Command Decision (Vatta's War, Book 4)

Book Description

With the Vatta’s War series, award-winning author Elizabeth Moon has claimed a place alongside such preeminent writers of military science fiction as David Weber and Lois McMaster Bujold. Now Moon is back–and so is her butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners heroine, Kylara Vatta. Once the black-sheep scion of a prosperous merchant family, Kylara now leads a motley space force dedicated to the defeat of a rapacious pirate empire led by the mysterious Gammis Turek.

After orchestrating a galaxy-wide failure of the communications network owned and maintained by the powerful ISC corporation, Turek and his marauders strike swiftly and without mercy. First they shatter Vatta Transport. Then they overrun entire star systems, growing stronger and bolder. No one is safe from the pirate fleet. But while they continue to move forward with their diabolical plan, they have made two critical mistakes.

Their first mistake was killing Kylara Vatta’s family.
Their second mistake was leaving her alive.
Now Kylara is going to make them pay.

But with a “fleet” consisting of only three ships–including her flagship, the Vanguard, a souped-up merchant cruiser–Kylara needs allies, and fast. Because even though she possesses the same coveted communication technology as the enemy, she has nowhere near their numbers or firepower.

Meanwhile, as Kylara’s cousin Stella tries to bring together the shattered pieces of the family trading empire, new treachery is unfolding at ISC headquarters, where undercover agent Rafael Dunbarger, estranged son of the corporation’s CEO, is trying to learn why the damaged network is not being repaired. What he discovers will send shock waves across the galaxy and crashing into Kylara’s newly christened Space Defense Force at the worst possible moment.

Customer Reviews:

Vatta book 4.......2007-08-16

Worth a read, if you like prior books as I did, but hope the next one is better- this was set up book in a lot of ways to widen the story line, imho.
Not worth the HC price in my view.

Pure light Space Opera -- nothing earthshaking, nothing really new, but good fun. .......2007-08-12

In a way there is little to say about the fourth novel in an ongoing sequence. Suffice it to say, perhaps, that Elizabeth Moon makes no major missteps in this book -- if you have been enjoying the Vatta's War series, you will enjoy this one. What else do we need to know?

To begin with, if you haven't been reading this series, I recommend going back and starting with book one. If you enjoy fast-moving space adventure, with involving characters and space war tactics and action and all... these books will work for you. They aren't perfect -- in common with most novels in this subgenre, the main characters are a bit implausibly skilled at the roles they are thrust into, in common with many series novels, the individual novels don't always work ideally on their own.

What of Command Decision, then? By this time essentially four main points of view have been established. Ky Vatta is the nominal protagonist of the series: a young woman unfairly forced out of the Slotter Key Space Academy, who joined her family space transport company and who thus was well-positioned to begin resistance when conspirators destroyed ansibles throughout human space and attacked several systems, including Slotter Key. Stella Vatta is Ky's beautiful cousin, who discovers in herself unsuspected talents for leading a business when most of the Vattas were killed and she was left the only candidate to try to keep the business going. Grace Vatta is Ky and Stella's supposedly dotty Aunt, who turns out to really be a spy, and as one of the few survivors of the attack on Vatta interests at Slotter Key is the natural choice to take a position in the new government. (No Moon books would be complete without a formidable Aunt -- after all, James Nicoll went so far as to dub her previous Space Opera series "Aunts in Space".) And finally Rafe Dunsbarger is a mysterious man, the disgraced son of the CEO of ISC, the company that controls ansible traffic, supposedly a remittance man (i.e. living on an allowance from his family) but actually serving as an undercover ISC agent.

Of these four Rafe's story is most central to this new novel. He has secretly returned to his home planet, Nexus, hoping to find his father and try to understand what's up with ISC and the ansibles. But his father (along with his mother and sister) has disappeared. So Rafe must try to find out what's up with his father -- and in the process figure out what's up with ISC. This forces him to reassess his troubled past life -- and also leads to fun but almost goofy scenes including a shootout in the boardroom.

Meanwhile, Aunt Grace is continuing to root out potential traitors in Slotter Key's government. Stella is pursuing further potentially lucrative business opportunities while still coming to terms with her personal history. And Ky is still trying to expand her fleet, this time with some unexpected help from a very romantic -- and very wealthy -- fellow. She also deals with a nasty system, complete with slavers, and she helps out the Mackensee mercenaries when they are in danger from the pirates. All this means she is faced with another difficult personal choice.

