"A daring romp through the solar system and a worthy successor to 2001. "; *Carl SaganNine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U. S. -Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft; *to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong. and what became of Commander Dave Bowman. Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter. Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave Bowman; *the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith; *streaks toward Earth on a vital mission of its own. "Clarke deftly blends discovery, philosophy, and a newly acquired sense of play. "; *Time"2010 is easily Clarkes' best book in over a decade. "; *The San Diego Tribune.