Sun Books

This was one of the most powerful, absorbing, moving and enlightening memoirs I've read in a long time. The way the author weaves his personal narrative in with an expose of the tragedy of life in zimbabwe under mugabe is masterful. His memoir is rich in details that reveal the complexities of his life, but he never loses the thread of his story. I can't read about southern Africa any more without conjuring up images from this book. I couldn't stop reading, and I didn't want the book to end.

Peter Godwin has written a very good follow-up to MUKIWA. His personal account of his family's history in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe is honest and absorbing for a genre that can be self-serving. I hope others will learn from this book that politics are never black or white,just human.

Peter Godwin was born in Rhodesia, and in 1996 he published 'Makiwa', a gripping account of how he grew up in that country. He was conscripted into the Rhodesian army to fight against the independence movement, by which time he felt that he was fighting in an unjust cause. He eventually got to England, became a journalist, and in 1981, now based in the United States, he returned to what in 1980 had become independent Zimbabwe, partly because his parents were still living there and partly because he loved the country and its people. But he now had to record that the new government of Robert Mugabe was more savage than the white government had been and was carrying out bloody suppression in Matabeleland - a sign of things to come. Godwin's reporting at that time made him persona non grata and he had to leave Zimbabwe again, though he was able to return after Mugabe had `stabilized' the country with the so-called Unity Accord in 1987.

This second volume, first published in 2006, is an account of several later visits, beginning with one in 1996. In the chapters relating to 1996, 1997 and 1998, Mugabe's dictatorship is not central to his account, though of course he is aware of it; but he is more concerned with the quite non-political aspects of his family's life. At this time Mugabe had not yet whipped up anti-white agitation. Indeed he had for years encouraged white people to stay and help the Zimbabwean economy. In fact, in the year 2000, "78% of white farmers were on property they had purchased after independence, only when that land had first been offered to -and turned down by - the government, as was required by law" (p.56).

Godwin's next visit was in 2000. That year Mugabe wanted to change the constitution to allow him another 12 years in power; and this change had to be ratified by a referendum. To get the new constitution accepted, he inserted in it a law allowing the seizure of white-owned farm land for redistribution to black peasants (though in fact most of it went to his cronies). His instrument for this were the so-called war veterans, and violence against whites now took off, under such thugs as those calling themselves `Hitler' Hunzvi and `Stalin Mau Mau'. When Mugabe lost the referendum, he unleashed violence also against Tsvangirai's newly created Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

In 2001 there was a total eclipse of the sun over Zimbabwe, and, unusually, there was another one in 2002. The folklore expression for this is that `a crocodile eats the sun', and it is considered the worst of omens. Godwin now chronicles in the most graphic manner the increasing horror of Mugabe's appalling regime and the descent of Zimbabwe into chaos and lawlessness: the ruin of agriculture; the displacement of millions of black farm workers; famine; the government's deliberate withholding of food supplies from areas where the opposition is strong; hyper-inflation; casual murders and robberies, with the police either unwilling to intervene or actually participating in them. Among the many grotesque vignettes: cemeteries plundered, patches of maize planted between the graves, and befouled with excrement; the RSPCA being given permission to evacuate tortured animals from farms - when their white owners are not allowed to leave their besieged homes. Godwin is there during the General Strike of 2003 and its brutal suppression.

But this is not only a journalist's book about Zimbabwe. It is also a touching story of a loving family. The scenes with his gallant and now impoverished, sick and aged parents - who, beleaguered as they are, refuse to leave Zimbabwe - are deeply moving. And there is an unexpected dimension. On a visit in 2001, when he is in his forties, Peter Godwin learns that his father, George, now 77, was not in fact the reserved Anglo-African he had always taken him to be, but was born a Polish Jew. Only now can George bring himself to talk and write about it. The revelation has an immense impact on his son, who inserts a couple of chapters to tell the story of George's Warsaw childhood, how, just before the war, he came to leave Poland as a teenager, without his family. George's mother and sister later perished in Treblinka. Peter Godwin had heard of Auschwitz and Belsen, but (somewhat surprisingly for a journalist) he had never heard of the other extermination camps, which he now researched and whose horrors he then describes.

This beautifully written book is a lament for Zimbabwe, but it is also a tribute to his parents, and it is dedicated to his father's memory.

A good description of what is happening to "the man/woman in the street" in Zimbabwe by using the experiences of his aging mother and father.
However, the author fails to set important context as he did not live through the Rhodesia to Zimbabwe transitition. Also, by the time this book was published, Zimbabwe was already accelerating towards complete devastation for 99% of the population.
Ended up a "lightweight" editorial with no recriminations or recommendations.

