I personally enjoyed reading 3001 and that braincap idea was wanting me there-But I couldn’t really understand the ending.
What did you think of the book (and could you explain the ending)
I liked it. 'Course, I never read the others. But still, I liked the conclusions he made on where technology and the way we live would take to world.
ALso, I read it about three years ago, so I don’t recall all the details.
Ya know, I remember really enjoying it when I read it 5 years ago (the summer it came out, IIRC) but for the life of me I can’t remember how it ended.
Jeez, only 37 and I’m already forgetting things! Oh, well - guess I get to enjoy it all over again when I re-read it!..Now, what what was the name of the book again? And where the hell are my pants!
I think it just made me feel better that ol’ A.C. thought we’d still be around in a thousad years. Hope he’s right.
Only 37 and forgetting things? I’m 20, and I can’t remember who I just talked to on the phone five minutes ago! I suppose it could be college…
Yeah Capt., I’m in the same boat with ya. I read 3001 several years ago, I remember enjoying it, but that’s about it. Loved it though, cause I remember getting on a sci-fi kick after that novel. Read the Foundation series by Asimov. Oh-yeah, I can’t remember those either… 
Ohhh…I give up trying to be slick…
The bizzare thing here is that although I’ve read the book within the last three years, I can barely remember a single detail about it…yet I remember being very disappointed in it.
I can remember the great huge building things connecting to the outer space ring or some sort. I was skeptical.
I can remember the woman being so grossed out that the guy was circumsized that she walked out on him just as they were about to have sex. I was extremely skeptical.
I also think I remember how most people now looked like the Polynesians because all the different ethnicities had been mixed around. I was only mildly skeptical.
I read 2001 (the one where they go to Saturn not Jupiter), I read 2010 and 2061 was it? Those all had some feel of epicness. And the original was just incredible as he described the ape-things learning. I remember thinking “Wow, how cool!” But 3001 felt mundane, poorly thought out. In a way it was like those old futuristic movies of the 40s and 50s, too grounded in its own time.
Warning: this post contains spoilers.
Yeah, I read it when it came out.
While it’s not a bad book (I’ve read far worse, and I bet I’m not the Lone Ranger when I say that), it’s not up to the standard of the earlier books in the series. It reads to me as though Arthur was bored one morning and wrote it while he was also composing his shopping list. You know - “I can still squeeze another story out of this one. Maybe something about computer viruses. Hm, we’re out of TP, better put that on the list. Portable computers you can wear on your head, that’d make most people bald, oh yeah, shampoo, mustn’t forget the shampoo.”
Not atrocious, but not Arthur’s best form either.
I thought it was pretty crummy. The fact that the ending involved the same questionable computer stratagem employed in the movie “Independence Day” didn’t help. But even looking beyond the ending, there was a well-who-gives-a-damn tiredness to the whole thing.
Biggest letdown of my sci-fi novel reading history. Read it, just 'cause you have to, only to complete the series though. Nice start, rough middle, stupid and hugely, hugely unsatisfying ending.
And all the vitriol (spelling??) over something I have not even read in 3 or 4 years. Arthur, what were you doing, loved the rest. Final Odyssey, I say NO, and again NO!
Ah well, one ropey book from a genius of the genre, could be worse.
Merrin