State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America

Book Description

Pat Buchanan is sounding the alarm. Since 9/11, more than four million illegal immigrants have crossed our borders, and there are more coming every day. Our leaders in Washington lack the political will to uphold the rule of law. The Melting Pot is broken beyond repair, and the future of our nation is at stake.
In this important book, Pat Buchanan reveals that, slowly but surely, the great American Southwest is being reconquered by Mexico. These lands---which many Mexicans believe are their birthright---are being detached ethnically, linguistically, and culturally from the United States by a deliberate policy of the Mexican regime. This is the “Aztlan Plot” for “La Reconquista,” the recapture of the lands lost by Mexico in the Texas War of Independence and Mexican-American War.
Comparing the immigrant invasion of America from across the Mexican border---and of Europe from across the Mediterranean---to the barbarian invasions that ended the Roman Empire, the author writes with passion and conviction that we have begun the final chapter of the Death of the West. Unless the invasion is halted now, Buchanan argues, by midcentury America will be a country unrecognizable to our parents, the Third World dystopia that Theodore Roosevelt warned against when he said we must never let America become a “polyglot boardinghouse” for the world.
President Bush’s failure to halt the invasion and secure America’s border, Buchanan writes, is a dereliction of constitutional duty that, in other times, would have called forth articles of impeachment. In the final chapter, “Last Chance,” he lays out a sweeping immigration reform and border security plan, which, he contends, if not pursued, means George W. Bush’s legacy will be to have lost for America a Southwest that was the legacy of Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk. With an estimated ten to fifteen million “illegals” already here and tens of millions more poised to pour across our borders, few books could be as timely---or important---as State of Emergency. It is essential reading for all Americans.

Customer Reviews:

xenophobia or rational position?.......2007-09-13

Buchanan, makes an impassioned argument that the country is in a 'state of emergency' because of our neglegence in dealing with the immigration issue. However, many of the arguments seem to steam from a fear that America is losing its traditional anglo-identity, and not rational arguments that show why largre-scale immigration is such a great evil for this country. While he does makes some good points and back them up with some statistics, most of the time is just trying to scare people with anticdotal evidence. I conclude that Buchanan's book, while completely correct that we need to pay attention to the immigration issue and that there could be catastrophic effects for neglecting it, fails to ever show that a large mexican immigration is a bad thing just that there needs to be restrictions in place on who we let in and what we require of them.

A Good Book but lacking in the Proper Historical Perspective .......2007-08-19

Texas, AZ, NM, CAL, Utah and most of the eastern US, areas the US now calls its own were neither paid for properly nor legally. They were stolen from their owners, both native american indians and latinos. Buchanan mentions that CAL for example only had 3,000 Mexicans in it when these lands were stolen from them. How many americans were there at the time????? Not very many. What he conveniently fails to mention are the lands which these 3,000 owned at the time, mnay of them were farmers who controlled huge areas of land in the most desireable climatic growing areas. The US government promised these people compensation for their lands if they permitted their lands to be squatted on by expansionist caucasian farmers, miners and cattlemen. But once the caucasian squatting started the deals were soon broken. The lands given to the american indians were even more laughable, typically dry, nearly waterless lands with little to no meaningful crop or cattle supporting abilities which the expansionist caucasians did not want to occupy anyway. Wow what a deal for them indeed.

This is what happens when the creation of "your" country is basically the result of an entirely "Illegal Caucasian Invasion" which is what the title of this book really should be. Unlike many other nations where new cultures immagrated in and assimililated themselves in a legal manner, the US as we know it today was essentially stolen at gunpoint from its occupants in a wholly illegal manner. Historical FACTOID! It's laughable how we whine about what is happening in the US but talk about how bad Hitler was in Germany. What exactly did Hitler do that was so bad? How about the fact he occupied lands at gunpoint, slaughtered millions of the inhabitants in those occupied lands, and committed all sorts of atrocities upon the native peoples of those lands he invaded. Sound like familiar story folks????? Well, it is, because that is EXACTLY how america was formed by primarily euro based caucasians in the past 200 years. Indians were slaughtered, their food sources wiped out, Latinos were slaughtered and those who were offered "deals" almost never ended up getting what they were promised by the US government. We took the most fertile lands available and left the desolate areas for indians and called them "reservations". Our cheap labor force in the caucasian controlled South for decades was Negro slave labor STOLEN from Africa. Now we whine about how a new wave of invaders isn't fair, pooh hoo hoo. This is called reaping what you have sowed. If you or Buchanan had bothered to study your history even a bit for the past millenium you would know that this is how all countries formed at gunpoint usually inevitably end up.

As for the laughable comment that Clinton and GW Bush caused the current immigration problem, better go study some more history. Good old Ron Reagan, the same guy who authorized selling chemical weapons to Saddam, the same guy who illegally sold weapons to Iran a sworn enemy of the US at the time, the same guy who deregulated the S&L's leading to the S&L crisis and a $1 trillion taxpayer funded bailout of the S&L crisis (through the RTC) is also the same EXACT fellow who promoted amnesty and opened the doors for the current wave of huge immigration into this nation. Bush SR also certainly played his part, and in fact up until this past November your Congress had been controlled by Republicans for the past 13 years, blame them too. And most of all do not fail to blame both US consumers and employers, many of them caucasians. Consumers who love the low prices they pay for various goods thanks to the dirt cheap illegal labor employed by so many of the companies you buy goods from and the employers themselves who knowingly employ much of this illegal cheap labor force to fatten their profits. Stop the illegal employment and you'll end the problem. But of course you'll also then pay higher prices for your produce, landscaping, construction, restaurant food bills, clothing, etc..

Blame the primarily caucasian employers employing this labor force and the primarily caucasian consumers willingly buying and benefitting from the prices of the products produced/sold by the employers of these illegals while simultaneously whining about it like crybabies. Anyone here shop at Walmart recently????????????? They have been found guilty of hundreds of illegal immigrant employment violations in the past decade. If you shop there even once a year you and your family yourselves are therefore overt supporters of illegal immigration by your own consumer actions. WM is just one of many examples.

Sad but True.......2007-08-17

I hate to say it but I agree with everything Pat said. We can't even take care of whose here. No point in bringing in more problems.

Open This Book Only in Emergency. Now?.......2007-08-06

Mr. Buchanan, as ever, comes through with an easy to-understand slant on current affairs, this time making the case for curbing the numbers of immigrants entering our nation in a major way. He's a good writer, yes; but he too often gets bogged down in short chronologies of historical events that occurred well prior to his topic. This does make for some dry, colorless reading here and there. From the Austro-Hungarian Empire to 1918 Czechoslovakia to French Enlightenment and on, in many cases, the reader is left asking "What does this have to do with the subject at hand"?

Several of the chapters are bursting at the seams with percentages, numerical comparisons, quantities, poll results...in paragraph after paragraph of analysis of populations, voting results, immigration details, dollar figures. Great pages for the researcher, but he really doesn't footnote much of the number crunching; so often one wonders: "Pat, where'd all this numbing number-information come from, anyway?"