Peter Godwin's book, titled above, is a very worth while read. In plain dialogue he lets the rest of the world know what is really going on in Zimbabwe in the most sensitive way possible through his own families lives. The book is beautifully written, I couldn't put it down once I started reading it, more especially after following the last fiasco of an election in June 2008. Why the other African nations let Mugabwe get away with what he is doing to his own people, is beyond me. Farms that were productive have now grown wild and uncultivated, and a country that was the bread basket of Africa is now one of the worlds poorest countries, except of course for the government fat cats. Well worth buying and reading

This is one of my favorite books. It is a fantastically-told tale of spiritual malaise in a hedonistic utopia.

(Warning: spoilers!)
In a idealized, futuristic world, humans live in cities under fabulous domes where robots cater to their needs. Adolescence in the domed cities typically lasts for half a century, or more, and the life of a single individual might span centuries, until the soul becomes weary of living and voluntarily requests "personality dissolution," which is not even death, but a kind of deferred reincarnation. Young people in this world are encouraged to indulge in all manner of hedonistic activities, and even suicide is mostly recreational, as new bodies are routinely custom-made for everyone. Gender can be changed on a whim, and it is not unusual for inhabitants of the cities to request bodies with wings, or fur, or bodies monstrous in appearance. In this world, senses can be distorted for pleasure, dreams can be ordered up, and work is virtually non-existent.

This book tells the story of a young girl who has every experience, and every object she could ever desire - and who is profoundly unsatisfied. She begins her quest for meaning by denying that pleasure and safety are the goals of life, moves on to breaking the taboos of her culture, and ends up leaving the magnificent life of the cities behind for good. Her life as a member of a community of exiles in the desert is harsh and terrifying at times, but it is also filled with meaning and deeper joys than the ones she knew before.

The book ends on an optimistic note, with the human spirit asserting itself against the protectionist and machine forces which seek to oppress it - by which I mean all those busybody, paternalistic robots that make up the city's "Committee." Thought-provoking, entertaining and highly recommended.

I was having the most stressful four months of my life, and every time I picked up this book, I was instantly transported to the no-responsibilities, no-danger, money-free, superficially-gorgeous, pleasure-dedicated, high-tech world I imagined could solve all my own problems, and then entertainingly placed into the mind of our nameless, i'm-not-taking-your-bull-crap, teenage protagonist, who proved to have more guts and dreams than anyone that knew her could have imagined.

For anyone who has felt trapped and restless, who has fought depression by means of the external world, and has failed attempt after attempt, the beginning of this story will ring all too true, but through her self-discovery, you, the reader, will embark on an increasingly epic journey and find that society does not make who you are, or anyone else with true heart.

In the second half of "Biting the Sun", she showed me the beauty of OUR world, which I was not expecting. I will not dare to explain that, because that aspect more than any other in this book, I believe, is best solely left to the interpretation of the reader. ;)

If you are interested in all of this... and the human condition!... then you should give this book a go!!! This 1st person writing style is quick and easy, almost immaturely & confusingly so sometimes, but that's just another off-beat quality that makes this book so grand -- the protagonist is a teenager, and this is the future, so what the heck? It fits!

This is my first Tanith Lee book ever. There is so much I love about this book --- the language, the pictures it makes in my head, the setting, some incredibly inspiring quotes among so much that is vague --- that I cannot imagine another of her books topping this off, but I hear that this is one of her early works, so c'mon, surprise me some more Tanith Lee!!!

Lee really gets you into this book. Set in a time when dying holds no consequence since you can come back and design a new body and when you can design your own dreams, one young jang girl rebels. Tired of the same thing she tries at first to move up a stage to an older person when that fails she tries at working. She tries all things from digging up artifacts in the desert to making a child and breaks the few rules that the society had set and ends up being thrown from civilization for killing another person against their will. Ready to experience new things she starts her own garden in the desert and oasis of freedom she was exiled to where she can live and be happy until others want that same freedom and the society she was desperate to escape from starts meddling its way back into her life.
Good book, had romance, adventure, fantasy, I loved it. It was long though (I read it in one sitting) so don't buy it if you'll just read a page every other day that really takes away from the story.

