3001 The Final Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke at his best.

Surprisingly, I skipped the classic original (which apparently makes more sense than the movie), and the two paltry sequels and went straight to this one. One of the astronauts wakes up nearly 1000 years in the future, where, we're all still speaking English (right...), religion has been abolished (uh-huh, humor me some more), and aliens have been discovered on...more

Surprisingly, I skipped the classic original (which apparently makes more sense than the movie), and the two paltry sequels and went straight to this one. One of the astronauts wakes up nearly 1000 years in the future, where, we're all still speaking English (right...), religion has been abolished (uh-huh, humor me some more), and aliens have been discovered on Europa (that's more likely actually!)   hide

The second best in the series, next to 2001, follows a recently unfrozen Frank Poole as he adjusts to a society advanced 1000 years beyond our own. During his last adventures in the solar system, he discovers the answers to many of the questions posed earlier in the series.

In this last book of the series you finally learn just what the Monoliths are and a little about the intellegents that put them there.