All in all, author Buchanan makes some compelling points about the impending "take-over" of USA Southwest by Mexican immigrants [by "invasion without a shot"], quite sanctioned by the Mexican government. He discusses big-city sanctuaries for illegals, quotas, assimilation, low-pay jobs and languages...and takes to task the allegiance of Mexicans as they proclaim for themselves: "Mexican-American, but Mexican first." He points out (many times) that we can expect the "loss of our country [Southwest and all, by "2050"] as we know it," unless we make prompt national adjustments.

He proclaims "things will change" for us in a major way, but Buchanan doesn't tell us how different things actually will be. He doesn't even make small guesses as to what to expect [by 2050, his repeatedly target year]. How will new "MexiAmerica" will look and feel? Excepting his recurrent assertion that whites will be in a definite minority, he doesn't say much more about the year 2050. --But who knows, Pat. It could all be for the better!

Too, the author doesn't say much (if anything) about the current influx of Muslims into the country.... We might guess he's simply left that to Mark Styne and his work on the subject. --But we should ask: why isn't it part of this book? Isn't the fast migration of Islam also a concern of "The [total] Emergency" that we face...or is Buchanan's whole concept being slightly exaggerated after all? Finally, The author notes we have but "one more chance" to return to sanity and security...and offers many salable directions for us to take to save ourselves...including building a long, fat border; reevaluation of "anchor baby" laws; and, he says, "no amnesty."

I'm not sure Pat Buchanan's made his case here; even so, he's come up with another interesting read. Yet "State of Emergency" does have the texture of Mark Styne's "Alone America" and Buchanan's previous work, "Death of the West." It's the same Pat Buchanan here with an old focus--and a bit of new information plus some absorbing looks at how Mexicans see the USA. Three stars for a relevant re-hash of many things we pretty much know about...amid vacant history lessons we pretty much don't much care about.

Clear and concise.......2007-07-13

Pat Buchanan presents the problem of illegal immigration and possible
terrorist threat in a logical way. There are no scare tactics, just
"how it really is" and "how it could be". I am not a raving conservative,
and am in fact on the more liberal side, but everything he said makes
sense. I gave it 4 stars because he throws in the occassional "slam"
toward the Democrats but for the most part he concentrates on the
problem that affects us all.

Average customer rating:

Hot Jazz at 78 RPM
The story of three friends at the end of time - sooner than you'd think!
Not Free SF Reader
Wilson Gets Better and Better
Best. Science Fiction. Novel. Ever. (or at least in top five)

Spin
Robert Charles Wilson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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

ASIN: 0765309386
Release Date: 2005-03-10

Book Description

One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. The effect is worldwide. The sun is now a featureless disk--a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. The moon is gone, but tides remain. Not only have the world's artificial satellites fallen out of orbit, their recovered remains are pitted and aged, as though they'd been in space far longer than their known lifespans. As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up, space probe reveals a bizarre truth: The barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time is passing faster outside the barrier than inside--more than a hundred million years per day on Earth. At this rate, the death throes of the sun are only about forty years in our future. Jason, now a promising young scientist, devotes his life to working against this slow-moving apocalypse. Diane throws herself into hedonism, marrying a sinister cult leader who's forged a new religion out of the fears of the masses. Earth sends terraforming machines to Mars to let the onrush of time do its work, turning the planet green. Next they send humans....and immediately get back an emissary with thousands of years of stories to tell about the settling of Mars. Then Earth's probes reveal that an identical barrier has appeared around Mars. Jason, desperate, seeds near space with self-replicating machines that will scatter copies of themselves outward from the sun--and report back on what they find. Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger. Wilson has become one of the most exciting talents in SF todayIn Spin, he outdoes himself, juggling numerous philosophical, moral and scientific ideas, including a fascinating Martian civilization created by humans, but he never neglects the emotional underpinnings of what the Spin comes to mean to humanitySpin to paraphrase Bogie, is the stuff that (SF) dreams are made of. -- The Globe and Mail "Like most of Wilson's books, Spin is an intelligent and inventive page-turner, with compelling characters and enough surprises to keep readers guessing right to the end. I recommend it highly." -- The Times-Colonist

Customer Reviews:

Hot Jazz at 78 RPM.......2007-10-07

Robert Charles Wilson's SPIN is just the kind of story that most people crave: one that draws you in and captivates you from the opening pages and then doesn't let you go. The arc of the story stretches out over basically two time periods--"basically," because the problem of the passage of time is key to the storyline. When, in the time period nearly contemporary with ours, the stars "disappear" one night, you're mesmerized; you, like the main characters, want to know what that's all about. That some understanding of this phenomenon will escape you for a few hundred pages yet to unfold shouldn't daunt you. Wilson keeps you fascinated as you unwrap each aspect of the mystery like layers of an onion.

SPIN doesn't carry the traditional plot structure of a story. There's exposition, but no building up to any real climax; the resolution is satisfying, but only to an extent. You just know it's a set-up for more stories to come, and indeed the author returns to this concept elsewhere. No matter. Like with most good science fiction, what moves this story are the relationships and interactions between the characters, in this case three lifelong friends, Jason, who possesses a gifted intellect, his sister Diane, who's sharp but perpetually spiritually longing, and their somewhat melancholy, jazz-loving friend to whom they're inextricably tied together by the friendship of their fathers. The story is told from the point of view of this friend, Tyler, who throughout his life is deeply and not quite secretly in love with Diane.

Also like good science fiction, the novel is driven by big ideas, in this case, the eventual extinction of the human race and the problem of faith. "Death" is a tried and true subject of literature, but it's usually science fiction that takes that to the ultimate extreme, the end of the species. One thinks of the movie CHILDREN OF MEN, and the P.D. James novel upon which it's based. Like that work, SPIN has its nightmarish scenes of a world on the verge of destruction, but also like CHILDREN OF MEN, the sense of despair is leavened with hope and faith. (In some respects, "Children of Men" makes more sense to me as a title for Wilson's book, but alas!) Faith--and lack thereof--is the other recurrent theme, which is interwoven with the first. The circumstances that imperil humankind bring out some of the worst excesses of religious fervor borne out of fear. The story's dread-laced religiosity is contrapuntal to the deep and abiding faith between the three main characters. Ultimately, Wilson perhaps doesn't have a lot to say (here, anyway) on the significance of the survival of the human race or on the problem of faith in God, but perhaps it's enough that he raises the questions in a meaningful and provocative way.

Simply put, SPIN is a great read. Wilson writes extremely well, and there is a lack of the sort of editing gaffes that often spoil long science fiction novels like this one. It's a novel that, despite its length, you don't want to put down and you don't want to end--except to go outside and be thankful the stars are still there.

