A Taste for Death

Book Description

When the quiet Little Vestry of St. Matthew's Church becomes the blood-soaked scene of a double murder, Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh faces an intriguing conundrum: How did an upper-crust Minister come to lie, slit throat to slit throat, next to a neighborhood derelict of the lowest order? Challenged with the investigation of a crime that appears to have endless motives, Dalgliesh explores the sinister web spun around a half-burnt diary and a violet-eyed widow who is pregnant and full of malice--all the while hoping to fill the gap of logic that joined these two disparate men in bright red death. . . .

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Life Is A Mystery Worth Solving.......2007-02-06

Here is one of the best mysteries I have had the pleasure to read. Though I still have a few remaining works of Ms. James on my list, this book has a resonance that few authors manage to achieve. The characters and the themes blend to create a work that is greater than the sum of its parts. At its heart, this is the story of a man who after achieving everything for which he has sought finds himself curiously unsatisfied with both life and the rewards of his efforts. Accordingly, solving the mystery not only means finding out who did the deed, but why our victim was distraught and unsatisfied despite tremendous achievements. Readers of this author will immediately recognize that her protagonist struggles with related issues and the pages of this book are devoted to the creation of several like-minded characters who each add their perspective to what is in reality an attempt to solve the mystery of life itself; where can one find true happiness and satisfaction?

I believe that the special quality of this book is found in its characters; I should think that the mix is so broad that any reader can find at least one with whom to identify. It does no harm to the mystery to remark that though the victims could not be further apart in terms of social standing and achievement, the author teaches that we are all ultimately equals in death. The author also manages to keep multiple story threads open and believable--this is far more difficult a task than it sounds. Until I encountered P.D. James, I found mysteries to be much like old episodes of Star Trek--if the character who transports to the surface is not one of the regular cast you instantly know that the character has but moments to live. Likewise, too many mystery novelists betray the story early in the book or else they create characters that are incapable of stirring the emotions of the reader--flaws thankfully avoided by P.D. James.

The best fiction encourages one to think about one's own life; it encourages and suggests how we may better ourselves and the world in which we live. This book leaves its reader a better person for having encountered the story; if not, it is not the reader who is without excuse.

Highly Recommended.

Solemn but good.......2006-04-11

A police procedural set in London in the seventies (I think- UK publication date is 1986- typewriters and illegal abortions and no DNA) involving the solemn and saintly Adam Dalgliesh.
PD James offs her victims quite soon but after that can be slow going until you get involved in the whodunnit. If you're new to PD James I'd recommend persevering thought the first 20 pages and then you'll be hooked. You'll be in for a long ride at 460 pages.
My usual blasphemous criticisms of her ladyship. There's so much description of architecture it gets like reading Pevsner at times. For example "Between the windows, mounted on incongruous corbels which looked more Gothic than neo-classical were stone caryatids, whose flowing lines reinforced by the typically Soanian pilasters ..... "
She has a tin ear for dialog. The educated upper classes address each other in long formal speeches. The lower classes say "I reckon" a lot and have apostrophes to show that they leave off the g's in their present participles. There's almost no humor (except slightly in the first sentwnce).

A Taste for Revenge.......2006-04-05

"A Taste For Death" can perhaps be considered the first of the more modern novels in the Adam Dalgliesh series. It is in this novel that readers see the special murder investigation squad form and that readers are introduced to Kate Miskin. As always, James has crafted an intriguing mystery, filled with a wide cast of characters and twists that throw the reader off the case.

When two men are found dead in the vestry of a declining church, it seems a straigtforward case of murder-suicide. Yet one of the men was Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and a political figure, causing the police to bring in Adam Dalgliesh and his investigating team. The straightforward case of murder-suicide is too tidy for Dalgliesh, and he must prove it to be murder, with little cooperation from anyone connected with Sir Paul Berowne.

Dalgliesh and his team must wade through stories shaded with every degree of self-preservation and deception in order to uncover the truth. But learning the identity of the murderer is not enough without one shred of evidence to connect that person to the crime. Dalgliesh and his team are thoroughly worried that their first case might end in failure. Add to that the three mysterious deaths that Sir Paul may have been involved with, and the detectives have a more complicated case than they could have imagined.

