Book Description
In Book Two of the Heechee Saga, Robinette Broadhead is on his way to making a fortune by bankrolling an expedition to the Food Factory--a Heechee spaceship that can graze the cometary cloud and transfor the basic elements of the universe into untold quantities of food. But even as he gambles on the breakthrough technology, he is wracked with the guilt of losing his wife, poised forever at the "event horizon" of a black hole where Robin had abaondoned her. As more and more information comes back from the expedition, Robin grows ever hopeful that he can rescue his beloved Gelle-Klara Moynlin. After three and a years, the factory is discovered to work, and a human is found aboard. Robin's suffering may be just about over....
THE HEECHEE SAGA
Book One: Gateway
Book Two: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
Book Three: Heechee Rendezvous
Book Four: The Annals of the Heechee
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Best SciFi.......2007-02-13
This book out of the Heechee saga is another terrific winner. Fredrick Pohl knows how to teach you the laws of the universe and make you laugh at the same time. The main character Robinette Broadhead is always entertaining!
Good space adventure........2006-09-13
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is the second in Pohl's Heechee saga which posits a future where humanity looks to alien artifacts and technology to assist resolving the complications of overpopulation. In this book the story revolves around a mission to discover the Food Factory, a Heechee space station that is able to manufacture food from basic elements. The crew sent to explore and secure this station is a family of an elder male with two daughters, and the husband of one of the daughters. During the three year voyage the younger daughter grows into a hormonal 14-year-old which creates a lot of tension between the two sisters, particularly since the 14-year-old sister, Janine, is trying out her female wiles on her sister Lurvy's husband Paul.
What they find at the station is not what they expected create interesting twists to the story. Meanwhile on earth the protagonist of the first volume in the series, Robinette, is involved in financing the exploration. However, in a horrible accident his wife is seriously injured and goes through a series of harrowing and possibly fatal medical treatments. It is interesting that in the last book the story was about the grief of the loss of a wife, and this second book has a central theme of healing of the wife along with the sexually driven desire of Janine on the spaceship to explore her sexuality. There is a strong Jungian theme of restoration of the feminine in these books.
On the whole this was an enjoyable sci-fi tale. However the story digresses sometimes into scientific explanations delivered in large indigestible lumps that detract rather than add to the story. The strengths of Beyond the Blue Event Horizon are the human tales and relationships, and the adventure of space exploration.
Some neat ideas, but almost incoherent in its plotlines.......2006-07-06
To say this is a sequel to the award-winning (and brilliantly enjoyable) Gateway is both technically true and misleading. True, the main character is the same. Also true is the fact that it takes place in the same universe, more or less where Gateway left off. Unfortunately, this book reads like Pohl's notes for Gateway's background information, rather than a story worth telling.
That's not to say that the reading is not enjoyable - there are some neat parts to this book, and some interesting ideas. Unfortunately, you are left puzzled about what, exactly, Pohl meant to accomplish with this book. Without giving away any plot details, there are the following threads: 1. A the child of a Gateway prospector is marooned on a Heechee space station. 2. A group of astronauts attempt to capture the Food Factory. 3. Robin Broadhead, hero of Gateway, ponders how to rescue his girlfriend, trapped in a black hole. (but don't be fooled by the back-cover blurb, this is not a plotline so much as a "personality trait" of Robin - no attempt to made to rescue Klara). 4. Robin is sued by another prospector's next-of-kin. 5. A mysterious illness that decends on all mankind in 135-day intervals is investigated.
All these threads are intertwined, to be sure, but most of them are pointless. For example, the 135-day fever is explained, but nothing is done about it. When you read the explanation, surely this is the most important thing in the book! - how can this device be so powerful as to affect the entire human race? Similarly the lawsuit storyline - it's almost like a placefiller to allow time to pass and give Robin something to do while the astronauts explore the food factory and the space station.
The other big indication that this book was thrown together haphazardly is the structure of the point-of-view characters. He writes each chapter from someone's PoV, which is fine, but sometimes he uses 1st-person, other times 3rd-person. Both Robin and Hall are 1st-person narrators, but Hall then becomes a secondary character, and his sister-in-law becomes the PoV character (but she is not written in the 1st-person). It is only annoying (it's not confusing), but it makes the book feel like it was cobbled together out of entirely separate pieces.
