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

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.

Average customer rating:

ha
Absurd and funny but locking focus
A detecive story for the everyman.
S. J. Nichols
Seems to be feeling his way around

The Time Machine Did It
John Swartzwelder
Manufacturer: Kennydale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0975579908

Book Description

Humor/mystery novel by the writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons.

Customer Reviews:

ha.......2007-10-06

this is a funny book:D i read it a long time ago and i just saw it again---once again my sister told me to read it-it was very funny:P

Absurd and funny but locking focus.......2007-09-27

It's easy to imagine Homer Simpson cast as Schwartzwelder's bumbling hero Frank Burly. But what the author is trying to accomplish here is more than just a novel-length Simpsons episode. The result is often funny but lacking a solid focus. Burly changes his mind and purpose whenever it suits the joke, and he's an impossibly bad detective. "Sometimes my clients have to explain their problems to me more than once. I don't charge them for that. It's part of the service, I figure. If the case is really complicated, I might ask a smarter detective, or the guy who runs the elevator, to sit in and simplify the whole thing for me."

The story does have a point, however, and somewhere along the way you'll recognize loose ends being tied up, but it's all so silly and absurd that it seems to be trying too hard.

A detecive story for the everyman. .......2007-09-10

You will laugh, or at least find this book amusing, if you don't laugh out loud normally, just remember it's not the simpsons, just a guy who wrote for them. and with good reason, It's short. but with your "Busy" lifestyle and the many volumes of harry potter you've yet to finish you could fit it in.

Either way it's a nice read. if you can find it check it out.

S. J. Nichols.......2007-09-08

John Swartzwelder's book is so funny I think I passed out at one point. Frank Burly is a total klutz and the story is insane, a tramp who was a millionaire, wakes up one morning in a box hires Burly the worst detective in town to found a statue and he pays him with blank cheques and wrappers, then Burly finds out about Groggins' time machine and he gets stuck in 1941 oh no I've said too much.

If you like "The Simpsons" you'll loves this amazing book and it's sequals.

11/10

Seems to be feeling his way around.......2007-08-25

This book has some truly inspired humour, and a crazy plot line that doesn't really need to make sense. I think that sometimes it can be a bit clunky and the humour doesn't translate as well as if someone were actually saying or doing these things. I think "How I conquered your planet" does a much better job of both storytelling and joke telling, as it flows more naturally as a book. Still, I would recommend this book, if only to introduce you to Frank Burly and his protective layer of fat.

The energy machine of Joseph Newman: An invention whose time has come

Average customer rating:

The energy machine of Joseph Newman: An invention whose time has come
Joseph Westley Newman
Manufacturer: J.W. Newman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0961383526

Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics (Schaum's)

Average customer rating:

Excellent study guide for students of discrete math and computer science
Typical Schaum's
Very instructive
When some ppl make the already abstract more confusing ...
Not a 5 star!

Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics (Schaum's)
Seymor Lipschutz , and Marc Lipson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070380457

Book Description

The first edition of this book sold more than 100,000 copies—and this new edition will show you why! Schaum’s Outline of Discrete Mathematics shows you step by step how to solve the kind of problems you’re going to find on your exams. And this new edition features all the latest applications of discrete mathematics to computer science! This guide can be used as a supplement, to reinforce and strengthen the work you do with your class text. (It works well with virtually any discrete mathematics textbook.) But it is so comprehensive that it can even be used alone as a text in discrete mathematics or as independent study tool!

Customer Reviews:

Excellent study guide for students of discrete math and computer science.......2006-03-21

Discrete mathematics, or the study of finite systems, has become increasingly important for students of computer science, and this book is a good foundational text on the subject. This Schaum's outline is much more complete than the average Schaum's, and it is also very clear and instructive. It is not just a good text for discrete mathematics. It also covers the basics of abstract algebra and the basics of the theory of computation.
The first 3 chapters cover sets, relations, functions, and algorithms, including a very good section on the complexity of algorithms. Chapter 4 is on logic and propositional calculus, which is the foundation of artificial intelligence and digital logic. The next three chapters cover the basics of vectors, matrices, counting (permutations and combinations), and probability theory. This material is important in the design and analysis of operating systems. Next are chapters on graph theory, directed graphs, and binary trees, all of which should be covered in any good course on the analysis of algorithms. These chapters include discussions of planarity, traversibility, minimal paths, and Warshall's and Huffman's algorithms. There is a chapter on languages and machines that includes material on regular expressions, automata, Turing machines, and computable functions. There is also a chapter dedicated to the very basics of abstract algebra, and another chapter on boolean algebra.
This text is therefore a superset of what you will probably find in an upper level undergraduate class in discrete mathematics, and is definitely a book you want to keep around especially if you are a computer science student and need additional study material for your core courses of artificial intelligence, analysis of algorithms, operating systems, and theory of computation. Highly recommended.

