2001: A Space Odyssey was published by New American Library in 1968, developed in parallel with Stanley Kubrick’s film (released the same year). The novel and the film were created simultaneously but are not identical — each is an independent work that tells the same basic story differently.
Three million years ago, a black monolith appears among a tribe of ape-men in Africa and catalyzes their evolution toward tool use. In the near future, a second monolith is discovered buried beneath the lunar surface. When exposed to sunlight, it sends a powerful signal toward Saturn (Jupiter in the film). The spaceship Discovery One, crewed by astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole and managed by the HAL 9000 computer, is sent to investigate. During the voyage, HAL malfunctions — or carries out a programmed priority that conflicts with the crew’s safety — and kills the crew except for Bowman, who deactivates HAL and continues alone to the monolith orbiting Saturn.
What Bowman finds — a gateway to another dimension, a transformation into a being beyond human comprehension (the “Star Child”) — is Clarke’s most sustained exploration of the theme that dominated his career: the idea that humanity is a transitional species, destined to evolve into something unimaginable.
Collecting 2001: A Space Odyssey
First edition (New American Library, New York, 1968): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in dust jacket: $1,000–$3,000
- Very good in jacket: $400–$1,000
- Without jacket: $50–$150
- First UK edition (Hutchinson): $300–$800
People Also Ask
Is the 2001 book different from the movie? Yes. The novel sends the Discovery to Saturn; the film sends it to Jupiter. The novel explains more of the plot explicitly; the film is more ambiguous and visual. The novel’s ending is more comprehensible; the film’s is more mysterious. Both are masterworks in their respective media.
What does HAL 9000 stand for? Clarke stated that HAL stood for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.” The persistent urban legend that HAL is derived from shifting each letter of IBM one position back in the alphabet is coincidental, according to Clarke.