Digital Fortress: A Thriller

Amazon.com

In most thrillers, "hardware" consists of big guns, airplanes, military vehicles, and weapons that make things explode. Dan Brown has written a thriller for those of us who like our hardware with disc drives and who rate our heroes by big brainpower rather than big firepower. It's an Internet user's spy novel where the good guys and bad guys struggle over secrets somewhat more intellectual than just where the secret formula is hidden--they have to gain understanding of what the secret formula actually is.

In this case, the secret formula is a new means of encryption, capable of changing the balance of international power. Part of the fun is that the book takes the reader along into an understanding of encryption technologies. You'll find yourself better understanding the political battles over such real-life technologies as the Clipper Chip and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) software even though the book looks at the issues through the eyes of fiction.

Although there's enough globehopping in this book for James Bond, the real battleground is cyberspace, because that's where the "bomb" (or rather, the new encryption algorithm) will explode. Yes, there are a few flaws in the plot if you look too closely, but the cleverness and the sheer fun of it all more than make up for them. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and a lot of high, gee-whiz-level information about encryption, code breaking, and the role they play in international politics. Set aside the whole afternoon and evening for it and have finger food on hand for supper--you may want to read this one straight through.

Book Description

When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant, beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage--not by guns or bombs -- but by a code so complex that if released would cripple U.S. intelligence. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves.

Download Description

From the author of the bestselling Da Vinci Code comes a modern cyber-thriller involving a potentially crippling computer code.

Customer Reviews:

Marginal Mish-Mash, Annoying to the Intelligence or Digital Professional.......2007-10-08

This could have been a great book, but the author chose to mix up a kludge of capabilities, fabrications, and red herrings that in the end do nothing other than irritate the intelligence or digital professional looking for a good read.

The "chapters" are 3-6 page vignettes. The book is totally out of touch with reality and I seriously question whether the author actually had help from two "anonymous" NSA employees.

NSA is cash poor--it does not pay well, all of the money goes to beltway bandits that over-charge for single-point technology solutions and outsourced butts in seats.

There is no 5 story crypto vault. Crypto is the LEAST important aspect of what NSA does--pattern analysis and finding links between specific communications devices is 80% of what they do.

NSA does not run clandestine human agents (at least not legally) and it does not do break & entry, that is done by a special CIA unit that is has been my privilege to help on multiple occasions when I was in the clandestine service.

The NSA translation capabilities are largely software, not hardware.

Navy Commanders are in their 30's and 40's, not "56" and certainly not also Deputy Directors of NSA, a flag officer position generally held by a civilian while the Director is a three-star flag officer.

Bottom line: this book is flawed on so many levels I explicitly do not recommend it to anyone, professional or casual.

A *much* better story was told by Winn Schartau in the late 1980's, see his excellent novel (more truth than fiction), Terminal Compromise. Buy it used, it is still on the mark. Other books by Winn Schwartau that are much better than this low-rent pulp are Pearl Harbor Dot Com; Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and Weapons of Mass Disruption; and Information Warfare: Second Edition.

I am surprised that Dan Brown wrote this.......2007-10-07

It is unbelievable that the author od Da Vinci Code can write such a weak novel. It is based on a super computer at NSA which is challenged by an ex employee. There are too many coincidences. Who can believe that deputy director of NSA would dispatch a language professor for a super secret mission. There are technical inaccuracies about computer. It shows how a computer operations manager ignores warnings repeateadly.

If I had read this before reading Da Vinci Code, and if I hadn't heard about or seen that movie, I would not have read Da Vinci Code.

Like someone said in his comment that he read this novel only because it was by Dan Brown. That is why I finished it too.

I have Dan Brown's Deception Point next on my list, but now I am hesitant.

Painful.......2007-09-09

I will throw this book away as I simply couldn't allow anyone else to suffer through these stupid characters, literally stupid. I cannot believe the same man who wrote The Da Vinci Code has written this ridiculous novel. Susan, a 170 IQ cryptologist, can't think her way out of a paper bag. Her fiancé manages to avoid at least 6 assassination attempts as he repeatedly stumbles upon "just the person he was looking for." Not a single character is believable. The climax of the book (will hackers get access to our nation's deepest secrets as the virus eats away at the 5 firewalls???)Is stunningly pathetic. One minute and counting, and Dan Brown has the characters literally reading out loud the text of a web page rather that spitting out the necessary facts. Give me a break. The book has a great setting and premise, but the execution of the plot is so poor, I wanted to scream. My suggestion to Mr. Brown is that he take a break from writing. You have to have a lot of money in the bank; you don't need to write to pay the bills. Don't blow another great idea.