Finally, I have a serious issue with a couple of physics points. His explanation of the Heechee fast-speed drive doesn't make any sense - even if you reduce mass of a ship to zero, you still cannot puch a massless particle faster than light (in a vacuum). Therefore, the fastest speed attainable by these Heechee ships should be the speed of light. Any trip to another star system should take 4 years or more.!
All of these complaints notwithstanding, the book is enjoyable to read, and there are some interesting sci fi ideas. It was not good enough to make me wish to continue reading any more of the Heechee saga books, however.
Denmark.......2006-03-24
It was interesting to see if the systems works when one orders books from the US - everything checked out and it is not the last time I order books from amazon.
WARNING!!!.......2004-04-14
If you loved the first book in the series, stop, and look for another book by another author. This is nowhere near the level of the acclaimed "Gateway." I was expecting a continuance of the Gateway-enigma, but what I recieved were too many answers to too few questions. What irks me about science fiction writers is the traditional attitude they have about writing a series of books extending from a usually excellent first novel. Larry Niven and his "Ringworld" novels, comes to mind. Another is Arthur C. Clarke and his "Rama" series. There must be a deep-seeded fear of failure for these men, or maybe they have become too comfortable in their genre to really challenge themselves anymore. Whatever the reason, this book is another example of an author playing it safe by branching out from a singularly brilliant novel. The result for me was, for the most part, a thoroughly bland experience. Mr. Pohl is a good writer, so I won't slash this book too much, but it was a disappointment. There are many other books out there, most of which are much better than this.
Book Description
In his classic study The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell conducted us on a fascinating global tour, showing how the seeds of myth grew in a similar fashion throughout the history of civilization. Before Campbell there was Sir James George Frazier who, in The Golden Bough--his pioneering study of magic, relgion, and folk custom--demonstrated how world mythologies exhibit "the effect of similar causes acting alike on the similar constitution of the human mind in different countries and under different skies." Now, in Beyond the Blue Horizon, eminent astronomer E.C. Krupp guides us expertly through a bewildering maze of cultures and civilizations--from the stone age to the present day--making clear that while the skies of these diverse peoples may vary, they speak nearly the same language. Beyond the Blue Horizon is a treasure trove of myths, legends, and stories in which people have, through the ages, attempted to understand the cosmos and its meaning for humankind. Collecting an astonishing amount of lore between the covers of a single book, Krupp explains why our ancestors were so intrigued by the heavens, and what their celestial stories meant. Readers will learn, for example, that many cultures saw a rabbit--rather than a man--in the moon, and that this moon-rabbit, as a symbol of sacrifice and rebirth, is a cousin of our own Easter Bunny; that to our ancestors, an eclipse challenged the stability and integrity of heaven and thus threatened order and life on earth; that the magical sleighride and chimney antics of Santa Claus echo the ancient journeys of shamans and witch doctors; that our "dog days" of July and August originated in Roman times with the summer appearance of Sirius, the Dog Star; and that the contemporary stories of UFOs reveal the mystery and meaning the sky still holds for us as we approach the twenty-first century. Of course, there is much, much more that will delight and intrigue; even readers familiar with world mythology will find plenty that is new and strange in Krupp's rich panorama. An epic, authoritative, and cross-cultural exploration with over 150 illustrations, Beyond the Blue Horizon tells how all civilizations searched the sky to understand to universe--and our own place in it.
Customer Reviews:
Extensive.......2002-07-07
Krupp has written a book that is comparable to Frazer's Golden Bough and Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces. He traces the evolution of sky myths from cultures around the globe. Krupp does an excellent job of capturing the meaning and beauty of these stories, and pieces them together in a well-crafted narrative.
Really Facinating Book..........2000-03-28
Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets, is a very interesting and amazing read-- it confronts many possibilities of the place outside our blue sky, and gives the reader something to think about for long after the last page is read. Not only is this book worth reading for the pure fun of it, but it teachs you things that may come in handy at dinner table conversation. Facinating is the word that comes to mind... the myths about the stars and planets can sometimes be good bedtime stories, and over all, this book keeps you wanting more.
Average customer rating:
- The Return of Tom & Dorian Courtney
- Blue Horizon Audio Tape
- FUN!
- Fun 'n Fluff with a 'kick'
- Wilbur Smith has "sold out" to the World & Lost my respect....