As always, James has written a first-class mystery complete with the requisite twists and turns. It seems as if every character had a perfect motive to want Sir Paul dead which makes it hard for the reader to uncover the real offender. Her novels are always a joy to read, not only for the mystery, but for the detail she lovingly gives to people and places, and for the development of characters readers will encounter time and again, or for only a short chapter or two.

Good, but not great.......2006-02-03

I didn't enjoy this P.D. James mystery as much as I have enjoyed other books by her, such as The Murder Room or The Lighthouse. Originally published in 1986, A Taste For Death has only recently come out in this Vintage series. This is the novel in which the Special Crimes Squad performs, and introduces Inspector Kate Miskin.

Two men have been murdered in the vestry of St. Matthew's church, and found by a parishioner. One is a highly regarded Member of Parliament, Sir Paul Berowne, and the other is a local tramp, Harry Mack. Its quite obvious that the murderer is someone acquainted with Berowne, and Commander Dalgliesh spnds most of the novel tracking down leads in that direction. The suspects in the murder case are many, and most are relatives of Berowne's that have a motive for killing him: his mother, Lady Ursula; his widow, Barbara; his daughter, Sarah; his widow's lover; his daughter's boyfriend; his widow's brother; the housekeeper. Also connected are the recent deaths of to servants who worked for the Berownes- one by suicide, the other death by drowning in the Thames.

Absolutely no attention has been paid to the tramp who was also murdered- in the second half of the book he ceases to exist; this what what bothered me most about the plot, which was tedious at best. So while the double-murder plot is intriguing, its highly unnecessary. I often felt that James's prose was wandering, unfocused. James spends too much time focusing on the personal lives of Dalgliesh, Kate Miskin, and the other officers who work on the case, and less on what really matters- the solving of the case.

The tyranny of success.......2005-09-01

Adam Dalgliesh has not written any poetry for four years. Miss Wharton and Darren, a stray school boy, are a pair. They go to St. Matthew's twice a week. It is a Romanesque church in Paddington. On a particular visit they find two dead men. They go in search of Father Barnes, the rector. One of the dead men is a tramp, Harry Mack, and the other is Paul Berowne, a baronet. Kate Miskin and Adam, among others, are members of a special sensitive murder squad and are called upon to do the investigation. Berowne had known Dalgliesh and known about his fondness for architecture.

Berowne's daughter, Sarah, is mixed up with a revolutionary Marxist group. A cousin of Lady Berowne, Stephen Lampart, is her lover. Berowne had a mistress. It seems to Kate Miskin that they are up against a killer who has the intelligence to think and plan. Adam contends that no one joins the murder squad who hasn't a taste for death. When Dalgliesh visiting friends watches a tea ritual, he notes mentally that each person has his own contrivances to keep reality at bay. Berowne's wife, a beautiful woman, was his brother's fiancee. After his brother's death, Paul Berowne succeeded to the title and five months later married the fiancee, Barbara.

Exploitation is at the heart of successful detection. Kate and the third member of the team, Massingham, go out to interview a Mrs. Minns. The interview of the cleaning woman yields a surprising number of clues. A re-interview of Berowne's mistress provides more. The story covers class-frictions, the need for privacy of public figures, the role of religion and its lack in modern day England, and many other themes. The visual arts are dealt with too. To my way of thinking this is the best P.D. James mystery.

Average customer rating:

Memories
Good Book
Forever Friends
Never Forget Your Best Friends
Always Remember Your Friends

A Taste of Blackberries
Doris Buchanan Smith
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006440238X
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Book Description

What do you do without
your best friend?

Jamie isn't afraid of anything. Always ready to get into trouble, then right back out of it, he's a fun and exasperating best friend.

But when something terrible happens to Jamie, his best friend has to face the tragedy alone. Without Jamie, there are so many impossible questions to answer -- how can your best friend be gone forever? How can some things, like playing games in the sun or the taste of the blackberries that Jamie loved, go on without him?

Customer Reviews:

Memories.......2007-07-14

I read this book about 7 years ago while in the fourth grade, I have always reguarded the book as one of the few books assigned by school I have truly despised. To this day I can remember the anger I felt towards the book. I was not angry to have to read it but at the way it was written, I believe it to be something that should not be read until children are much older than 10, possilbly older that even 15.

Good Book.......2007-05-19

This book was really good I read this book for one my graduate class and it was really touching and life lesson as well.