Basically, this is a middle book in a long series. Nothing is really resolved -- but nothing need be resolved at this point. There is plenty of cool action, several engaging good guys to root for in a struggle against some really really bad guys (as ever, Moon's villains are truly villainous). This is pure light Space Opera -- nothing earthshaking, nothing really new, but good fun.

Virtually Flawless.......2007-07-14

COMMAND DECISION (2007) is the fourth book of the VATTA'S WAR Series - following ENGAGING THE ENEMY(2006), MARQUE AND REPRISAL(2005), and TRADING IN DANGER(2004). These books follow the exploits of Kylara Vatta, a Space Trader with a military training background, who is forced to turn Space Privateer, in response to an attack by Space Pirates on the Vatta family Space Trading enterprise and the ansible inter-system communication network... the conflict begins to expand to a galactic war in ENGAGING THE ENEMY, and in this book, Ky takes charge of a small fleet at the center of conflicts in the enlarging galactic war.

Near the end of the book, 4 disparate groups of ships (pirates, mercenaries, Ky's new "Space Defense Force" and ISC's force) could meet up in a remote location... but I won't give away what happens - as it is the best scene out of the series.

As usual with this series, there are some overly-coincendental or contrived scenes (the magic "skull ansible" technology in Ky's head... why don't MORE people have it, if it works?) - but they really don't impact the exciting pace and overall quality of the book. While the book isn't perfect, it is very enjoyable, and it gets 4.5 stars - round it up to 5.

Command Decision (Vatta's War).......2007-06-13

I've read all the books in this series and I found them to be a read you can't put down. It kept me wanting to read the next book to see what happens. I looked up on the net to see when the next book is coming out and I can't believe it's not til next year, I can't wait that long, but I suppose I just have to.

More Skulduggery in the Spaceways.......2007-05-31

Command Decision (2007) is the fourth SF novel in the Vatta's War series, following Engaging the Enemy. In the previous volume, pirates jumped the privateer ships practicing maneuvers in a deserted system and destroyed several of the vessels. Kylara Vatta joined forces with two other ships as they fought their way out of the ambush.

Aunt Grace supervised the laying of the cornerstone for the new Vatta Transport building. Afterward, Master Sergeant MacRobert invited her to tea and then stated that she would be asked to serve in a high position within the government.

In this novel, Rafael Dunbarger lands at Nexus Center Port as Genson Ratanvi, a middle-aged Cascadian business man. He passes Customs and Immigration without problems and heads for the Ambisor where he has stayed before in this identity. After installing his baggage in the room, he goes out to make some calls.

Upon reaching Luce's, a cafe in his former neighborhood, Rafe tries his father's private number and gets a "no longer available" message. When he calls his home phone number, the call is answered by someone he doesn't recognize. Then the voice asks his business and reason for calling. After telling the voice that he is trying to reach Flasic's Bakery Supplies, Rafe is told that he has the wrong number. But then he is asked for his calling location and told to stay on the line.

After he is permitted to hang up, Rafe complains to the proprietor of the cafe about the rudeness of some people. He asks for directions to Flasic's and Luce walks over with him. He makes some inquiries, but finds the transportation costs are too high. Luce walks out with him, yet returns to his cafe. By that time, Rafe is being followed by someone else.

Later Rafe is awakened by a call on his implanted ansible. He doesn't answer immediately, but just waits. Eventually he hears voices and jacks up the sensitivity to listen to three voices. The conversation suggests that someone had gotten his number from his father.

Stella and Toby are doing well on Cascadia Station. Unfortunately, Toby has stacked electronic gear all over the apartment. Stella tries to get him to pick up the mess, but he keeps getting distracted. Since Toby is designing some interesting modifications to the shipboard ansibles, Stella can't just throw the stuff out. Luckily, she has a lead on office and workshop space for the rebuilding Vatta Transport organization.

Ky is having medical problems aboard the Vanguard. Several of her crew have ingested something virulent. Although they identify the substance and treat the crew in the medboxes, Ky needs a medical staff like the professional forces. In addition, she needs to tighten discipline, for the crew should have known not to bring anything unusual onboard without permission. She holds an all-crew meeting while they are in FTL.