The story of three friends at the end of time - sooner than you'd think!.......2007-10-06

Spin is basically the story of three friends growing up together. The brilliant Jason is being groomed as the heir to an aerospace empire. His sister Diane is almost as smart, but more philosophical and empathetic. Their housekeeper's son, Tyler, is a normal kid (although industrious enough to get into medical school) and the narrator of the action. Upon their world, when they are aged 12 or so, descends "the Spin." It is a membrane cutting mankind off from the rest of the universe, including their own sun, NASA's communications satellites, etc. Robert Charles Wilson's story is basically an apocalyptic one because outside the Spin membrane the universe is aging at an incredible rate - before the end of the natural lifetimes of the main characters, the sun will have expanded to its red giant state and engulfed the Earth. Thus, the race is on to determine the nature of the Spin membrane and the motives behind it. (Wilson does a clever thing - by naming the book and the membrane "Spin" he immediately wins over the skeptical physics types like me, who can readily accept the idea of time dilation through rotational motion as predicted by Relativity Theory and proven by experiment.)

Our characters grow up in the shadow of the Spin. Tyler has an unrequited love (or crush, at least) on Diane that he nurses through adolescence into adulthood. Diane chooses to deal with her species' coming mortality by finding religion (her father, a less understanding character, would call it a cult). Jason throws himself into finding out as much as he can about the nature of the Spin and some way to combat it. It turns out that mankind can traverse the membrane safely - thus, they send microbes and bacteria to start terraforming Mars. Located outside the Spin, time is moving at normal speed on Mars. Thus, within a year subjective time, Mars could become habitable (one hundred million years later in objective time).

That's all I'm going to say about the plot, because a dry description of the plot points is not really the point. The Spin is basically a McGuffin - a plot device to bring about crisis on Earth. Similar territory has been explored in science fiction using accelerated evolution ("Darwin's Radio," "Childhood's End"), an unstable sun going nova early ("Songs of Distant Earth"), even the coming of the Antichrist ("A Case of Conscience"). Even Tom Clancy's engineered ebola virus from Rainbow Six would have sufficed. Being a good sci fi book, we do eventually learn of the intelligence behind the membrane, and of its motives. But the point is mostly to bring an apocalyptic planetary crisis and to have our characters act out their parts in it.

Thus, at its heart, "Spin" is a story about human nature, and it's readable (and likeable) because it focuses on the characters and filters the action through their eyes. Told from the point of view of, say, a U.S. President, this story would not have been interesting. It's key that we like and identify with the characters. Granted, it's hard to identify with a genius like Jason after he's also become the nation's top power broker, but Wilson carefully builds up his character before he becomes that power broker, so we sympathise and even relate to him. In fact, I found Diane's character to be the hardest to believe - like most science fiction writers (exceptions: Sawyer and Card), Wilson seems to be uncomfortable with religion (or hostile to it) . His hard-core preacher pulling quotes from the Book of Revelations is convincing enough, but not his "free love" sect nor the participation of the thoughtful Diane (or even her less thoughtful but not gullible husband Simon) in such cults. This is the trait that drops the book from 5-star to 4-star level.

All in all, the book is certainly interesting, and a page-turner. Wilson uses the plot device of revealing the "present" alternating with the events leading up to it, and this device has never been used more effectively. Both the search for knowledge about the Spin, and the very human emotions and interactions behind the scenes, are engrossing, and the book is certainly deserving of its awards and accolades.

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

This really is pretty good, complete with 'holy crap' moment at the end.

The Earth is cocooned in a pocket of slow time, why?

Large scientific effort goes into looking at the problem, seen through the eyes of 2 of 3 childhood friends.

Naturally, all sorts of religi0ns go whacko, and religi0us whackos spring up, given the possible immiment death of the Earth, due to time differentials with the Sun.

This book is a lot more focused on a few characters, though, even a Martian.

Wilson Gets Better and Better.......2007-08-20

"Spin" follows three main characters for several decades after an unexplainable astrophysical event envelops the Earth within a temporal shroud. The stars are gone just like that, and time beyond the shroud--beyond the "Spin"--is advancing much more rapidly than time on Earth. This opens up some incredible opportunities for exploration, when, due to the time slip, a slow-moving rocket to another planet or into the far galaxy will have arrived and returned data within minutes of its launch. Also interesting and well thought out is the fatalistic psychology of the people on Earth, especially within the generation raised during the "Spin" who have never known any other way of life.

Robert Charles Wilson's early books described some fascinating science but his characterizations and plot development were weak. Wilson's skill has improved with each new book, though, and I believe that "Spin" is his best book yet. Not only does his science force the reader to think, but his characterizations are very strong and he has finally constructed an ending that is satisfying and complete; one that leaves open the opportunity for a new series.

Best. Science Fiction. Novel. Ever. (or at least in top five).......2007-07-15

_Spin_ by Robert Charles Wilson is the best. Science fiction novel. Ever. Yes, I mean that. I would put it up against _Dune_ , _A Fire Upon the Deep_, and _Ender's Game_, it is that unbelievably good. Or if it is not the best one ever, it definitely belongs in the top five.

Bold words I know and I run the risk of overselling the book but this novel is what other science fiction novelists should aspire to create. It has everything.

The basic premise - no spoilers here, you can get this from the back cover of the book - is that one October night the three main characters, three adolescents, Diane and Jason Lawton (fraternal twins) and their best friend Tyler Dupree are out on the lawn stargazing when the Moon and stars disappear, the sky become a flat black. Rushing inside, they learn that all satellite communications have been lost and the world is in a panic. News from the other side of the world is hard to come by, and the three wait with trepidation to see if the Sun will even rise in the morning.

It does, but it is a strange sun, an almost generic Sun, a perfect one without evidence of solar flares, prominences, or sunspots. An idealization of a Sun.

It becomes clear to the government, military, and scientists that a planet-spanning shield, a membrane, has been erected around the globe, completely blocking sight of the stars and Moon from the people of the Earth. The Sun that that people see, that is still driving the world's weather, ecology, and agriculture, is a simulacrum; for all intents and purposes, the real Sun but upon study obviously not an actual star.

It gets stranger though. The Spin membrane (the event comes to be called the Spin) has two highly unusual properties. One, it has produced a huge time discontinuity; for every second that passes on Earth, something like 3 years passes outside the membrane. Two, the membrane is selectively permeable. As obviously the Earth would be fried if 3 years of sunlight hit the planet every second, the "Sun" is a filtered representation of actual sunlight. Similarly, the planet is protected from similar accumulations of cosmic radiation. However, the membrane is permeable to manmade items, both coming and going. This is in fact how the unique temporal properties of the membrane were discovered, as survivors of the International Space Station fell to earth the first night of the Spin but claimed that they had been orbiting a frightening, black, blank world for three weeks! At first kept secret, this does eventually get out to the public.