Typical Schaum's.......2006-02-05

This is a very helpful outline whether you are taking the class and need a supplement or are just trying to learn the material on your own. The writing is clear and succinct, and there are hundreds and hundreds of practice problems all of which are answered. The topics covered are standard for the topic, so this book will cover everything in your class unless your teacher has some unorthodox lesson plan. My one caveat is that there are occasional errors in the answer keys. This can be frustrating especially if you don't feel confident in your own work. The errors are far and few between for the most part and if you can live with them then you will get much use out of this book. Highly recommended.

Very instructive.......2005-09-08

This math book simply helps and supports learning with good, specific examples and no jargon.

When some ppl make the already abstract more confusing ..........2005-06-20

This book can pull you out of confusion. After all, an abstract course in discrete structures which is supposed to be the fundamentals of learning computer hardware and software programming need not be made even more confusing. Grab this book and make learning discrete structures more enjoyable and less painful !

Not a 5 star!.......2002-04-26

I waited several weeks for this book to arrive, and was disappointed to see that its 'just another maths book', nothing special. I didn't find this book any easier to understand than any other maths book, I ended up refering to my other book more.

Average customer rating:

Book
Classic
Review of The Time Machine
Free SF Reader
Good to read before bedtime

The Time Machine (Signet Classics)
H.G. Wells
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451528557

Book Description

The story that launched Wells's successful career-the classic tale of the Time Traveler and the extraordinary world he discovers in the far distant future. A haunting portrayal of Darwin's evolutionary theory carried to a terrible conclusion.

Download Description

When the Time Traveler courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700--and everything had changed. H.G. Wells's famous novel of one man's astonishing journey beyond the conventional limits of the imagination is regarded as one of the great masterpieces in the literature of science fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Book.......2007-09-22

This is a strong book that always keeps yo guessing and on the edge of your seat. I think that this author writes some nice pieces of written masterpiece! I will be buying more!

Classic.......2007-09-21

A short read, but definitely fits in the realm of classic sci-fi. This is nothing like the newer movie remake of Time machine.

Review of The Time Machine.......2007-09-04

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells, was first published in 1895. It remains a piece of classic literature because it is well written and because many feel that its message about society is still relevant today. H.G. Wells uses formal diction throughout the book, and much of the language used is typical of English literature in the late 19th century. The Time Traveler develops a Time Machine which he uses to travel into the future, to the year 802,701 A.D. While there, the Time Traveler learns about the society of the future, and the reasons for the distinct separation of classes.
Immediately upon arriving in the future, the Time Traveler meets the Eloi, a beautiful, graceful, child-like race. The Time Traveler befriends one of the Eloi after saving her from drowning in the river. Her name is Weena, and the Time Traveler learns about the Eloi from her companionship. The Eloi are a peaceful people, but also weak and stupid. The Eloi live a very leisurely lifestyle, eating strictly fruits. There are no houses in the year 802,701 A.D., and there seems to be no private ownership. The Eloi live, eat, and play as a group. There does not appear to have any form of government, and the Eloi seem to live in a perfected socialist society.
The Time Traveler soon realizes, however, that the Eloi are not the sole inhabitants of the earth in the future, after he returns to find his Time Machine stolen. A separate and very different race, the Morlocks, live below the ground. The Time Traveler describes these subterranean creatures as pale white, clammy, and apelike. The Morlocks have become so accustomed to the darkness underground that they avoid all light. The Time Traveler presumes that it is the Morlocks who have stolen his time Machine and hidden it in the base of a great statue.
It is not until the Time Traveler ventures below ground to search for his Time Machine that he realizes that the Morlocks are cannibalistic, relying on the weaker Eloi for food. The Time Traveler then begins to understand society in the future. The Eloi were once the aristocrats, and the Morlocks the working class. The aristocracy continued to buy the land above ground until the industry was forced below ground. The workers moved below ground with the industry, and the aristocrats stayed above ground, pursuing pleasure and relying on the workers underground for their goods and labor. Gradually, the laborers underground grew to detest the sun and their skin became bleached white, while the aristocrats became so comfortable and so unaccustomed to necessity or hardship that their size, strength, and intelligence waned. Thus, the Morlocks met all of the Eloi's needs so that they would have food. In essence, the Morlocks fattened up the Eloi in much the same way that we fatten up pigs for the slaughter. This society is not at all socialistic, like the Time Traveler first believed, but rather, the deep separation of classes has been caused by capitalism.
I would not recommend The Time Machine to one of my peers, simply because I do not agree with the underlying social message of the book. I do not believe that capitalism would ever produce a separation of classes as great as the one described in The Time Machine. History has shown that when the ruling class abuses its power and harms the working class, the working class will rebel and overthrow the ruling class. I did enjoy the book's story, however, and it is an easy read.

Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

It will come as no surprise that the protagonist in this story, the
traveller, invents a time machine and uses it to venture into the
future.

The society that he ends up in seems amazing for a brief time, then
he realises that all is not as it seems. There is a large underclass
that is terribly exploited to produce all this for the eloi, as they
are called.

The underclass are named Morlocks, and it is here that the Time Traveler's sympathies reside.

Good to read before bedtime.......2007-09-01

I enjoyed watching the 1960 version of the movie as a child. I thought that if I read the book, that it would enhance my movie watching experience. Boy, was I wrong!

This book was a slow tedious read. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Anything. It never did. All I wanted was for the book to end. Reading it was like dying a slow agonizing death. I forced myself to read the first seventy pages, then I could not stand it any more.

The characters were uninteresting and had no personality whatsoever. The plot was way too basic and uneventful. Even the descriptions of the locations were bland.

This book is good to read before bedtime. It will put you right to sleep.

Schaum's Outline of Essential Computer Mathematics

Average customer rating:

Well written but all over the map as far as subject matter
Great book which helped me tremendously
A cheap and good book
very poorly structured

Schaum's Outline of Essential Computer Mathematics
Seymour Lipschutz
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070379904

Book Description

The mathematical knowledge needed for computer and information sciencesincluding, particularly, the binary number system, logic circuits, graph theory, linear systems, probability and statisticsget clear and concise coverage in this invaluable study guide. Basic high school math is all that's needed to follow the explanations and learn from hundreds of practical problems solved step-by-step. Hundreds of review questions with answers help reinforce learning and increase skills.

Customer Reviews:

Well written but all over the map as far as subject matter.......2007-06-23

I found this Schaum's outline to be a very well written book on a variety of elementary mathematical subjects probably most suitable for someone who has just graduated high school and is a freshman starting some kind of technical degree. However, beyond that, I am not sure exactly who the target audience is supposed to be. The book contains some information on the very basic computer math that a college freshman engineering or IT student would need to know such as binary number systems and computer codes and math. However, some of the other material is very much oriented towards the aspiring computer engineer but is not really mathematical such as the sections on logic, flowcharts, sets and relations, and logic gates. Other sections are mathematical but don't necessarily have anything to do with computers and could be just as helpful to a student of applied mathematics such as the sections on linear algebra, linear equations, statistics, and graph theory.

Thus my recommendation would be that if you need a good tutorial on a variety of mathematical and pseudo-mathematical topics that tie in well with a technical degree of any kind, the low price of admission on this odd little outline is probably worth it. Just don't expect it to rescue you in any one course in particular. It will more likely rescue you in particular sections of several courses instead.

Great book which helped me tremendously.......2005-06-20

This book tremendously helped me understand computers and their relationship to mathematics and helped clear about doubts all through the semesters in college that I studied computer science. I strongly recommend this book to anyone majoring in computer science, information technologies, computer programming, etc ... as this book serves as a pillar to understanding the fundamentals of computer hardware and software.

A cheap and good book.......2000-01-22

The book is pretty much suitable for students who has finished high school maths but requires revision on maths for computing. A few chapters are simple enough for students to run over quickly. There is a supplementary questions and solved questions with working for student to understand and practice on. Overall the book is good enough to refresh your memory on computer maths.

very poorly structured.......1999-12-23

For a start this book is never intended to be used by itself but as a supplement,so any attempt to use it as a textbook will only reslut in frustartion. Furthermore its not geared to teach as many VERY important concepts are simply ommited and the author makes far too many assumptions which all results in an incomplete book. The book attempts to cut study time but also ends up cutting too much in clear and sufficent explanations. Use this book once you have completly mastered whathever topic you are involved in,and even then its only good for the practise problems at the end of each chapter. All in all DONT buy this book if you are trying to learn something...use it ONLY for reviwing and just as a supplement.

Schaum's Outline of Electric Machines & Electromechanics

Average customer rating:

Really great supplemental text and source of problems
Weak on PM Machines
Helpful tool for electrical machine problems

Schaum's Outline of Electric Machines & Electromechanics
Nasar
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070459940

Book Description

More than 50,000 copies of this powerful study guide sold in the first edition! Covering a broad range of topics, from simple DC magnetic circuits to electronic control of DC and AC motors, all the concepts and their applications are clearly explained and illustrated. Includes hundreds of problems with detailed solutions to help students learn quickly and reaise test scores without investing unnecessary time. Ideal for undergraduate students of electrical engineering, for solo study, and as a refresher.

