Book Description

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease?

What's coming Next? Get a hint of what Michael Crichton sees on the horizon in this short video clip: high bandwidth or low bandwidth

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.

We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes...

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.

Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think.

Book Description

Welcome to our genetic world.

Fast, furious, and out of control.

This is not the world of the future--it's the world right now.

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime.

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions, and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.

Customer Reviews:

One of Crichton's best.......2007-09-26

I'd rate this book just below "Jurassic Park" and "State of Fear" but above Prey. Crichton always seems to create a exciting story around a current event. This is no exception, the current event being genetic engineering and where it could take us. (Note: there were many characters, and I ended up writing them down to keep track of them. After all, what good is a thriller without trying to figure it all out before the book gives the answer.)

You need a good memory.......2007-09-21

There are so many characters and changes in plot or focus between the very short chapters that I frequently forget who or what I was reading about. The prologue starts with the furtive sale of transgenic embryos by a labrotory researcher being tracked by a private investigator, then starts with a court case where the Univ. of CA. is being sued by a man for harvesting his special genes over an extended period of time without his consent. From there it jumps to a "talking ape in Sumatra", then to a biogen research firm conducting tests on animals. All of this in the first 60 pages.
The reader is introduced to the character's family members, almost all who have special problems and situations hardly related to the main story, whatever that is. Many of the character's descriptions are intresting, but I don't remember reading a more discursive novel.
Three stars is stretching it.
Jack Bryan

Next by Michael Crichton.......2007-09-19

I'm still trying to figure out how this manuscript landed in the hands of an editor and actually got the go ahead to be published in time for Christmas. I can't help but think about all those dads that are going to be so disappointed on December 26th when they crack open the book and find a collection of plot lines with confusing characters and stories that seem to go nowhere.

In Prey and State of Fear, Crichton did what he does best in providing a well researched book with a riveting and thrilling plot, thought I felt the latter a little heavy handed with a viewpoint I didn't necessarily agree with. Compared with Next, I seriously wonder what happened? The book seems barely half finished, even though if runs on for four hundred pages. There are around five to seven plot lines each with their own vague characters that the reader has to struggle to keep straight going on in their own seemingly inane direction. Near the end of the book a few of these plot lines cross over forcefully at the author's hand, and then the book ends and the reader is left wondering where the rest of the book is. What happened to the basic rule of a story? Instead of a beginning, middle and an end, the reader gets a weak infrastructure of a beginning, with part of a middle which suddenly ends!

Combined with this is the overarching philosophy of this novel (which I hope Crichton doesn't subscribe to himself) where every person is one who sees life only for personal gain, to be rich, and feel constant pleasure. The women are always bombshells to be used and discarded, while the characters in general will stop at nothing to satisfy their pathetic personal whims.

As for the learning portion of the novel - with Prey it was the risk of nanotechnology, with State of Fear global warming - Crichton is very heavy handed in the risks of gene therapy and engineering, running the gamut from talking (and by this I mean with extensive vocabularies) parrots and orangutans, to the risks of human cloning, to bounty hunters trying to kidnap and steal tissues from innocent people who simply happen to possess the same DNA as a family member who had his cells declared property of UCLA in a court of law. While Crichton is trying to make the blatant point of "Watch out, this is what can happen," it comes off as over-the-top farce and tomfoolery. And if it wasn't made clear for you, he ends the novel with his note about how patenting genes is bad, as well as a list of other matters involving gene therapy, followed by a bibliography, just to show he did the work, supposedly

It is sad really, for I'd hoped Next would be the return to the great author who gave us truly brilliant novels like Jurassic Park, Sphere, and The Andromeda Strain, but Next can't really be considered an actual book now, because of its failure in the rules of a novel on so many levels.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

His WORST work ever!.......2007-09-13

25 characters introduced in the first 75 pages, 12+ stories flying around to confuse the reader. I'm embarrassed for the author that he's taking people's money for this. I've read all his work and this is below the bottom of his list. He inserts silly "articles" throughout to give snapshots of others' perspectives on gene exploration. There are enough characters and sub-plots here to fill a trilogy, which might have been a better idea to pull off this book.