Ky visits Gretna Main Station to restock on missiles and gains a bad impression of their ethics. Among other malpractices, the Gretnans have a form of slavery and Ky buys her medical staff as indentured laborers. Of course, she frees the individuals as soon as they come aboard, but she puts her crew on high alert after learning of some other Gretnan tricks from her new medics.

In this story, Rafe continues his masquerade as a Cascadian businessman while gaining assistance from his former classmates to find his family. Toby learns how to connect shipboard ansibles to system ansibles and Stella starts a patent search. Aunt Grace becomes a very high personage in the Slotter Key Defense Ministry.

Ky recruits three other ship captains to her System Defense Force squadron. Captain Ransome and his fellows are much too romantic -- in the swashbuckling sense -- to be trusted fully, but their ships are small, fast, armed and highly maneuverable, making good scouts. Indeed, the crews have some experience boarding pirate ships. Best yet, Ransome is very rich and actually *buys* the shipboard ansibles that he installs in his ships.

This story continues the evolution of a multisystem defense force to fight the pirates. Ky has some setbacks, but also gains much more experience and some influential friends, including stronger ties with the MacKensee Mercenaries.

Highly recommended for Moon fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of naval conflict, corporate intrigue and personal combat.

-Arthur W. Jordin

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets

Average customer rating:

Extensive
Really Facinating Book...

Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets
E.C. Krupp
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195078004

Book Description

In his classic study The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell conducted us on a fascinating global tour, showing how the seeds of myth grew in a similar fashion throughout the history of civilization. Before Campbell there was Sir James George Frazier who, in The Golden Bough--his pioneering study of magic, relgion, and folk custom--demonstrated how world mythologies exhibit "the effect of similar causes acting alike on the similar constitution of the human mind in different countries and under different skies." Now, in Beyond the Blue Horizon, eminent astronomer E.C. Krupp guides us expertly through a bewildering maze of cultures and civilizations--from the stone age to the present day--making clear that while the skies of these diverse peoples may vary, they speak nearly the same language. Beyond the Blue Horizon is a treasure trove of myths, legends, and stories in which people have, through the ages, attempted to understand the cosmos and its meaning for humankind. Collecting an astonishing amount of lore between the covers of a single book, Krupp explains why our ancestors were so intrigued by the heavens, and what their celestial stories meant. Readers will learn, for example, that many cultures saw a rabbit--rather than a man--in the moon, and that this moon-rabbit, as a symbol of sacrifice and rebirth, is a cousin of our own Easter Bunny; that to our ancestors, an eclipse challenged the stability and integrity of heaven and thus threatened order and life on earth; that the magical sleighride and chimney antics of Santa Claus echo the ancient journeys of shamans and witch doctors; that our "dog days" of July and August originated in Roman times with the summer appearance of Sirius, the Dog Star; and that the contemporary stories of UFOs reveal the mystery and meaning the sky still holds for us as we approach the twenty-first century. Of course, there is much, much more that will delight and intrigue; even readers familiar with world mythology will find plenty that is new and strange in Krupp's rich panorama. An epic, authoritative, and cross-cultural exploration with over 150 illustrations, Beyond the Blue Horizon tells how all civilizations searched the sky to understand to universe--and our own place in it.

Customer Reviews:

Extensive.......2002-07-07

Krupp has written a book that is comparable to Frazer's Golden Bough and Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces. He traces the evolution of sky myths from cultures around the globe. Krupp does an excellent job of capturing the meaning and beauty of these stories, and pieces them together in a well-crafted narrative.

Really Facinating Book..........2000-03-28

Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets, is a very interesting and amazing read-- it confronts many possibilities of the place outside our blue sky, and gives the reader something to think about for long after the last page is read. Not only is this book worth reading for the pure fun of it, but it teachs you things that may come in handy at dinner table conversation. Facinating is the word that comes to mind... the myths about the stars and planets can sometimes be good bedtime stories, and over all, this book keeps you wanting more.

