2061: Odyssey Three

Arthur C. Clarke’s 2061: Odyssey Three returns to the universe of the Space Odyssey series, more than half a century after the events of 2001. Humanity has spread throughout the Solar System, and the once-impossible journeys between planets have become part of a new, uneasy normality. Yet the mysteries surrounding the monoliths remain, and the transformation of Jupiter has created a new world whose existence challenges everything humanity thought it understood about the Solar System.
When the famous explorer Heywood Floyd becomes involved in a mission to Europa, an unexpected chain of events brings him back into contact with mysteries that began with the Discovery mission. A rescue operation soon develops into something much larger, drawing together questions of exploration, politics, scientific curiosity, and the continuing influence of an intelligence far beyond human comprehension.
Unlike the darker tension of 2001 or the technological and political focus of 2010, 2061 has a more adventurous and occasionally playful character. Clarke imagines a future in which humanity has become more technologically capable without becoming any less curious about the unknown. Beneath its planetary journeys and spectacular discoveries, the novel continues Clarke’s larger meditation on evolution: what happens when a species capable of reaching the stars encounters evidence that its own development may be only one small part of a much older cosmic story?