My recommendation? Go to libraries and bookstores and push this book behind everything on the shelves.

Not the Admirable Crichton .......2007-09-09

Let me first say that the ideas in this book, as they were in State of Fear are intriguing. How is it possible that someone can patent a piece of your body? Further, the nexus of universities and private industry is troubling. We mostly hear of colleges in terms of their left-wing anticapitalism, now we learn that they are the new capitalists.

I thought the climax of this story AS A STORY was so unrealistic and contrived that I wonder if he has an editor. SPOILER ALERT. A bio-tech CEO and his insufferable lawyer file suit against a mother and her 8 year old son, that, if they win, will mean that the mother or son will have to give up tissue from several organs. Meanwhile, they fake her signature on a notice of service of the suit and send a bounty hunter after her to forcibly collect the samples, before the court rules. Naturally, when she learns of the suit (by accident) she flees, hotly pursued by the bounty hunter. Meanwhile, the judge, who appears to be clueless of the actual events -- remember we have an 8-year old in serious, obvious jeopardy -- postpones his ruling for a day, giving the chase scene time to unfold (the boy is ultimately kidnapped). Then, he gives the driest possible ruling (obviously reflecting Crichton's views, and incidentally, my own) which completely ignores the fact that the plaintiffs have engaged in unethical, immoral, and highly illegal conduct while he was writing his opinion. This occurs in Southern California, which is, apparently, devoid of any kind of media. In real life, of course, the kidnapping (and, to a lesser degree, the lawsuit itself -- where is Court TV?)would be the top story of the day, with Amber Alerts, helicopters, wall-to-wall coverage and a gazillion cops desparately trying to find this 8-year old kid (and rightly so). Finally, at a minimum, the plaintiff, his lawyer and the bounty hunter would be charged with kidnapping, child endangerment, forgery, and probably mopery or something. In the book what happens? Nada, zilch, nichts. Just this high-falutin' opinion and from a county judge, no less, not the Supreme Court. Wouldn't happen. I just groaned at this and wanted to toss the book across the room.

Further, I fear that Crichton has gone all 19th Century on us in terms of plotting. Coincidences, after all, were the main methods of plot development for Dickens and Victor Hugo. As jingoistic as Tom Clancy is, at least his story threads logically come together. MC's do not.

Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty

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Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty
Aihwa Ong
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822337487

Book Description

Neoliberalism is commonly viewed as an economic doctrine that seeks to limit the scope of government. Some consider it a form of predatory capitalism with adverse effects on the Global South. In this groundbreaking work, Aihwa Ong offers an alternative view of neoliberalism as an extraordinarily malleable technology of governing that is taken up in different ways by different regimes, be they authoritarian, democratic, or communist. Ong shows how East and Southeast Asian states are making exceptions to their usual practices of governing in order to position themselves to compete in the global economy. As she demonstrates, a variety of neoliberal strategies of governing are re-engineering political spaces and populations. Ong’s ethnographic case studies illuminate experiments and developments such as China’s creation of special market zones within its socialist economy; pro-capitalist Islam and women’s rights in Malaysia; Singapore’s repositioning as a hub of scientific expertise; and flexible labor and knowledge regimes that span the Pacific.

Ong traces how these and other neoliberal exceptions to business as usual are reconfiguring relationships between governing and the governed, power and knowledge, and sovereignty and territoriality. She argues that an interactive mode of citizenship is emerging, one that organizes peopleâand distributes rights and benefits to themâaccording to their marketable skills rather than according to their membership within nation-states. Those whose knowledge and skills are not assigned significant market valueâsuch as migrant women working as domestic maids in many Asian citiesâare denied citizenship. Nevertheless, Ong suggests that as the seam between sovereignty and citizenship is pried apart, a new space is emerging for NGOs to advocate for the human rights of those excluded by neoliberal measures of human worthiness.

