When was 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke published?
The novel was first published in June 1968 by New American Library in hardback format, followed shortly by a paperback edition from Signet Books in July of the same year.
The novel was first published in June 1968 by New American Library in hardback format, followed shortly by a paperback edition from Signet Books in July of the same year.
Arthur C. Clarke began writing 2001: A Space Odyssey in the late 1960s working alongside Stanley Kubrick on a film project that would eventually become one of cinema's most famous works. Before this collaboration, Clarke had written several short stories that formed the foundation for the larger narrative including The Sentinel entered into a BBC competition in 1948 and Encounter in the Dawn from 1953.
The destination planet changed from Saturn in the book to Jupiter in the movie because Kubrick could not create convincing visual models of Saturn's rings at the time. In the novel the first monolith appears as a transparent crystal whereas the film depicts it as solid black and HAL's death scene varies significantly between the two versions.
Moon-Watcher an Australopithecus africanus man-ape living around 3,000,000 BC leads his tribe through extinction-level threats before encountering the monolith that grants him and others the spark of higher thought. Dr. Heywood Floyd serves as both astronomer and chairman of the National Council of Astronautics while David Bowman evolves throughout the story transforming from a cautious astronaut into the immortal Star-Child after entering the second monolith near Iapetus.
By 1992 the book had sold three million copies worldwide establishing its place as a landmark work in science fiction literature. By 1983 Signet reported that over 2.8 million copies of the original novel were in print while its sequel 2010: Odyssey Two sold 1.75 million paperbacks in its first printing alone.