Science Books

The story of the SS-220 Submarine BARB's WWII story as told by the Captain, Eugene 'LUCKEY' Fluckey. A wonderful story of one of the most successful WWII submarines in the US Navy.

I found this book fascinating. I am not one to read a book through in one sitting, but I found this book difficult to put down. At first I found the dialog written more like a novel, but after a few pages it brought the whole story and the people to life. Quite frankly, I hated to finish the book since I enjoyed it so much.

Thunder Below By Admiral Eugene Fluckey has provided many hours of pleasure for my
husband. He has read and reread this several times. He feel like he is right among
the men the way the stories are told. I have just purchased his second copy as a gift
as he has worn the first one out. Wonderful Submarine involvement, Great reading!

I bought this book seeing the Positive 5 star reviews and I am glad I did.
What a Great Read, I finished this book today. I was impressed at how Cdr. Flukey worked with his men.
The enlisted men of the Barb were first rate and the fact he was an officer and Captain of the boat need not matter. Some Captains of a boat separate themselves from the enlisted men which hinders relationships and productivity.
With this respect, every patrol was sucessful. The Barbs 11th overall and Cdr Flukeys 4th was the best.

He then pleaded with his superior officers to have one more go on the Barb which made it his 5th and final, The War was in its final stages and I was amused at, instead of war, he seemed to be having a blast literally!!
No problems, only solutions.......

Great Book Great Sub.......God Bless All who served!!

No doubt about it, this is the absolute BEST American submarine account out there that I have read. Usually I tell folks if you want an exciting submarine warfare book you need to read the German stuff, but now I finally have an American account to recommend. This guy had b$^ls that clanked and knew when and how to push things to the brink. Get it, read it, you will LOVE it!!!

This book has lots of good ideas in it.

Well worth the money.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered this book. I was amazed at how well thought out the "hacks" were and the authors take the time to explain the why of the "hack" with plenty of detail. Their handling of the different topics are from the perspective of what they found works well, but they take the time to address alternate viewpoints and the relative merits of each (an example is their handling of the red-dot sight vs Telrad vs Rigel Qwikfinder debate, some very useful information there!).

This is a definite "must have" book for any telescope owner (they handle dobs extremely well in this book), and is the second book you need to buy after choosing a good observing guide.

My wife gave me a decent telescope for Christmas and by luck got one that's pretty good. This book makes some specific recommendations that would have been useful to have read first.

A must have book for anyone getting into astronomy, whether with binoculars or a telescope. It's also a good to buy and read before you buy binoculars or a telescope, as it helps you decide what need to get. I was very impressed with it, and couldn't put it down, which says a lot about a technical book.

Gazing at the night sky is part of our nature. Whether for scientific and/or aesthetic purposes, we humans are fascinated by the enormity and beauty of the heavens.

The authors explain how astronomy gives them an "unchanging framework that places us in context within the universe. We look at the Great Orion Nebula, for example, and realize that the light we see tonight began its journey about 1,550 years ago, when the Roman Empire was in its final days."

This book is a comprehensive (almost 400 pages) guide to getting the most out of your nocturnal viewings. It will be useful for the complete amateur, the hobbyist and even offer some tips for the seasoned astronomer.

Don't be frightened by the word "Hacks" in the title. Like other O'Reilly Hacks books, this is not a compilation of illegal or unethical computer programs. It is a reclaiming of the original meaning of the word "hacks." Before the media started using the term hackers for everyone from mischievous teens to dangerous criminals, a Hacker was someone who used a creative workaround or discovered a more elegant, or quick-and-dirty, solution to a problem.

You probably won't read this book from cover to cover. Depending on where you are starting from and where you want to go, you will find sections that pertain to your interest and experience. Early in the book is a guide to choosing binoculars and telescopes. I like the hack that explains how to measure your "entrance pupil size" using Allen wrenches. This will suggest the optimal telescope for my eyes.

The book also gives tips, guidelines and even etiquette for venturing out alone or with others on an observation trip.

There is some solid information as to how our eyes function in the dark. If you are eager to see stars, you can skip some of this but I found it interesting. Especially the explanation of why all cats are gray in the dark.

After about 100 pages you will get into star identification and cataloging. It begins with the Bayer Catalog, (Johann Bayer published the first comprehensive star atlas in 1603) and then includes more modern catalogs.

