new thoughts and feelings and this is how they developed from apes to humans over the following millions of years. All due to seeds that the obelisk planted in their minds.

Fast forward thousands of years and a black obelisk is discovered on the moon. As a result a mission is sent to a moon of Saturn looking for alien life. However on the journey disaster strikes the ship. And this is just the prelude to an even more disastrous encounter.

NB It's very difficult to talk about the themes of the book without giving away spoilers.

One of the issues is that this is a very visual book. Words are very good at describing intangible things such as thoughts or feelings, visual extravaganzas not so much. Imagine watching a fire work display or having someone describe a firework display using only words, which would you choose. Clarke's magnum opus is full of such displays. 

In addition I have always found that the best books have a way of immersing you in the story. I didn't feel that with this book. I felt I was being talked to, rather than being immersed in... Of course this may just be a me thing.

I still cant make up my mind whether the ending is profound or pretentious. However I did enjoy the section where, while on the mission to Saturn, our astronaut encounters sentient computers/algorithms. Wow. 

But overall it's a bit of a mixed bag for me, I don't know if it works as a novel. It's more of framework for Clarke to theorize on science fiction (future and past.) In fairness to the great man, considering the short story was developed in 1948 and the novel in 1964, he does a bang up job. Among other things he predicts the Ipad and A.I. In fact, as a small homage, the "about the author" section in this review is written by A.I. It even put in the emoji's! I don't know if Clarke would be happy or horrified with this. We are on the road to the future and we cant get off.

• Selected Quotes...

“It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.”

“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”

“. . . Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy--of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.”

“But he knew well enough that any man in the right circumstances could be dehumanised by panic.”

“But was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping-stone to something which, long ago, men had called “spirit.” And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.”

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Contact by Carl Sagan

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick. Review...here

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

• About The Author...

Let’s delve a bit deeper into the fascinating life of Arthur C. Clarke:

1. Science Fiction and Beyond:

   • Clarke’s imaginative science fiction works captivated readers worldwide. His novel “Childhood’s End” explored themes of human evolution and extraterrestrial influence.
   • His short story “The Sentinel” inspired Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The movie’s enigmatic monoliths and cosmic journey left an indelible mark on popular culture.
   • Beyond fiction, Clarke was a prolific science writer, explaining complex concepts in accessible ways. His nonfiction works covered topics like space exploration, telecommunications, and futurology.

2. Space Odyssey and Legacy:

• The collaboration with Kubrick on “2001: A Space Odyssey” elevated both their careers. The film’s visual effects, philosophical musings, and haunting soundtrack remain influential.
• Clarke’s vision extended beyond the screen. He envisioned geostationary satellites for global communication—a concept that became reality with modern telecommunications satellites.

3. Champion of Space Exploration:

   • Clarke’s passion for space exploration was unwavering. He advocated for manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
   • As chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, he fostered scientific discussions and inspired future generations of space enthusiasts.

4. Life in Sri Lanka:

   • Clarke’s move to Sri Lanka allowed him to explore not only the cosmos but also the depths of the Indian Ocean. His underwater discoveries included ancient shipwrecks and the submerged Koneswaram Temple.
   • His TV series “Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World” delved into unexplained phenomena, captivating audiences with tales of the supernatural.

5. Honors and Titles:

   • Knighted in 1998, Clarke received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature and science.
   • Sri Lanka recognized his impact by awarding him the prestigious title of Sri Lankabhimanya.

In summary, Arthur C. Clarke’s legacy transcends fiction, reaching the stars and the depths of our imagination. 🚀📚

My Top Ten Novels Of All Time

  

 

 

 

  
 

Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison

Rating...4⭐

You can buy Make Room! Make Room!...Here

You can find out more about Harry Harrison...Here

240 pages.

• The Blurb...

The planet's population has exploded and resources are stretched to breaking point. And, in a sweltering, overcrowded New York City of 35 million desperate inhabitants, a police detective must try to solve a murder. The basis of the cult film Soylent Green, this eerily prophetic novel is a nightmarish vision of a world in meltdown.

• Our Review...

I read this book as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. Click  here for details.

This week's prompt was a book with a similar plot to another book. However I have made a faux pas here. Make Room! Make Room! is the book that the 1970s film Soylent Green is based on. There is a famous revelation in the film. 

Spoiler Alert stop here if you do not wish to know what that revelation is!