Forever Friends.......2006-11-30

I liked this book. It is a sad story about how Jamie died because of bee stings. I would think that it was my fault because I should have tried to stop him from putting the stick down that hole. But why would someone put a stick down a hole? That is dumb. But I would recommend this book to a pair of friends. They should read the book together because they should remember to stay friends forever.

Never Forget Your Best Friends.......2006-11-30

I give this book five stars. It was a great book, and it also made me sad. I think he will make new friends, but he'll never forget Jamie. Jamie was his best friend. I recommend this book to you if have alot of feelings for your friends.

Always Remember Your Friends.......2006-11-30

This book was a really good book. It gave me alot to think about. First that I am thankful for having a best friend. And also it teaches me to never forget your friends. I recommend this book for people who really care for their friends.

A Taste for Death (Modesty Blaise series)

Average customer rating:

Super Reader
The Best
Best of the Series.
"Well ... you'll have to win now, Willie love."
The best of the best!

A Taste for Death (Modesty Blaise series)
Peter O'Donnell
Manufacturer: Souvenir Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0285637657

Book Description

The rugged team of Modesty Blaise and her loyal lieutenant, Willie Garvin, take on impossible odds as they battle Simon Delicta, a man with a taste for death, and Swordmaster Wenczel in a duel to the death. As the adventure unfolds, and they travel from London to Panama to the depths of the Sahara desert, the pair will need all their killing skills to survive.

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-30

Modesty is still hanging out with Steve Collier, but Willie is on holiday, pearl fishing in Panama, to make her a present.

Purely by accident, he witnesses the murder of one girl, and kidnapping of another, and decides to intervene. He is surprised to find their old enemy Gabriel pulling the strings.

Realising the girl is blind, he manages to get her out, with the help of Modesty and a police captain she is friendly with who does not take too kindly to gangsters on his turf.

Meanwhile, Tarrant tells Modesty about a strange dig a friend of his is on, in Algeria.

It gets stranger. The blind girl Willie and Modesty rescued, Dinah, is a diviner of amazing talents. Hence Gabriel's interest.

Gabriel is not their major enemy, but Simon Delicata, who is basically a superhuman freak, and Willie has tangled with him before, coming off badly.

"Yesterday Willie had been struggling to lift a block of stone bedded in the ground. It was a task that would have tested three men, and the lifting gear was in use elsewhere. Delicata had watched for a while, then stepped down into the trench and heaved the stone out with seemingly small effort. "
"'And then do you know what I discovered?' asked Delicata with a benign, teasing air. 'I discovered that I was rather clever, quite remarkably strong, and to a large degree invulnerable. My threshold of pain is perhaps uniquefy high. Nothing hurts. ... 'Then it dawned on me. My freakishness lay not only in my shape. It went deeper. Apart from scarcely feeling pain, I could sustain blows which would have maimed or killed another man.' ...
'I also realized,' Delicata went on, 'that I had a certain mental invulnerability as well. Neither drink nor drugs nor women had an addictive effect on me. I could use them without the slightest fear of b*ndage.'"

So, the buried treasure of a Roman tribune, a seriously dangerous supervillain, a betrayal by an old acquaintance, an a quest fo find out who is pulling Delicata's strings, after he decoys Modesty and Willie allowing him to snatch Dinah.

Throw in a swordmaster, as well.

Great stuff.

The Best.......2007-03-21

In the world of thriller books, I (purely subjectively based on total enjoyment) believe there are three great series: Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise; James Bond by Ian Fleming; and Robert B. Parker's Spenser (the first twelve anyway). This is the best of the Modesty Blaise books, and that's saying a lot since it is hard to put down any of them once you start reading. Even if you don't buy into the whole series, as a stand alone this is one of the best action books I've read. Don't miss it.

Best of the Series........2006-11-12

I've read all the Modesty Blaise Books except "Pieces of Modesty" which I am trying to find. 'A Tatse for Death" is the best of Peter O'Donell's Modesty Blaise series with 'The Impossible Virgin', 'Last Day in Limbo', and 'I, Lucifer' coming in a very close second, third, etc.
'A Taste for Death' introduces the better half of Steve& Dinah Collier. We meet Dinah Pilgrim, a very special lady whose handicap is that's she's blind, but don't say anything to her because it's not a handicap to her. She might get 'narked'. A term Williw Garvin uses. This book follows Modesty and Willie, their adventures and capers with Dinah and Steve Collier. There is an old foe from O'Donelles first Blaise novel...Gabriel as well as a new villian Delicata. Very good read! I couldn't put it down!