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Blue Horizon (A Courtney Family Adventure)
Wilbur Smith
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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ASIN: 0312991428
Release Date: 2004-04-06 |
Book Description
With adventure in their blood, Jim and Mansur Courtney seek to carve out a life for themselves and their families in the unexplored splendor of Africa. But laying claim to a land devastated by war yields unexpected risks. No sooner does their journey unfold than their destiny changes with the daring rescue of a woman imprisoned on a doomed convict ship. Blazing a thousand-mile trail, they escape across a savage world of warring native tribes, bounty hunters, and predators driven by greed and lust. Now the Courtney's true quest begins-a life-and-death pursuit of a dream at any cost...
Customer Reviews:
The Return of Tom & Dorian Courtney.......2007-03-28
Twenty years have passed since Tom and Dorian Courtney escaped the clutches of their enemies and settled at the Cape of Good Hope. Each had married the woman he loved, who bore each of them a son. Tom and Sarah Courtney's son Jim is a brash young man who irrevocably alters their destinies when he falls in love with a lovely young woman on a prison ship moored in the harbor. His plans to help her escape become a little more public than he intended when he has to rescue her from a sinking ship and spirit her away into the wilderness. Jim and Louisa suddenly have a number of enemies when a Dutch colonel sends a party after them. They have lots of harrowing adventures with both wild animals and the natives as a small band of Dutchmen trails them across the veld. Meanwhile, back in Cape Town, Colonel Keyser's men have provided him with evidence implicating the entire Courtney clan in Louisa's escape, and the Courtneys must band together even tighter when they learn that some of Dorian's old enemies from his years in the Arab world are on his trail, as well. With old enemies popping out of the woodwork and new ones appearing over the horizon, it's nonstop action for the whole Courtney family, no matter where they go.
Compared to most books I've read, this one is nonstop action and excitement from start to finish. Held next to its predecessor, Monsoon, however, this book pales. It couldn't reach the heights of excitement or match the nail-biting intrigue found in the last Courtney adventure, and often the violence in this book seems superfluous to the story. Life has become more comfortable, and thus, less intense for the Courtney clan, but compared to anything else out there, this book delivers top-notch adventure. Though it doesn't quite measure up to the high level of quality I have come to expect from this author, it's still a very good swashbuckling adventure.
Blue Horizon Audio Tape.......2007-03-22
I love a good "book" while travelling alone in my car, thus I purchase the audio books on a regular basis. And one can never go wrong with Wilbur Smith. Blue Horizon was particularly good and held my interest for several days during my commute.
FUN!.......2006-11-11
Take a voyage: this book is full of action, adventure & exploration. Let yourself get wrapped up in the pages & you'll have a ball!
Fun 'n Fluff with a 'kick'.......2006-08-27
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Fluff or not? Mostly highly enjoyable fluff
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---- Comments ----
Much like Smith's more recently works this is non-stop action; the story is filled with gore, war, elephant hunts, love, treachery, evil twins, mercy, and family all set in the backdrop of Smith's fantastic Africa.
---- What I liked ----
Africa is a great backdrop, there were no dull sections, great descriptions, and just plain easy, fun reading. Every once in a while that's what I need.
---- What I didn't ----
It's fluff. If you're looking for an historical treatise on anything serious this is not for you. Also, not for children as there is lots of gore and more than a little sex.
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Wilbur Smith has "sold out" to the World & Lost my respect...........2006-01-23
I have read almost all of Wilbur Smith's Books, starting with "Gold Mine" , which led to the movie, "Gold", about the South African Gold mining industry. In Blue Horizon, and Monsoon, he seems to have become too pre-occupied with sex and torture, attempting to meet the cravings of lustful man at his lowest points, rather than artfully depicting events with great literary expertise that once caught my eye. Read the preface to "Gold Mine" , where he describes the volcanic beginnings of the African Continent in vivid detail. This was the Wilbur Smith's writings that I learned to love. His more recent works are filled with violence and sadism that I, for one, prefer to avoid. None of these recent books are worth reading, buying, nor recommending to young readers. Even if you are over age 13, I highly recommend that you avoid Wilbur Smith's recent writing!