The novel follows the next 30-odd years of history after the creation of the Spin membrane through the eyes of the three main characters. Each tackles the brave new era in his or her own way, each in ways that thoroughly flesh out the character, are true to the characters personalities and desires, and illuminate different aspects of the Spin Earth. Jason devotes his life to unraveling the mysteries of the Spin, trying to understand who did, what it means, and how to defeat it. Diane instead embraces religion, joining a different segment of the population who is trying to come to terms with the event through spiritual means. Tyler is in some sense the outsider, the unattached one, in the outside looking in as a child and still as an adult. He becomes a physician and travels between the two worlds, Diane's and Jason's.

The novel is also a love story, as Tyler nourishes strong unrequited love for Diane, who herself has strongly conflicted feelings for him in turn. As events in the Spin unfold, Diane and Tyler almost connect again and again but events in their personal lives - irrevocably tied up in the Spin - keep them apart.

It is an also an end of the world story. As 30-odd years pass on Earth, 300 billion years pass outside the Spin membrane. During that time the Sun has swollen and would be lethal to life on Earth if the membrane were to disappear. Instead of the Spin being seen as a prison, it instead becomes the only thing keeping humanity alive. But for how long? Will the membrane disappear, the Earth left to the blazing and merciless fury of a senescent Sun, the oceans boiling away, all life turned to cinders and ash? Or is something else in store? Humanity - and the main characters - struggle with the issue.

The novel continually adds surprises, with developments in the characters personal lives, how the world reacts to the Spin, and the absolutely fascinating and exciting things that are done to study and fight against the Spin, wonderful things that have you exited as you read them, going to yourself, "wow, I never thought of that." So many things happen, things I would love to tell you about, but I won't. Get the book and read it. Now. This is epic science fiction. This has fantastic writing. This has incredibly well-done characters. And it has a mind-blowing ending. Oh, and a sequel, _Axis_, due out in September, which I plan to get.

Voices from Legendary Times: We Are a Bridge Between Past and Future

Average customer rating:

What Part of Our World are we "Doomed to Repeat"?
Are there no editors at iUniverse?
Poorly written but worth the read
Great book
Answers all the questions

Voices from Legendary Times: We Are a Bridge Between Past and Future
Ellen Lloyd
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595367380

Book Description

About the book: What is the connection between lost civilizations, ancient cosmic catastrophes, and extraterrestrial visitations in prehistory? Voices from Legendary Times draws together compelling evidence from archaeology, astronomy, geology, myths, and ancient texts to prove that superior beings from outer space genetically engineered several human races on our planet. . Examines the flaws in the theory of evolution. . Proves that giants were an important, yet now forgotten part of our history. . Explains what really caused the destruction of highly advanced civilizations and continents like Atlantis, Lemuria, and Thule. . Reveals that our ancestors were familiar with flying machines and nuclear weapons. . Shows proof of extraterrestrial contact in the Bible. In the search for lost origins of humanity, Ellen Llyod demonstrates that races of men have inhabited Earth for millions of years, but not all of them were human. Ancient sources describe the past ages as world cycles. The mysteries of the forgotten past reveal that the humans and all living beings have not been created once, but are products of a continuous re-creation process performed and guided by alien gods. Learn why our history is more startling than we could ever imagine!

Customer Reviews:

What Part of Our World are we "Doomed to Repeat"?.......2007-09-27

We, on this planet, are repeatedly told; "He who forgets the Past, is doomed to repeat It; but, if we have already forgotten "it" "or...never even been told "it", where & how do we even start to get "clue one" about what "it"is? Legendary Times definitely gets a person off on the right foot, gets that foot in the door and that toe in the water! The ancient brought to light, & the public.

Legendary Times puts in one place; stories, facts, legends, recovered artifacts, scientific results, & first person accounts of humanity's origins. This compilation is written for the casual reader, yet still contains good clues for a researcher. If Legendary Times has a downside, it can be said to sort of "trail off towards the end" leaving one wishing for more data.

I bought a copy for a friend and find I am always going back to reference a fact.

Are there no editors at iUniverse?.......2007-09-03

There are a lot of problems with this book but the most glaring are the punctuation, sentence fragments and lack of continuity. If this book was translated from another language into English, where were the proofreaders? I've read lots of books translated from other languages that don't have these irritating mistakes.

With that said, I wonder about the research. Among her many assertions, she states that bones of giants found in CA were re-buried in order to suppress the true history of our origin. How does she know this? Though she has sources listed in the back of the book, there are no footnotes to indicate her source for such conclusions. I would think a mathematician, as the jacket states she is, would be more likely to demand proof. Her off-hand conclusions are not based on any arguments or proof that I found in her writing.

I believe there were civilizations prior to the Egyptian/Mesopotamian civilizations but this book is shallow and offers only wild speculation.

Save your money and eyesight.

Poorly written but worth the read.......2007-02-01

This book would be excellent if it were better written. My guess is that English is not the author's primary language. But beneath the annoyingly dropped words (especially "the"), incomplete and awkward sentences, and randomly placed commas is a wealth of substance. The author makes an excellent case that scholars should take cultural myths and legends more seriously, that there are important truths within the stories.
The tour of mysterious sites around the world, along with other evidence of long-lost great civilizations in our distant past, is relatively comprehensive and interesting. Yes, the "ancient astronauts" theory has for some time now been an object of merciless ridicule, but the ever growing body of anomalous evidence, in my opinion, continues to call conventional notions of human origins into question. Although this poorly written book would never suffice in an academic setting, it most certainly can serve well to introduce the reader to related theories proposed by the likes of Velikovsky, Alford, Hancock, Sitchen, and of course the controversial and giggle-factor encrusted popularizer, Erich von Daniken. If one is willing and able to push aside the ridicule, approach these theories objectively (and also tolerate annoying grammatical errors and typos) for the sake of understanding content, buy Voices, for it serves as a very good compilation of evidence proposed supporting ancient astronauts related claims.

Great book.......2006-08-10

[...]
Voices from Legendary Times by Ellen Lloyd
I have to be honest from the start, I am not a lover of books that deal with visiting "crafts" from outer space as an answer to the mysteries of the past. Ever since reading Daniken's book I always felt that many statements and claims were made without the evidence to back them up, and yet Ellen Lloyd has done a superb job in uncovering a huge and bewildering amount of
data. This is not just a simple tale claiming that ships landed on the pyramids of Giza, no, this is a really good and clever investigation into hundreds of mysteries, from the Hopi indians to the Maya, oh yes, and a really good read.

There are the infamous authors on extraterrestrial visitation such as Sitchin and Daniken with all their flaws and there are many unsung authors such as Ellen Lloyd who deserve to have their voices heard. The simple reason being that Ellen has done more research and uncovered more enigmas than Sitchin and Daniken put together and all this in one book. From the
moment Ellen steps into the "theory of evolution" she had me hooked because I associated with her as she ripped it to shreds. And then, without blinking she moved headlong into a territory many so-called authors would fear to
tread - Atlantis. In her cleverly deduced assumption there was much more to this ancient tale than previously believed - not least of which involved much more advanced technical abilities in ancient times.