"Well ... you'll have to win now, Willie love.".......2005-10-26

"A Taste for Death" was written by Peter O'Donnell in 1969 and is the fourth book in the Modesty Blaise series of books. In my opinion it is the best book in the series, and perhaps the best book I've ever read. (And re-read and re-read. I think I've probably read this book at least 10 times in the last 35 years.)

The book starts with two parallel stories, one in Panama and one in England.

In Panama, Willie Garvin (Modesty's loyal side-kick) runs into Gabriel and McWhirter, the two memorable bad guys from the first Modesty Blaise book. They are trying to kidnap Dinah Pilgrim, a blind girl they need because of her having a special talent. Willie saves Dinah and then a major confrontation ensues, with Modesty coming to Willie's aid and both Modesty and Willie surviving traps that should not possibly be survivable.

Meanwhile, in England Modesty Blaise has encountered Simon Delicata, an incredibly nasty villain and perhaps the scariest fictional bad guy I've ever read about. Delicata first kills an archeologist with ties to a research expedition in the Sahara Desert, and later strikes directly at Modesty's cottage in the English countryside.

In a very satisfying plot maneuver the two supposedly separate story lines merge. It turns out that Gabriel and McWhirter are in league with Delicata, and Modesty and Willie must travel to Algeria to face this trio of villains in a fight to the death. A fight that they have almost no chances of surviving against the combined force of Gabriel and Delicata.

The most fascinating thing about the Modesty Blaise books is the personality of the two main characters, Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin. They both have an amazing will to survive and to overcome the incredible dangers they are faced with. They have fantastic fighting abilities and can be cold and deadly when necessary. But they are also warm and loving, and intensely loyal to each other and to their friends.

The quotation at the start of this review is what Modesty says to Willie near the end of the book, when they suddenly and unexpectedly find themselves once again face to face with Simon Delicata, the main villain of the story. Modesty is already seriously injured from a previous fight and unable to move, and Delicata, a cold-blooded killer, has previously demonstrated that he can easily beat Willie in an unarmed fight.

This situation, and the ensuing fight between Willie and Simon Delicata, is one of several high points in the book, and one I'll remember for the rest of my days.

Incidentally, Stephen Collier, introduced in "I, Lucifer", is back, and he and Dinah Pilgrim remain recurring figures in the remaining books in the series.

This book is a bit special in the Modesty Blaise series due to there being an interesting love story with an unexpected twist.

I'm rather hard pressed to say anything negative about this book. It's too short, like all of the Modesty books, and there's too much smoking. And, unfortunately, being the best book in the series it marks the start of the slow decline in the rest of the series.

Incidentally, I've created a "So You'd Like To" guide about the books of Peter O'Donnell, which you are welcome to read for further information about the Modesty Blaise books.

Very, very highly recommended.

Rennie Petersen

The best of the best!.......1998-07-23

Long an admirer of Peter O'Donnell's creation Modesty Blaise, this is my favorite of his books. Willie Garvin is his usual funny, deadly self and Steve Collier was never better. The story involves pearl-diving, kidnapping, murder, sword-fights, esp, and buried treasure. The villain, Simon Delicata, gives me the shivers -- and his fight with Willie was a remarkable piece of writing. Everytime I think about this book, I wish O'Donnell hadn't retired.

Average customer rating:

Reader from Columbia, Maryland
Taste of Death
"a taste of death" by Mary Ellen Hughes

A Taste of Death (Avalon Mystery)
Mary Ellen Hughes
Manufacturer: Avalon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0803495781

Book Description

Cedar Hill sounds like the perfect place for Maggie to write her math puzzle book--a small New Hampshire town whose biggest problem should be keeping roads to the adjacent ski slopes clear of snow. The first town meeting, however, proves otherwise. Bitter arguments break out over Jack Warwick's proposal to buy the financially-struggling ski resort and turn it into a granite mine. Maggie thinks she can keep out of it all, until Jack drops dead of poison and her childhood friend becomes the prime suspect.

As Maggie investigates, she soon finds there were many who wished Jack dead. Which one of them acted on it, though, and planted evidence pointing to her friend? Maggie struggles to find out, before time runs out, and before the killer decides to give her A Taste of Death.