This book was so bad it steered me away from anything else he has written..........2007-08-04

I read this book a few years ago and am just now getting to a review of it, so forgive me if I don't have all the "details". When The Da Vinci Code hype was in full boil a couple of years ago I decided to read this novel to see what I thought about Dan Brown as a writer, without all of the conspiratorial "baggage" that would come with reading The Da Vinci Code. I thought it would be a fairer way to experience Dan Brown's writing "Style".

And wow does he stink!!!!!!!!!!

The characters were boring, the dialogue was forced and inane and he had the incredibly annoying "stylistic" habit of writing a sentence of dialogue in Spanish or German and then repeating again in English. Yeah this is cool when it is a word or phrase that has some emotional depth or actually moves the "plot" along! He used this "device" when someone had to use the bathroom or ordered a beer! And Dan Brown uses this "device" WAY too much, sort of like I have been using "quotation marks" WAY too much in this review. My quotation marks have gotten old and pointless haven't they? Get my point??

NOW...I am not a book snob! I love many many types of books! I love GOOD thrillers and I love classic literature. I enjoy biographies and so on and so on. The only thing I look for is if the writing is doing what it was trying to do, and if it was doing it well. Based on that criteria..Dan Brown fails with this "book".

Good plot and exciting development.......2007-06-18

The 1st novel written Dan Brown. Good plot and exciting development.

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

Average customer rating:

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

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

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Average customer rating:

HISTORIC VALUE RARE AVIATION BOOK IF YOU LIKE THIS ONE READ DOUBLE STRIKE
Flying Fortress
Inspiring
Excellent
The Best Of The B-17, Flying Fortress books

Flying Fortress
Edward Jablonski
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0385038550

Customer Reviews:

HISTORIC VALUE RARE AVIATION BOOK IF YOU LIKE THIS ONE READ DOUBLE STRIKE.......2005-09-23

This book is true excellence of factual accounts, the photos and media doccumentation is facinating. Jablonski was true Hero, his descritions of the crippled bird over Berlin and other cities is acceptional. Even if your not an Aviatrix you will love the history and coverage of Europe/East Block. If you liked this try to read his others:DOUBLE STRIKE, MEN WITH WINGS, Ladybirds: Women in Aviation and rarer to find.OH AND MEN WITH WINGS, and his HISTORY OF FLIGHT (a photo collection) wonderful,how he had time to write all he did-even GEORGE GERSCHWIN he wrote of, All his books are becoming scarce to find and a treasure to the Aviation Collector.

Flying Fortress.......2005-09-19

Excellent book for anyone who likes aviation and the history of the B17

Inspiring.......2005-09-11

I first read this book when I was a seventh grader, growing up in Virginia. Over the years, I checked it out of our small high school library so many times that in the early 1970s I probably could have recited entire passages about The Bloody 100th or Rosie's adventures with the Russians. Jablonski was an incredible story teller, and his work easily is one of the reasons I fell in love with history.

Excellent.......1998-06-11

If want a clear concise history of the B-17, from the planes that inspired it, through the development of Project 299, through WWII, this is perhaps the best book on the subject. Written over 30 years ago, it includes information that is rarely heard of today.

The Best Of The B-17, Flying Fortress books.......1998-03-08

This book is a "must have" for any collector of air combat books. The best of the best. Excellent collections of factual stories. Completely entertaining. If you can't buy it look for it in a good public library and enjoy. Then try to buy it for your private library. BOB STANE President B-17 Combat Crewmen & Wingmen Pasadena, California

Sharpe's Fortress (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #3)

Average customer rating:

Another great Sharpe book. Altogether enjoyable.
Sharpe - Siege of Gawilghur
Sharpe's the One!
Sharpe's Fortress: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, Decmeber 1803
A Great Series

Sharpe's Fortress (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #3)
Bernard Cornwell
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0061012718

Amazon.com

Fighting in the millet fields of India circa 1803, Richard Sharpe knows trouble when he sees it: dissension in the ranks, a feverish and arrogant enemy, nobody to confide in. Unbeknownst to his comrades, Sharpe has buried a fortune in booty along the way. He knows his freedom is coming, and it's only a matter of time before he can feast on the spoils. Sharpe's Fortress is the 17th in Bernard Cornwell's series starring this colonial British soldier who has risen in the ranks despite blunders and misadventures, not to mention his own suspicions of the men around him.

