The Making of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' Hardcover – September 23, 2015

I received my copy of Piers Bizony’s “The Making of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey’” earlier today, and frankly, I’m overwhelmed.This is a beautiful and evocative celebration of one of the seminal works of the twentieth century, and the most succinct evaluation I can give is that (happily) it is fully worthy of its subject.M/M (Paris) brilliantly presents material from a myriad original formats in a mosaic of easily accessible layouts. This isn’t a rote catalogue of static movie stills; the reader actively participates in exploring the material with pages unfolding as large as 18”x14” or more – sometimes one on each side.I was reminded of the impact the film had on me when I first saw it at the Seattle Cinerama, way back in 1968. This format allows material from a great variety of aspect ratios to be presented at maximum advantage.Mr. Bizony’s prose brings it all together in a wry narrative style that never feels like historical documentation; one of the best surprises for me was the vital and vibrant experience of the creative process at work. One feels as if you’re watching over the shoulders of giants as idea after idea is refined or rejected, and the eventual masterwork comes into being.As someone who has followed Kubrick’s work since that fateful day back in ’68, I’m a tough sell. Over the decades, I’ve tracked down every glimmer of info I could find, obsessively absorbing as much as I could about the genesis of “2001” in particular. I even flew to Frankfurt back in 2004 for the first public showing of material from Kubrick’s personal archives; I simply had to be there.So it was with genuine joy that I discovered that a great deal of this material – both the imagery, and Mr. Bizony’s narrative – was completely new to me. Trust me; this is no small accomplishment. My first scan of the book was cursory at best; it was a little like the frenzied tearing of ribbons and wrapping paper you might have experienced as a child on Christmas morning. I’m looking forward to my second, deeper pass.For those of you who think you’ve seen it all – again, trust me. You haven’t. This volume is a true banquet for Kubrick mavens, for cinephiles, for anyone who cherishes creativity and the arts. Mr. Bizony, his colleagues, and Taschen have delivered a masterwork of their own – and it’s a bargain. Treat yourself; it’s glorious.

Unlike other reviewers who take issue with the decisions made in editorial, I found that this book is a remarkable compendium on the making of a landmark film. This Taschen is worth purchasing and adding to a library. Having seen and reviewed the $1000+ version of this book, there are differences, but in text and substance both books are similar. It is a beautiful book. This book on 2001 succeeds despite the hide hurdles, high expectations, and criticism presented by other reviewers. In response to other reviewers, no I do not work for Taschen but I do own at least five shelves of their books. It is worth noting from a graphic design perspective that the book and it's original packaging was meant to emulate the "monolith" from the movie. Was that a good decision? From a collectible standpoint, perhaps, but from the standpoint of readability the compendium maybe just be a bit annoying. Regardless any serious filmmaker or film fan of 2001 will not want to pass up on this. I can see this version becoming extremely expensive in the future as some of Tachen's past editions now go for 6-10x their street price. I don't expect that this edition will stay in print for long.