I've seen most reviewers class this as SF - but I'd put it in the fantasy section. Other reviewers have given you excellent information on the content of the collection of two novels. I read Drinking Sapphire Wine first as a teenager (my FIRST SF/Fantasy experience)and it's great as a stand alone novel. Reading Don't Bite the Sun gave me the background to understand the heroine/hero's (as you can switch body genders!) actions and why she/he chose instead of PD (where your personality is wiped and you "return" as a child to "utopia"). I identified with the main character, who's name is never mentioned in either novel, as she/he was a loner as I was and still am to most extent and saw the world in a different light than others as well as had a love for pets, archaeology and the desert. I admit to having read this book over and over and over and still enjoy it today as an adult, along with the Sliver Metal Lover these are my favorite novels from Tanith Lee's great volume of work. When I was a teen I indoctrinated my friends to these novels and we used the Jang slang in our everyday language and notes. My first copies were LOST by a friend who SAID they were stolen out of his locker - HA! I don't BELIVE it. He was either obsessed with me (which he outgrew and married a lovely lady) and wanted my property or didn't want to buy his own copies to read and read! Along with the SF of body and sex changes there is the background of human emotions, which have been squashed to only "good" emotions by hypnoschool, revealing some of the darker emotions of the characters and love which will endure the ages. Exiles from the four Bee's, the main character and her/his friends/lovers and followers and some desert animals struggle to make an existence outside the dome - which except for a little android sabotage (AGAINST their programing!), turns out to be a better life than in the cities and the main characters find true love instead of having love of the domes. Would I read this again - yes I have - over and over.

I was surprised that no one saw the connection between the theme of this book and the theme with Dostoevsky's "The Underground Man". Whereas Dostoevsky takes the idea that man is inherently lazy, selfish, and easily bored and illustrates it in subtle ways in what was the present for him, Tanith Lee basically magnifies everything Dostoevsky has to say in a way that you can't ignore it, and puts it waaaaay into the future.

For those of you who haven't read Dostoevsky, as it isn't common with teenage sci-fi lovers, Dostoevsky was basically a conservative in the 1800s when communism was just begining in Russia. Russian communists beleived that through communism, man would live in a paradise, with all needs met, and do work for the sake of work and his love for his neighbor. Communism placed way too much trust in the goodness of human beings. Dostoevsky knew that no matter what, humans would never be content with what they had, and "The Underground Man" was a sort of warning against this idea.

Anyways, Tanith Lee understood all of this, and in her book takes us into a future where everything runs on the power of human emotion, and the need for human workers has completely vanished. Because human emotion is vital to make the city run, humans are encouraged to indulge in their every whim, to unleash all their restraints and do whatever it is they beleive will produce emotions within themselves--happiness being the preffered emotion, for when one is happy one does not question or think or ask for more. Death cannot touch the citizens. You can do anything you want without risk.

Initially, the reader may be confused, because the psychology of the citizens seem reversed. They actually enjoy in some way feeling unhappy, but soon the reader realizes why--in a world where you are pampered and all your desires met, the only way one can really feel anything is to experience a bit of dissappointment.

Anyways. It's a fabulous book, a good introduction to these deeper questions of humanity for the seeking teenager, but I think readers of all ages might enjoy it, if one can only relax themselves into the story and put their faith in the author.

While the Book of the Long Sun ended on a satisfactory note to those who didn't want to read further, it also allowed itself plenty of room to continue the stories of those who were involved in it. At the end of that long work, we found that the Whorl was apparently a giant spaceship and that the actual plan was to get everyone to two planets that it was near, Blue and Green. And thus, everyone did. Sort of. We pick up the tale a few decades later on Blue where Horn (who "wrote" Book of the Long Sun) finds that everything seems to be falling apart, civilization isn't what it used to be and the colonists are being attacked by inhumi, flying, shapeshifting vampiric creatures. Thus he decides to go on a quest to find the one man who can put it all back together, Patera Silk, who has been AWOL since we last saw him (and had an awesomely understated exit at the close of that last tetraology) and while he fully intends on doing it alone, it doesn't quite work out that way.

Wolfe is never going to an action packed writer, his prose is dense and things tend to unfold slowly, interlocking and branching until it all comes together. This is probably his most accessible book, at least on the surface, told in a first person style by Horn that is straightforward, although still heavy on ruminations from time to time. Horn has personality, although he lacks Silk's razor sharp and almost casual insights and his singularity of purpose. But as a straight-up quest, events are much easier to follow this time out. At first. Then things get deceptive.

The early part of this book, for all its accessibility, can be rough going for those who never read "Book of the Long Sun" because there are a lot of references to that previous series, to the point where I wondered when the actual plot was going to start or if we'd just be rehashing events from "Long Sun" in greater detail and a first-person viewpoint. Then it changes and I can remember almost the exact point where all the first-personness condensed and became something far sharper and harder than I expected. It comes as suddenly the narrative starts to reference events that have occurred after our current point of view, a future Horn writing about events from his relative youth.

The sequence is brief, but it ends with the lyrically eloquent: "But know this: the best and happiest of my hours you know nothing about. I have seen days like gold." From that point on the book seems to gain focus, especially once Krait the inhumi comes on board, inserting these very alien but seemingly human creatures into the story adds another level to it. Meanwhile, the narrative itself splits and simultaneously becomes about Horn's life years from now after the book's events are over and what is happening now and what gets him to Green. He manages to do both without becoming confusing and still allowing mysteries to linger for future novels and does it so easily that you don't realize how difficult this is to pull off. Which is what makes it deceptive, he pulls you right into the complex and you never realize how much of a fractal you've entered.