Treason, near-death experiences, cannonballs hidden in the tall grass "sticky with blood and thick with flies, lying twenty paces from the man it had eviscerated," these are the elements of Cornwell's war stories, which rely heavily on long, involved--and involving--battle scenes, marvelous description, and bawdy dialogue in the trenches (a highlight: arguments over whether there's such a thing as breasts that look like grapes). For readers who hunger for humorous, complex characterizations, Sharpe proves vivid and three-dimensional. He holds tightly to his dreams of treasure, eavesdropping on betrayers, ultimately hatching a desperate plan to make his way to the fortress in the sky, Gawilghur. Cornwell's hero is an honest soldier, and also a pragmatic one. He doesn't care as much about the medals and the glory as he cares about dodging cannon fire and finding a place to sleep. --Ellen Williams

Book Description

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Fortress -- the stunning successor to Sharpe's Tiger and Sharpe's Triumph -- marks the explosive finale in Richard Sharpe's trio of unforgettable adventures in India.

Richard Sharpe, now an officer in Wellesley's army, faces a battle of a different kind-this time among his own ranks. Uncomfortable with his newfound authority and unwilling colleagues, Sharpe is relegated to the tedium of baggage duty. But when he catches wind of a treasonous scheme devised by none other than his oldest and worst enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, Sharpe has little choice but to take up arms, seek revenge, and regain his stolen treasure-the jewels of the Tippoo Sultan. Joining Wellesley's army as it prepares to lay siege to this fortress high above the Deccan Plain, Sharpe will risk his honor, reputation, and fortune on a battle that will test him as never before.

Customer Reviews:

Another great Sharpe book. Altogether enjoyable........2007-10-04

Another great book in the Sharpe series. In this one, our hero is now Lt. Richard Sharpe and hating it. Having received a battlefield commission from the future Duke of Wellington after saving his life at the Battle of Assaye, Sharpe languishes amid gentlemen who resent his commoner presence and enlisted men who resent his elevation above them.

With his commander pressuring him to sell his commission and leave the Army - a tempting offer to one of Sharpe's impoverished background - he is transferred to a backwater supplies unit. It proves a den of corruption and Sharpe soon finds himself a fugitive.

That doesn't stop him from joining the assault on the daunting fortress of Gawilghur, a mountain fastness never conquered and the key to British power's northward thrust in India. Even positioning artillery to shell it is a daunting task. Defending it now is the forbidding and formidable Colonel Dodd, the mercenary commander we met in "Sharpe's Triumph", who schemes how to use Gawilghur's defense to depose his Indian masters, and rule himself.

Helping Sharpe along the way are cavalry Sergeant Eli Lockhart; the brave Arab servant boy Ahmed; and Sharpe's old pal, the engineer Major Stokes. Altogether enjoyable.

Sharpe - Siege of Gawilghur.......2007-03-18

Bernard Cornwell is the absolute best military fiction author there is. This installment of Sharpe's adventures is excellent (as expected).

Sharpe's the One!.......2007-02-11

This is the third book in Bernard Cornwell's India trilogy and it is a spellbinder. There are 22 Sharpe stories and I just finished number 17. This series is right up there with Patrick O'Brians Aubrey/Maturan series and when you start a book you can't put it down until you've finished the history recap at it end. Sharpe is a private in India in the infantry and the East India Company is trying to keep their trade going against the warlords and Princes who are standing in their way. There are tigers and elephants and battles and looting and rape, murder and thievery. Cornwell covers a battle with such insight and depth that you swear you are right there. Great! You can't put it down and when you're through you're looking for the next adventure. Join the throng...Sharpe is the one!

Sharpe's Fortress: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, Decmeber 1803.......2006-08-19

This is the third book of the series, and I can't seem to read them fast enough. I'm leaving the office early this Friday to go home and read.

A Great Series.......2006-08-15

This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.

Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...

And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.

Wealth Protection : Build and Preserve Your Financial Fortress

Average customer rating:

Good overview of a large number of topics
A sales pitch that lacks any in-depth info.
A Must Buy and A Must Read
Clear and easy read book
Nice Outline But VERY LIGHT On Detail!!!!

