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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An ESSENTIAL addition to the library of any Kubrick fan., May 22, 2000
Stanley Kubrick, God rest his soul, is my favorite director, and "2001: A Space Odyssey" is my favorite film of all time. For many years the definitive tome about this movie was "The Making of Kubrick's 2001" by Jerome Agel, but that book, alas, has been LONG out of print. It's a real pity, too, since that humble paperback boasted an excellent 96-page photo insert! Get that book back in print! "2001: Filming the Future" is actually the very first item I ever purchased from Amazon, and it's a tribute to Amazon that I was able to get the book at all. I first learned about this book about 5 years ago from an ad in a science fiction anthology magazine, but I couldn't seem to find it in any bookstore. I tried special ordering it through my local WaldenBooks, yet every time I checked to see if my order was in (over many months), they told me it hadn't arrived. You can imagine my frustration. Well, about this time I began hearing more and more about an online bookseller called Amazon.com, and seeing how I had only recently begun exploring the World Wide Web, I decided to visit Amazon's website and see if they might have the book available. Much to my delight they DID, so I ordered it online with my credit card, and the book was in my hands in less than a week. Thanks, Amazon! Anyway, Piers Bizony's "2001: Filming the Future" is a handsome, lushly illustrated, large-format paperback book that belongs on the coffee table of any fan of Stanley Kubrick. There are all sorts of stills from the film and the sets, outtakes, rare production artwork, and plenty of details about how Kubrick went about making this groundbreaking movie as well as how it was received. The final chapter of this excellent book is a reflection on how things have changed since 1969, when "2001: A Space Odyssey" was released; it's a sobering, even depressing essay about how changing military, political, and cultural priorities crippled our sense of wonder about space exploration. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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