Whatever your thoughts on little green men; whether you think there's something at Area 51 or not, you will be hooked by this well-written book that far surpasses the many other ET books I have read before. This is not a "it happened to me" story, but a really serious investigation into areas academics fear to tread and for that alone Ellen deserves applause.
Philip Gardiner, 2006

Answers all the questions.......2006-06-05

As a true supporter of the ancient astronauts' theory, I find this book a great contribution to this field. For me personally, the AAS theory answers all the crucial questions regarding mankind's past. Who are we, were do we come from, who created us and why?
I hope that Ellen Lloyd will keep up her good work and continue where Däniken and Sitchin left off. I look forward to her next book.

Ian Martin,
London, UK

Bat Boy Lives!: The WEEKLY WORLD NEWS Guide to Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks that Shape Our World

Average customer rating:

If you have seen Men in Black . . .
So funny
set your faces to stun
Weekly Word News Lives on in this WONDERFUL book.
A zany presentation

Bat Boy Lives!: The WEEKLY WORLD NEWS Guide to Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks that Shape Our World
Editors of Weekly World News , and David Perel
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1402728239

Book Description

All the news that's not fit to print! Browse through this fascinating compendium of the best of the Weekly World News and you'll never look at the world the same way again.

Admit it. You've sneaked a peek at the supermarket checkout. Where else could you find the scoop on which senators are aliens, or Saddam and Osama's torrid love affair? Serious newshounds know the Weekly World News (which counts over a million beings as readers) broke the story that Elvis still lives, but it also has exclusives on what kind of pizza was served at Jesus' last supper, who's the father of the Loch Ness monster's baby, and (of course) the various escapades of Bat Boy, the half man/half bat found in a West Virginia cave almost 15 years ago. For the dedicated follower of the fantastic, and for the uninitiated too, Bat Boy Lives! contains all these vital dispatches and much more. Because the truth...is in here.

Customer Reviews:

If you have seen Men in Black . . ........2007-10-07

. . . then you understand why this coffee-table size book is a must have for your reference library, especially since the Weekly World News recently quit publishing. This thing would be hilarious, if it weren't so true. My only disappointment was that, while the book includes the excellent article explaining that Abe Lincoln was female (yes folks, "Babe" Lincoln), the editors neglected to include a related and one of my all time favorite WWN articles: "Woman Gives Birth to Abe Lincoln" (that is WITH beard). You'll enjoy this.

So funny.......2007-09-06

My dad loved this book...he used to collect the newspapers to get his students interested in reading something...anything!

set your faces to stun.......2007-08-09

This and the Holy Bible are the only two books you need.

I continue to be baffled why folks believe The New York Times but not the Weekly World News. The WWN has *never* had to print a retraction or correction. It is the journalistic standard to which the Columbia Review of Journalism should benchmark.

Modern documentation off what Old Scratch is up to.

You may want to get a copy of "Let's Pave the Stupid Rainforest and Give Teachers Stun Guns."

Weekly Word News Lives on in this WONDERFUL book. .......2007-07-30

Heard the Weekly World News isn't going to be publishing it's funny newspaper anymore. Was so sorry to hear this. Always loved reading the headlines as I waited in the grocery store line. Maybe should have purchased the paper every time I laughed at a headline and they'd still be in business. This book brings all the top of the tops in Weekly World News back. VERY well produced and all the articles will make you laugh out loud.

From President Clinton's 3 breasted intern to blobs from space eating farmer's trucks it's all here.

HIGHLY recommended.

A zany presentation.......2007-01-07

It's hard to easily categorize BAT BOY LIVES!: it's a humor title which also is based on the Weekly World News gossip publication's impossible, sensationalist headlines - and it provides tongue-in-cheek commentary on celebrities, culture, politics, alien abductions and more within its pages of 'impossible events'. Black and white photos blend with 'truths' to make for a zany presentation indeed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America's Illegal Aliens

Average customer rating:

Unique observations of life as an undocumented worker
Coyotes: a borderlands journey by a journalist & now professor
An often unseen vantage point
Outstanding book
Outstanding glimpse into the lives of undocumented Mexicans

Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America's Illegal Aliens
Ted Conover
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394755189
Release Date: 1987-08-12

Customer Reviews:

Unique observations of life as an undocumented worker.......2007-03-21

This is one of a handful of books recently written where the author joins a group of undocumented workers crossing the border in attempt to gain employment in the United States. The interesting twist here is that the author, though apparently fluent in Spanish, is white. He also attempts to work in the fields himself, as opposed to simply observing and writing about the work of others. This leads to a number of unique experiences and observations on race relations that are rarely discussed in this context. It also allows the reader to better understand what life is like for many undocumented workers in this country. Kudos to Ted Conover for making a sincere effort to better understand the lives of those that would not otherwise be recorded.

Coyotes: a borderlands journey by a journalist & now professor.......2007-01-10

This story rivets the reader to the writer's acceptance (guarded) by poor Hispanics as he seeks to be an Imbed with them when they cross the border at a couple of different sites. There was the interception by Mexican border police and their payoff; then life beyond the border on the way to nearby farms serviced by Coyotes (travel guides and job finders) and potato fields of Idaho (serviced by the same dependable families year after year).
It gives many glimpses of that struggle to pass on a better life to the kids.

The writer may influence many who would become investigative reporters.

An often unseen vantage point.......2006-09-30

This is an important book, particularly in today's charged political climate. It is very easy to deal in absolutes when one deals with abstract ideas, but what Conover does well, is to humanize those ideas. While many speak of illegal imigration, Conover speaks of specific imigrants. He shares their perspectives,not condemning them, not glorifying them, but merely letting them tell their stories.

Aditionally Conover is remarkable for the amount of energy he put into getting to know his subject. Half of the worth of the book is the story of the migrants, the other half certainly is Conover's own story.

Outstanding book.......2006-08-31

I live in Southern California, and work with and around illegal aliens (or undocumented workers) on a daily basis. This is one of the best works written by an Anglo-American on the subject I have read. Conover took the time to really get to know these people, and not just from an investigative point of view. He worked the fields with these men, lived as they did and currently do, and even took a beating for it. Actually knowing and physically feeling what these migrants do gives him credibility far beyond other reporters/journalists who ask only questions, and feel that they are "in depth" after spending a week with their "subjects". Conover makes his experience personal, and the reader feels like this is a story told over dinner. The next time you are at the grocery store, after reading this book, you'll have a greater appreciation for the bag of oranges you are buying, and the story behind them.

Outstanding glimpse into the lives of undocumented Mexicans.......2006-06-26

Written all the way back in the mid-1980s, long before all the heated rhetoric about illegal immigration going on in the US today, this book has turned out to be amazingly prescient. I feel like I would have had a much better understanding of this subject (not to mention appreciation of the people involved) had I discovered it a long time ago, but I suppose late is better than never.

Ted Conover did what I don't imagine very many other Americans would have the courage to do: Cross illegally from Mexico into the US with Mexicans doing the same thing. In doing so, he gives readers incredible insight into what compels some Mexicans to make that journey (i.e what life is like where they come from), what the journey is like, and what awaits them on this side of the border. I found myself exceedingly grateful for having been born American and simply in awe of the Mexicans who live such vastly disparate lives from their privileged neighbors to the north.

