阿瑟·克拉克，英国国籍，现当代最出色的科普、科幻双栖作家，与阿西莫夫、海因莱因并称“二十世纪三大最伟大科幻小说家”。 克拉克的作品具有极强的预见性，联合国、NASA和互联网都从他的书中受益。他是撰文提出通信卫星概念并证实其技术可行性的第一人，被誉为“世界通信卫星之父”。 克拉克的代表作品有《童年的终结》、《城市与星》、“拉玛系列”、“奥德赛系列”等。这些作品被译成多种文字，畅销不衰。

"A daring romp through the solar system and a worthy successor to 2001." *Carl Sagan Nine 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