Handbook of Mouse Mutations with Skin and Hair Abnormalities: Animal Models and Biomedical Tools

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Handbook of Mouse Mutations with Skin and Hair Abnormalities: Animal Models and Biomedical Tools

Manufacturer: CRC Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849383722

Book Description

Handbook of Mouse Mutations with Skin and Hair Abnormalities presents 48 mouse mutations that are all available to the biomedical community. Many of the mouse mutations with dermatological diseases are reviewed and illustrated in detail. This popular reference book gives you a single source to use when determining which mouse mutation will best serve your needs as a biomedical tool for sophisticated research projects. The book also includes an overview of domestic animal genodermatoses to provide alternatives to mouse models that do not exist or to complement those that do. A detailed section written by renowned experts compares the biology of human and mouse skin and skin diseases in the areas of development and the use of animal models, mammalian genetics, keratin biochemistry, epidermal and hair follicle cycles and kinetics, cytokines and growth factors, keratinocyte culture systems, cutaneous carcinogenesis, cutaneous immune system, and skin changes associated with mutations of the endocrine system.

Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems: (Princeton Studies in Complexity)

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Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems: (Princeton Studies in Complexity)
Andreas Wagner
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0691122407

Book Description

All living things are remarkably complex, yet their DNA is unstable, undergoing countless random mutations over generations. Despite this instability, most animals do not grow two heads or die, plants continue to thrive, and bacteria continue to divide. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems tackles this perplexing paradox. The book explores why genetic changes do not cause organisms to fail catastrophically and how evolution shapes organisms' robustness. Andreas Wagner looks at this problem from the ground up, starting with the alphabet of DNA, the genetic code, RNA, and protein molecules, moving on to genetic networks and embryonic development, and working his way up to whole organisms. He then develops an evolutionary explanation for robustness.

Wagner shows how evolution by natural selection preferentially finds and favors robust solutions to the problems organisms face in surviving and reproducing. Such robustness, he argues, also enhances the potential for future evolutionary innovation. Wagner also argues that robustness has less to do with organisms having plenty of spare parts (the redundancy theory that has been popular) and more to do with the reality that mutations can change organisms in ways that do not substantively affect their fitness.

Unparalleled in its field, this book offers the most detailed analysis available of all facets of robustness within organisms. It will appeal not only to biologists but also to engineers interested in the design of robust systems and to social scientists concerned with robustness in human communities and populations.

The Complete Ball Python: A Comprehensive Guide to Care, Breeding and Genetic Mutations

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Best Ball Python book available
The Best of the Best-truly comprehensive

The Complete Ball Python: A Comprehensive Guide to Care, Breeding and Genetic Mutations

Manufacturer: ECO & Serpent's Tale Nat Hist Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9780971319

Product Description

Amateur hobbyist or professional breeder, this is a must have book. A comprehensive guide with chapters discussing the ball python in nature, captivity, diet, selection, understanding the ball python, health concerns, breeding and egg incubation, baby snake care, color morphs, and more. Over 100 different genetic morphs are illustrated and discussed. Over 300 full-color photographs. Hardcover w/ Dj. ISBN 9780971319704

Customer Reviews:

Best Ball Python book available.......2007-09-06

Considering a ball python? Already have one? Don't waste your time buying all those other 40 page throw away books, you can get all the info from those books straight off the web. This book is a text book. It's huge, it's got tons of pics, and it is well worth every cent. Everything you need to know is here. Buy it now. Do a little hunting around and you can also get an autographed version.

The Best of the Best-truly comprehensive.......2006-01-01

This is hands down the best guide on ball pythons in existence. I have recently built up a small crew of soon to be breeders (hets for piebald, hets for albino and a lemon pastel plus some normal females) and find the most essential aspect of husbandry is to be an informed "parent". I have purchased several books and this book is by far the most well rounded. The pictures are amazing, the text is straightforward, and the topics are diverse. The author includes a wonderful section on different morphs as well as pictures to match. This is essential for any keeper of ball pythons whether you have only 1 or 1000 snakes its definitely a must have!! You will need few books in addition to this one if you are a ball python breeder. Thankyou Kevin for writing such a fantastic book-well worth the money!!!