Gene Wolfe at his best as he weaves the whorl and Horn in an enigmatic manner that exemplifies his style. I am always just short of being frustrated with Wolfe. You wait and wait, read and read, hoping for something significant to happen yet never seems to, only to discover that it has already happen but you didn't know. The frustration and mystification will only increase with subsequent books in the series as Horn devolves into
a multi-dimensional confusion of characters and space-time reality. I fell in love with the siren Seawrack and feel pity for Krait the alien vampire...or is he a manifestation of Horn's son Sinew? Wolfe will tease and tempt you but never really answer any of your questions while seducing you with effortless, gorgeous prose. I miss Silk.

Reading this brilliant first portion of "Short Sun," I repeatedly wondered if Wolfe had not decided to pay homage to David Lindsay's woefully unknown masterpiece, "A Voyage to Arcturus." In many ways, Horn seems much like Lindsay's character, Maskull, metamorphosizing to meet the demands of each situation, using and abusing those who offer him aid while trying to overcome his base urges and rise to the status of savior.

Wolfe is never content to simply tell a story, though, and his narrative complexities often scare off readers...Severian's memoir in The Book of the New Sun is, sadly, seen as overly long-winded by some; the progression of intrigues in Long Sun is considered, by many, the book's greatest weakness, along with its treasury of characters. Short Sun is no different: Horn's meditations are deeply personal, more of a confessional than anything. It is fitting that Horn, like Severian, narrates in the first person. Where Severian is distinctly amoral, relating his actions, ranging from murder to rape and worse, with no hint of regret, or even the notion that he should feel regret, Horn relates his actions with perfect honesty and marked shame...his memoir is a plea for mercy, while Severian's is simply a chance to allow others to remember.

Wolfe's characterization is at its peak, here, and I do not believe he has ever written more human characters. I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next two volumes in my mailbox!

..
I've never much cared for the Wolfe I've read (which isn't all that
much), but he gets so much praise from people whose opinions
I respect that, every few years, I try him again [note 1]. This time,
I tried On Blue's Waters (1999), since I recalled seeing some comments
that the Short Sun 'series' (which appears to be one long novel) is
unusually accessible. Plus, I saw a blurb by Michael Swanwick
praising Wolfe as the world's greatest working novelist, in *any*
genre....

Anyway, Blue's does have clear prose and an unambiguously sfnal
setting -- Blue is a pleasantly Earthlike planet that has recently been
settled by colonists from the Long Sun generation-ship, which is a
VERY large spaceship indeed. This is good, because I recall being put
off in both the New Sun and Long Sun books by the fantasy-that's-
really-SF tomfoolery [note 2].

Blue's also has a broken-back plot structure that got in the way of
Wolfe's story (IMO), but there was enough going on to lure me into
finishing the thing, even after it became obvious that this wasn't a
stand-alone book (another annoyance). Anyway, Wolfe's conceit
here is that On Blue's Waters is the memoir of the viewpoint
character (with complications noted in the reviews cited below).
Fine, except that it's a *first draft* memoir (written with a quill pen
on handmade paper....), and the narrator is constantly jumping around
from story-present to various times in his past, which I found both
confusing and annoying. Plus the bridge-bits (which make it a
'memoir' rather than flashbacks) are meandering and rather dull.
And there are all these carried-over characters from the Long Sun
books, that I'm supposed to recognize, I guess... Faugh.

So here I am again, wondering how Wolfe has acquired such a
stellar reputation from books that I find, at best, annoyingly 'literary'
and at worst unreadable. Why would Wolfe structure Blue's as a
confusing, meandering and dullish pseudo-memoir? How is this
better than using a conventional first-person with flashbacks plot-
structure? Why does Wolfe deliberately fracture and obscure what's
basically a fine travel-adventure yarn? His choice, of course, and he
clearly knows what he's doing, but it sure doesn't agree with me.
Sigh.

I'm guessing that the Short Sun is as straightforward as Wolfe is
likey to get, at novel-length anyway, and I liked On Blue's Waters
well enough that I may continue into Green's Jungles sometime --
but I'm afraid that most of the glittering jewels that others see in
Wolfe's work look like dusty pebbles to me.
___________________
Note 1). I vividly recall a long-ago weekend in some godforsaken
mining camp when for some reason all I had to read was Free Live
Free. And it rained. It was a VERY long weekend, and it was years
before I touched another Wolfe.