In the film it is revealed that the mass produced, processed food that everyone eats is actually human flesh. So I assumed the book would be similar so that I could partner it with Tender Is The Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica which deals with a similar industrialised cannibalism theme. Bit creepy I know but the aim was to diversify my reading. So far so good but I had a surprise to find out there is no cannibalism in Make Room! Make Room! (MRMR.) Never thought I'd ever say "I was left deflated by the lack of cannabalism in a novel" I don't know if by diversifying my reading I am becoming a more rounder person or more dark and depraved!

So sadly lacking in mass canabalism but this is a terrfying picture of the very near future. Most dystopian novels, such as 1984, Farenheit 451, Brave New World et al, focus life after the event that caused society to collapse. MRMR paints a slow motion, blow by blow account of the collapse of civilisation and it's seems very real and very near and for that reason is terrifying. 

In MRMR massive over population the world over due to lack of birth control has resulted in all the world's resources such as food, water, fuel being on the verge of exhaustion. Meat is an astronomically expensive luxury. It can only be obtained via shady underground dealers known as "Meat-Leggers" akin to our drug dealers. Set in New York, huge numbers of people sleep in squalor on stairwells and in decaying abandoned cars in parking lots. Cars abandoned because there is no fuel. refuse collects in the street, water is rationed. Riots and crime are rife. In this sprawling metropolis we pick out the story of Billy a young man forced into theiving. He robs the wrong apartment and kills local crime boss Mike. Shirl the gangster's moll is left with nowhere to go and ends up living with Andy, the investigating officer and his room mate an ageing army veteran named Sol. Shirl struggles with living in poverty. All the while Andy is trying to chase down Billy.

While the plot is ok, its characters really only serve only to give an insight into a society collapsing under its own weight.

The scenes with masses of people everywhere in my mind reminded me of recent trips to London over the last few years. I live in West Wales in a rural county with no cities and only two small towns, not too populated and plenty of natural and beautiful open spaces.  When I go to London and travel amid the masses with no natural greenery, lack of personal space, no room on the pavement it makes me uncomfortable. I was shocked when on an escalator on the underground crowded with people, some people were walking or running up and tutting (and worse) because I did not know the city etiquette of standing on one side to allow these people to pass. They thought me rude or possibly weird. I in turn thought how sad their lives must be that must they run up a crowded escalator. When I read MRMR  these memories came back and when I imagined a little scenarios like this, but upped on steroids, I could easily picture the chaos the author was after. 

Disclaimer I fully appreciate that someone from the city may feel uncomfortable in my neck of the woods too. 

The book was published in 1966 and the novel was set in 1999. Fair play the author got a lot bang on. Scarcity of resources, escalating costs, ever decreasing quality of life and so on. However the main driver of these issues is climate change not overpopulation. Climate change was unheard of in 1966. Ironic now that depopulation in the next few hundred years will be a  bigger problem than overpopulation.  That's if climate change grants us a few hundred years. 

I found this to be a fascinating book. Like watching a car crash that I may be involved in one day.

• Selected Quotes..

One time we had the whole world in our hands, but we ate it and burned it and it's gone now.

After the damp hallway the heat of Twenty-fifth Street hit him in a musty wave, a stifling miasma compounded of decay, dirt and unwashed humanity. He had to make his way through the women who already filled the steps of the building, walking carefully so that he didn’t step on the children who were playing below. The sidewalk was still in shadow but so jammed with people that he walked in the street, well away from the curb to avoid the rubbish and litter banked high there. Days of heat had softened the tar so that it gave underfoot, then clutched at the soles of his shoes.

It was hard to get your hands on cash money, and cash money was the only thing that counted. They never saw any at home. The Welfare ration cards took care of everything, everything that kept you alive and just alive enough to hate it.

On the end of a string they carried their prize, a large gray dead rat. They would eat well tonight. In the center of the crowded street the tugtruck traffic moved at a snail’s pace, the human draught animals leaning exhaustedly into their traces, mouths gaping for air.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like This...

Blind Faith by Ben Elton. Click here for review

Logan's Run by William F Nolan.

Day of The Triffids by John Wyndham

• About The Author...

Harry Max Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey; March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction (SF) author, best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Harrison was (with Brian Aldiss) the co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Aldiss called him "a constant peer and great family friend". His friend Michael Carroll said, "Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean or Raiders of the Lost Ark, and picture them as science-fiction novels. They're rip-roaring adventures, but they're stories with a lot of heart."

Lies After Death by KJ Dando

 

Rating...4⭐

You can buy "Lies After Death"...Here

You can follow KJ Dando Facebook page...Here

• The Blurb...

Five years ago, Tom Crane's world was turned upside down when his wife was followed and killed in a tragic car accident. Despite a thorough investigation, her killer was never found, leaving Crane to live in the shadow of her death.