Average customer rating:

Just horrible
Some strong points, but quite a superficial novel overall
VERY NICE CHANGE FROM THE ORDINARY
living in a zombie wasteland
Post Apocalyptic Zombies

Deadlands
Scott A. Johnson
Manufacturer: Harbor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 1891799304
Release Date: 2005-09-30

Product Description

The planet formerly known as Earth lies scorched and barren. Survivors live underground, ever on the defensive against rotters -- mindless corpses that troll the sweltering surface. A new menace has evolved, set on human annihilation.

Customer Reviews:

Just horrible.......2007-08-18

I had to force myself to finish it. For once, I was glad a book was short. I want those hours of my life back.

The story was OK, the writing never really moved the story along. I never cared about the characters.

World War Z and Dying to Live were great examples of zombie horror. This back does not pass muster at all.

Some strong points, but quite a superficial novel overall.......2007-08-07

In a bare, tough, life-deprived, post-apocalyptic world, small numbers of human beings try to sustain their miserable lives hidden underground. The enemy is everywhere: the weather, the temperature, the day and night cycles, the wandering "rotters". As the result of a succession of events, a small group of guardsmen find themselves cut away from their main base, in pursuit of a new haven. There, they will be facing numerous enemies, including a vicious new breed of zombies.

What I have liked-
* the idea of a super-zombie, the Necrosapien. This is a nice change from the usual dumb-minded, slow-moving living corpses. I don't think the author went far enough in developing the full potential of this dreadful enemy...
* the section describing Christian's turning out into a zombie. Although too short, the idea is good and hasn't, to my knowledge, been previously addressed. That was somewhat moving.
* the concept of the "interspecies mating". Terrifying, disgusting, but interesting, although not explored to its full potential.
* the world/environment of the story. A desolate, post-war world in which hope is like grass or life: much desired.

What I have not liked-
* Cain's death. Way too abrupt. Given the viciousness of the character, the reader would have expected a more gruesome "death".
* the total absence of any rational explanation for the war, the spread of the "disease", the glass lake, the human capability to have retained the technical and scientific knowledge of making the foil suits etc, etc.
* the lack of development in the things I have listed as good points above. Just to expand on one point: why would someone prepare at the same time the advent of zombies, including the Necrosapiens, and store so many means of getting read of them and restarting life all over again? Wasn't the initial war supposed to be total? How could the finders of the zombie apocalypse have predicted which environment the world would end up turning into? Lots of weaknesses in the rationale...

VERY NICE CHANGE FROM THE ORDINARY.......2007-07-18

I am a lover of zombie novels and this one did not disappoint me at all. From the first page to the last I was drawn into it and the book held me on edge all of the way through. Scott Johnson did an excellent job with his characters and I am anxious to read more from him.

living in a zombie wasteland.......2007-05-10

A zombie book that provides an excellent decription of what a scorched earth would be like after decades of battling with zombies. The author provides vivid details of how depressing earth would be along with its sad surviving population. I thought it put a new spin on the zombie genre to some degree. I also appreciated the brother and sister relationship which was one of the most endearing qualities about the book, since family (brother & sister, parent to child) relationship played a role in the plot development. Since earth is a wasteland all you have is the memories of your past family members and the few that are still living.

I was somewhat surprised by the ending since it left on an upbeat note. Though it made me smile to end so optimistcally. I am not sure all horror fans would appreciate the "happy ending." I believe if you like zombie books this is another good one.

Post Apocalyptic Zombies.......2007-05-05

Scott A Johnson's DEADLANDS is the kind of book that just plain demands to be made into a film. It rips along at a fast pace, offers up plenty of chills, and demonstrates at every turn that Johnson understand what 'action' really means. A fun and exciting book!