Wealth Protection : Build and Preserve Your Financial Fortress
Christopher R. Jarvis , and David B. Mandell
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471221422

Book Description

"As an asset protection lawyer, I think Mandell and Jarvis brilliantly explain the most effective wealth protection strategies. A must-read for advisors and clients alike."
-Arnold S. Goldstein, PhD, LLM, JD
author, Asset Protection Secrets

"I really appreciate the `Risk Factor Analysis.' It is a unique tool for diagnosing-and then solving-some of the toughest problems in maintaining and protecting your wealth."
-Gordon Klein, JD, CPA, lecturer, UCLA's Anderson Graduate
School of Management, frequent CNBC Commentator

"Chris and David's concept of a `Personal Economy' should be heeded by every individual investor. If you want to grow and shield what's yours, this book is a great start."
-Jonathan Guryan, PhD, Asst. Professor of Economics
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

The interest in protecting one's wealth is universal. Wealth Protection: Build and Preserve Your Financial Fortress serves as the ultimate handbook for readers who want to build their family's financial fortress and shield it from potential risks.

Customer Reviews:

Good overview of a large number of topics.......2006-04-25

This book covers a lot of ground. As other reviews have pointed out, one consequence of this is that there is not very much detail on the implementation of most strategies. If you decide that you are interested in implementing a particular specific strategy you will likely need to look elsewhere for full details about that strategy.

pro:
* Good overview of a large number of topics including some very important ones like IRD (Income in Respect of a Decedent).
* In my experience, the authors are responsive to email inquiries.

con:
* The book refers to the website for details on a number of topics (mostly for state-specific information). The website, unfortunately, does not have this information on it (as of April 2006),
* Although most examples in the book were fairly good, I found the one for the Charitable Remainder Trust (p326) to be missing too much detail and to be outright misleading. This example compares the average payment over 40 years from two strategies and concludes that one is greater than the other because (in part) it has a higher average payment. The example should have compared the present value of the two cash flows rather than their average over 40 years.

A sales pitch that lacks any in-depth info........2006-02-28

The book is poorly written and largely a superficial analysis of the issues. It was not until after the first 150 pages that I first learned something. This is clearly writen as a marketing piece for the authors. And, when you do go to the website where various additional promised information is supposed to be, it is not there.

That is not to say that I did not learn anything, I did. But on those subjects, I still need to turn to other materials to learn anything that can be put into action.

A Must Buy and A Must Read.......2006-01-29

I am a 49 year old executive and have been doing retirement planning in earnest for at least a decade. I have read many books on retirement, wealth, and other personal financial topics. Most of those have either been overly general, too mathematical, or have been far too narrow in scope. This book is written in clear, concise language and is a treasure of knowledge...including the pitfalls in our tax and legal system and how to avoid those pitfalls. There are great ideas in here and some eye-opening revelations for those unfamiliar with some estate and tax issues. I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking to structure their will, trusts, and overall personal financial structure so that after-tax and after-death returns are maximized for you and your loved ones.

Clear and easy read book.......2004-03-28

I could not believe how easy it was to read and understand some of the complex issues in this book. The authors not only really know their stuff, but they can explain in a clear fashion. It's excellent!

Nice Outline But VERY LIGHT On Detail!!!!.......2003-05-01

This book will be good if you want to review the components that might make up your wealth protection strategy. However, the book comes up short on the detail needed to understand those components well or to structure a comprehensive plan for yourself.

To get a feel for the lack of detail take a look at the Table of Contents, note that it seems very comprehensive but when you look a little closer you will see that most of the chapters are LESS THAN 5 PAGES! The subtopics in each chapter usually make up a single paragraph with a large font bold heading that takes up a lot of the page.

In short, if you want to get an overview of the components you might ask your advisor to explain to you, this would be a valuable purchase. If you want to understand these things yourself, you will be disappointed.

Average customer rating:

Worth reading

Details, Details, and more Details

Slow reading, but probably worthwhile

A Gorgeous Book

Hopeless

The Fortress of Solitude
Jonathan Lethem
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book)

ASIN: 0571219357

Book Description

This is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something that will become known as "gentrification."

This is the story of 1970s America, a time when the most simple human decisions—what music you listen to, whether to speak to the kid in the seat next to you, whether to give up your lunch money—are laden with potential political, social and racial disaster. This is the story of 1990s America, when no one cared anymore.

This is the story of punk, that easy white rebellion, and crack, that monstrous plague. This is the story of the loneliness of the avant-garde artist and the exuberance of the graffiti artist.