But now, Crane, who works as a fixer for the wealthy and powerful, begins receiving mysterious letters and phone calls from someone claiming to know the truth about his wife's death. Can he trust these messages, or are they part of a larger conspiracy?

As Crane uncovers more and more lies and secrets, he finds himself pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. But will the truth bring him closure, or will it plunge him even deeper into the darkness?

Lies After Death is a fast-paced, gripping crime fiction novel that will keep you guessing until the very end.

• Our Review...

I reviewed this book as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. Click  here  for details. This week's prompt is a book begining with the letter L. And after reading a few books outside my comfort zone for the last few weeks, This week I returned to my sweet-spot, Crime Fiction set in Wales. And what a sweet-spot it turned out to be.

After a prologue that sets out where Crane stands on the moral spectrum, we are off and running. Someone is watching him and sending him cryptic notes, telling that local pimp and thug Luke Maddocks is somehow involved in the death of Crane's wife years earlier. Crane tries to follow this lead, while also trying to find the mystery informant. All this in addition to dealing with his dead beat twin brother and reconnecting with his teenage niece who is about to go off the rails with the local wrong 'uns. He does this all with the help of his tech genius, agoraphobic and possibly autistic mate Ricky. Crane's wife's best friend is also still knocking round, still gorgeous and still single. So Crane has his hands full. The plot is an engaging journey with a surprise left turn just before the end.

Lies After Death is a quite simply, excellent debut novel in my niche genre. The opening chapter in particular was punchy and memorable. The lead character of Tom Crane is a Welsh version of "Ray Donovan." A fixer for hire,  intelligent, handsome, independently wealthy with a social conscience. Men want to be be him and women just want him. I have read a few reviews online on Amazon and was surprised by the amount of women readers and how they thought about Crane. 😲 . 

The pacing is just right, not to slow and not to quick. The plot is intriguing without being overly complicated. The supporting roles while not unusual are well drawn. The setting of the mean streets of Cardiff/Caerphilly are a big plus. Next time I'm in Cardiff I shall be looking for the inspiration behind Corkers!

The violence or threat of violence in the book carries an air of authenticity when you consider the author is an army veteran of several war zones. 

Having read several crime novels set in South Wales, I am slowly building up a cinematic universe in my head equivalent to any heroes Marvel can produce. See "If You Liked This Then You May Like..." Section  In addition to Tom Crane fixer from Caerphilly, there is Jonah Greene, Coroner's Officer from Cardiff (The List by Graham H Miller), DI Mandy Wilde ( The Nesting Place by Jacqueline Harret). And finally DI Marc Fagan of Abergavenny (The Dead Will Beckon by Jason Chapman). It's like Stephen Kings Derry/Bangor Maine but less horror and more crime. More murders than Midsommor 😁.

It is a compliment to the author that his creation fits so well into the aforementioned pantheon. It augers well for a bright future for KJ Dando. A blistering debut.

• Selected Quotes...

Beth’s heart had stopped beating the moment her hatchback struck the tree. The other smaller heart inside her continued to beat a little longer. A tiny heart that fought valiantly for its own survival but unfortunately faced a losing battle. Without its mother’s support, the little heartbeat weakened until it eventually faded away.

He was clearly a bodybuilder who was no stranger to steroids and growth hormones. His silhouette looked part man, part mountain gorilla.

In his experience, bodybuilders were never great fighters. They were big and heavy but sloth-like slow. Most of them struggled with the range of motion to throw a decent punch; in fact, most of them struggled with the range of motion to wipe their own arse properly.

“Are you a policeman?” Would he ask to see my ID if I lied? Probably. “No.” “Sorry,” said the cashier, “it’s company policy to only show the camera footage to the police.” “Why?” The cashier shrugged. “To protect people’s privacy and personal data and stuff like that, I suppose.” “Okay,” said Crane. “In that case, I am a policeman.” The cashier peered at him through dubious eyes and stretched one corner of his mouth to the side. “Can I see some ID?” Crane took out his wallet, removed a twenty, and placed it on the counter. The cashier smiled. “Follow me, officer.”

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Dead Will Beckon by Jason Chapman. Review here

The List by Graham H Miller. Review here

The Nesting Place by Jacqueline Harret. Review here

• About The Author...

Keith lives in Wales with his wife, two young daughters and a cockapoo called Buddy. Before he began writing thrillers, Keith served in the British Army and actively engaged on operational duties in Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia. He then pursued careers in a number of industries until he finally decided to follow his true passion - writing thrillers. When he isn't writing, you can usually find him up one of the many mountains or on one of the many beaches of Wales, probably with Buddy in tow desperate for him to throw the ball again and again and again.