Kubrick's 2001

Leonard F. Wheat was an economist with the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce before retiring in 1997. He is the author or (in one case) co-author of four previous books, including one philosophical study and three economic studies. He is also author of two book-length government studies and several journal articles and is an associate editor of the Journal of Regional Science.

...his conclusions...ought to be pondered by everyone with a serious interest in the film...Indeed, part of the fun of reading his book is deciding whether, detail by detail, one agrees or disagrees with Wheat's specific reading...Wheat's readings of the Nietzschean allegory are perhaps even more compelling...a valuable contribution to our understanding of the best science fiction film ever.

• Part 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Where the Answers LieChapter 3 Allegory and Kubrick's Allegorical SymbolsChapter 4 A Preview of Coming AttractionsPart 5 The Surface StoryChapter 6 The Basic NarrativeChapter 7 Fuzzy Areas of the NarrativePart 8 The Odysseus AllegoryChapter 9 Dave Bowman's NameChapter 10 The African MonolithChapter 11 The Judgment of ParisChapter 12 Heywood R. Floyd's NameChapter 13 Heywood Floyd as ParisChapter 14 Heywood Floyd as MenelausChapter 15 The Trojan Horse and the Fall of TroyChapter 16 The City of Ismarus and Lotus LandChapter 17 The Cyclops MonsterChapter 18 The Laestrygonian Rock AttackChapter 19 The SirensChapter 20 The Surf, Charybdis, and ScyllaChapter 21 Hyperion and ZeusChapter 22 Seven Years with CalypsoChapter 23 Phaeacian HospitalityChapter 24 Pallas AtheneChapter 25 Penelope, Her Suitors, and the Great BowChapter 26 Slaying the SuitorsChapter 27 Reunion with PenelopePart 28 The Man-Machine Symbiosis AllegoryChapter 29 Overview of the AllegoryChapter 30 The Dawn of ManChapter 31 The Evolution of Humanoid MachinesChapter 32 Hal-Discovery as a Genuine HumanoidChapter 33 The Death of Homo MachinusChapter 34 The Evolution of Homo FuturusChapter 35 What About Freud and Jung?Part 36 The Zarathustra Allegory: Background and CastChapter 37 Nietzsche's Characters and ThemesChapter 38 Interpretive ProgressChapter 39 The Monolith's as Human AttributesChapter 40 Frank Poole as the Rope DancerChapter 41 Heywood Floyd as the Young ZarathustraChapter 42 Dave Bowman as the Older Zarathustra and OvermanChapter 43 Hal-Discovery as GodPart 44 The Zarathustra Allegory: The ActionChapter 45 The Death of GodChapter 46 The Immediate AftermathChapter 47 Man into OvermanChapter 48 Eternal RecurrenceChapter 49 Appendix A: Fallacies in Zarathustra's Eternal Recurrence ArgumentChapter 50 Appendix B: List of the Zarathustra's Allegory's 160 SymbolsPart 51 EvaluationChapter 52 2001's Critical Stature in the Absence of AllegoryChapter 53 The Quality of the Allegory and SymbolismChapter 54 One Man's Opinion