I finally tracked down Clarke’s 3001: The Final Odyssey — my goodness, a rather hard volume to find, in my locale.  At least, not used.  Of course, 2001, 2010, and 2061 are readily available, cheap and used.  But 3001 for some reason, is a challenge.  I slunk into Borders this afternoon, and bought it brand spanking new.  Jeez.

  In any case, to fill the gap between the end of 2061 and 3001, I first traveled through Delaney’s Babel-17, published in 1966 (Nebula winner), a novel which is not at the top of the list of Delaney books for me, but was interesting none-the less.  The plot centers around, among other things, the concept that language — its form, its way of categorizing and ranking, its tendency to hide concepts for which is hasn’t created words — controls the way we perceive the world and our own potential.  Also features a female main character, rare for that era.

  Having finished that one, and not having found 3001 yet, I revisited another old favorite, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.  What a wonderful book.  published in 1932, and though dated here and there technologically, the book’s themes are absolutely on track for our era, and presumably eras to come.  Highly recommended, for all the usual reasons.

Aaahhh… and now for the final (authors always get themselves in trouble titling things “final”) episode in the story of How the Aliens Manipulated Us and It All Turned Out for Our Own Good.   Not to disrespect the series, but it is a very hopeful view of humanity, despite the many crises which pepper its pages.