2010: Odyssey Two

Compliments 2001 and the movie.

It is good to be back for another adventure in to the solar system and with Clarke`s straightforward, readable approach to Sci-Fi. It is uncanny how he seems to have predicted some 50 years ahead, China`s emergence as a leading player in the space race! Although this time being first has certain drawbacks! Clarke handles space exploration in such a matter of fact way, and the voyage taking place in our own solar system, that I was reading this more like a documentary than Sci-Fi. The Alien presence also seems to take on a certain credibility, through 2001 and 2010 and we are so adaptable as people that if aliens were to appear it would be a mere generation before they were a normal part of our every day lives.

Summary: good sequel to movie, bad publisher/typescript.Plot: 5/5Book : 2/5First of all, I should make clear that the plot of this book is a good sequel. It doesn't take place after the '2001' book, but instead is a sequel to Kubrick's '2001' movie. Readers and viewers will know of the few differences, with the main one being Kubrick opting to travel to Jupiter whereas A.C.C writes about Saturn. So readers may feel confused if reading after the first book, but not viewing the movie (which I recommend viewing, if not to compliment the book then for the effects of the time). There is also a movie adaptation of this book called '2010: The Day We Made Contact', which I will watch after writing this review!Now, the 2/5 rating for book is regarding the publisher of this version(purchased from marketplace) . I'm not sure if it is "Voyager Books" or "Harper Collins" - it isn't clear - but as you can see from the pictures, the font is awful and fairly inconsistent. I have put a copy of '2001' next to it for comparison. The two stars is purely because I managed to finish the book, albeit with strained eyes. There is one particular page when sending a report to Earth which is just awful!

I bought the book in 1983, read it so many times that 'the seams fell apart',and I had to throw away the loose pages. Now, after over twenty years I get an exact duplicate of my old book - with yellowish pages, too - and I'm back in the eighties again! Nice.

I like how the seller added a postcard local to where I live. A very nice touch.

I thought I would comment not on the story, but on the actual book itself : The cover, and the pages themselves, all look like photocopies of a 'real' book : the text is 'thick', and there are specks on some pages, just like if you photocopy a page over and over. The cover feels cheap, and the whole book curls and flops. Very strange. Owning the similar looking previous volume (2001) I expected the same quality. I notice that the publisher is actually different for the second volume (Harper Collins Voyager). Not worth crying about, but a little disappointing.

Great second helping of the space Odyssey saga

Great book let down by the worst printing I’ve ever seen. Looks like it’s been printed by a 1990’s inkjet on blotting paper.