The Day of the Triffids (20th Century Rediscoveries)

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A classic piece of work!,
Not Free SF Reader
What if ..
superb study of the human condition, apocalyptic variety
A classic disaster novel - hardly dated after 50 years!

The Day of the Triffids (20th Century Rediscoveries)
John Wyndham
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812967127
Release Date: 2003-07-01

Book Description

In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having “all the reality of a vividly realized nightmare.”

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever.

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, fifty years before their realization, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

Download Description

Science fiction classic about dangerous plants who take over the world

Customer Reviews:

A classic piece of work!, .......2007-09-14

Not much I can add that others haven't.
This is an excellent book, which, because it deals with human nature, surely has to remain timeless.
In the aftermath of the comets, the loneliness of people who are literally left in the dark is tangible and help to make this novel remain in your mind long after you've finished reading it.

The part the triffids play in this chaos is remarkably easy to imagine, especially knowing the scientific research that is carried out now into genetic engineering. The triffids, although dangerous, are tolerated and managed because of their useful oil. If some degenerative diseases could be eradicated by cultivating a deadly plant...would we?

I really enjoyed the way Wyndham makes us think about human behaviour and how hard it is to unlearn. The ideas on what to tell future generations and the references to disasters in the ancient world I found really thought provoking.

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Somehow, an astronomical event has caused the overwhelming majority of the population to become blind.

If that wasn't bad enough, mobile, dangerous plans called Triffids
are able to take advantage of the disdavantage. Without sight humans
are extremely vulnerable to these predators.

The narrator avoided blindness, by being in a hospital with bandaged eyes.

From there, we have an examination of this disaster scenario, and what would happen.

What if .........2007-08-20

I have read this book a number of times in the past 40 years. I've seen movies, and listened to the audiobook. This is one of the post-apocalyptic stories that has had the most impact on me.

It isn't so much the plausibility of mobile killer plants: it is the impact on 'civilised' society when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary. This novel can be read as social commentary or as science fiction. It doesn't rely on science or on technology for its impact. It relies on the reader's capacity to imagine a world where sightedness is rare and where danger is in the seemingly mundane.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

superb study of the human condition, apocalyptic variety.......2007-05-31

After having recently reviewed the film of 1961, I pulled this off the shelf and was utterly enthralled by the story and consistent mood. In contrast to the film, this is first-rate scifi, one in the genre where most of humanity is wiped out and a few individuals are left to deal with the aftermath.

Interestingly, the triffids are not alien, though their origin is mysterious, and rather than some monstrous transformation they move to fill an ecological niche that opens before them with the disaster that blinds most of humanity. However, they are just the backdrop to a wonderful exploration of human possibility and its limits, in the bizarre circumstnace that scifi allows. Indeed, there are entire chapters where they are barely mentioned. This is what the best scifi does, convincingly explores a path that is believable and leads to reflection on one's own circumstances.

You get few heroics and lots of struggle by normal people trying to survive, as they organize themselves into new groupings and institutions. Thus, the characters are extremely strong and well drawn, good enough for a realist novel. THen, there is the mystery of what happened: this is only speculated about with tantailising hints, and never definitively explained, which only strengthens the basic themes. Every detail adds to the story.

Warmly recommended.

A classic disaster novel - hardly dated after 50 years!.......2007-05-17

I first encountered "the Day of the Triffids" when I was ten years old - and can still read it with enjoyment at 59. For me that says it all.

Add to this that the book itself was seven years old when I read it, and its quality is brought home even more. Published in 1951, it is still believable in 2007, perhaps more credible now than when it was written. How many novels are there, sf or otherwise, of which this could be said?

The triffids of the title are a new breed of plant, produced by some unspecified means as a source of oil. The term "Genetically Engineered" was not known in the 50s, but would instantly spring to mind today. Despite their vicious sting, capable of blinding or even killing a man, and the fact they are carnivorous, they are no particular problem until a new disaster strikes. A meteor shower of incredible brilliance draws almost the whole population out at night to watch - and gives off harmful radiation which blinds all those who see it.

