Nobody I talk to seems to understand this book, so here it is in a few sentences: Man has evolved with a little nudge from aliens. A buried monolith on the moon is excavated and transmits a signal toward Saturn (Jupiter in the film). A mission is dispatched aboard the space ship "Discovery" with most of the crew in hibernation chambers. Dave Bowman and Frank Poole are the only two active crew members aboard, and they haven't been informed of the true nature of Discovery's Mission. HAL, the onboard computer who is capable of running al aspects of ship operations is also aware of the true nature of their mission, but has been programmed (against his original programming) no to disclose this information. This conflict essentially drives HAL crazy and he begins making mistakes. Frank and Dave become alarmed and plan on shutting him down, but HAL, deciding that none of the crew are really essential, opts for self preservation and begins methodically dispatching the crew. Dave Bowman survives to shut down HAL, then encounters the aliens who led them to this point. Dave Bowman is "hyper evolved" into a new, hybrid being whose purpose he has yet to discover.