Average customer rating:

Surprisingly Up To Date for a 2003 Publication Date
Well balanced!
One-Stop Solar System Shopping

The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System
Kenneth R. Lang
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521813069

Book Description

The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System provides a comprehensive, funamental, and up-to-date description of the solar system. It is written in a concise, light and uniform style, without being unnecessarily weighted down with specialized materials or the variable writing of multiple authors. It is filled with vital facts and information for astronomers of all types and for anyone with a scientific interest in the Earth, our Moon, all the other planets and their satellites, and related topics such as asteroids, comets, meteorites and meteors. The language, style, ideas and profuse illustrations will attract the general reader as well as professionals. A thorough report for general readers, it includes much compact reference data. Metaphors, similes and analogies will be of immense help to the lay person or non-science student, and they add to the enjoyment of the material. Vignettes containing historical, literary and even artistic material make this book unusual and interesting, and enhance its scientific content. Kenneth Lang is professor of astronomy in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Tufts University. He is the author of several astrophysics books, including The Sun from Space (Springer Verlag, 2000), Astrophysical Formulae: Radiation, Gas Processes, and High Energy Physics (Springer Verlag, 1999), Sun, Earth and Sky (Copernicus Books, 1997), Astrophysical Data: Planets and Stars (Springer Verlag, 1993), and Wanderers in Space: Exploration and Discovery in the Solar System (Cambridge, 1991),

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly Up To Date for a 2003 Publication Date.......2007-01-11

Back when I went to college and took a class in astronomy (I think the world was still considered to be flat) we studied all that known at the time about the sun and the planets. The amount of knowledge that we have learned about the solar system since that time makes this book seem to be almost a book on a different subject.

Now the planets have been photographed from spacecraft, and several from landers. Here are pictures from Sojourner rover as it moves around Mars. Here are men walking around on the Moon. Poor Pluto has been lowered in status to a mere Kuiper-belt object (Surprising in a book written before the recent decisions).

All in all, beautiful photographs (157 in color, 159 in B&W), clear line drawings (114), and clearly written text. The book is suitable for use as a text in undergraduate courses, and will have appeal to interested individuals.

Well balanced!.......2004-11-02

This book is written in a clear and easy to read style. If you are a novice on astronomy you will still be able to understand the text. At the same time this book offers enough in-depth and up-to-date information to satisfy the person who is more knowledgeable on the subject. The text is richly illustrated, with a multitude of photographs, charts, schematics, drawings etc.

The first three chapters of the book deal with general subjects like the history of astronomy, the forming of impact craters, the principles of volcanism in the solar system, the (presumed) existence of water on several solar objects, the characteristics of atmospheres of planets and Titan etc. etc. After this there are separate chapters about the earth, our moon, the asteroids, comets and all planets. Unexpectedly, although understandable in view of their similarities, Uranus and Neptune are put together in one chapter. Even more peculiar is the fact that there is not a separate chapter about Pluto and its companion Charon. They are described in four pages in one of the general chapters. So Pluto is not treated as a real planet but more as an object of the Kuiper-belt. The last chapter of the book is called "Worlds colliding" and deals with the impact in 1994 of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter, collisions of comets with the sun, existing impact craters on earth and the chances of disaster by incoming asteroids/meteoroids.

All in all I find this a very nice book that should appeal to both beginners in the field as to the more knowledgeable "amateur-astronomers" among us. In this way it is a "well balanced" book.

One-Stop Solar System Shopping.......2004-09-23

This is a hugely informative compendium of current knowledge of our solar system. Included is up-to-date science, compiled from the missions of all the modern spacecraft, of all (make that most) of the planets plus all of their known moons; plus comets, asteroids, solar winds, magnetic fields, and everything else present in the solar system. A bonus is found in the beginning chapters of the book, which present the history of astronomical discovery by earthbound explorers, and also a large chapter on Earth itself. Included are informative treatises on the Earth's geology, topology, and atmosphere, setting up equally fascinating examinations of those topics on the other planets. Thus we get up-to-date and in-depth coverage of everything from the bizarre volcanoes of Venus to the encrusted oceans of Europa to the pink smog of Titan. Just watch out for some sneaky politics in the chapter on the Earth, as coverage of atmospheric changes leads to some not wholly appropriate comments on the political side of global warming. And while the book is uniformly fascinating and informative, one humbug for me is a nearly complete lack of coverage for Pluto. This is likely because we haven't yet been able to send a spacecraft there, and also because the creators of this book have followed the currently accepted scientific theory of Pluto as a non-planet that doesn't deserve the attention of the "real" planets. (In fact, Pluto is actually missing from the book's lists of planets of the solar system). Come on, cut the little guy some slack already! [~doomsdayer520~]