Bill Masen, temporarily blinded by a triffid sting, spends the crucial night in hospital with his eyes bandaged, and removes them the morning after to find a world gone blind (at least it seems to be the world. Were there no overcast skies anywhere that night? Never mind) and searches frantically for the handful of others who can see. Needless to say, his first "find" is female and about his own age . They are faced with a terrible moral dilemma. Do they just clear off and leave the blind ones to (mostly) die? Or should the sighted stay to help the blind - and almost certainly end up dying with them? And of course not all, even among the sighted, are content to leave this to individual choice. There are those prepared to kidnap and enslave the sighted and force them into helping the blind - and equally those who see a not so brave new world with themselves as masters and the blind majority as serfs.

If all this weren't enough, the triffids are on the loose. With their deadly stings, they commit mayhem on the helpless blind humans, and soon develop into a major problem even for the sighted, who must search desperately for some refuge which can be defended against them. The rest of the novel is devoted to their finding one.

I have a few gripes here and there. Would the triffids really be much threat to sighted people, if the latter had sense enough to wear crash helmets, goggles and heavy coats? And where's the Navy? Did every submarine in the world surface to look at the meteors? I'd expect a sub or two to come moseying up the Thames before too long. Quibble, quibble, Mike.

And was that plague just a leetle bit too convenient? Masen is agonising about whether to stay with the blind party into whose service he was kidnapped and "drafted" when a germ or virus comes along and gets him off the hook by killing them all. Bit of a cop-out there?

I also feel that Wyndham made a mistake, later, in implying that the "comet" was a secret weapon that went wrong, and the meteors an official cover story. I don't trust government either, but this doesn't really fit the facts. Were it so, those in the know would surely have taken shelter, and ordered Army and police to do the same. Yet there's no sign whatever of this having happened. No mention of the Royal Family, Cabinet, or Armed Forces, who evidently all went out and got blinded along with the rest. Even for a British government, that's an improbable degree of stupidity. While fully sharing Wyndham's distrust of the Powers That Be, I feel we have to acquit them of this particular crime.

Finally, though appreciating how Wyndham liked his disasters "cosy" and localised, I'd have liked to see just a little more (either in this book or the sequel he never wrote) about how the world at large was getting on. Was everywhere as badly hit as England? Being plants, the triffids wouldn't fare too well in deserts, so Americans and Mexicans might hold out in the southwest, and the Moslems (Oh dear!) in N Africa and the Mideast, while the sighted Australians could retreat into their arid interior. Dry grasslands might also be unsuitable, and even if triffids could live there, a human would see them on the horizon long before they got near enough to detect him, so on steppes or prairies, or even in the Scottish highlands, human and triffid would generally meet only when the human wanted it. These, rather than the Isle of Wight, seem to me the "best hope of mankind".

But enough grousing. It's a really great novel, rivalling "Earth Abides" as the classic post disaster yarn. If you haven't read it, you are missing out big time!

Memory, Metaphor, Mutations: The Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan

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Memory, Metaphor, Mutations: The Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan
Yashodhara Dalmia , and Salima Hashmi
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195673476

Book Description

Increasingly, as boundaries are being dissolved and interactive realities are becoming evident, the cultures of India and Pakistan are beginning to draw attention. Within the larger exchange of music, cinema and other cultural forms, the contemporary art of the two countries in all its
vibrancy begins to have a fascinating new identity. There are many similarities that the art of the two countries share because of their common history. At the same time, divergences also lead to new directions that provide fodder for a cathartic regeneration. The book draws on three vital aspects
of contemporary Indian and Pakistani art: first, the historical development which began in colonial times and continued its diverse course in both countries after gaining independence. Second, the distinctive elements in contemporary art re-use their vital traditions, in the case of India, through
the incorporation of popular art and in the case of Pakistan, the reinvention of the miniature tradition. Third, is the dynamic and essential work of women artists of India and Pakistan.