Customer Reviews:
Book to be stranded on a desert isle with.......2002-03-10
As an airline employee and aviation enthusiant I love this book. I have finished my fifth reading of it and I keep discovering more insight. I can read it for hours and slip away from present existence to Alexander Frater's world. Truly one of the greatest books for those who love airlines and different cultures. Wonderful.....
available again.......1999-11-25
this book is currently available in paperback from amazon.co.u
If you like travel and aviation you'll love this.......1998-10-16
This is excellent and one of those rare books that you can read again and again. Alexander Frater writes about a journey he made using modern air transport that retraces the original route of Imperial Airways (predecessor of today's British Airways) on their pioneering route from London to Brisbane, Australia in the 1930's. Not only is it an extremely interesting travelogue but it also is highly informative in a historical sense. There are also many funny and poignant moments that he relates from his journey. The only downside is that unfortunately it is currently out of print
Book Description
Sail to the ends of the earth and back again without leaving your favorite reading chair
When Beth Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger, returned from a three-year, 35,000 mile circumnavigation, they thought they were done with offshore voyaging. But neither realized how irrevocably they had been changed by their experience, nor how irresistible the siren song of the sea would prove. In comparison, life ashore seemed dull and monochrome, and within months, Beth knew she had to go back to sea in order to remain true to the person she had become.
Four years later they set out on their 47-foot aluminum sloop Hawk for a journey that lasted six years and took them more than 50,000 miles. They voyaged to Newfoundland, Iceland, Norway, the Caribbean, Ireland, Scotland, Cape Horn, New Zealand, the South Pacific, British Columbia--to the ends of the earth and back.
Blue Horizons is Beth Leonard's record of that journey. Compiled from her popular columns in Blue Water Sailing magazine, which she wrote along the way, Blue Horizons is more than an adventure saga, more than the log of an extended passage. As in all great travel writing, it’s the product of an insatiable hunger to explore the world, and in so doing to explore one’s own soul. It is, says Beth, "about pulling your dreams over the horizon to you, one sail change, one course correction at a time."
But this is no dreamer's tale. Beth Leonard is both sailor and writer, well qualified to deal with and describe blue water voyaging. Written with the vivid precision and practical eye for detail that made her first book, The Voyager's Handbook, such a success, Blue Horizons is a collection of compelling vignettes that encapsulate life at sea with all its dangers and epiphanies, its disillusions and delights. Her observations are as sharp as salt air and her prose as informed as it is insightful and entertaining.
Beth also brings to Blue Horizons a uniquely feminine perspective, a combination of empathy, charm, and lyric grace. Her pages are suffused with emotion and a strong sense of immediacy. You're with Beth and Evans as Hawk pokes into a lonely and deserted outport on Newfoundland's barren northeast coast, and as they await hurricane Lenny in Antigua. And you sympathize as she burrows deep into her tilting berth, seeking that one, elusive interval of comfort that will bring sleep on a pounding windward passage, only to be dashed awake by the cold shock of a rogue wave spilling into her bunk. Blue Horizons is a rare journey, one to be savored by sailors and armchair adventurers alike.
Praise for Blue Horizons:
“In her new, wonderful book, Beth Leonard shows us a world in which ‘perfection’ is not bland, easy, escapist comfort in a crowded tropical harbor but a more insecure yet more rewarding existence of constant challenge--cold waters, rocky coves, old fishing villages, demanding seamanship, and the evolution of two sailors trying to manage a boat and also their own relationship.” --John Rousmaniere, author of Fastnet, Force 10, After the Storm, and The Annapolis Book of Seamanship
“Let Beth Leonard inspire you to sail around the world, explore the high latitudes, or discover your own capacity for adventure. Each nugget in this ‘dream becomes reality’ series of revelations is worth a thousand pictures.” --Gary Jobson, ESPN sailing commentator, America’s Cup Hall of Famer, and author of Gary Jobson’s Championship Sailing
“Blue Horizons chronicles a remarkable adventure through some of the globe’s most inhospitable waters. . . . Every account in this collection provides a taste and sometimes a feast. It is wise, perceptive, wonderful. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to exchange conventional comforts for an adventure not packaged with round-trip airfare, Beth Leonard has written these dispatches to you.” --Don Casey, author of This Old Boat and Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual
Customer Reviews:
Interesting but not what I expected.......2007-05-09
Sailing journey books-- the Pardy's most notably, but other as well- usually follow a trip from start to finish. The little mediations you find on nature, self-reliance and self-realization are embedded within a longer narrative about storms, calms, pirates and other near disasters. This book is different and I'm not sure what to make of it. Leonard has the poet's gift for observation and description and pretty much what this book is is a collection of these meditations, within the frame of a few pages of log entries. Don't get me wrong, you know she's on a sailboat, this book doesn't read like "Daily Mediations for Sailors" but as much as I admire her writerly skill, I do prefer a bit more story in my sea stories.
