Remembering those who could see the future

Now for something completely different.

I don’t know about you, but I grew up on the big three — Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke.

I devoured Robert A. Heinlein from “Rocket Ship Galileo” through “Stranger in a Strange Land” and beyond. I perused Isaac Asimov from this robot books throughout the “Foundation” trilogy and beyond. I read Arthur C. Clarke’s books about entering the space age and, of course, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

All of them anticipated events and technology decades before they became reality. Prophets are only truly appreciated in hindsight.

The other day I picked up  Clarke’s “3001: The Final Odyssey,” which had inexplicably been gathering dust on a shelf. “2001,” the book and the movie, took off in 1968 with the assist of Stanley Kubrik, while the millennium-later sequel splashed down in 1997.

It might be helpful to rewatch the movie or scan a synopsis of the book before tackling “3001.”

Without giving away too much of the plot, suffice it to say three of the characters from “2001” put in an “appearance.” But the ending is one that I doubt many truly appreciated back in 1997, but actual events have made it startlingly plausible — the ancient in modern form, a Trojan Horse.

After putting the book down, I headed to the book store and grabbed Clarke’s “Childhood’s End” from 1953. Back to the future. See you there.