Author Michael Benson saw 2001: a Space Odyssey, in its initial 1968 Cinemascope release, at around the same age I did, age 7. Viewers who saw the film at this age seem to have a special affinity for and wonderment of it. Youngsters, I believe, didn't approach the film with the same set of expectations older people did, expectations of plot logicity, character development, a requisite love interest subplot, etc. Instead, the young could concentrate on and most acutely appreciate what was on the screen: a mostly non-verbal, poetic and visionary presentation of philosophical ideas unprecedented in not only the genre of science fiction but in the entire history of cinema.
There have been many (and many good) books written on the amazing four years plus production of the film, but for an overview both insightful and intimate, Benson's book can't be beat. With access to archives and new and unpublished interviews with the creative staff, Benson unearths and reveals a deluge of details, anecdotes and background context which doesn't fail to fascinate from the first page to the last. You'll discover many entertaining stories about the production director Stanley Kubrick himself didn't and couldn't have known about. You'll also be amazed in new ways about the monumental scope of the project and the difficulties it overcame to reach its fruition.