Customer Reviews:

Really great supplemental text and source of problems.......2007-02-05

This book doubles as a cheap textbook on the subject it covers - electric machines and electromechanics. If I remember correctly, this was not one of the more difficult upper undergraduate Electrical Engineering courses, but that was because I had a very good instructor. The textbook itself was somewhat useless...and expensive. This text has plenty of well done narrative explaining all of the concepts. With this particular subject, good figures are important too, and they are plentiful in this Schaum's outline. Equations are all explained and presented well, with lots of example problems as well as solved exercises. I particularly liked the last chapter in the book on the electronic control of electric machines. It does a good job of merging what is really two subject matters and explains concepts well. It shows Electrical Engineering students that all of these courses don't exist in a vacuum. You are going to need to learn how to merge electromechanics, electronics, and digital systems into unified designs, and this book gets you started down that road. One reviewer said that he/she thought the outline was dated. I haven't found that to be true at all, at least for the situations where I've required some brushing up. The student should already have an understanding of electric and electronic circuits, basic electromagnetics, and calculus. Highly recommended.

Weak on PM Machines.......2005-05-08

Good book overall, but is getting dated. Most of the problems seem to be done in Gauss and Oersteds, and I don't believe there were any problems which used Neodemium magnets, which are most common in newer, high efficiency motors.

There was also very little on Permanent Magnet machines, about 6 pages, much of which was diagrams or descriptions of magnet types. Am still looking for a good book with problems on Permanent Magnet motors and generators.

Am using Hendershot and Miller's Design of Brushless Permanent Magnet Motors, which is very good. But it does not have many problems in it.

Helpful tool for electrical machine problems.......2000-05-29

I found that this book is a very useful source for solving problems related to elctrical machines. It provides clear and easy to follow instructions that are well laid out and easy to follow. It offers a varying level of problems ranging from the fundamentals through to the more complex machine problems. This is a useful aid or reference for anyone looking for a book to help them in their studies and wants to have more practice at solving problems relating to this subject.

The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future

Average customer rating:

The Two-Mile Time Machine
Excellent Book
Time Traveler
Want to understand climate change?
What happened?

The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future
Richard B. Alley
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691102961

Book Description

Richard Alley, one of the world's leading climate researchers, tells the fascinating history of global climate changes as revealed by reading the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland. In the 1990s he and his colleagues made headlines with the discovery that the last ice age came to an abrupt end over a period of only three years. Here Alley offers the first popular account of the wildly fluctuating climate that characterized most of prehistory--long deep freezes alternating briefly with mild conditions--and explains that we humans have experienced an unusually temperate climate. But, he warns, our comfortable environment could come to an end in a matter of years.

The Two-Mile Time Machine begins with the story behind the extensive research in Greenland in the early 1990s, when scientists were beginning to discover ancient ice as an archive of critical information about the climate. Drilling down two miles into the ice, they found atmospheric chemicals and dust that enabled them to construct a record of such phenomena as wind patterns and precipitation over the past 110,000 years. The record suggests that "switches" as well as "dials" control the earth's climate, affecting, for example, hot ocean currents that today enable roses to grow in Europe farther north than polar bears grow in Canada. Throughout most of history, these currents switched on and off repeatedly (due partly to collapsing ice sheets), throwing much of the world from hot to icy and back again in as little as a few years.

Alley explains the discovery process in terms the general reader can understand, while laying out the issues that require further study: What are the mechanisms that turn these dials and flip these switches? Is the earth due for another drastic change, one that will reconfigure coastlines or send certain regions into severe drought? Will global warming combine with natural variations in Earth's orbit to flip the North Atlantic switch again? Predicting the long-term climate is one of the greatest challenges facing scientists in the twenty-first century, and Alley tells us what we need to know in order to understand and perhaps overcome climate changes in the future.

Customer Reviews:

The Two-Mile Time Machine.......2007-10-09

This is the book that every ill informed environmental and agenda driven policy wonk should read regarding climate. It is very readable; explains the science of weather and climate (They are two different things), and presents very thought provoking and serious issues. The point of millions of research dollars and tens of thousands of hours of research and study is that what we are experiencing today is not the norm. Humans, for the last ten thousand years, have had the luxury of an unusally stable and begnin climate with only minor weather disturbances as opposed to wildly changing climates of the past. The wild climate changes shift quickly rather than over thousands of years and very likely will do so again. Yes humans contribute some gases to the atmosphere (Carbon being the one most targeted), but water vaper is the biggest greenhouse gas with methane number three. Do we get rid of them too? The point is, that as the earth climate continues to warm (And it will do so without our help)there is only one climate response, and that is a quick return to deep cold (And cold lasts longer than warm), how do we prepare for wild climate swings? How many millions of people will be dislocated by continued warming and then sever cold? How much more energy will be needed to survive longer winters and cold that reaches further south than human history recalls? Where do we grow the food to feed the billions of us?