Conover simply relates his experiences to readers without the kind of ideological commentary or other editorializing that can get in the way of the facts surrounding the contentious issues involved. Coyotes is a well-written, touching, informative, and inspiring book that should be required reading for all Americans before they open their mouths about illegal immigration.

Incredible Technologies Of The New World Order; UFOs - Tesla - Area 51

Average customer rating:

A Great Book.
who really knows?
Should be six stars, wish i had a way off this doomed rock!
Should be six stars, wish i had a way off this doomed rock!
Idiotic !!

Incredible Technologies Of The New World Order; UFOs - Tesla - Area 51
Commander X
Manufacturer: Inner Light - Global Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0938294385

Book Description

Is there evidence of a joint alien-military plot to control humankind?

Go inside Area 5l. Learn of the

latest developments in Tesla

Technology and Free Energy. Haarp.

Philadelphia Experiment. Secret Beam

Weapons and New World Order.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book........2005-04-12

This was one of my favorite books by Commander X. He brought up quite a bit of unique perspective and information not found anywhere else. I especially enjoyed the EDOM (Electronic Dissolution of Memory); the RHIC (Radio-Hypnotic Intra-Cerebral Control) and the writings on the separation and physics of consciousness. Chapter six puts it all together, and the book is worth it just for this chapter. I am glad I bought it and found it very interesting.

who really knows?.......2002-10-23

I must say that I found most of this book a little far fetched for my belief system. Actually a lot far fetched. I can't comprehend Germans on the moon in 1944 nor Nazi bases under Antarctica. Nazi super cities in South America? Nazi contact with Aliens in the late 1800s? Where there Nazi's in the late 1800s? Guess I'll have to find that out first.

But some of the theories could be true. Many have speculated about the one world government takeover that may or may not be coming true as things evolve. The theories on gun control are interesting.

While I can't completely ignore everything in this book I beleive that most of it is quite a stretch. Pure fiction. The sources he sights are others who write about the same thing. Everytime you might think he is going to offer some concrete proof he hides behind the old "if I tell you who I am I will die" line. However, I found the chapter on Tesla quite interesting. And many of his statements in the chapter have been verified. So, is the entire book true since one chapter seems more verifiable? This is why I could not give it a one star rating. There seems to be some truth in this book. The problem becomes figuring out where it is.

Should be six stars, wish i had a way off this doomed rock!.......2002-08-31

A masterpiece told by Commander X with a simple honesty who, by his subject matter, is probably talking in public only very briefy and probably with finality. A world sold without a public sale under new ownership neither friendly nor benign. Commander X is pulling no punches... and dead god in the sky help us if he is.

Should be six stars, wish i had a way off this doomed rock!.......2002-08-31

Idiotic !!.......2002-04-16

Stupid book written by someone who might possibly need therapy. Who is in control of the earth, Aliens or rich humans? Did you know that the United Nations wants to take over the world so they can "legalize all drugs and pornography", and "depopulate all large cities into camp systems in the countryside" (page 139). If you want a book about one world government then buy a different one, this is silly kids stuff.

Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast

Average customer rating:

Extra extra read all about it!
Who can you believe?
They're here. They're aliens. Get used to it.
Kid-Friendly Art and Great Information

Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast
Meghan Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375835180
Release Date: 2006-02-14

Book Description

It was an ordinary night in October of 1938 until a news bulletin interrupted the dance music on CBS radio–aliens were invading the United States!
Meghan McCarthy’s hilarious Aliens Are Coming! tells the true story of the Halloween radio prank that duped much of the country into believing that Martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actual War of the Worlds radio broadcast and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930s (before the time of televisions and computers) as well as facts about Orson Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based.

Customer Reviews:

Extra extra read all about it!.......2007-01-29

Aliens Are Coming is about a false radio broadcst about aliens.This book illustrates how a little prank could affect so many people. I thought this book was great and you should too.

Who can you believe?.......2006-06-02

This would be a great way to start a unit for upper elementary kids on media and truth in journalism. It's a visual delight, and has lots of details to spark further inquiry. While most kids today think they are pretty media-wise, can they indeed tell the difference between "entertainment" and "infotainment?" A fun visually engaging introduction to the "War of the Worlds" broadcast, might provoke some interesting conversations in the classroom.

They're here. They're aliens. Get used to it........2006-05-13

Picture book non-fiction. A hard format to write in, or the hardest format to write in? Every year countless libraries get inundated with the same old same old. Your bee books. Your dinosaur books. Your fifteen different biographies of Teddy Roosevelt. So you can imagine my surprise when I picked up a book that looked... different. You don't expect something called, "Aliens Are Coming" to be factual. You especially don't expect it to tell the truth when you flip through the pages and see large multi-tentacle-laden outer space beasties terrorizing the natural landscape. But then, it helps to know your history. Seeing the 1938 radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" for what it truly was (perfect picture book fare), McCarthy gives us, thrills, chills, and some wonderful little factoids in the back of what I might well call my favorite non-fiction picture book of 2006.

It's the 1930s! Good old 1930s. Open the book and here's a cheery announcer telling kids that back in the thirties the primary source of entertainment and information was the radio. It then explains that some people "were easily fooled by a radio play that sounded like an actual news bulletin". Turn the page, and everything is black and white. We're looking at a typical American street scene. "It was October, 30, 1938, the day before Halloween". We next see a nice black and white scene of a family gathered in their living room. The noise coming out of the radio forms into colorful dancing sequences. Suddenly an announcer comes on and starts talking about a flaming meteorite that has fallen in New Jersey. As the listeners grow worried, the scene shifts to a field where a group of people stand around as a flying saucer slowly begins to open up. It's aliens! And they've come to conquer us all! They ransack the farmlands. They invade the cities. They land all over the country. "Was this the end of the world?" Certainly a lot of people listening thought so. The pictures are back to black and white and we're seeing clogged highways and jammed phone lines, and police investigating perfectly calm fields in the country. It wasn't the end of the world. It was Orson Welles and his troupe of actors at the Mercury Theatre performing a realistic version of "War of the Worlds". Interesting factual information rounds off the book with the true story and fun info about subsequent readings of the story (with similar results).

Part of the fun of this book is that there is no indication that any of this story might not be entirely on the up and up until you reach its end. Then it finishes a bit abruptly. Still, imagine introducing this book to a room full of second graders. You tell them in all seriousness (preferably around Halloween time) that this book is a true story. True true true. Then you fill their little heads with a wacked-out tale of alien invasion and widespread panic. The fact that they've been duped only makes them (like those poor 1938 American citizens) only more intrigued and want to read the book again and again later. The pictures make it ideal read-aloud material, to say nothing of the haunting scenes, colorful during the broadcast and bleak in real life. Though McCarthy works with a misleadingly simple palette, her pictures have a great deal of depth, tone, and character to them.