This is the story of what would happen if two teenaged boys obsessed with comic book heroes actually had superpowers: They would screw up their lives.

This is the story of joyous afternoons of stickball and dreaded years of schoolyard extortion. This is the story of belonging to a society that doesn't accept you. This is the story of prison and of college, of Brooklyn and Berkeley, of soul and rap, of murder and redemption.

This is the story Jonathan Lethem was born to tell. This is THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

¿Lethem has done a number of things here, any one of which is impossible for any but the very finest novelists. He has vividly and lovingly and truthfully, through thrilling evocation of its music, its popular culture, its street games, argot, pharmacology, social mores and racial politics, recreated a world, a moment in history that I would have thought lost and irrecoverable. He has created, in young Dylan, a genuine literary hero. He has reinvented and reinvigorated the myths of the superhero, of black-white relations, of New York City itself. But most of all, from my point of view, he captures precisely¿as only a great novelist can¿how it feels to love the world that is, on a daily basis, kicking your ass.¿
--Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Wonder Boys

¿THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE is luminous, stinging with truth and life. A story of two boys, a Brooklyn story, an American story that gives in its very specificity the force of the universal.¿
--Paula Fox, author of Desperate Characters and Borrowed Finery

"Wondrous and sweeping, this story evokes perfectly the nuances of friendship and the often odd arrangement called family. The drum of loss beats poignantly beneath the surface, as this tale moves from the streets of Brooklyn to the West Coast and back, presenting us the with baffling and tender gift of acceptance."
--Elizabeth Strout, author of Amy and Isabelle

"The Fortress of Solitude is a grim, brave, soaring American masterpiece."
--Richard Russo

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Worth reading.......2007-10-05

I'm a sucker for coming-of-age novels written by people about my age. Jonathan Lethem is from Brooklyn and I'm from Queens, so my fondness for this book is perhaps axiomatic. The first half of the book is a coming of age story; the second, more of a quest: to find the lost best friend and the lost mother.

I found the first half stronger, but maybe I simply related to it more. Throughout, there is terrific writing.

The superhero subplot felt extraneous; I kept wanting more to come of it.

Still, very much worth reading.

Details, Details, and more Details.......2007-09-24

Jonathon Lethem's large-scale novel "The Fortress of Solitude" is good on so many levels. And bad on as many levels, too. Lethem tackles a plethora of topics ranging from inner city drug abuse to comic book conventions to growing up in a predominantly African American neighborhood as a white person. While there are points in the novel that could be better elucidated (such as several characters being introduced then simply abandoned like a Pynchon novel), overall, Fortress is a must read by any person that's lived in NYC or anyone interested in NYC social-economic history that is willing to tackle Lethem's verbosity.

The book has much to offer, and it offers a lot--sometimes too much. When reading Fortress I had one main problem: I felt its voluminous passages on seemingly trivial points (it is 528 pages long) could be truncated. Many passages, at the time, didn't seem to add to the plot or anything for that matter. But after having read it in its entirety, I have to say that part of the book's allure is its detail on various topics taught me many things about New York City and Berkeley. It was a treat to see a non-academic perspective on gentrification and historical trends in New York. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you're willing to devote your attention for an extended period of time and don't mind a challenge (not too hard, though). This is neither a comic book nor a quick beach book. It's a decent piece of literature, often humorous and entertaining, that demands attentive and focused reading.

Slow reading, but probably worthwhile.......2007-04-11

I found this book VERY slow going. To some extent this is because the writing is very rich--like eating fudge or chocolate cake. You can only eat a little bit at a time, even though it's delicious. I wonder how much of my reaction is that of a baby boomer white woman in the face of the much younger, multiracial cultures depicted in this book. But I had trouble making it through 25 pages a day (to meet my book club deadline) and if I didn't "have to" read it, I might not have finished it.

I think that some of the book's problems involved insufficient editing--it might have made 2 good novellas, rather than one very long novel, and tighter editing might have made it a better book as well.

Yet, I am glad I read it. I learned a lot and believe that Lethem will be one of our great American novelists if he keeps producing work.

A Gorgeous Book.......2007-03-22

No car chases, no cliffhangers, and so what? This is a tremendously rich story, the kind of book I hate to see end. The characters are amazing thanks to Lethem's gift for creating a full-scale world with relentless, nuanced, and precise language. Of course there is a plot, but the anticipation is not in seeing what happens, but in how people become themselves. I loved, loved, loved this book.