Excellent Book.......2007-01-10

Richard B. Alley can spin a good yarn. The book was very enlighting, I enjoyed the professional script. My hat's off to him & wish him luck in his future endeavors regarding the issues of past climates.

Time Traveler.......2006-09-12

Is global climate change a threat to humanity? Our best evidence comes from an uninterrupted 2-mile ice core taken from the Greenland ice pack. A pristine record of climate events over the last 110,000 years is displayed as delicate annual ice layers containing trapped atmospheric glasses, volcanic ash, pollen, lead levels, and isotope ratios. Dr. Alley's personal involvement in the project gives insight into the hardships and technical hurdles faced by scientists collecting this remarkable ice core. He does a good job of describing the intricate science that leads to a startling forecast -- our peaceful-appearing world is actually subject to wildly gyrating climate changes that can swing 40 degrees within a few years. During the last few millennia, have we have enjoyed a period of anomalous warm stability almost unprecedented in the 110,000 record of the ice core -- a happy condition that could suddenly end due to greenhouse warming from human industrialization. Within the space of a few years, high temperatures could melt the antarctic, flood our shorelines, and stall the gulf stream that brings warm tropical water to the British Isles. By the last half of the century, England might be buried under glaciers, and the distribution of our world's deserts and rain forests could be reshaped by chaotic, planet-wrecking storms. Science fiction? Not according to Dr. Alley -- whose ice cores show many similar events throughout history. The last half of Dr. Alley's book seems less interesting than the first -- perhaps because of his scientific hesitation at predicting what will really happen. The vast cost, the loss of biodiversity, and the potential threat to human lives -- or even our civilization -- is left mostly to the reader's imagination. Nevertheless one fact is clear -- we are riding a climate roller coaster that may soon start to take some sickening dips -- and the key to our survival may be locked within quiet, blue layers buried deep within the Greenland ice mass. -- Auralgo

Want to understand climate change?.......2006-04-12

In contrast to some other reviewers, I did NOT find this book a big yawn. I was fascinated by the exposition of how conclusions can be drawn about climate change. Alley briefly explains several different methods, but goes into detail on how ice cores can be used to make educated guesses about past climate. Very simply, every year there is a new layer on top of the Greenland glacier that can be analyzed chemically and differences in the chemical makeup of the layer reflect differences in the underlying climate (temperature).

I found the book fascinating, although it reads somewhat like a textbook rather than a story. However, my purpose in reading it was to try to understand for myself how conclusions on climate change are being reached, and the book fills that purpose admirably.

What happened?.......2005-05-21

Alley created an excellent Scientific American article ("Abrupt Climate Change", November 2004, available online) in terms of information and engaging writing style. His "Time Machine", though occasionally informative, reads like a slow elementary-school or sagacious politician's overview. "Many clever people are studying things in ice, and learning many things." Yawn. Maybe this was his intent, though nowhere are we forewarned. He's best when reporting his personal adventures in the ice core data recovery field he's part of. A crucial hinge in the unfolding "climate change" arena - what we used to call "global warning" until PR firms (minions of political parties and conglomerates, generously applying political correctness) changed the name to sound less ominous. This book is not about the most recent GRIP, Greenland Ice Core Project, cataloging 123,000 years of earth's atmospheric history in that region (and some 2 million year old plants to boot). It does reveal findings of a previous drilling - good for 110 millennia - and the Vostok ice core, extending back about 450,000 years. (Take that Creationists.)

These cores read like pages in a book, one year's ice layer piled atop another, trapping gases, dust and aerosols in each. According to Alley (repeated by Brian Fagan) the good news is, compared to previous interglacial warming periods, we humans have been remarkably lucky during the Holocene, the last 12,000 years (since the invention of agriculture), with relatively stable climate, except for a few major hiccups. The bad news is plural. Contrary to opinions, measurable, repeatable data shows we have among the highest concentrations of CO2 in these recorded histories; The thermohaline circulation (the ocean's equator-to-pole hot/cold exchange system) is a smoking gun in massive change (which according to NOAA data is shutting down via ice melt freshening); And the biggest news of all - ice cores show dramatic, even catastrophic climate shift, as Alley writes, "in less time than it takes it get a college degree". Oops. Apparently nature has a threshold. Once tripped, it's a long ride back - about a hundred thousand years. Such audacity nature has to act in a nonlinear fashion is inexcusable.

