The Making of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey Hardcover – Illustrated, November 18, 2020

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.

Purchased this after “The Shinning” Taschen version was available for pre-order. Loaded with tons of material from the making of the movie - models, artwork, behind the scenes, concept art. If you’re a fan of movie making, movie model shop work, or the movie itself get this book.The issue with the binding take up space with some of the photos seems to have been resolved. Almost all pages seem to lie fairly flat.The length of the spine does make for interesting reading while in bed, tho. It’s literally two books stacked on each other.

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.

I cannot add to what prior reviewers have posted. This is an exceptional treasure for fans of 2001. Taschen produced a luxurious limited edition four-volume set which sold out, but they followed up that release with this one volume celebration of the movie. Someone on Ebay is asking $499 for THIS version, perhaps hoping people will be confused and believe they are ordering the numbered, limited edition signed by Christiane Kubrick.The real reason I'm writing this review now is that this book is still in print and retains for $70, though you can probably get very fine copies for $50. You don't need to pay the ridiculous prices some people are asking, because there is nothing "rare" about this book, and it is not out of print.Just sayin'.