It's Origin and Purpose Remain a Mystery

After finishing up 2001: A Space Odyssey, I started in on "The Ultimate Log of the Ultimate Trip", Arthur C. Clarke's The Lost Worlds of 2001. Part narrative of his experiences in writing the book and working on the movie, part discarded drafts, storylines and blind alleys, it also contains the short story that was the origin of the book and movie, The Sentinel (and as such, this book also counts as one contribution towards the 2006 Short Story Project!).

It was interesting to see some of the items that had been discarded in the evolution of the story. For the most part, I think the choices made were correct. For example, I think it was better to leave the aliens who visited the Earth and who made contact with Dave Bowman at the end of the book (and movie) offstage (as it were). Some of the story ideas that Clarke presented in this book, while interesting, were not as thought-provoking as what was ultimately depicted.