Hopeless.......2007-03-11

Dylan's parents have decided to raise him in an up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood. His mother, also raised in Brooklyn, thinks it will be good for him to grow up as a real city kid. She doesn't see the problem with Dylan being the only white kid on his block, one of only three white kids in his entire elementary school. Dylan's parents both seem oblivious to the fact that Dylan is a constant target of harassment by other kids.

When Mingus moves into the neighborhood, it seems like salvation is at hand for Dylan. Mingus is black, his father is rich, and, most important, Mingus is cool. For some reason he becomes friends with Dylan, and Dylan has hopes that association with Mingus will mean his life will become easier. Instead, he finds things getting more and more complex.

Although only four months apart in age, Mingus is a year ahead of Dylan in school, so the two move in different orbits. Mingus is unable or unwilling to offer Dylan the protection Dylan is desperate to have. However, when the two of them do meet up, there are as close as friends can be. Mingus introduces Dylan to drugs and graffiti, while Dylan introduces Mingus to a ring that holds magical powers.

As the boys grow older, their lives move in radically different directions, yet they always seem linked in some way, never quite able to break away from each other and from the old neighborhood.

This book was infused with a sense of utter hopelessness. There were glimpses of possibility for the characters, but then none of them were able to escape from their neighborhood, or kick the drug habit, or settle down to have a family. There was no satisfaction in the ending, and important questions were left unanswered. Why did Rachel leave? Why did Barry seem to hate his son so much, when his neglect was a main cause of Mingus' behavior? Why "Dose"? How did Dylan manage to end up in a stable job when he'd totally screwed up with drugs every opportunity that came his way? How did Arthur end up pulling himself together?

And the most important question of all: what was the point of the book? This book rambled and meandered, and in the end simply petered out. Very sad.

The Forts of the Meuse in World War I (Fortress)

Average customer rating:

Excellent coverage of the Belgian forts
Excellent Research on Little-known Aspect of WW1
This project's history and evolution.
The Battle for the Forts - Liege 1914

The Forts of the Meuse in World War I (Fortress)
Clayton Donnell
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

World War I | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1846031141
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

On October 29, 1891, the new forts built around the cities of Li?ge and Namur, known as the "Forts of the Meuse," were turned over to the Belgian Army.

The huge project, which had begun in 1888 and cost 71.6 million Belgian Francs, required over 9,000 workers to complete. It produced 21 modern forts that could defend the strategic rail, river, and road arteries passing through narrow gaps to the flat, open plains of Flanders.

The Forts of the Meuse were the creation of General Brialmont, one of the foremost military engineers of his time. The development of new and more powerful artillery meant that Brialmont's forts were made of concrete, featuring underground barracks, storerooms, and guns protected in revolving steel turrets.
In August 1914, the German Army attempted a quick crossing of this area in order to reach France, but it took them 12 days to destroy the fortresses, with the 30,000 Belgian troops putting up a valiant fight.

Containing maps, diagrams, and photographs taken from private collections, this book explores the design, development, and influence of the "Forts of the Meuse," and highlights the importance of their role during the opening battle of World War I.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent coverage of the Belgian forts.......2007-09-02

Excellent coverage of these WWI forts. This was an interesting book on Belgian forts that played a significant role in the early stages of WWI. The Belgiams had expected them to hold out for a long time and secur Liege and Namur, but the Germans captured or destroyed them rapidly. The rapid capture of Belgium was the result. This book covers the forts in question. There were many cut away diagrams, rare period photos, explanations of how the forts and their weapons functioned, 3-d representations of how the forts fit in with the local terrain, and explanation of the damage the forts recieved in combat.

I'm hoping the author does a similar book covering the French forts in the Verdun sector, as well as the system of German forts cosnstructed around Metz.

Excellent Research on Little-known Aspect of WW1.......2007-04-22

Although the role of the Liege forts in Belgium in the opening days of the First World War in August 1914 are well known, the actual composition of the fortifications involved is typically glossed over in most standard histories. Furthermore, many readers familiar with the fighting around Liege assume that the forts were resistant to German attacks until the arrival of the German `secret weapon' - a new 420mm field howitzer. In Osprey Fortress #60, author Clayton Donnell sets the record about the role and structure of these famous fortifications. This volume is vital for anyone desiring insight into the opening moves on the Western Front in the First World War. Overall, this is an excellent volume, although at times the author's description of the layout of the fortifications is confusing.