Customer Reviews:

Reader from Columbia, Maryland.......2003-04-05

Mary Ellen has once again produced a delightful mystery that fans of cozies will enjoy. This is the second Maggie Olenski book by Mary Ellen, and I hope there will be more.

Great protagonist, interesting characters and a fun read for all ages. This doesn't disappoint.

Taste of Death.......2003-03-29

I consider this book as very interesting and enjoyable reading. The story was well developed, kept the reader interested, did not get off track or onto uninteresting sidetracks, and had a very surprising ending. I think this book rates top honors.

"a taste of death" by Mary Ellen Hughes.......2003-03-14

This is the author's second mystery novel. A delightful read. Mystery and suspense without blood and gore. Set in a small town in New Hampshire (you can feel the cold), a murder victim and lots of suspects. Maggie, the outsider, tries to help an old friend. I was getting to the end, anxious to find out who done it(I guessed wrong), but sorry the book would soon be done.

Amazon.com

Imagine yourself in a decaying space station far away from the atmosphere you never realized you needed so badly, not knowing if the next malfunction would kill you or merely keep you busy. Dr. Jerry M. Linenger experienced just this and describes his harrowing but ennobling five months aboard Mir in Off the Planet, a memoir that evokes the excitement of living every day as a life-threatening adventure. Linenger's very personal writing style draws the reader into the story quickly, breezing through his childhood, Annapolis training, medical school, and selection as an astronaut, then moving quickly to the Mir assignment and its aftermath.

Linenger isn't shy about sharing his opinions. Chapter titles like "Broken Trust" and "An Attempted Coverup" show his feelings about the bizarre relationship between the crew and mission control that may have kept him and his Russian comrades in constant danger. He also heaps praise on his fellow crew members and family for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission--between communication difficulties, the cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, and problems like fires and toxic fumes, it's a wonder anyone survived with their sanity intact. The full-color pictures accompanying the text add further insight into life aboard Mir. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

“An engrossing report.”—Booklist “Vividly captures the challenges and privations [Dr. Linenger] endured both before and during his flight.”—Library Journal Nothing on earth compares to Off the Planet—Dr. Jerry Linenger’s dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission during his 132 days aboard the decaying and unstable Russian space station Mir. Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission. In his remarkable narrative, Linenger chronicles power outages that left the crew in complete darkness, tumbling out of control; chemical leaks and near collisions that threatened to rupture Mir’s hull; and most terrifying of all—a raging fire that almost destroyed the space station and the lives of its entire crew.

Customer Reviews:

Honest report on life on Mir.......2007-09-30

Unexpectedly, the best book by an astronaut I have ever read. Utterly honest, detailed but not too much, Linenger certainly had "the right stuff". Brilliant, adaptable and a jock, he survived 5 months in an unreliable, uncomfortable Mir space station, and got along very well with two pairs of Russian Cosmonauts, after "learning" Russian in a 5-week crash course. He gives the lowdown on Russian competence in the space program, the political reason for funneling US funds into joint space activity, the excessive control of by Russian ground crew of their cosmonauts. Much is as expected for Russians long living in a repressive, loveless society. True, the poverty of the Russian Republic would make anyone difficult.

Descriptions of ordinary lavatory functions, repair of every imaginable device on the Mir, all of which broke down, and details of docking, undocking, and returning to Earth on a Space Shuttle were more complete than any other I have read. Details of bone density loss, odd effects of Earth gravity and other bits were seen by me for the first time. For me "Off the Planet" was far superior to the classics such as First on the Moon by Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin (too sanitized), "Return to Earth"? by Aldrin (too personally focused, but good), or "Last on the Moon". Only "Apollo 13" compares, but is too sanitized.

My only gripe is that the scientific experiments on which so much time and money were spent do not come in for any description at all, nor any refs. to their publication, or Principal Investigators. Minor gripes were an occasional ambiguous antecedent, pride in contributing to lowering the fat content of Navy diets (on p7; utterly discredited by "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskow, 2000; "The Modern Nutritional Diseases" by Ottoboni, 2001; "The GReat Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo, 2006; and many others. See http://www.health-heart.org/acceuil.htm). On p9, canned tuna is healthful, but Minute Rice is not for the carb-sensitive among us. Twice, p78 and 189, "hydrolysis" of water is used instead of the correct "electrolysis".