But nature and man are not without their ironies. While politicians, conglomerates and talk show hosts paint their rosy picture of longer summers on the beach (ignoring these beaches may be under water) or flourishing plant life in CO2-rich atmospheres (ignoring they may be fried in heat and dryness), as it turns out ice ages are triggered by warming. Standby. Exciting times coming, except nobody knows when. The Pentagon considers global warming a national security risk (at least enough to fund a study) - though to what generation? We'll keep rolling the dice, but at least Alley is trying to sound the alarm. Unfortunately, to the world's biggest offender, we heard all this in the Sixties, then tried to change the world by collecting litter on Earth Day - that's been a thousand fads ago. Nobody's listening.

Average customer rating:

Steam Punked
Superb and astonishing SF
Fantastic Journey / Thrill Ride in Sci-Fi
The Time Ships...huh?
Good read, some inconsistencies

The Time Ships
Stephen Baxter
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0061056480

Amazon.com

What if the time machine from H.G. Wells' classic novel of the same name had fallen into government hands? That's the question that led Stephen Baxter to create this modern-day sequel, which combines a basic Wellsian premise with a Baxteresque universe-spanning epic. The Time Traveller, driven by his failure to save Weena from the Morlocks, sets off again for the future. But this time the future has changed, altered by the very tale of the Traveller's previous journey.

Book Description

There is a secret passage through time

...and it leads all the way to the end of Eternity. But the journey has a terrible cost. It alters not only the future but he "present" in which we live.

A century after the publication of H. G. Wells' immortal The Time Machine, Stephen Baxter, today's most acclaimed new "hard SF" author, and the acknowledged Clarke, returns to the distant conflict between the Eloi and the Morlocks in a story that is at once an exciting expansion, and a radical departure based on the astonishing new understandings of quantum physics.

Customer Reviews:

Steam Punked.......2007-08-04

To be sure, there is really no way to recreate a classic. If the original author did not write a sequel, then there just may not be one. In fact, some stories need no sequel (Napoleon Dynamite), or if a sequel is done, it is never up to snuff (Return to Oz, Ghostbusters II). Added to that is "The Time Machine"'s status as an ace of aces, not to mention the wonderful George Pal film version done in 1960. In sequalizing a classic, Baxter has everything going against him.

Despite all of this, I think he succeeds. Not just in imitating Wells's voice, but in all aspects.

To begin, this book has some prerequisites. To be sure, you need to read The Time Machine (Penguin Classics), and to track down the missing part to chapter 11--alluded to on p.103ff. You will also do well to track down The Chronic Argonauts, the early draft version of "The Time Machine." Watch the names Moses and Nebogipfel! Additionally, "The Time Ships" includes several Wellsian inside-jokes. These are references to several of his lesser-know works: "The World Set Free," (p. 157ff) "Things to Come," (both the book and the movie), and the quick nod to "War of Worlds" with the virus discussion (p. 284ff), and "The First Men in the Moon" with the selenites. I think some of the book's criticism comes from missing these subtle allusions.

(I recommend seeing the 1960's movie BEFORE reading this book, and seeing the 2002 version AFTER reading this book).

By including these easter eggs, Baxter's time travel story double-backs to its roots. The first two time travels stores, Wells's and Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Tor Classics), were works of social criticism, with Twain's included the expected satire. Baxter, by including allusions to Wells's utopian future histories, brings back to square one. This is refreshing. So much of popular time travel stories are just variations on the Grandfather Paradox (The City on the Edge of Foreve, Back To the Future, every episode of Star Trek: Voyager). This book, however, uses time travel as a type of social commentary (akin to Star Trek IV), but on a scale reminiscent of Olaf Stapleton (Last and First Man, the Star-Makers, The Nebula-Makers).

Of course here and there it has a feel of "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing," but so does Wells's work. "War of the Worlds" ends in a Deus Ex Machina, and the Time Traveler abandon Weena in the fire and zips on to 30 million years into the future. The flaws reminds us of Wells's flaws.

The tone/setting of the story also zigzags, almost chiasmically . We start with Wells's setting, then go to the high concept of Morlocks 2.0, then back to Wells's England, then to a steam-punk/pulp 1930's "World Set Free" time line, then back to Jurassic Park/Robinson Crusoe for Humanity 3.0, the New Humans, the to the high concept of the Constructors, and end up in full circle at the correct ending of "The Time Machine." What a ride! What a vision! C. S. Lewis would have loved this book!

Indeed, as I read books 5 and 6, I felt joy. For those of us who felt let down by the direction of Clarke's 2001 series (3001 The Final Odyssey in particular), rest assured that Baxter delivers on the promise Clarke failed to keep, If you see the Time Traveler as Dave Bowman, and Nebogipfel as HAL 9000 (both are cyclopean), and the Constructors as the Monoliths (they were originally pyramids in "The Sentinel"), then you see my point. Plagiarism, no! An unfulfilled promise finally met, yes, yes, yes.

This book has been one of the most refreshing, and invigorating books I have read in recent years. If you have lost faith in SF, read this book and welcome home!