Average customer rating:

A Fun Romp Through Norse Mythology
Unbeatable

Pyramid Power (Tail of the Moon)
Eric Flint , and Dave Freer
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1416521305

Book Description

The Pyramid is baacckk! Well, actually, it never went away-but it had seemed to be inactive, still sitting in the middle of Chicago but no longer growing and wiping out buildings as it grew. The pyramidal device sent by the Krin to dominate the Earth had suffered a severe setback when the motley crew of ivory-tower academics, paratroopers, and one resourceful maintenance man had not only survived the worst that both the gods and mortals of Classical Greece and ancient Egypt could do, but had managed to escape from the ur-mythological world that the Krin pyramid had somehow brought to deadly life in a parallel dimension, bringing several beings out of myth along with them.

The Krin device would have been thwarted, if things had been left as they were-but a V.I.P., who knows too many state secrets to be allowed to be missing, was left behind in the world of Greek mythology. So a power-mad Washington bureaucrat has press-ganged several of the survivors of the first excursion into the pyramid's worlds and sent them, along with a team trained in “surgical strikes,” to either bring back the V.I.P. or, if that's impossible, terminate him with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, instead of returning to mythological Greece, they find themselves in the world of the Norse gods. Even if they manage to survive the enmity of Odin and his warriors, can manage to free Loki (a potential ally) and can keep the hard-drinking thunder-god Thor off the sauce long enough to help them, Ragnarok is coming, with the end of the world. And even a hard-headed maintenance man may have trouble fixing that problem!

Customer Reviews:

A Fun Romp Through Norse Mythology.......2007-09-27

Flint and Freer once again craft another fun-filled (or is it pun-filled) tale in their sequel to 2001's Pyramid Scheme, which skewers and roasts Norse mythology with as much good humor and irreverence as they did to Greek and Egyptian mythology in the first book. It has all you could ever ask for in a book: alcoholic gods, scheming government bureaucrats, and lovesick flatulent dragons!

A thoroughly enjoyable tale by the same warped minds that brought you Rats, Bats & Vats and The Rats, the Bats & the Ugly. Recommended!

Unbeatable.......2007-08-25

This is in someways an even better book than the original. Both have good action, bad puns, great pacing and three dimensional characters. P-Power takes you to the under explored Norse Mythology Urworld. Fascinating. My favorite novel of the year.

Europa The Ocean Moon: Search For An Alien Biosphere (Springer Praxis Books / Geophysical Sciences)

Average customer rating:

explains Galileo results

Europa The Ocean Moon: Search For An Alien Biosphere (Springer Praxis Books / Geophysical Sciences)
Richard Greenberg
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540224505

Book Description

Europa – The Ocean Moon tells the story of the Galileo spacecraft probe to Jupiter's moon, Europa. It provides a detailed description of the physical processes, including the dominating tidal forces that operate on Europa, and includes a comprehensive tour of Europa using images taken by Galileo's camera. The book reviews and evaluates the interpretative work carried out to date, providing a philosophical discussion of the scientific process of analyzing results and the pitfalls that accompany it. It also examines the astrobiological constraints on this possible biosphere, and implications for future research, exploration and planetary biological protection. Europa – The Ocean Moon provides a unique understanding of the Galileo images of Europa, discusses the theory of tidal processes that govern its icy ridged and disrupted surface, and examines in detail the physical setting that might sustain extra-terrestrial life in Europa's ocean and icy crust.

Customer Reviews:

explains Galileo results.......2006-11-06

As one after the other of the planets seems so bereft of life, Europa holds a unique position. It has a frozen over ocean. Plus, in its orbit, there is the prospect of residual volcanism and tidal and magnetic effects providing a raw energy driver for life to have emerged and be sustained.

So the text gives the results of the Galileo probe. You get an appreciation for the difficulties surmounted. Every so often, NASA really does an amazing job. Fascinating observaitions, but these beg for more insight. Necessitates another probe, this time with even better technology for remote sensing. Given that Galileo was launched in the late 80s, think how much better computing resources we could now put into its successor!

The book certainly has more than just findings from Galileo. It also discusses our changing and improving understanding of how to model vastly different biospheres. But the text is clearly dominated by the real Galileo results. Not just speculation.

Portions of the book will be beyond the lay reader. But there's enough that is well written and accessible to everyone.