Actually, author/illustrator Meghan McCarthy has always struck me as being underrated. She first came to my attention when she wrote, "The Adventures of Patty and the Big Red Bus". Like a cohesive Lauren Child, McCarthy is particularly good at her atmospheric round-eyed cartoonish illustrations. She seems at her best when she's writing non-fiction too. Her factual information bringing up the book's rear is just amazing. All in all, this is one of the most amusing and wonderful titles to grace libraries and bookstores this or any year. A great idea for a book and superb follow-through. Amusing to its core.

Kid-Friendly Art and Great Information.......2006-05-02

One of the most famous - or infamous - hoaxes in American history, an event that terrified hundreds of thousands and sent normal people into panic-driven frenzies, may not be the first thing you'd think of when you consider writing a picture book for young readers, but thank goodness Meghan McCarthy had a vision for this book that presents this very significant snippet of Americana in a way that not only won't scare the bejeezus out of your little alien hunter, it will entertain them with great, kid-friendly art, and educate them with photos of the period and some really well-researched historical information in the back pages that will make this one a staple in American classrooms. A must for anyone studying the time period.

James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep: Voyages to the Strange World of the Deep Ocean

Average customer rating:

Amazing sights
Very disappointing
A fine acquisition for any collection strong in science
Beautiful Pictures From a World So Near and Yet So Far
Aliens of the deep

James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep: Voyages to the Strange World of the Deep Ocean
Joe Macinnis
Manufacturer: National Geographic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792293436
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Book Description

The search for life in space begins on the ocean floor...

Far beneath the ocean's surface, beyond the reach of the sun, an astonishing community of animals lives in a world of searing heat, intense pressure, and absolute darkness. In Aliens of the Deep, Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron and a crew of scientists embark on an extraordinary mission to document this extreme environment. What they learn about the deep sea may one day help scientists search for life on other worlds.

Aliens of the Deep takes readers miles below the sea to volcanic hot springs -- hydrothermal vents -- where superheated water flows from Earth's crust into the cold, deep ocean. These vents are surprising oases of life, home to blind crabs, seething hordes of shrimp, reefs of mussels and clams, and swarms of microbes that have found a way to adapt in one ~of the most unlikely places on the planet. Unknown until 1977 and still largely, unexplored, hydrothermal vent fields support no life-giving photosynthesis. Yet many scientists believe that at sites like these, life on Earth may have begun.

Spectacular high-resolution photography brings this breathtaking world into focus: jellyfish that appear to glow from within, hideous-looking anglerfish, and the stunning architecture of the calcite towers of a site dubbed "Lost City."

Aliens of the Deep asks: If life can survive in this extreme environment on Earth, can the conditions to sustain life exist elsewhere in the universe? Veteran ocean explorer and writer Dr. Joseph MacInnis follows Cameron and his crew as they overcome technical and physical challenges to make a giant-screen film that provides an unprecedented view of this savage and surreal world.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing sights.......2007-08-26

This is a marvelous documentary which takes you to the ocean floor and shows you things you would never see otherwise. Amazing shots of alien-like creatures which inhabit those depths. The bright young scientists in this documentary add greatly to this film.

Very disappointing.......2005-08-23

If you'd like a glossed over review of making a movie this might interest you but if you have any knowledge about the abyss, its creatures or the vents which have been known now for more than 25 years, this book will leave you disappointed. The few images of the creatures are poor, especially when taken by a 70mm IMAX which is 4 times the size of a 35mmm slide. The lack of creatures shown, the poor descriptions of them , etc. make for armchair reading that will put you to sleep unless you're enthralled by the California mystique of a director's name and little substance. I doubt I'll see the film either. When I buy something about the sea or other natural subjects I expect to learn something from it, not be poorly entertained. The references to Europa and its possible ocean are interesting but would go better with a book of some substance about its main subject.

A fine acquisition for any collection strong in science.......2005-08-08

James Cameron provides the introduction to his companion volume to the 3-D giant-screen film Aliens Of The Deep, which probes miles below the sea to volcanic hot spring vents serving as the homes for unexpected life. These vents were unknown until 1977 and today remain largely unexplored: the high-resolution photography brings what's known of this world to vivid visual life, and the companion book packs in pages of text to supplement the full-page color photos. Both public and school libraries will consider it a fine acquisition for any collection strong in science.

Beautiful Pictures From a World So Near and Yet So Far.......2005-05-20

This is the companion volume to the 3-D, Giant-Screen Film. The nice thing about having these pictures in book form is that they don't flash by the screen and disappear. And of course, the quality of the pictures had better be good.

Some reviewers have complained about the quality of these images. I do not agree. These pictures are supurb. The fact that they exist at all is amazing. Then you have to realize that they are taken a mile or two or three below the surface of the ocean. It's a long ways down there, you can't spend long there, and you are shooting the picture through water. And the pictures you are taking are of things that man has never seen before, at one point they counted 500 newly identified species.

I also liked the occassional reference to the way this is not unlike space exploration, one comment, "piloting a mini-sub at 12,000 feet is very similar to flying a spacecraft to another planet. You must be prepared for isolation and the risk of losing your life."

Thank you guys for going down there, I don't believe I want to go with you. I'll just look at the pictures.

Aliens of the deep.......2005-01-30

This is a must read for all divers. If you have no Imax this is it but see the 3d and have the book set it all off. A great book to add to my diving books. Great for teachers to use in class as a reference or add to reading list. So much water so little time.

Average customer rating:

Without Spin, Axis is promising but weak
Good, Not Great
exciting scientific fiction thriller
An adequate, well-written sequel to a superb novel.

Axis
Robert Charles Wilson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0765309394
Release Date: 2007-09-18

Book Description

Wildly praised by readers and critics alike, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin won science fiction’s highest honor, the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Now, in Spin’s direct sequel, Wilson takes us to the "world next door"--the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world--and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.

Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world will become very alien indeed--as the nature of time is once again twisted, by entities unknown.

Customer Reviews:

Without Spin, Axis is promising but weak.......2007-10-08

I've not read Spin, the "first book" in this series. Now I have to admit my bias up front... books are either part of a series or stand-alone, and there was nothing that made me think a reader was required to read Spin before tackling Axis. With that said...

Axis was intriguing. Humans on Earth have been manipulated by the mysterious "Hypotheticals", with the Earth being "cocooned in time" for about a million years. Humans on Mars have evolved their own way, and they are now different from humans on Earth. The Hypotheticals have left a portal on Earth that takes people to another planet, a place readily colonized. This story occurs there.

Bioengineering techniques developed on Mars, and outlawed on Earth, are showing up. There is talk of a human being developed to act as a communications link with the Hypotheticals. Earth is not happy, since this involved giving these Mars-developed technologies to an unborn child. In the meantime, the mysterious Hypotheticals continue to amaze, this time in the form of a "rain" of ash comprised of tiny pieces of complex machines and life forms.

The point of this book is that search for that child, and the new links with the Hypotheticals.