*

PS- If you were confused by Star Trek: Enterprise's "Temporal Cold War," I assume they got the idea from this book.

Superb and astonishing SF.......2007-05-08

Long ago, I gave up hope of reading anything remotely as imaginative as Olaf Stapledon's "First and Last Men" and "Star Maker". Stephen Baxter goes as far and possibly in some ways even beyond these remarkable visions. "Time Ships" is gripping and readable. Baxter even gave me for the first time a glimmer of the geometrical construct that the great Goedel conceived to challenge Einstein's views on time travel. Also, he describes marvelously and believably today's London set in a horrible alternate time. There is much much more!

Fantastic Journey / Thrill Ride in Sci-Fi.......2007-04-05

An outstanding sequel. I remember thinking how great it would be if Wells' had kept his adventure going, to expand on the original great idea, or to go into more technical detail. Well, this is precisely what Stephen Baxter has done with "The Time Ships". I found this book to be engrossing, and well paced throughout. The worlds he creates and the depths of imagination he has displayed are the exact reason I read Sci-Fi in the first place: A challenge of the mind with new and entertaining concepts. I hesitate to give 5 stars, only because I thought there were sections that feel more `human element' than Sci-Fi, namely the second book about a war-torn Britain. I would have loved the story to fly through this (and a few other sections) rather than dwell on the tapestry of the area. A personal feeling, I'm quite sure others could find this one of the highlights of the book. 4.5 stars - highly recommend to anyone who enjoys great imaginative Sci-fi, or fans of the original Time Machine book.

The Time Ships...huh?.......2006-11-10

I seem to be in a minority here, but here goes...I hated this book. I don't *care* that the science stood up to scrutiny, the narrative style was tedious and irritating, the plot was laborious, and the characterisation was shallow. Definitely not a hit for me.

Good read, some inconsistencies.......2006-10-06

This is a very readable book - one I found hard to put down. At first I was wary of a continuation of "The Time Machine", but the author's ability to mimic the style of the original, and the imaginative plot lines proved most enjoyable. As a fan of "hard" sci-fi, I was bothered by some glaring inconsistencies in the portion of the book where the crude "time tank" from 1938 arrives to find the author meeting his younger self. This was all fine to this point, but since the whole point of the story was that time travel moves the traveler(s) into a different of a multiplicity of universes, it was logically inconsistent that the time travelers from 1938 even after abducting the writer and his younger self, arrive back at the same universe they left from. The consequence of interfering with the past and removing the younger time traveler from his universe seem to have no ripple either.

I also found the final scene in the "infinite universe" implausible. Finally we are never told more about the mysterious "watchers". Their story would have been much more interesting than that of the "constructors".

But all in all, a very enjoyable book, although I found the ending a bit abrupt and somewhat senseless.

The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine

Average customer rating:

By-the-numbers short history
I bought this book from here (AMAZON) and revealing secret
The man machine says yes
I confess I read the last two chapters first
Theory of a Magician. Of how the Turk Worked.

The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine
Tom Standage
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425190390
Release Date: 2003-08-05

Book Description

This is the true account of the 18th-century mechanical man, powered by clockwork, dressed in a Turkish costume, and capable of playing chess. Created by a Hungarian nobleman, the machine-man known as The Turk traveled Europe and America, made the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, Catherine the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Customer Reviews:

By-the-numbers short history.......2006-07-15

A short and easy read recounting the history of the chess-playing automaton. I'm surprised at how workmanlike this book is. It reads like a very good graduate student's work: readable, but unimaginative prose. Facts follow facts in a relentlessly straightforward way. Not that straightforward facts are bad, but it's tedious to read "first this happened, then this happened,then something else happened." It's clear that this book's little more than a distillation of an existing body of historical work on the Turk.

It's really dissapointing that the author doesn't bother to explore the Turk's role in the history of technology beyond some general mentions of how more sophisticated gears and cams were later adopted in other areas. Ho-hum.

Much more interesting would be a consideration of the Turk as the starting point for the relationship of technology and marketing, or how the sort of road-trip showcase Kempeln took to show off his invention is *exactly* how hopeful technology inventors still pitch ideas to investors. The final chapter discusses IBM's Deep Blue, a machine that really did play chess, and well, but it's perfunctory, mostly there to say, "...and finally Kempeln's vision came true. The End."

What caught my interest was the role that stage magic played in Kempeln's shows. "Magic" is one of the most enduring and compelling metaphors in technology--it continues to be evoked in product names, marketing materials, and product interfaces--and it seems clear that the Turk and other automata were the first peices of complex technology that used the promise of "magic" and the techniques of the stage-conjurer to find an audience.

I'd hoped those were the sorts of ideas Standage would explore here, as Simon Signh's jacket blurb suggests. Too bad.