2). I abandoned both series (after about 1.5 of each), not because of
this, but because I Didn't Care What Happened to Those People.
I have had better luck with his short stories -- I've liked maybe 1/3 of
those that I've read, as opposed to, basically, none of the novels.
I believe that I've sampled most of what Wolfe's fans think is
his best work....

Review copyright 2002 by Peter D. Tillman
First published at Infinity Plus, with links and discussion:
infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/blueh2o2.htm

(...)
The Book of the Short Sun will be one of the finest reading experiences of your life... if you can get through the thing. The difficulty in extracting those rewards out of the text is considerable and not to be lightly discounted. Reading these books will require supreme effort. Willing readers will have to be intensely interested with how individuals relate to historical and semi-mythical figures, religion, and their own personality as influenced by these themes. These books are about as far as you can get from the popular concept of "space opera" and thrilling, "page-turning" fiction. An analogy to Moby Dick is probably very appropriate as that work due to the very slow pacing, the introspection, and the great literary symbols stomping through the setting reified and alive. Any scholar of literature should be deeply fascinated by these books.

WHY YOU SHOULD PASS:

There is no shame in not reading these books. They are terribly difficult and an exercise in stamina though we feel most people should at least try once. If you have attempted Shakespeare and been turned back because of the language; if you have attempted Moby Dick or novels by Henry James only to be turned away by the lack of progression in the plot; if you have attempted James Joyce's Ulysses but been baffled by the interior monologue, then Short Sun is probably going to daunt you as well. But we feel the rewards of this book are equal to those giants in literature.

(...)

The Preacher series is a very well written, unusual graphic novel. I have liked every one of them.

Hilarious background on a major antagonist, detailing the utter and total insanity of their organisation. This is one of the weirdest, most screwed up villains you can imagine. He loses body part after body part, function after function, and has indignity upon indignity heaped upon him and still continues upon his crazed quest and towards his nutjob goals.

The Preacher series is a "must have" for any collector of stories who likes a little extreme in their fantasy. Some of the greatest lines and characters are put forth by the incredible team of Ennis and Dillon. If one suspends disbelief on one's own feelings about God and the devil, one can enjoy lightheartedly this tale of servitude...or something.

John Wayne. God. War in Monument Valley. The Preacher--Jesse Custer. Cannibalism. Irish vampire. Starr. Betrayal. Sex. Cigarettes. Chicks with guns.

This volume is about as good as it gets.

The 6th installement in the 9 volume Preacher series, definitely the most action packed Preacher of them all. Garth Ennis(Punisher, Hellblazer, Hitman) and Steve Dillon(Punisher, Supreme Power:Nighthawk) did a great job, tanks, guns, blood, and violence, what more would you want.

The book starts with an origin story about Starr, telling us about how he got involved with the Grail, and how he took interest in Jesse Custer. Then Starr takes control of the U.S. Army and attepts to capture Jesse Custer and kill the Saint of Killers with the army. Fortunately the Saint of Killers was there doing what he does best, blow things up. Nothing can take that guy down, not machine guns, tanks, not even missiles. Meanwhile, when Jesse falls out of a plane and is presumed dead, Tulip falls into depression and takes refuge in Cassidy. Jesse, somehow survived the fall with only the loss of an eye. He was rescued by an astronaut wannabe called Johnny Wee Wombat. One of the best Preacher stories wirtten by Garth Ennis, showcasing his dark humor(which was superb here in War in the Sun), his bizzare characters and plots, and his ability to write a compelling story.

The art by Steve Dillon was great as usual depicting, in great detail, the faces, expressions, and the graphic violence. After the work Dillon have done in Preacher and the Marvel comic Punisher, also written by Ennis, he has become my favorite artist, his best quality being his abilty to draw faces, and exppressions, it is said that he has never drawn a face twice. The story arc about Starr's origin was not by Dillon, and nothing personal by I just don't really like it, expecially for Preacher.

The most action packed Preacher, one of the best of the series to me. Ennis and Dillon have brought us yet another masterpeice, a must-read if you liked any of the other Preacher books. If you are new to the series, I suggest you read the first volume, Gone to Texas, and see if you like it(I can't imagine why not), if you do, then keep reading until you reach this volume, it's worth it. DO NOT purchase this book or any Preacher book if you can be offended by eccesive violence, gore, extremely bizzare plots, sexual themes, or profanity.

This item is worth it's weight in gold. A wealth of information to strengthen your faith and witness. A must have for any true bible believer. The use of charts & diagrams help with visualizing the finer details often overlooked when studying God's word. If you haven't added this great book to your library, what are you waiting for!

Easy to study and is accurate according to the Holy Scriptures.A must have for serious Bible students.

Great book. The repoduced print is somewhat difficult to read especially with the extremely small print on the charts.