Average customer rating:

Worth the slog
Lame and slow
So-So
Engaging The Enemy
Engaging the Enemy

Engaging the Enemy
Elizabeth Moon
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0345447565
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Book Description

For fans of fast-paced adventure and compelling characters, the military science fiction of Nebula Award—winning author Elizabeth Moon is the perfect choice.

The brilliantly unorthodox Kylara Vatta, black-sheep scion of Vatta Transport Ltd., one of the galaxy’s wealthiest merchant houses, is a heroine like no other, blessed with a killer instinct for business and for battle. Now, in the aftermath of cold-blooded assassinations that have left her parents dead and the Vatta shipping empire shattered, Kylara faces her greatest challenge yet.

There is a time for grief and a time for revenge. This is decidedly the latter. Placing her cousin Stella in command of the trading vessel Gary Tobai, Ky embarks aboard the captured pirate ship Fair Kaleen on a twofold mission: to salvage the family business and to punish those responsible for the killings . . . before they strike again.

Since the network providing instantaneous communication between star systems has been sabotaged, news is hard to come by and available information impossible to trust. But as she travels from system to system, with Stella a step behind, Ky pieces together the clues and discovers a conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and utter ruthlessness.

The only hope the independent systems and merchants have against this powerful enemy is to band together. Unfortunately, because she commands a ship known to belong to a notorious pirate–her own relative Osman Vatta, whom she killed for his part in her parents’ deaths–Ky is met with suspicion, if not outright hostility. Rumors swirl about her intent, her very identity. Soon even Stella begins to question her cousin’s decisions and her authority to make them.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy Ky hunts is hunting her in turn, with agents insinuated into every space station, every planetary government, every arm of the military, and every merchant house–including her own. Before she can take the fight to the enemy, Kylara must survive a deadly minefield of deception and betrayal.

Customer Reviews:

Worth the slog.......2007-07-05

Much has been made of this book being the first difficult read in the Vatta's War series. It is. The middle portion of the novel turns into something of a job. (In her charming acknowledgments, Moon self-deprecatingly thanked friends and family for curbing her tendencies to go into too much detail; unfortunately, one wishes she had curbed those tendencies even more.)

Happily, the last hundred pages turn things around significantly, thanks to the entertainment derived from one antagonist's intriguing accusations (and his fate) followed swiftly by an excellent space battle. So, if you're slogging through the middle of "Engaging the Enemy," have heart that the "job" becomes pleasure at the end--and reviews have been kinder to book four.

Lame and slow.......2007-06-12

As others have noted, this is a middle volume of a series. However, I can't be as kind. I find the most of the characters' emotions and motivations in this volume unconvincing. The plot is boring and lame too. I enjoyed "Trading in Danger" and "Marque and Reprisal," but this volume stunk.

So-So.......2007-05-22

Elizabeth Moon is a self-hating fishbelly.

If you can overlook that trite PC episode -- which I almost couldn't -- you will find this book on balance enjoyable.

Engaging The Enemy.......2007-05-15

Elizabeth Moon's Engaging The Enemy is an entertaining Sci-Fi tale of a space trading company's tragedy. The Vattas are attacked by space pirates and it's the story of how Ky takes revenge. The Vatta Corporation is lead by Ky; the sole surviving daughter who is left to deal with all the destruction. The novel takes place in the future in cold black space, and among the outlying planets of the star cluster. The author describes the situation and makes the reader feel right there with the captain up on the bridge of the flag ship. The novel is full of action, twists, and a bizarre love triangle. It's a must read for the adventure type.

Engaging the Enemy.......2007-05-14

this is the third book in the series and i've found it just as interesting as the others. one thing i really like is that each book goes straight into the next one I cant wait to get to book four. also the story line is great and keeps you interested all the way through, i haven't found one dull bit yet.

Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn

Average customer rating:

A Pale Orange Dot
interesting scientific work
Very good book on what we know now.
Titan And The Pursuit Of Science
Excellent!

Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn
Ralph Lorenz , and Jacqueline Mitton
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521793483

Book Description

Lifting Titan's Veil is a revealing account of the second largest moon in our solar system. This world in orbit around Saturn is the only body in the solar system with an atmosphere strikingly similar to Earth's. Titan is like a giant frozen laboratory that may help scientists understand the first chemical steps towards the origin of life. Beginning with its discovery in 1655, the authors describe our current knowledge of Titan, including observations made before the space age, results from the Voyager missions of the 1980s, and recent revelations from the world's most advanced telescopes. In Lifting Titan's Veil, Ralph Lorenz includes his personal experiences in preparing for the Cassini mission, which will reach Saturn in 2004 and release the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere in 2005. A splendid introduction to Titan, this book will appeal to anyone interested in astronomical discovery and space exploration. Ralph Lorenz trained as an engineer and worked for the European Space Agency at the very beginning of the Huygens project. Since obtaining a PhD at the University of Kent, England, he has worked as a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. His research interests focus on Titan, but also include climatology, radar, impact dynamics and spacecraft and instrumentation design. He has been involved in NASA's largest planetary mission (Cassini) and its smallest (the DS-2 Mars Microprobes). Jacqueline Mitton obtained a Ph.D in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, and is now a full-time writer and media consultant specializing in astronomy. She has served as Press Officer for the Royal Astonomical Society since 1989, and was Editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association 1989-1993. She has written or co-authored sixteen published astronomy books, the most recent, The Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy (2001).

Customer Reviews:

A Pale Orange Dot.......2004-06-06

Rare is the work that meets the high publication standards within a given scientific discipline while being simultaneously accessible to the public at large. In particular, and notwithstanding its cachet and increasing multidisciplinary approach, the field of planetary sciences often offers up works that are either overspecialized to the point of alienating all but a very select readership or those works appealing to a broad audience but derisively dismissed by experts as popularizing and superficial. Bridging the wide chasm separating these two extremes requires talented writing. LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL: EXPLORING THE GIANT MOON OF SATURN, by Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton, is a book that accomplishes this with a professionally credible, yet highly readable, account of mankind's attempts to unravel the mysteries of Saturn's largest moon. Lorenz and Mitton succeed in this collaboration due in no small part to their highly impressive credentials. The former is one of today's most prolific planetary scientists, especially regarding the study of Titan, and also a participant in the current Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan. The latter, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics, is a renowned science writer credited with authorship or co-authorship of sixteen astronomy-related works.

Answering, in the most basic way, the "why" question that often accompanies any discussion of planetary exploration, the authors write, "More than anything else, planetary exploration gives us a sense of perspective, a notion of who we are, where we came from and what our destiny might be. We can learn from all worlds. Each planet and moon in the solar system has its own unique history. Each is an experiment with a different set of conditions..." More specifically, they note that Titan, with its orange-tinted, nitrogen-rich 1.5 bar atmosphere containing traces of hydrocarbons and other organics, might represent an analogue, albeit a cyrogenic one, of the prebiotic atmosphere surrounding early Earth. Considering that mankind has yet to demonstrate time travel, studying Titan may be the only way (outside of modelling and laboratory experiments, both of which have obvious limitations) to explore this critical phase in Earth's history. It goes without saying that studying Titan, especially in situ, is exploration at the cutting edge.

Coming at an especially propitious moment, the book provides a comprehensive synthesis of the body of Titan-related science, which is placed into historical context. Starting with the moon's discovery in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch astronomer, LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL spans a time frame of three and a half centuries of astronomical observations leading up to the modern era of spacecraft reconnaissance and exploration. The book is organized topically, with a distinct narrative style (e.g., the unique "Ralph's Log" feature), and runs the gamut from astronomy to meterology to geology to speculation about future Titan exploration. I highly recommend LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL to all readers. Anyone interested in Titan, this "pale orange dot," will, I think, find something of worth in this work. Indeed, I personally feel that Chapter 3, "Titan's puzzling atmosphere," is alone worth the price of the book.

interesting scientific work.......2003-11-01

This book is fun for whoever loves science.Its an example of applying science to data gathered from earth telescopes and space probes,mainly through the eyes of Hubble and Voyager. Attempts at explaining theoretical models behind possible chemical and physical processes at work on this moon are made.It would be interesting to compare the current thinking with what Cassini will actually reveal in a years time!

Very good book on what we know now........2003-02-04

The authors do a good job in this book and it is a good read. What is interesting is how much we do not know about this amazing satellite. We have no idea about what the surface is like. In less than 5 years the Cassini mission w/ the Huygens lander will make this book obsolete. You have to wonder why this book was written so close to Cassini's arrival. Until then this book should be standard text in any amatuer astronomers library. The authors give too much credit to Carl Sagan and not enough to the real scientists who have contributed to our limited knowledge on the subject. Besides that this book almost gets my highest rating.