I bought this book from here (AMAZON) and revealing secret.......2006-06-05

I read this book, and Yes there was a man in the Turk. In the later chapters it said that the man was French(the operator inside the Turk. He was a strong chess player), the assistant person who was with Maelzel and they toured America (the big cities, like the big Apple, and Philadelphia, and Boston). You can say that he was like the David Lee Roth of his time. He was able to draw crowds to his machine...his machine was very elaborate in dress and Maelzel had a way with words so the living legend lived until Maelzel's assistant died and that was when things went down hill for the operator Maezel. Maelzel died at sea and his body was casted into the ocean . The last owners were the Mitchell's but they did not bring fame and fortune when they got hold of the Turk. The man inside was simply in a crowded position but the size of the so called Turk machine was able to hide him, and the crowds who watched this machine never found out the secret. The Mitchells' exposed the secret but for some strange reason it never clicked with the people, they wanted more. In the end, the Turk was burned in an accident in the city of Philadephia, it was stored in a Chinese Museum.

Oh yes, this fantastic book states that the American's, inventor's by the name of Walker, the Walker Brother's created their own Turk, it was called the "American chess player." It was the rival to the Turk but in the end (rumor has it) that the American Chess player was bought by Maelzel and was destroyed by him. The first owner and creator was Wolfgang Kempelen but then with time it came to different hands, and then it ended in the hands of Maelzel. The Mitchell family got hold of it, but one can say that the secret was never exposed to them because Maelzel disintergrated the machine, and confused it with his other machines so the new owners who would get it would never know the true original secrets of the Original Turk. The Mitchell's guessed at the answer and rebuilt the Turk, but when they exposed their secret to their so called fans, fans really did not buy it. The secrets to this book are in the end chapters, but the whole beginning chapters are really interesting. The writer has alot of flash- in his writing. It keeps you glued. I recommend this to you. I am not being stingy but i want people to know this secret (from the book). Ten stars. Super excellent.

The man machine says yes.......2006-01-30

While we tend to get hung up on the notion of what exactly pure AI is, this book brings us back to square one. Reading the account of The Turk and his exploits it's fascinating to note how little artificial intelligence has changed in 200 years. Regardless of how many advancements have been made in research labs and universities around the world, much of the experience still comes down to trickery orchestrated by humans. The seemingly intelligent Honda robot Asimo is governed by a remote operator. Even less explicit systems such as pattern recognition and neural nets are governed by invisible human hands in the form of their design. Although we've come a long way in terms of technology and computation, anything as fanciful as The Turk is still a long way off.

Tracing the illustrious path of The Turk and his relcutant creator's own life proved to be a rewarding read. The fact that the material here runs a parallel course of science and magic speaks volumes. There's a lot of ground covered; it's well paced and told with a touch of enthusiasm. The sheer number of people The Turk engaged, inspired and challenged is monumental. Considering its subsequent influence on such visionaries as Charles Babbage and Alexander Graham Bell it's a shame that von Kempelen and his most famous creation are widely unknown.

I confess I read the last two chapters first.......2005-12-10

I bought this book because the review in Book Lust got me interested. It arrived and I read the last two chapters first I wanted to know the secret ( and no, I am NOT telling). If the rest of the book is a good as the last two chapters I'll be content.

Theory of a Magician. Of how the Turk Worked. .......2005-06-11

It turns out that the Turk was operated by A human person named "Worousky," he was a polish soldier who by accident got his legs cut off in a fight incident. He was treated by A Russian doctor named Osloff, and during this recovery he was taught to play chess by his medic and with time became a skilled player. Kempelen one day would visit Russia because he wanted to learn Russian and while he was there he came across Worousky, the polish soldier, and this was how he got inspired; when it came to building the Turk. The size of Worousky fit perfectly inside this automaton. The automaton was just a machine not a machine with life. It was human powered but it fooled people quite well, even the rich elite of the past(ignorance of the sciences from their part.) The Turk beat Napoleon Bonapart,but defeated by Worousky himself. One has to think that technology/engineering was a head of its time during that time but not that ahead, everything was still with levers, steam, and old fashion clocks......In todays time one can make a Turk 2, and place inside a person who is like 4 feet tall, as well as he or she being talented in chess. Just think about it. If Worousky had no legs in times past, what would he do according to theory? He most likely would play chess alot. Todays masses are not naive...they are a smart population who know about engines, and frauds, etc. (Maybe if the population were ignorant, a Turk 2 could become an instant hit.) This is like what happened in the wild west days about traveling vendors who went to towns selling their "magic" potions that could heal you, and make you healthy once again. The great thing about the machine (this automaton Turk) was that it inspired people to invent things, etc. Read the book.

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