A Fine Astronaut Memoir of the Strife-Filled Shuttle-Mir Program of the Mid-1990s.......2007-03-23

During the middle part of the 1990s NASA and the Russian Space Agency engaged in a set of cooperative missions that resulted in nine Space Shuttle-Mir link ups between 1995 and 1998, including rendezvous, docking, and crew transfers. Jerry Linenger was one of the NASA astronauts sent to fly on Mir, serving there between January 12 and May 15, 1997. This book recounts his experiences training for this mission, including the difficult time he spent at the Cosmonaut training facility at Star City, as well as the mission itself. As he noted about the Russians at Star City, "the goal of helping cosmonauts and astronauts better prepare for a mission was not a shared goal. Making money off the Americans seemed to be the overriding consideration" (p. 43).

A centerpiece of this book is the exceptionally difficult crises on Mir while Linenger was aboard. The first took place on February 24, 1997, when Linenger and his fellow crewmembers fought a fire caused when an oxygen generator in Kvant 1 malfunctioned and ignited. While the fire burned for only about ninety seconds, the crew was exposed to heavy smoke for five to seven minutes and donned masks in response. Linenger had been in the Spektr module working on his computer when he heard Mir's master alarm go off. He shut down his computer--in case the power should go off--put on some protective gear, and rushed as best he could in his weightless condition to the scene of the accident. They all realized that the fire was serious, it could jeopardize the station and their lives, for it blocked access to one of the Soyuz spacecraft needed for return to Earth. Crewmembers extinguished the fire with foam from three fire extinguishers, each containing two liters of a water-based liquid. The fire was not small. Burning in all directions in the microgravity of the space station, the oxygen from the generator fueled hydra-like flames up to three feet long. Periodically, said Linenger, bits of molten metal from the oxygen generator went splattered the bulkhead. Once the fire had been contained they started purging the atmosphere of the smoke, and Linenger, a physician, examined the other members of the crew to ensure they had not been injured. The crew wore masks and goggles until an analysis of the Mir atmosphere ensured that they experienced no serious health risk.

The fire foreshadowed a series of problems aboard Mir during the spring and summer of 1997. Oxygen generators broke down, the automatic docking system malfunctioned, various types of equipment both great and small interrupted the normally monotonous activities, the station's orientation system broke down, the power system failed when the solar arrays lost their position toward the Sun, and leaks in the Kvant-2 cooling system forced numerous repairs and seemingly endless fussing to keep it running. It appeared that the Mir crew, including Linenger, spent the majority of their days repairing the space station. They gingerly positioned Mir in relation to the Sun so that they could control temperature on various parts of the station. The environment on Mir was uncomfortable, and the crew complained about it.

Linenger believed that Russian mission control failed to inform the crew about the status of their station. He expressed nothing but praise for his fellow crewmembers for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission. Even with communication difficulties, a cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, difficulties with mission control, and fires and toxic fumes, the crew worked relatively well under very difficult circumstances.

Linenger tells his story with verve and style, and not a little humor, but that that barely hides a cynicism aboiut the whole effort. He concluded, "That the shuttle Mir program is primarily a political rather than a technical endeavor is obvious to anyone working on it or familiar with it" (p. 113). He also notes that the Shuttle/Mir program was essentially a form of foreign aid by the Clinton administration to Russia using NASA's space exploration money rather than funds appropriated through the various foreign aid programs of the United States. He concluded: "the U.S. government perceived that engaging the Russians in a cooperative space undertaking was reason enough to stick by Mir. Or perhaps having a means for our government to funnel millions of dollars in foreign aid to Russia under the guise of `rent money' so the United States can send astronauts to Mir is a valuable political stratagem" (p. 248).

In many ways this is a fascinating book, pulling back the curtain on the Shuttle/Mir cooperative program between the U.S. and Russia in the mid-1990s.

Great story, but too much ego..........2006-07-01

When you see members of the author's family adding book reviews to this website which attack other reviewers (as you can see here on the reviews for this book) you know something is wrong with this book - it doesn't need defending if it could stand on its own. Having read this book, I can see why the family is being overprotective and jumpy. What people have written here is true - this is an amazing story, obscured by the overpowering ego of the writer.

I hope the author had the integrity to call off his family, as they embarrass him here with such posturing. I recommend reading this book and judging it on its own merits - it really is an amazing tale.