Fantastic presentation of this ground breaking film. For the price (as of this typing is about $45 on Amazon while the regular retail is $80) you can't beat the amazing photo's and design of this book. Comes in an open ended slipcase with the book designed tall and black, like the Monolith, with circular embossed motif designs (very geometric and stylized) on the cover of the Monolith, a space-field, HAL and Bowman's eye. Paper quality and stitching/binding of the book is top notch. At about 563 pages it's heavy but not unmanageable.PRO's...- Overall fabulous behind the scenes look at a monumental film.- Book design and format.- Quality printing and binding.- Embossed motifs on cover.- All the concept art. FANTASTIC! We all know Douglas Trumball's contributions to this film but many unsung heros added their artistic talents: Roy Carnon, Harry Lange, Con Pederson, Richard McKenna, and many more. Roy Carnon's pastels are an absolute standout in this book. Great art throughout.- Schematics of the ships, sets, etc.- Incredible photographs of the actors, sets, scenes, etc.- Wonderful fold-outs. Many gatefold with more opening out larger for great panoramic shots.- Illustrations of alternate sets, scenes, various spacecraft a real treat. And yes, what possibly the 'aliens' could've looked like!- Interesting shots of the sets carpentry, engineering and mechanisms.- The price. For the lush amount of material even the original retail of $80 is well beyond reasonable.CON's...- Slipcase is nice to protect book but not of a heavy paper/cardboard. Careful when sliding book in and out.- There are 11 photo's which are double page spreads that have issues. Of the 11 spreads only 2 are bad. The other 9 can be forgiven. The 2 that are bad are pages 68/69 of actor William Sylvester's face. Color and tint on this photo is great but the layout has his face pinched at an awkward spot. Gives a handsome actor a deformed look. The second bad one is 496/497 of Bowman and Poole's profile/closeup of their lips that HAL lip reads in the movie. Their lips are falling into the gutter and can't be seen clearly which is the focus of this shot. EASILY the designers could've staggered the photo's flush right on the top and flush left for the bottom photo to clear the center gutter. Both photo's have enough black edges to clear the faces without looking crammed in. With that said the 9 others I mentioned that had benign issues could easily be remedied with staggering and cropping the photos. Not a big deal because you can see how well they designed the other pages and foldouts. Just strange those 2 bad ones got through.Now, with all that said of my CON's keep in mind, there are over 1000 photo's and illustrations. All great. Don't let just 2 bad crops sway you from picking this up.It's a tremendous work of art as a book documenting a tremendous film (which is a work of art itself).I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!Note: The original presentation of this book has four volumes contained in a metal slipcase which retailed from the same publisher for about $1200. You can find it online for about $1500. For a fan like me that missed out on that one this is the next best thing and for the fan who's budget conscious, you can't beat this price either. Go...RUN and pick this up. A MUST for 2001 and Kubrick fans alike.

Excellent time line of all Kubrick movies.

spettacolare!!!

Commandé pour offrir à Noël, ce très beau livre m'a donné entière satisfaction. Très bien emballé, il a reçu le soin nécessaire pour un cadeau de ce genre.

映画「2001年宇宙の旅」が永遠なら、本著もまた永遠です。これまで目にしたことのない写真やイラストはたいへん貴重だし、とりわけスターゲートのイメージ・イラストはクリエーターの創造性をとても強く感じました。ものづくりに携わる人、興味のある人には刺激あふれる内容だと思いました。

An outstanding book for any fan of the film with lots of background stories and photos from the sets. There are also concept drawings. The whole book is in the shape of a monolith with lots of fold out pages. While this gives the material a unique look and feel, in all practicality I find you must lay the book on table and work with it carefully in order to get through it.

Tolles, kompromissloses Monolithformat. Viele Bilder, einige auch herausklappbar. Das Format und die Bindung sorgen leider dafür, dass es unhandlich ist und Bildinhalte in der Mitte des Buches verschwinden.Der Einband ist schwarz mit eingeprägten Grafiken versehen. Allein dieses Grafiken sind schon sehr sehenswert (und bedürfen einer extra einseitigen Erklärung im Anhang des Buches).Ich nutze dieses Buch, um mich dem Film zu nähern und auch meine Recherchen zur Entstehungsgeschichte und den Wurzen vom Krieg-der Sterne zu erweiteren. Die Texte sind sehr detailreich, engagiert und umfangreich. Viele Erklärungen zur Tricktechnik des Films aber auch zur Geschichte samt verwirrendem Ende und den Motivationen von Kubrick werden geliefert. Ich bin von diesem Buch sehr begeistert und kann es jedem empfehlen, der sich mit diesem epochalen Kinomeisterwerk bis ins Detail auseinandersetzen möchte.Einzig der Umstand, dass die unfassbar teure Erstausgabe deutlich mehr Seiten aufweist, läßt in mir den Zweifel keimen, ob ich in dem hier vorliegenden Buch tatsächlich alle Informationen und Bilder vorfinde, die vergfügbar sind.