Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
If the book has to be read to understand the movie, then Lucas failed."

Oh. Just cause of that, you don't understand the movie?!? It's really hard to believe, especially from the one who tells he has understood 2001...
I'm sorry, but I think that plot is just a contextual detail...
If you WANT to know more about this detail, you can read a book about it. But if you DON'T WANT to know more about it, you just watch rest of the movie, it really don't disturb the comprehension of the film... and it's far less complicated than 2001!