The original book was wider than the average book. When they did the softback reprint they had to reduce the print to fit the more narrow format. This not only left considerable white space above and below the text, but the text, especially in the charts, is entirely too small to read, some even with a magnifying glass.

I returned the book, but Amazon gave a full refund, even the postage one way.

Don't know where to start when reviewing this incredible book. Rev Larkin gives so many wonderful insights to so many different subjects. It is beyond obvious that he has put years upon years of study into the Bible, and it shows through in this book!! The teaching on the Great Pyramid is absolutely incredible, and his study of prophecy (timelines, events, ect.) are astounding. He does what few can do, by letting the Bible interperet itself using scripture with scripture. A definete must have for any one serious about Bible study!!

This is a must have for horse lovers. The photos are outstanding. The text is also worth the purchase.

Great focus on a limited number of similar horse breeds.

I KNOW HE LOVES HORSES BECAUSE OF THE WAY HE PHOTOGRAPHS THE ANIMALS EYES!!! HE IS A MASTER!!

I WISH I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THIS GUY BACK WHEN I HAD MY HORSE!!
HE MUST LOVE THE ANIMALS BECAUSE, HE PHOTOGRAPHS THEM SO, WELL!! HE FOCUSES ON THE EYES OF THE ANIMALS IN MANY PICTURES AS IF, HE IS LOOKING AT THEIR SOULS!!! I DO NOT REGRET PURCHASING THIS BOOK AT ALL!!!!!!!!! I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO LOVES HORSES!!!!!
SHIRLEY GREER

Overall, I'd have to agree with the reviewer's comments from Lakewood, OH.

Anyone familiar with Vavra's work will recognize his dreamlike, romanticized approach to horse photography. More "artsy" in style, tone and layout - than the straight forward approach.

Lots of soft-focus photography with heavy post-production image editing (layering of horse upon background, and vice-versa). I own two of Vavra's books (this being the second one to "Equus: The Creation Of A Horse"), so whether or not one likes this style of equine photography is a matter of personal taste. Still, this is a beautifully printed and bound book, with some outstanding equine photography.

See my review of "Equus: The Creation Of A Horse" for further reviews of Vavra's work.

Forward by William Shatner (yes, Captain Kirk!).

If you are a horselover and enjoy books on equine photography in general, check out the work of Gabrielle Boiselle, Johnny Johnston, Henry Dallal, Fulvio Cinquini, Jennifer Forsberg Meyer, et al. All have made their career photographing horses, and it shows. Boiselle is a personal favorite.

This is an amazing epic that has kept me reading and reading. I have been spellbound by all her books I have read and am continuing to read the rest. I hope she continues to create such tales that make you a part of them, draw you in to the stories. I first read Sacred Ground and was hooked, from there Blessing Stone and have continued. All amazing!

It is one of those books that has to be read again years later, as I am doing. If you want a good summer beach read or a cold winter's night read, then pick this one up. This is a good read any time of the year.

I liked the book very muy, although it is too long. The last 100 pages could have been left out, in my opinion. Please notice that there are some rather explicit erotic scenes in de book.

I found this book at a book fair in Washington D.C. and the only reason I bought it was because I needed 10 books in order to have one free. I do not regret my desicion. "Green City In The Sun" is an epic story of the birth of a nation: Kenya. With very likable characters, the story evolves around the Trevetons, a family divided by their ambitions. Only one obstacle will make their dreams dificult to fulfill: Mama Wachera who places a curse on the British family and becomes the spiritual leader of her people, the Kikuyu. Like in a Greek tragedy,all the members of the Treverton family die one by one, except Dr. Grace Treverton who dies of old age, and Debora who comes back to Kenya by Mama Wachera request to her deathbed. Beautiful story, intense plot and very charismatic characters makes this novel a masterpiece of fiction literature.

This is Barbara Wood's best novel. While some of her other novels tend to be formulaic, and sometimes seem awfully familiar, Green City is all original. A great, long read.

This is a must read for people interested in either history, the environment, or people. It is well written and provides an excellent view about the history of the twentieth century that most people do not usually know about. Everyone should read it.