The authors provide lists of, say, the 88 modern constellations and include a pronunciation guide so you don't sound like a newbie.
As an "urban observer" (about 8 miles from downtown), I have different equipment needs and techniques than a country dweller. There is a whole section dedicated to Urban Observing Skills.

For the adventurous, there is a game plan to complete a Messier Marathon (seeing and logging all 110 Messier Objects in one night.

Astronomy has long been linked to photography and there are a lot of hacks dealing with taking pictures of the images you observe.

Those who have gone beyond the beginner stage will appreciate all the hacks and modifications you can make to your telescope and other equipment to improve your experience. And the book concludes with hacks to make your PC a better tool in your observations.

This book provides a nice starting point for people interested in the night sky. But it's not a beginner's book. As your skills and interest grow, you will continue to uncover new and useful ideas from this book.

Although this book was written in the 1960s, it is, still, very relevant today. This book was recommended to me back in 1983 or 1984 when I was in the military. I bought it with a number of other books. It took me twenty years to read it. I should have read it alot sooner; but, the rigors of life and the fact that a good many other books I bought kept pushing this one further back on the reading list. I grew up in the streets of NYC and saw his life being played out in a number of guys and gals I hung out with at that time. I didn't get caught up in the drug scene nor in the gangsta scene but, like the author, there was a lot going on outside the walls of the house to keep me outside nearly all day. Yeah this world was much newer for me then rather than now but I had to see what was going on within and without my neighborhood. As a parent looking at my kid, I know this world is new to them, which I can't shelter them from. As my kids look at me as their parent, they are constantly telling me to get out of their way. I want to see what is going out there. This only helps me to keep life real for them with a dose of non-reality here and there. Fortunately for Claude Brown, the street made him wise and through his book some of us can reminesce about those days and explain to others what urban life was like for us and how it made us what we are today. For others who have not experienced this urban lifestyle, take the book for what it is and re-evaluate your own experiences in hopes of passing on a reality check of your own life to your children.

This is an awesome book that I highly recommend to all young men trying to find their "way". It can be a little harsh, but it is about life in the inner city and a young man becoming a man.

I can't believe I didn't write a review for a book I read 10 years ago. This is one of my favorite books. It was this one book that drew me into reading books and becoming a book lover. One of the best books I ever read. Highly Recommended!!

Claude Brown's slightly fictionalized autobiography recounts his childhood and early adulthood throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Manchild in the Promised Land also documents the changing atmosphere of Harlem and the people it affected. Brown tells stories of himself as a hell-raiser, involved in theft and drug dealing, and spending time in juvenile detention centers like Wiltwyck and Warwick. He was able to establish a feared and respected name for himself both among the streetwalkers of Harlem and the inmates of the reform schools. Lacking formal education (resulting from years of playing hooky) and idolizing the criminal elements around him, he seemed to be heading down a short road of vice and danger.

Only after Brown moved to Greenwich Village shortly before turning twenty was he able to begin viewing Harlem with a more objective eye, and see the factors that led him down the downward spiral he had been traveling. One of the main reasons Brown believes he and his friends were wrought with such violence and recklessness is due to the mentality imported by their parents from the South. The thing that mattered most to them was fighting: for one's money, girl/family, and manhood (Brown 260). He feels that that rural mentality had been brought to a crowded city life that was not only incompatible with the setting, but also destructive. He laments, "it seems as though if I had stayed in Harlem all my life, I might have never known that there was anything else to life other than sex, religion, liquor, and violence" (Brown 281).

As a youth, Brown excelled in these very base attributes. It wasn't until the introduction of heroine, or "horse," as it was first introduced in the early 1950s, that he feels Harlem truly became unable to cope with their values. Instead of young men fighting for honor, they were killing and robbing for money to sustain their overwhelming addictions, introducing more guns into the neighborhood with desperate people wielding them. He witnessed his friends begin to fade away into scratching, nodding junkies. However, by this time Brown was able to leave and slowly break away from the crumbling Harlem he once knew, watching from afar many of the individuals he once hustled with fall victim to the crimes they themselves would perpetrate.

Many opted instead to stay in Harlem and live the street life. He attributes this to the attitudes of whites outside Harlem and the racism they encountered. To live a "clean" life usually meant to work for a white man who underpaid, referred to them in a racially derogatory manner, and made them perform the most labor intensive tasks. When it came to these prospects, most understandably chose the life of a self-employed drug dealer in Harlem over the self-effacing menial work elsewhere, despite the danger (Brown 287).

