National Geographic, Volume 199, No. 1, 2001

Ira Block (Cover photograph), Cary Wolinsky, David Washington DC: The National Geographic Society, 2001. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. [38], 126, [12] pages. Illustrations (color). This issue's cover story is devoted to space. The opening article is entitled Beyond Gravity and is by Sir Arthur Clarke. This issue keys off of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the cover has the tag line "2001 The Body in Space Surviving the Odyssey". Additional articles are on Surviving in Space, the Great Barrier Reef, Mummer Parade, Ancient Ashkelon, Japan's Imperial Palace, and Quartzite. The cover shows NASA's H-1 prototype spacesuit which promised enhanced flexibility on future missions. Brown paper mailer present. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke CBE FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the most influential films of all time. Clarke was a science writer, an avid popularizer of space travel and a futurist of a distinguished ability. He wrote over a dozen books and many essays. In 1961, he received the Kalinga Prize, a UNESCO award for popularizing science. Clarke's science and science fiction writings earned him the moniker "Prophet of the Space Age". His science fiction writings in particular earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, which along with a large readership made him one of the towering figures of the genre. For many years Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.

Clarke was a lifelong proponent of space travel. In 1934, while still a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, he proposed a satellite communication system using geostationary orbits. He was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1946–1947 and again in 1951–1953. Clarke augmented his popularity in the 1980s, as the host of television shows such as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" and other short stories by Clarke. A novelization of the film released after the film's premiere was in part written concurrently with the screenplay. The film, which follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer HAL after the discovery of a featureless alien monolith affecting human evolution, deals with themes of existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

The film is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. Sound and dialogue are used sparingly and often in place of traditional cinematic and narrative techniques.

The film garnered a cult following and became the second highest-grossing film of 1968 in North America after Funny Girl. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and Kubrick won for his direction of the visual effects. 2001: A Space Odyssey is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Space Exploration, NASA, Spacesuit, Arthur C. Clarke, Survival, Astronaut, Great Barrier Reef, Mummers Parade, Ashkelon, Imperial Palace, Quartzsite

[Book #79979]

Price: $50.00

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