The volume opens with a discussion of the conditions that led to Belgium's decision to modernize its outmoded system of fortifications in the 1880s. Belgian military leaders realized that their outmoded system of forts were made obsolescent by the development of new types of artillery and high explosive, just as they realized the potential for German invasion in the event of a renewed Franco-German conflict. Belgian engineer General Henri Brialmont developed a plan to construct a ring of forts around the key transportation nodes of Liege and Namur, which lay along the most likely invasion routes. Brialmont's plan was well considered, incorporating the latest designs and was the first in Europe to be built entirely of concrete and steel. The forts, which were armed with turrets mounting 150mm, 120mm and 57mm guns, were built to withstand direct hits from 210mm howitzers - the largest field artillery in existence when the forts were completed in 1891. However, the fortification system was seriously weakened by financial parsimony by the Belgian Government, which failed to fully fund all the necessary construction; the author notes that the Germans were quick to take advantage of gaps in the fortified ring at the outset of the war. The section on the design and development of the forts is excellent, but a bit confusing at times. Some of the explanatory material does not appear until later in the volume, which leads to a lot of page flipping to tie it all together. The author then does a `tour of the sites,' which adds more detail.

The section on principles of defense is very good and it is here that the role of the forts in Belgium's defense are made clear. Following this, the `living sites' section details life and pre-war activities in the forts (which were only manned by skeleton crews). Most readers will focus on the "sites at war," which details their role in the campaign of August 1914. Some interesting points that emerge from this section are that the Germans were able to exploit gaps in the system (not enough Belgian infantry to cover the gaps) and that several forts were pounded into submission by batteries of 240mm howitzers, before the novel 420mm howitzers arrived. Indeed, the author points out that the Belgians had failed to modernize the forts after 1891 and they were hopelessly obsolete by 1914. The author did not discuss machineguns, but clearly the Belgians had failed to add these new weapons to their expensive forts and because of this deficiency, German infantry could get fairly close to the fortifications. Indeed, the Belgian defense was further compromised by the lack of communications between forts (except for searchlights) and they could not call for artillery support. Although the armored domes soon proved vulnerable to direct hits from 240mm and 420mm howitzers, the author makes the interesting observation that most of the forts actually surrendered due to poor ventilation and poor latrine facilities.

The author also discusses the sites today at length, although focusing on the few that are open to the public. Readers will note that the fortifications at Namur receive very little coverage in this volume. Artwork includes scenes depicting the construction of the forts, a 210mm turret, a postern entry, a central massif, an overview, a German night attack, and the explosion at Fort de Loncin. The volume also includes two excellent maps as well as numerous color photos of the wrecks of the forts today. This volume is one of the better ones in the Fortress series, valuable for the depth of research conducted by the author and the insight it provides into the eternal race between the defense and the offense in war.

This project's history and evolution........2007-04-10

Clayton Donnell's THE FORTS OF THE MEUSE IN WORLD WAR I tells of new forts built around the cities of Liege and Namur, known as the 'forts of the Meuse'. It was a huge project which produced over twenty modern forts to defend strategic gaps and transportation arteries: any collection strong in World War 1 strategy needs to understand this project's history and evolution.

The Battle for the Forts - Liege 1914.......2007-02-27

This book introduces the reader to the new system of fortifications devised by Belgian General Brailmont in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and how a fortress system was setup around Liege and Namur the block a major invasion route along the Meuse. The author explains the failings of the system and its strengths. Brialmont had warned that more complete measures were needed an additional forts needed to cover crossings of the Meuse beyond the fortress rings built around these two cities. IN addition his new forts, although strong, were part of fortress rings that were as sold as Swiss cheese.
The author also explains the integral weakness in the forts themselves resulting from construction methods and how they were only designed to resist weapons of 210-mm caliber which the Germans countered by building the Big Bertha's of 420-mm. In addition to a description of the forts, the author covers the preparation for war and the campaign of August 1914 and how each fort finally succumbed to the enemy. You are not going to find such detail information on these forts and the campaign in such a small work with many excellent illustrations including maps to enhance the text. This may be one of the best of the Osprey FORTRESS series books.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

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

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

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

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

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Russians:

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

The Westerners:

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

The Chinese:

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

The Arabs:

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

The Divinity:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Doc Savage: Fortress of Solitude" and "The Devil Genghis"" (Doc Savage (Nostalgia Ventures))

Average customer rating:

The Return of Doc
Two Excellent Doc Savage Novels
A Great Read!
An Awesome Return of The Man of Bronze!