Interesting but horribly written.......2005-10-25

If you read past this highly egocentric astronaut's explanations why he's so great it's really interesting. But actually it's a book that tells a story of someone who takes the American living standard as a measure for everything, thus he becomes amusing when he tells you about Russia, like a person who never set foot outside of an American military base.
I can't recommend the book despite a nice stories of fire, etc.

Better than I expected.......2005-07-20

Several years ago, I read Brian Burrough's book DRAGONFLY, which described the travails of the shuttle-Mir program in 1997. Many of the major figures in DRAGONFLY are presented "with warts and all," especially astronaut Jerry Linenger. DRAGONFLY portrays Linenger as petulant and antisocial -- a man more interested in exercising and carrying out his experiments than helping his fellow crewmates battle the daily problems aboard the space station. I found the book highly informative, and I gave it a solid four stars out of five.

Armed with this advance portrayal of Linenger, I was almost itching to dislike him as I read his account of his mission in OFF THE PLANET. The first 60-70 pages did nothing to dispel what I already felt I knew about him. He is intensely self-centered and resume-driven, even boasting about the number of "doctor" titles that should precede his name.

But his approach is more straightforward when he reaches orbit at the start of his mission to Mir. He shares a good deal of hard-won experience about long-duration space travel, a lot of which is a first for any astronaut autobiography. He's especially adept at explaining the medical idiosyncrasies of spaceflight, since he's a practicing MD.

According to Linenger, the mission's problems of disharmony were with the ground controllers in Moscow and not amongst crewmembers. He says mission control was often part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Some of this can be attributed to the terrible air-to-ground communications, which often rendered crew relations with earth untenable. But mission control also maintained a puppetmaster's approach to managing their crews, which was often counterproductive and at times downright adversarial. Still, if Linenger had a better camaraderie with his crewmates than his aloof portrayal in DRAGONFLY, this book doesn't quite reveal it.

The book's strongest passages come from the mission's crises -- a fire on February 23, 1997 that raged for 14 agonizing minutes, and a close near-miss of an unmanned cargo spacecraft during a docking attempt. (After Linenger's stay, another docking attempt resulted in a collision with Mir that forced the crew to close off the Spektr module to save their lives.)

I expected Linenger's tone to be more defensive, as if responding indirectly to Burrough's book. But Linenger is quite matter-of-fact, and doesn't come across as someone looking for excuses or a record to set straight. He's not very gossipy, and he rarely points fingers, and I liked that about him.

At times, I found Linenger's writing a little too breezy, and I would have liked some stretches shared with more detail. His prose also has an annoying tendency to jump around in time. He often follows event descriptions with post-flight commentary that really belongs at the conclusion of the book, so the writing appears somewhat unpolished.

I can recommend the book for what it is -- a very rare autobiographical account of an astronaut's long-duration space mission. Manned spaceflight can learn from Linenger's insight and also from his faults. For now, the book is in a class almost by itself, even though it doesn't set the bar very high. We should see a new standard if we ever see the accounts of Shannon Lucid, Michael Foale, or even the beleaguered Mir commander Vasily Tsibliev. I look forward to their stories.

The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste

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The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste
Vernon Minor
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Baroque | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521843413

Book Description

In late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Rome, a rhetorical war raged among intellectuals in the attack and defense of language, literature, and the visual arts. This book examines the cultural upheaval that accompanied attacks on the baroque predilection for ornament, extended visual metaphors, grandiloquence, and mystical rapture. Rome's Academy of the Arcadians emerged as a potent social and cultural force in the final decade of the seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth century provided a setting for arguments on artistic taste and reforms in literature and religion. This book describes the waning days of the baroque and ends with an analysis of the Parrhasian Grove.

Taste of Death (Linford Mystery Library (Large Print))

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Taste of Death (Linford Mystery Library (Large Print))
Richard Grayson
Manufacturer: Ulverscroft Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0708951090

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Taste of Death
Peter O'Donnell
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 9997526899

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A Taste of Death
James P. D.
Manufacturer: LESTER & ORPEN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JKD5N0

3 Book Set; a Taste for Death; the Lighthouse; the Murder Room By Pd James

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3 Book Set; a Taste for Death; the Lighthouse; the Murder Room By Pd James
PD James
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UZZ46U

Product Description

3 book set by PD James.

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