Directed Evolution Library Creation: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)

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Directed Evolution Library Creation: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)

Manufacturer: Humana Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Directed Enzyme Evolution: Screening and Selection Methods (Methods in Molecular Biology)

ASIN: 1588292851

Book Description

A comprehensive compendium of cutting-edge protocols for the generation of molecular diversity. Described in step-by-step detail to ensure experimental success, these protocols include readily reproducible methods for random mutagenesis of entire genes or segments of genes, for homologous and nonhomologus recombination, and for constructing in vivo libraries in bacteria and yeast. In addition to the various protocols for creating libraries, this volume also describes ways to analyze libraries, particularly those made by recombination. An accompanying volume, Directed Enzyme Evolution: Screening and Selection Methods (ISBN: 1-58829-286-X), is devoted entirely to selection and screening methods that can be applied to the directed evolution of enzymes.

Copy for Both Volumes

Directed Evolution Library Creation: Methods and Protocols and Directed Enzyme Evolution: Screening and Selection Methods constitute an extraordinary collection of all the key methods used today for directed evolution research. Described in step-by-step detail to ensure robust experimental results, these methods will enable both newcomers and more experienced investigators to design and implement directed evolution strategies for the engineering of novel proteins. The first volume describes methods for the creation of mutated DNA molecules, or DNA libraries, encoding variants of desired proteins. The second volume describes methods for screening DNA libraries to isolate mutant proteins that exhibit a specified function.

.hack Part 2: Mutation Official Strategy Guide

Average customer rating:

Lost book
Useful Information
Do not buy this!

.hack Part 2: Mutation Official Strategy Guide
Laura Parkinson
Manufacturer: BRADY GAMES
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Video Games | Games & Strategy Guides | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Video & Electronic Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0744002761

Book Description

BradyGames' .hack Part 2: Mutation Official Strategy Guide provides a complete walkthrough to help gamers conquer every field and dungeon in "The World" with ease. Boss strategies to crush every boss with supreme fighting tactics. Dungeon maps pinpoint every item and Gott Statue. Comprehensive item trading list of every player character in the game. Bestiary stats for every enemy revealed! Equipment, item, and skills lists are also included.

Customer Reviews:

Lost book.......2005-10-01

I have not recieved this product yet, therefore I cannot review it yet.

Useful Information.......2003-06-18

Given that .hack//MUTATION is a fairly linear game of only moderate complexity, writing a strategy guide must be a special challenge. Many publishers would give into the temptation to fill the guide with great numbers of screen shots and side stories in an effort to make a collectors item out of what would otherwise be a thin effort. For some reason, BradyGames rarely gives into that temptation, and this guide is a classic example of providing all the needed information without burying it in glitz.

They provide a straightforward and complete walkthrough, plenty of information on side quests, and all the usual weapon and monster details. Maps are provided where needed, and, yes, there still is room for plenty of screen shots. They are especially good at detailing the moves necessary to deal with the game's deadly bosses. And grunty races as well - although nothing could save me from my inept reflexes.

I am not sure if a guide is necessary for playing .hack//MUTATION, but if you like them as I do, you will find that this guide delivers everything it should in useful form. There are two more of these still to come in the series though, so you may want to wait until you are legitimately stumped.

Do not buy this!.......2003-05-23

This guide is horrible! Okay, the walkthrough is decent, but who needs a walkthrough for this game? Seriously... this game is very straightforward. The best reason to get a guide for it is for weapon, item, and monster lists. This book is very incomplete. While there are at least a hundred new weapons and pieces of armor, this book only lists about fifteen. The monster lists are also very bad, many monsters are missing, and for the ones that ARE listed, the items they drop are not. Bradygames posted updated weapon/armor lists on their website, but they are still missing all of the rare weapons in the game as well as the monster info. A very rushed book, not worth your cash. You're better off just finding a FAQ online.

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