Titan And The Pursuit Of Science.......2002-12-31

This is an exciting time for planetary exploration, when after the solar system has been reconnoitered by spacecraft (except Pluto) and now spacecraft are being sent to specific planets and moons, etc., for closer examination. LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL covers the Cassini mission to Saturn and it's large moon Titan, known to possess a thick atmosphere and perhaps a hydrocarbon ocean, due to insert itself into Saturnian orbit in July, 2004, the attached Huygens probe should enter Titan's atmosphere January, 2005.

The authors include a lot of science in this volume, including background information concerning moons and planets across the solar system. Most of this book covers Titan of course, what we know about it and how we came about that knowledge, from early times to the present. Titan's atmosphere and surface and sub-surface conditions recieve the most attention, with the chemistry of the atmosphere discussed at length. Also, the authors debate the possibility of an ethane/methane ocean existing on Titan as the surface temperature, according to available evidence, is close to the triple point of methane. All of this science can of course, as the authors point out, shed light on the formation and evolution of the solar system and in turn give us clues to our own origins in the misty past. As a chemist I especially enjoyed the information on the chemistry of Titan, and the space-buff in me enjoyed all of it. In addition, the Cassini spacecraft is detailed, and there are lots of illustrations, many in color.

On a personal note, I remember being at the space center as a visitor just a few days before the launch of Cassini, in October, 1997, and thinking that here is this spacecraft sitting out there on the pad just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic beach, I wondered then, will Huygens, at the end of it's journey, find another beach? Space travel is cool!

Excellent!.......2002-06-28

In "Lifting Titan's Veil", Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton have written a lucid account of what we know about Titan, and how the Huygens probe which will parachute down to its surface in 2005 is designed to tell us more. As a research scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory whose doctoral thesis was on the topic, Ralph is well placed to sift through the various competing theories. In fact, he designed the probe's spear-like penetrometer which - if all goes to plan - will be the first human artefact to come into contact with this intriguing moon's surface. As an avid reader on the topic, I thoroughly recommend this book.

Average customer rating:

Heris Serrano and Elizabeth Moon
Great Trilogy!
Very Surprising
Horses in space
This is a great Book!!!

Heris Serrano
Elizabeth Moon
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adventure | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

High Tech | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Space Opera | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0743435524

Customer Reviews:

Heris Serrano and Elizabeth Moon.......2007-06-07

I have seriously enjoyed all of Elizabeth Moon's novels - was disappointed that this particular book included three of the Heris histories that I already had as singletons... was absolutely hoping that, with this title, I would be getting some more Serrano background.

Although her space opera is not up to the detail of David Weber's Honorverse (and I do like lots and lots of words), a female "misfit" is right up my alley...

Great Trilogy!.......2006-08-08

I loved all three books - had a really hard time putting it down!

Very Surprising.......2005-10-21

After reading the author's Paksannarion series I had fairly high hopes that this would at least be a book with a fair amount of pace and a decent storyline, even if the characters - like the Paks series - were to be somewhat lacking. No such luck. The characters barely approach the one dimensional, while the story - if you can call it that - moves along with all the speed of the erosion of granite being weathered by drizzle.
If you find watching an oak tree growing too exciting, then this is probably the book to help calm your nerves. Astonishingly tedious and utterly dire.

Horses in space.......2005-08-30

This book is an easy read. The adventures are simple, but(in the first of the three parts)it shows a bit of the development of certain characters.
In a way this really is a horse-loving adventure book more suited to girls who are at that age.

This is a great Book!!!.......2003-03-29

This book is really, Hunting Part, Sporting Chance and Winning Colors all in one big book! If you love the Serrano/Suiza series this is a must have! This sets up all the history, the muder, the mystery, the politics and the past battles so that once we introduce Esmay Suiza into the circles of the Serrano navel family we know exactly where Heris Serrano has been. If you've read the books that center around Esmay Suiza, you definately need to read this book, it will give you a much clearer picture of what all is going on in the Regents Familia. This 3 books in 1 will also give you a window into why Admiral Serrano treats Suzia the way she does... SO all in all its definately worth the reading time and the cost of the book!!

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