Boom. This is a biggie. Yowzah! If you want a clear view of our specie's impact on our world there is no better place to start than here. J.R. McNeill offers a balanced and comprehensive look at the century which changed everything, and his title, contradicting Ecclesiastes' assertion that nothing is new, says it all. The core idea here is that in the last century humanity moved beyond affect of local systems to dominance of the biosphere. We are everywhere. McNeill covers our impact on all of the life on our planet, from his prologue discussion of economy, population and energy, to his deeper analysis of soil, air, water and the whole of living systems. He offers clear views of the demographic and technologic forces which have shaped our modern world. Most illuminating of all are the complicated ways in which each change we have wrought has brought both destruction and remediation. Oil, the number one eco-villain in recent history, particularly when pumped through internal combustion engines, has also cleaned up city air enormously when it replaced coal and wood for heating and power generation. It also eliminated the need to remove 10-15,000 horse carcasses from average large cities each year and saved the great whales from extinction. Nuclear energy, an utter failure economically and with wastes which will be our generation's longest lasting heirloom, at least doesn't pollute the air. Population growth has had enormous impact on environmental damage, but less than I would have estimated as a percentage, and in some places it has even permitted improvements impossible without many hands. We are, in his words, the "rogue primate" which became smart enough to threaten every other life form on the planet, from smallpox virus to blue whales. Our success has paradoxically been very good for the viruses that cause the common cold and for rabbits. From the general to the specific, whole systems to individual tools (automobile, chain saw) McNeill has achieved a grasp of how and what we did, and tells the story masterfully. For readers who took up my recommendation of A GREEN HISTORY OF THE WORLD (Clive Ponting, St. Martin's Press, 1991), this one is better (and Ponting's work is one of McNeill's sources). Bingo.

I wrote my economics undergraduate thesis on development and environmental management back in 1976-77, and surely I would have enjoyed and valued to have Professor McNeill's book in my hands in those years.

His book is remarkable in many ways. It is a well written book, extraordinarly documented and well supported with eye opening statistical tables and illustrations. His material is useful for graduate and undergraduate students alike, and also for wider audiences interested on reviewing a different approach on history's complexities.

As the book front page indicates, the author centers his work on the 20th century's humankind events, termed by himself as the most influential on the process of ecology's evolution.

The book is very well organized so the reader keeps information organized in a properly way. At the end, Professor McNeill leaves many questions open that will be ample material enough to study in the years to come. Among those questions is the one concerned with society's will to deal seriously with environmental crises that have accumulated on the latest decades. We can have a readily answer to that subject if political leaders continue to privilege the narrow view of economic growth, instead of considering to seriously discuss the implementation of more integral strategies that would deliver environmental friendly sustainable economic development at the end.

Without question I recommend this book.

Sub-titled "An Environmental History of the 20th Century", this is a sober and objective survey of environmental changes over the past 100 years. I was concerned this would be an emotional appeal or judgmental polemic from the left - but not the case, it is academic and professional history from an environmental perspective (the environment, not "environmental movement"). It's encyclopedic in scope and style.

I would not call this an "entertaining" read (although some of the facts really fire the synapses), but it is deeply rewarding as a broad survey of a very large and complex problem. The chapters and sub-sections are arranged in a logical outline making it possible to read the chapters in any order.

The main idea of the title "something new under the sun" is that humans have so fundamentally changed the environment that things really are very different now than they have ever been historically. To regard our current conditions of energy availability, access to water, unending economic growth - as enduring and normal appears to be an interesting gamble given the facts.

Some interesting trivia: humans did not become the dominate primate until about 8,000 BC with the rise of agriculture (baboons outnumbered humans before then). About one-fifth of all humans that ever lived did so in the 20th century. In sheer energy terms, if all modern technology and energy sources were not available, the average American would need about 70 human slaves to maintain the current standard of living (each American "directs" 70 energy-slave equivalents). Each year, humans move more earth and soil than glaciers, wind erosion, mountain building (plate tectonic uplift), and volcanoes combined. Probably the single most damaging biological organism in earths history was the human primate Thomas Midgley Jr from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania born in 1889. He invented Freon (which destroys the Ozone layer), and also leaded gasoline, which has polluted most of the worlds soil lasting thousands of years (all of us carry elevated lead levels because of it and will continue to do so for centuries to come, leading to birth defects, lowered IQs, etc..). Midgley contracted Polio at age 51 and invented a system or ropes and pulleys to move his crippled body off the bed - he became tangled and was strangled to death in 1944 by his own invention, before learning how damaging his inventions were.

This book may be the best historical survey I've ever read. (And with an M.A. in history, I've read a few!) I got this book to complement my hard science slogging on global warming, and found so much more than I hoped for or ever imagined! McNeil's book provides the historical background and the human context for all the graphs and numbers in the science texts. If you're looking for one book to give you a focused overview of just how much human civilization has accomplished, good and bad, in the last 100 years, this is it.

The organization of the book is excellent. McNeil sources everything, ends each chapter with an excellent summary, and wraps it all up with his own thoughtful commentary on climate change. He uses an inspired mix of the small detail (birds dying mid-flight) and the enormous concept (the Aswan dam affected the entire Mediterranean ecosystem). He describes chains of cause and effect and makes connections other historians and scientists seem to miss. The chapters dealing with agriculture are, I think, particularly relevant to our everyday lives; but students in nearly every subject will find this book useful. My husband is a family physician, and has read the sections on public health; my neighbor is a biologist with the USGS, and is reading the chapter on dams and irrigation.