Doc Savage: Fortress of Solitude" and "The Devil Genghis"" (Doc Savage (Nostalgia Ventures))
Lester Dent
Manufacturer: Nostalgia Ventures
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Men's Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1932806490

Customer Reviews:

The Return of Doc.......2007-09-10

Doc Savage has returned!

It is great what Nostalgia Ventures is doing and that FINALLY someone is starting to reprint all these classic tales of adventure. I agree with the other statements, Doc is indeed the first superhero. These stories are timeless and the action is unbelievable. Can't wait for the rest of the series to follow.

Two Excellent Doc Savage Novels.......2007-03-23

The books gathered here come later in the Doc Savage run, just before the stories started to lose some of their steam. It was almost as if Lester Dent (writing as Kenneth Robeson) became insprired by the idea of someone breaking into The Fortress of Solitude and getting away with it! I actually read The Devil Genghis first in 1967 when I bought a copy of the original pulp, before the Fortress of Solitude came out. It took me about two years to get the original pulp, but by then I had read the Bantam edition of THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.

Doc may seem quaint these days, but Dent's punchy writing style and loopy descriptions still save the day. I recommend all of the Doc Savage books in this run. I'm hoping Doc will find a new audience in the 21st century. He was, and still is, the greatest adventure hero of them all. Above Doc is Superman. There's no one in the middle of those two. Blazes!

A Great Read!.......2007-02-20

I couldn't put this book down. It's not only a fun trip into the early days of PULP, but also a great read.
The original format is preserved; the look and fell of the book itself is cool.
From its action cover to the last page this story was a blast. I also enjoyed the historical notes throughout the book.

An Awesome Return of The Man of Bronze!.......2006-11-04

Doc Savage was the first superhero. He was the inspiration for Superman, Batman and many other of the heroes everyone knows today. An interesting thing to note is Doc Savage's first name is Clark, and Kenneth Robeson's Real last name was Dent. Put them together and you get Clark Dent. HMM. . . Where have I heard that name before?

If you enjoy Science fiction, action, adventure, or just a good old mystery, these books are for you. Written is a fast paced manner, they read very well and keep the action moving as fast as you can read. Unlike many books today, where the author adds so much detail that a minute's worth of dialogue and activity takes 6 pages to read, these novels keep you moving at the speed of an action movie, not a documentary.I have been a fan of Doc Savage since about 1978. I grew up reading and collecting the Bantam editions. In college, I lost my focus and missed the last years of the series and have been trying to find them, ever since. I was excited when I heard this was coming, but after reading my copy, I can only say one thing. Awesome!

This book is printed in the original pulp magazine style. in the 1930's entire novels were printed on 7X10 paper with illustrations and extra articles and such. This edition is a true book, with quality covers, printed spine and heavy paper. Even the original illustrations have been used, along with the original cover paintings from the first editions. Additional articles about the author and the series add interest over and above the enjoyable stories.

Buy yours today! You won't regret it.

Preaching As Local Theology and Folk Art (Fortress Resources for Preaching)

Average customer rating:

Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art
Tisdale's book is accessible and very useful for pastors.

Preaching As Local Theology and Folk Art (Fortress Resources for Preaching)
Leonora Tubbs Tisdale
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Ritual | Other Practices | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0800627733

Customer Reviews:

Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art.......2002-08-13

A one-of-a-kind, this book is helpful to those doing research into the values of a particular congregation's culture in order to discern how to best preach to a particular people. Tisdale helps pastors do their own ethnographic cultural analysis by looking at such intangibles as symbols and stories in order to determine what is valued and has meaning for folks and in order to determine what kind of sermon will best preach the gospel to various types of congregations. Where the book falls short is in helping pastors discern how to preach against a particular congregation's values when they are at odds with the gospel the pastor was ordained to preach, which makes this a more pastoral book, perhaps to the detriment of the prophetic calling pastors also have.

Tisdale's book is accessible and very useful for pastors........1999-04-22

Tisdale's book helps pastors to be better contextual preachers. She guides them in exegeting their congregations and in preaching sermons vis-a-vis that exegesis. Many of us preachers know that we are supposed to preach contextually, but we learn this lesson in seminary, where the context is very different from that of our congregations. Tisdale helps us to pay more attention to our parishioners and preach to THEM.

Her book contains an abundance of useful lists and suggestions. It is easy but enlightening reading.

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