I guess that the Hypotheticals are much better developed and discussed in Spin, although little is known about "them" (life form? machine?). In Axis, no one discusses, if they are machines. who made the Hypotheticals?

As a stand-alone story, Axis was temporarily exciting, but really slipped at the end. Does the reader understand Hypotheticals better? Do humans have a better link with them? Are Martians repairing their relationship with Earth? Do the Fourths really threaten Earth society?

So... I'm interested in reading Spin. I couldn't recommend Axis without this. But there is enough there that I'd like to know more about those mysterious Hypotheticals.

Good, Not Great.......2007-09-24

I couldn't wait to read Axis. Wilson is one of my favorite writers, and a sequel to Spin would surely be awesome. It's hard to live up to expectations like that, though, and now that I'm done, I'm trying not to feel disappointed. On its own, Axis is a fine book, one of the few decent sci-fi novels this year. The problem is, I've come away from every other Wilson book going, "Wow, that was amazing!" With Axis, although I enjoyed it, I just wasn't blown away like I expected to be.

Wilson is an accomplished storyteller. He specializes in taking big, crazy "What-If" scenarios, making them plausible, and viewing them through the lives of credible human characters. What if Europe were suddenly replaced by a wilderness? What if gigantic war memorials began appearing from the future? In Spin, the Earth is enclosed in a barrier by an unknown alien power, nicknamed the Hypotheticals. After a few years inside the barrier, Earth emerges four billion years into the future, with a transdimensional gateway in the Indian Ocean that leads to a new, inhabitable planet, Equatoria.

Axis takes place thirty years later on the new frontier world. The story follows Lise, an intelligent, 30's-ish woman who is looking for clues to her father's disappearance 15 years earlier. Her search leads her into the shadowy world of the Fourths, humans who have illegally taken a Martian longevity treatment. The ultimate goal of the group is to establish contact with the Hypotheticals, through Isaac, a boy with special abilities. On the run from the authorities, Lise and her companions end up learning more about the Hypotheticals than they bargained for.

As with any Wilson novel, the writing is superb and the characters well-drawn. The ideas are interesting, and there's action and intrigue and romance. The story starts slowly, but builds to a ferocious climax. It's all good... yet it still seems smaller than his previous books somehow. It's like a kid in class who always gets 100%, and this time he got a 92%. It's still good work, and it's still better than almost all the other kids, but it's not quite the triumph you're used to. It's hard for a sequel to be as creative as its predecessor, and perhaps it's unfair to expect it to be. But there you go.

The verdict? I enjoyed Axis, and I recommend it. But if you're new to Wilson, start with Darwinia or Spin.

exciting scientific fiction thriller.......2007-09-21

The Hypotheticals, self-replicating machines and perhaps so much more put Earth in stasis for four billion year and when it emerged, an arch was built that connects Earth to the New World that can only be reached by boat. Humans have colonized the New World many who have prices on their head. Fourths who has been taking anti-aging medicines created from the srains of Mechanicals lives on the New World in comparative freedom compared to the earth where it is outlawed.

Lisa Adams has come from Earth to the New World to find out what happened to her father after he disappeared. She teams up with Turk Findlay who has connection to the Fourths and he takes her to the location where he dropped Sulean Moi off. They find a splinter group of Fourths who performed unethical surgery putting part of a mechanical into the embryo that eventually become Isaac. They hope to make contact with the Mechanicals but what happens creates more questions than answers.

If any book deserves a sequel, this one does. It would be great to know what the mechanicals are; if they are sentient; if they are powerful enough to change the course of a species destiny. This exciting scientific fiction thriller demonstrates just how great a story teller Robert Charles Wilson is. Readers will thoroughly enjoy the entertaining storyline which will be read in one sitting.

Harriet Klausner

An adequate, well-written sequel to a superb novel........2007-09-21

I don't know if Axis is meant to be the middle book of a trilogy, but it certainly feels like it. It falls in the same trap as many other "middle stories", attempting to build upon the ideas and themes of the first novel, with stunning revelations of its own, but unable to fully flesh out its own purpose without bringing the entire arc to conclusion.

This may be up for debate, but I do believe reading Axis requires one to have read Spin. While the most of the primary players in Axis make their debut here, the story truly builds on the events of Spin. And let's just say the Hypotheticals (the galaxy-spanning artificial intelligence that set the Spin in motion) "remember" the events of the first novel.

This is not a great Robert Charles Wilson book...which is kinda like saying "this is a slow Ferarri". Wilson has been in a class of his own since "A Bridge of Years", writing character-driven sci-fi for geeks with a passing knowledge of cosmology and physics. To me, Axis reads a bit like Bios. Its short and to the point, hurtling along like a freight train toward a brick wall. Things feel like they won't end well. Characters get short-shrifted in service of the inscrutable plot.

But like most "middle stories" (I hate to say this, but I think "The Matrix Reloaded" is a good example), I think Wilson is building toward something huge. Spin was great because he expertly juggled big ideas, big science and great characters and the end of the book felt like closure. Things are much more open-ended in Axis.

Communities without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration

Average customer rating:

Communities without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration
David Bacon
Manufacturer: ILR Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photojournalism | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0801473071

Book Description

"When we finally arrived at my brother's house in the United States, I thought about how far I was from home in Mexico. I looked back, saw the sun setting, and thought about my father and what he might be doing. I thought, 'Why did I come so far, and how am I going to return?' Before I left my father asked me why I wanted to leave. He said he thought we would never see each other again. My brother told him not to worry and that he would return me in a year. . . . He was right, because we never did."-Irma Luna recalls her experience of migration, from Communities without Borders

In his stunning work of photojournalism and oral history, David Bacon documents the new reality of migrant experience: the creation of transnational communities. Today's indigenous migrants don't simply move from one point to another but create new communities all along the northern road from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States, connected by common culture and history. Drawing on his experience as a photographer and a journalist and also as a former labor organizer, Bacon portrays the lives of the people who migrate between Guatemala and Mexico and the United States. He takes us inside these communities and illuminates the ties that bind them together, the influence of their working conditions on their families and health, and their struggle for better lives.

Bacon portrays in photographs and their own words Mixtec and Triqui migrants in Oaxaca, Baja California, and California; Guatemalan migrants in Huehuetenango and Nebraska; miners and indigenous communities in Sonora and Arizona; and veterans of the bracero program of the 1940s and 1950s. Bacon's interviews with this first wave of guest workers are especially relevant in light of the current political focus on guest-worker programs as a model for reforming immigration, an approach with which Bacon strongly disagrees.

Throughout Communities without Borders, Bacon emphasizes the social movements migrants organize to improve their own working conditions and the well-being of their enclaves. U.S. border policy treats undocumented immigrants as an aggregation of individuals, ignoring the social pressures that force whole communities to move and the networks of families and hometowns that sustain them on their journeys. Communities without Borders makes an urgent appeal for understanding the human reality that should inform our national debate over immigration.

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