3001, The final odyssey (1997 - Ballantine Books), is the last book in the sequence 2001, 2010 and 2061, by Arthur C. Clarke. First of all, we need to talk about Arthur C. Clarke's strong scientific base. Clarke studied Physics and Mathematics at King's College London. And its main contribution to science was the concept of geostationary satellite as a future tool for use in telecommunications. That said, when reading 3001, you should understand that you are reading extrapolations with a strong scientific basis and not just creative delusions.
It is not easy to talk about this book without incurring spoilers, but we will try.
After 1000 years, Frank Poole, an astronaut, is found and resurrected. And it is from the perspective of Frank Poole that the story unfolds. At this time religion, or the concept of religion, is extinct. Human beings have already left Earth and are already terraforming other planets and moons. Moon, Mars, Europe, Ganymede, are some of the celestial cups which are already occupied by humans. All people are artificially bald (you'll have to read the book to find out why). There are ships as big as Goliath, whose function is to hunt ice comets and throw them at planets which will be terraformed in the future. Jupiter is no more. One of the monoliths, which are present in the other books, transforms the giant planet into a new sun. And guess the name of this new sun. Guess what? OK, I say, Lucifer! That is the name of the new sun. Right at the beginning of the book, Frank Poole, like the reader, is amazed at the idea that there are now two suns and that the name of this sun is Lucifer.
Well, the story of the book is Frank Poole's adaptation to this tremendously futuristic scenario created by Clarke. Throughout the book we are invited to reflect on various political and philosophical concepts of today, which are mentioned in the book as footnotes written in some forgotten book.
As it should be, the monoliths are the elements that make the story even more interesting. Especially the monolith that is in Europe (Jupiter's moon) and that has kilometer dimensions. In this last part of the sequence, we find that this monolith has somewhat bleak plans for all of humanity. And that Frank Poole has a key role in what will happen in the immediate future.
Like Asimov, Clarke's scientific extrapolations sound prophetic and, because of that, at the end of the book, we have the impression that we are reading not a piece of fiction, but what the future holds.
EN 
PT_BR 
