title: Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece
author:  Michael Benson 
description: At last! The dense, intense, detailed, and authoritative saga of the making of the greatest motion picture Ive ever seen,<i> 2001: A Space Odyssey.</i> I now have reason to see Kubricks proverbial really good science fiction movie another 200 times. Michael Benson has done the Cosmos a great service. (Tom Hanks)<br /><br />"Over the years, so much has been written about <i>2001 </i>and its creation that I thought we knew all that there was to know. And then, I received a copy of Michael Bensons lively, exciting and exhaustively researched book, which further expands our understanding of what is truly one of the greatest films ever made." (Martin Scorsese)<br /><br />"A detailed and often thrilling account of one intense, unforgettable collaboration. Its a tremendous explication of a tremendous film. . . . Breathtaking."<br />  (Sibbie O'Sullivan <i>Washington Post</i>)<br /><br />"[An] engrossing, immersive examination of the long path to Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's masterpiece. . . . The pair's fraught but hugely successful relationship forms the backdrop of this astonishing tale of obsessive genius at work." (Ben Dickinson <i>The New York Times Book Review</i>)<br /><br />"Scores of books and videos about '2001'and its director have appeared over the half-century since its premiere, yet it would be difficult to envision anything offering the abundance of telling anecdotes, technical detail and keen insight that fills Benson's <i>Space Odyssey.</i>" (Douglass K. Daniel <i>Associated Press</i>)<br /><br />A deep, informative and entertaining dive into the making of the movie. (Dennis Overbye <i>The New York Times</i>)<br /><br />Michael Bensons <i>Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece</i> is a masterpiece about a masterpiecea passionately written, impeccably researched book about a great directors pushing himself, his cast and crew beyond safety or sanity in a relentless quest for a non-verbal vision of the transcendent future of both space and film itself.<br />  (Scott Eyman, author of John Wayne: The Life and Legend and Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart)<br /><br />Enlightening. . . . Asolid companion piece to a sci-fi classic, both for newbies trying to figure out the movie's existential questions andlongtime HAL lovers who want to know everything about two guys and their grand movie mission. (Brian Truitt <i>USA Today</i>)<br /><br />"A HAL of a good story." (Sloane Crosley <i>Vanity Fair</i>)<br /><br />Despite the attention Benson lavishes on the humansKubrick and ClarkeHAL-9000 would have been proud of this smart, fluent, and meticulously researched account of the making of a sci-fi classic. (Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood)
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  #  2061: Odyssey Three
  
  
  # Arthur C. Clarke
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TO THE MEMORY OF JUDY-LYNN DEL REY, EDITOR EXTRAORDINARY, WHO BOUGHT THIS BOOK
  FOR ONE DOLLAR - BUT NEVER KNEW IF SHE GOT HER MONEY’S WORTH
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Author's Note
  
  
  
  
  
  Just as _2010: Odyssey Two_ was not a direct sequel to _2001: A Space Odyssey_
  , so this book is not a linear sequel to _2010_. They must all be considered
  as variations on the same theme, involving many of the same characters and
  situations, but not necessarily happening in the same universe.
  
  Developments since Stanley Kubrick suggested in 1964 (five years before men
  landed on the Moon!) that we should attempt ‘the proverbial good science-
  fiction movie’ make total consistency impossible, as the later stories
  incorporate discoveries and events that had not even taken place when the
  earlier books were written. _2010_ was made possible by the brilliantly
  successful 1979
  
  Voyager flybys of Jupiter, and I had not intended to return to that territory
  un