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2010: Odyssey Two
by Arthur C. Clarke
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Demco Media (1984-02)
ISBN: 0606002642
EAN: 9780606002646
Dewy Decimal #: 823.914
Turtleback: 335 pages
SKU: 20512
Condition: New
Comments: THE HARDBACK BOOK! BALLANTINE, Del Rey, 1982. THE UNABRIDGED 1ST EDITION. HARDCOVER W/GILT LETTERING, DUST JACKET and pages are NEW! Ships rapidly w/FREE tracking. GREAT PACKAGING. AIR MAIL.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"A daring romp through the solar system and a worthy successor to 2001."
*Carl Sagan
Nine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft *to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong . . . and what became of Commander Dave Bowman.
Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter.
Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave Bowman *the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith *streaks toward Earth on a vital mission of its own . . .
"Clarke deftly blends discovery, philosophy, and a newly acquired sense of play."
*Time
"2010 is easily Clarkes' best book in over a decade."
*The San Diego Tribune
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Customer Reviews
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If you liked...
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-07-26
Years ago I read 2001 and recently decided to re-read it and follow up with the rest of the series. 2010 does not follow exactly from 2001. I am not going to give anything away, but if you are a purist and want utter consistency you will be perturbed. The book is an easy read, the character development is pretty good, but what keeps your interest is the plot. Even as we approach 2010 you can't help but think what if...
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The science behind the story
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-03-02
In writing 2010, Arthur C Clarke had to decide if he was going to sequel his book or the masterpiece that was the movie. He chose the movie and does indicate this before starting the story. The difference here is that 2001 the novel had the stargate on the Saturnian moon, Iapetus. Instead he writes as if the first novel followed the movie completely with the stargate orbiting Jupiter.
The book 2010 is very similar to the movie except for another ship from China landing on Europa and discovering life there just before the "Leonov" russian ship arrives in orbit. The "Tsien" the chinese ship discovers a creature from the ocean on Europa. It's too bad the movie did not include this as i think it would have made great cinema. There are some other chapters on Dave Bowman coming back to earth, visiting an old girlfriend and his mom in a nursing home. I really enjoyed the book as Athur C Clarke is so good at helping us understand the real science behind the story. For this alone i would recommend the book.
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Not Free SF Reader
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-11-02
Post Discovery mission.
Several years after Bowman and company's original mission failure a new expedition is undertaken - this time to Jupiter, not to Saturn as in the previous novel, so following on from the film plot instead. It is a joint country mission as it is the Russians that have developed more advanced travel technology, the Chinese too it is discovered.
What follows is more of Bowman and the aliens and what they are trying to achieve.
Just an ok book, really.
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awe-inspiring, upstages 2001
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-10-30
2001 was a fantastic book, no doubt about it. 2010 was an even more fantastic book, no bones about it either. What's the connection between the two, besides the the obvious?
After reading 2010, 2001 reads more like a prequel than it does a stand alone one-off novel about the monoliths. The plot is just awe-inspiring becasue of the trip around the Jovian moons, their landscape and even the life on the moons. Reading the details given of Jupiter with its gas-cloud atmosphere, always reminds me of reading my favorite book - The Algebrasist by Iain M. Banks. The descriptions are atmospheric, dreamy and surreal. It's a wonderful journey to the Jovian system... and there's a good story behind it! The middle and end of 2010 are much more readable and sensible than the ending of 2001, which was silly to read.
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Intresting Sequel but...
Rating (3)
Date: 2007-10-22
After reading the mesmerizing 2001: A Space Odyssey, I was hooked. Odyssey Two is a daring and albeit interesting sequel; however, I was somewhat disappointed with the plot.
Nine years has come and gone since David Bowman was last heard of. Since then, an American-Russian expedition has been established to find out what happened and to recover the most coveted information in history. Along with Heywood Floyd, the team frets about the Chinese team, who covertly launched days before to steal the information. However, when Tsien, the Chinese ship, descends upon Europa for more fuel, they are destroyed by a mysterious plant-like lifeform. As the American-Russian team advances unobstructed toward Discovery, David Bowman has his sights back on earth. Now, only in the form of pure energy that can penetrate any system, biological or otherwise, Bowman is 'sent' by Monoliths to 'learn', to discover what is needed in order to continue the grand 'space experiment' began so long ago and initiated by the discovery of the Monoliths in 2001. As one odyssey continues in space, another is re-experiencing the mystery and bonds of humanity.
Clarke leads off and ends very well: it's exciting, mysterious, creepy, an all around great read; but the middle of the book was not only phlegmatic, but tedious and at times dull. It didn't really make sense other than an attempt to characterize the humanity of David Bowman, to make us feel like we know him or relate to him. It's a somewhat weak filler and doesn't as much to the story as it could have.
Then again, Clarke has never been that dynamic in terms of fleshing out his characters, which come off mechanical and wooden, one dimensional but not necessarily unimaginative, just impersonal and uncomfortable. But because Clarke's vision of the future is so FANTASTIC and SPINE-TINGLING, at times prophetic, it can play second fiddle and still be a remarkable story.
It is his ideas, his language, the style, the science, that is so magnetic, which is wonderfully rendered in this book. The short chapters keeps the suspense going and moves the action fast. There were parts that made me think that Clarke somehow has some eerie and creepy Nostradamian insight into the future, considering he wrote this sequel so long ago. But even with his skill and enviable talent, Odyssey Two could have been much better.
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