Still, the book's keeper. And I don't keep anything except for books that really interest me.
Touch.......2007-02-07
Having sailed many of the waters that ms Leonard describe, all I can say is;, I wish I could express myself half as well. She is so much in tune with herself, her partner, Hawk and her surroundings. A very beautifull book.
A compelling read!.......2006-12-26
The saxophone's "sweet golden voice, resonating through the cave... becoming liquid as the water beneath the boat", remains with me as we pass by the cliffs of Nolsoy, in the Faroe Islands, located between Scotland's Outer Hebrides and Iceland. Later on we witness an uncommon sight - "a full-grown male orca more than thirty feet in length swims with his pod of females and youngsters." The image of the orca's "sheer black fin as tall as a man" cutting through the water is vivid and I am breathless when I put the book down.
I am on deck with Beth and her partner Evans when they are tossed about like a toy in savage water and gale-force winds off Tierra del Fuego. Her description of cruising the daring passage along Chile's west coast - where the "Katabatic winds blast downward off the snow-capped rocky mountains in williwaws, capable of knocking down a fifty-foot yacht", is riveting.
No, I'm not a sailor, but I enjoy the discovery of new wonders each day, and the adventure of facing the unknown and finding you can meet the challenges set before you offers one great satisfaction. This book is a compelling read. As a writer myself, I appreciate the author's lyrical writing style, as well as her gift for capturing experiences and holding readers hostage until the last page is finished. Each time I ended a chapter, I couldn't wait to see where we would travel next. I found myself dragging out the heavy atlas to get my bearings at the beginning of each chapter - the author has thoughtfully written the coordinates of every place they sail. The only criticism I find worthy of mention is that the book contains no glossary. Few readers may use one, but it would have greatly enhanced my experiences of reading about off shore cruising.
Ms. Leonard is willing to open and share her life while offering thoughtful considerations for living our own lives with more enthusiasm, more determination, more joie de vivre. I was drawn into the questions she posed for herself- what am I willing to give up for living a life filled with high adventure and accompanying risks? One can't help but admire the courage it takes to endure the hardships Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger have experienced. The author offers a book filled with vivid details recounting captivating adventures. I loved it!
sailing realities and dreams.......2006-12-16
This book details both the best of times and the worst of times of long voyages. What I like about this book is that the author describes her inner journey as well as the outer journey. Recommended for both armchair sailors, and those seriously contemplating going cruising.
Average customer rating:
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Florida . . . Beyond the Blue Horizon
Alan S. Maltz
Manufacturer: IPG
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0962667749 |
Book Description
Vibrant blue skies and pristine moments in nature leap out of the pages of this large-format, reverent, photographic celebration of Florida's subtropical charms. Showy birds, fanfare sunsets, and lush vegetation meet with human-made wonders such as brightly colored houses with fancy gingerbread trim, outposts found off the beaten path, and some of Florida's most famous sights shot from unexpected perspectives. An index gives the location for each picture along with commentary on its selection and the camera techniques used to capture it.
Average customer rating:
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Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
Manufacturer: Del Rey-Ballantine Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I6E3PY |
Customer Reviews:
I want to ride the Blue Ridge too!.......2000-06-01
Blue Horizons is a story of a journey. Jerry Bledsoe does a wonderful job decribing his bicycle journey down the Blue Ridge Parkway. He is no ironman, so his journey both enjoyable to read and dreamable for even the casual cyclist. I found myself reading a Blue Ridge Parkway guide along with this book to further enhance the experience. At times I thought I was there. I dream of one day of doing the trip. A great book but be careful, you may find yourself saving money and calling Blue Ridge hotels to plan your own Blue Horizon experience.
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Books Index
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Heechee Rendezvous
Annals of the Heechee (Heechee Saga, Book 4)
Gateway (Heechee Saga)
The Boy Who Would Live Forever: A Novel of Gateway (Gateway Novels)
Gateway Trip
