3001

A Novel

By: Arthur C. Clarke

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

In 3001: The Final Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke brings the greatest and most successful science fiction series of all time to its magnificent, stunningly unforeseen conclusion. As we hurtle toward the new millennium in real time, Clarke brilliantly - daringly - leaps 1,000 years into the future to reveal a truth we are only now capable of comprehending. An epic masterpiece at once dazzlingly imaginative and grounded in scientific actuality, 3001 is a story that only Arthur C. Clarke could tell.

©1998 Arthur C. Clarke (P)2012 Random House Audio

Poor ol' Frank

Where does 3001 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's really not bad. Scott Brick has become one of my more preferred, American accented narrators. The story itself is amusing to me as I'm a huge fan of 2001, 2010, 2061.

What was one of the most memorable moments of 3001?
Poor ol' Frank gets taken down a peg or 2 - and that's saying something. He's so blown away by the technology available in this new millennium he finds himself in. I really enjoyed hearing Scott Brick read the bits of the book that referred to 2010. I'm pretty geeky about all that, so it was a pleasure to revisit it. He does a great job.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
His easy-sounding, laid back manner lends itself to the realm of the 2001 series. (I just couldn't imagine what could be done with the story itself - they FIND FRANK?? lol - I was gladly mistaken. I should have more faith in one of my favorite authors whose stories have truly touched my life.)

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.

Any additional comments?
I really recommend this novel and audible version.

Fmailiar Characters, no action

What made the experience of listening to 3001 the most enjoyable?

Hearing the conclusion to the 2001 series....sort of. It definitely leaves the door wide open for the eventual confrontation with the makers of the monoliths in the year 4001 give or take a century or two. That could potentially be much more interesting than the events in 3001.

Any additional comments?

It seems that at every major plot point in the book there is a build up, then it skips over to the aftermath. There is almost no real-time description of events. It became very frustrating after a while. There could have been some really interesting stuff in there but it's just jumped over with maybe a brief summary. A majority of the book was Clarke's meticulous description of the technologies of the era, which is great, but the story suffers. I found the footnotes at the end to be much more entertaining than the book itself.

Overall the technology of 1,000 years from now seems a bit dated now. It's a projection of the technology, culture, and happenings of the 1990's into the future. Given the leap in technology in the 20 years following, 3001 doesn't seem to hold up as well as I would have expected. The retro future of 2001 and 2010 where the cold war continued and it's basically the Popular Mechanics future of the 1960's seems to work better.

Not much of an Odyssey

What did you love best about 3001?

Bringing back of the characters from the 2001's book

What was one of the most memorable moments of 3001?

The meeting with Dave

Which scene was your favorite?

The meeting with Dave

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

I was hoping that the audio book would take the listener on an Odyssey through the monolith to intergalactic intrigue, not a rehash of our solar system.

unsatisfying conclusion

while i always appreciate Clarke’s methodical, unemotional writing style, this left far too much unstated. it was deeply frustrating to never have a clear understanding of how Poole was resuscitated after so long, surprisingly low on actual story in favor of long descriptions of the world in 3001 (interesting yes, but not compelling enough to feel like a worthy successor to the previous novels) and incredibly unsatisfying in how it concluded with such a whimper. very disappointed Clarke fan.

Clarke Was Brilliant

Did not see any of this coming. And I loved the whole thing about people from our time wouldn't be able to understand most of what people will be saying 1000 years from now. This is a great ending to a brilliant series.Bravo.

Love AC Clark, old school and great.

Loved it especially after the mind whirl of the new Star Wars, great storytelling. Wonderful.

3000 and Wonderful

What did you love best about 3001?

Still a lot to learn from the past and future. Innovative treatment of learning and medicine.

What did you like best about this story?

How it tied into the previous two novels, and its outlook for the future.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first.

Another great one in the series

Not as good as 2001 but Clarke definitely did a good job of continuing the story and keeping it interesting. Narrator Scott Brick did great, as always.

Can't go wrong with Arthur C. Clarke

This magnificent book is a great novel bolstered with actual science. I truly regret his loss to literature and science.

Great space science fiction on solar system

Very interesting story on planets and moons with alien monolith and astronauts. And return of Dave Bowman and Frank Poole from 2001 novel. May be like an NDE story too.

I love this story

Arthur you are a legend. RIP while your legacy lives on. great book, one of the all time greats.

The end of the line...

enjoyed this final installment as much as the others... I find ACC's writing agrees with me.

An excellent epilogue to the Odyssey series

From one of the great masters of hard Science Fiction, this is the last book of his Odyssey series. Starting with Odyssey 2001, a project created together with Stanley Kubrick as a basis of the same titled film, Clarke created a multiverse of mankind's possible future in a Cosmos that we are not alone.

A notable scientist himself, Clarke does not fail to maintain the feeling of plausibility when inserting imagined technical advances to his storyline; at the same time he manages to show the interactions of humans who still retain many of the character traits we have today while clearly affected by the changes in human mentality he imagines to have occurred in the future.

Thoroughly enjoyable even as a standalone book but even more so as a conclusion to the entire series.

brilliant end to series

excellent ending to the space odyssey series. A nice balance of hard sci fi and whimsical futurism - the "gardener" made me laugh out loud.

A rather bland, unspiritted revisitation

The narrative starts out promissingly but fails to maintain reader's interest after the initial three or four chapters. There's also some heavy reuse of material from previous novels - whole passages are simply copy-pasted with only minor editing. Just as bad as 2061.

Man of science, master of science fiction

Loved it, I knew I would, as when I was still able to read a whole novel, I read this one four times (with intervals between) and now being able to just listen is great. I would have been very disappointed if it had been abridged!

OK, Not Great

What did you like best about 3001? What did you like least?

I liked the idea of completing the set of these Clarke stories, having listened to the other three.

This book is OK, but in the main is just description of supposed life in 3001, with a minor plot tacked on. I felt it was not one of Clarke's best.

Has 3001 put you off other books in this genre?

No.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Scott Brick is always a reliable reader with very few mistakes made.

Could you see 3001 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

No, the plot is too thin.

great start and finish,

great start and finish, intriguing story line, went a little off point in the middle

a fine classic science fiction story I loved it

a fine classic science fiction story by my favourite author I loved it and wish it had not finished.

Best Forth Book In a Trilogy Ever

Whilst the heights of the 1st book in the Quad-trilogy may not have been reached this forth offering it does nicely tie up the set. Revisiting Frank's story raises question of living beyond your quota, and the ability to adapt. This is a theme Arthur C Clarke visits and revisits through the Space Oddessy stories.