I read this book in order to prepare myself to transcribe for Mrs. Miller's upcoming novel, and I found it to be a lovely true story that encompasses World War II, but more so, the forever changed lives of those who lived it. Easy to read and easier to connect with, this story brings to us not only the war but our vital human connection with those around us and around the world, the importance of peace and understanding, and a lesson on the fallible nature of stereotyping our "enemies". I look forward to Mrs. Marako Miller's coming novel, which I expect to be even better.

Ever since my June 12, 1999, comments on "Bridge To The Sun, I've received many personal e-mails requesting a copy of my movie video. Please do not ask me to violate copyright laws. Do as I did...keep checking your local cable listings or inquire of the classic movie channels when "Bridge To The Sun" will air again, and then set your VCRs accordingly.

Having lived in the modern Japan for 10+ years, I was impressed by how beautifully Mrs. Terasaki captured the spirit of Japan, and somewhat jealous that she experienced things (I don't mean the war, mind you) difficult to find today. This is a great book, and my only complaint is that she didn't write more.

Incidentally, I actually found out about this book from a Japanese mini-series that was re-broadcast recently called "Mariko". It had a few more details not found in the book, such as the fact that Mr. Terasaki used phrases regarding Mariko (esp. "Mariko is not well today") as a code with his brother and others in Tokyo to relay how discussions were progressing during the tense time right before the Pearl Harbor attack. Also, I found out that Mariko is alive and well and living in the US.

I attended Mariko Miller's lectures about her family and just had to have the book. For those who want to know major events since, Mr. Terasaki was the liaison after WWII between Emperor Hirohito and MacArthur. He was "writing" a book during this period, but when Mariko got it translated from the court Japanese to the more common dialect, it proved to be much more valuable. Publicly Emperor Hirohito said very little about WWII. He dictated his thoughts on it to Terasaki instead. Terasaki's book proved to be an invaluable historical document. Mariko lives in Wyoming and is writing her own book. She mentioned in her lectures how easy it was to figure out where her parents were on a given day and time in the days leading up to WWII. She just requested their FBI files and it was all there. Keep an eye out for Mariko Miller's book. It should be even better than BRIDGE TO THE SUN.

As literature, this book is not the best. However, as a historical first-hand document that recounts a personal, interesting, and very unique story, this is superb. This book may not read easily for some since the writing style can be a little scattered. This characteristic, though, reveals a rawness in the writing. Terasaki is genuine, and she opens a window to many intriguing subjects. These subjects include: foreign policy between Japan and America surrounding World War II, cultural contrasts between the two countries, perspectives on love, the life of ambassadors in the WWII era, Japanese perspectives on Americans in that era (and vice-versa), the treatment of the different classes of people in Japan, separation of civilians and government, Japanese WWII propaganda strategies, Japanese military actions in China before the US entered the war, Japanese perspectives on the American occupation after the surrender, and so much more. This text contains plenty of substance, even if not in a most polished form. I would recommend borrowing a copy through your local library rather than paying $$ for it.

I was given the postcards book as a gift and had to have this book. Full of color pictures. If you love cats or photography with great color and contrast, this is a wonderful book.

If you like to look at kitties, this is a no-brainer. It's a beautiful book. One of its charms is that it's a quiet, calming book. It brings the viewer into the world of these cats...and causes me to ask (not being on a sunny island) how can I bring such solitary basking moments into my life? how can I peacefully share space with others? can I find a warm, sunny, basking place within myself and the space I inhabit?

We often hear the expression "Lucky Dog". This book is "Lucky Cat".

I bought this fabulous coffee table book for my boyfriend's birthday last month, and we both think it is fantastic. The pictures are so luscious and colorful--now I can't wait to visit the Greek Isles and see some of these amazing cats.

I purchased it to gift to my niece for her 15th birthday. She has mania for cats and many books related with feline. This book is better than the others she had because the beauty of the scenery is in harmony with cat feature. She was suffused with delight when received this gift.
It seems that every photograph has mood and story so that is create imagination of beautiful world. If you take a look the picture of this book then you will cannot help but like cats. I strongly recommend people interested in feline to purchase this book.

I was given this book as a present two months after my own kitty was put down. This is the most wonderful book on cats I've ever seen. It shows quite clearly how different their personalities are and seems to capture the essence of a cat's soul! These beautiful creatures will make you laugh because their personalities just shine through the pages of this wonderfully large coffee table book.

Just like cats, they don't need to say anything. There are no quotes within the book, just large beautifully artistic photographs with curious cats smiling, stretching, and being frisky. There is a touching introduction to these critters in the beginning, but then just sit back and make friends with these 400 cats!