Where some people turned to drugs or religion to deal with these problems, Brown found his calling through more established and secular means. Education and music became outlets for him to express himself, gain a self-pride through non-criminal means, and eventually lead to a promising career as a lawyer and author.

One of the things that make this autobiography interesting is its use of language. Brown writes in a notable street dialect, however, the language itself evolves with the character. For instance, "cat" slowly comes into use around page 67 and is used throughout, though it receives less use towards the end. More notably, on page 109 the young Claude begins idolizing a street pimp named Johnny: "To Johnny, every chick was a b*tch. Even mothers were b*tches." And so on page 114 Brown writes "Jackie was a beautiful black b*tch." From then on women are regularly referred to as "b*tches" until the character matures enough to treat women with more respect, and Johnny's spell seems to have completely worn off by the time Brown falls in love with a fellow student. Likewise, the sentence structures become less erratic and grow in sophistication as the book goes on, using less slang chapter by chapter when he begins to change. This seems to be by design.

Claude Brown's personal accounts are no doubt fictionalized to some degree, for his characters go on exhaustive speeches several times, and he certainly didn't tape record them for every word. However, Brown's intentions are to present Harlem and its difficulties in approachable and creative ways. To allow readers (such as white-suburban-me) an inside look into the ways of urban life it invites an understanding and, hopefully, sympathy for the situations of the junkies, prostitutes, and drug dealers that we pass on the street. He shows them in a way that cannot be easily neglected, in intimate, personal relationships that reveal the influences and regrets that have placed them in those situations. These factors were not unique to the 1940s and 1950s. They existed before and do so today. Brown allows insight into the hardships while telling an encouraging tale of one who made it out. By personal drive and education, through art and self-expression (as this book is), he shows that the situation is not dire, but attitudes must change before the world will follow.

I was able to find this book relatively easy, based on a few keywords. My boyfriend started reading it several years ago and was unable to complete it. The storyline stuck in his memory and I bought it as a surprise for him, because over the years he mentioned it occasionally. Thanks for making the lookup so easy!

This is not a series with stand alone books, you have to start in the beginning and progress. This book just jumps in and starts where Carpe Diem left off. We're at the start of the war in earnest between the Clan Korval and previously unknown enemies. Things start to tie together and finally Val and Miri get back into the thick of the Liaden worlds. I like this book, but it's definitely a bridge between Partners in Necessity and I Dare. I love this series, it has everything you could want from a space opera and more. Some once described it as Jane Austen in space, but I find it more deadly than that - more like Renaissance Italy in space, lots of machinations and maneuverings and with some love and laughter to leaven the plot. Highly recommended series. A keeper and frequent reread.

This is the fourth volume (out of five -- I think) in a first-rate space opera story arc, set in the Liaden Universe, that began with Conflict of Honors. It's all about Clan Korval, one of the wealthiest and most powerful trade families around, and the people in it, and their growing struggle with the Liaden Department of Interior (which has plans for running things their own narrow-minded way), and with the Juntavas (a sort of galactic Mafia), and their relations and alliances with various Terran groups and individuals. Key to the multiple plots are Val Con yos-Phelium -- who becomes a Scout and then a spy, and then goes determinedly on the lam -- and his lady-love, Miri Robertson, a talented ex-mercenary who thought she was Terran (and still mostly thinks that way) but who has discovered she's actually a lost member of Clan Erob, a smaller Liad family that is closely allied with Korval. Val Con and Miri, now lifemates, have gone to Erob to get her accepted back into the family, and things are moving along well. But what they don't know is that the attempts by Clan Korval, back home, to locate Val Con (who is supposed to take over the family's leadership, whether he wants to or not), have led to an unhealthy interest in Korval by the Department of Interior. "This means war," as they say. The current First Speaker, Nova yos'Galan, invokes "Plan B," which can be summed up in two words: "Everybody scatter!" The family's flagship is even outfitted as a battleship -- and a very powerful one, too. And then all hell suddenly breaks loose, with an attack on Erob's world by the dreaded Xytrang (a combination of Huns and Mongols, with a dash of Klingon), and Miri is suddenly pushed to the forefront, her mercenary experience in great demand. But things get even weirder when Val Con is able to recruit an Xytrang Scout-equivalent to fight on his side. There are loads of interwoven subplots here, plus interestingly developed personal relationships, and lots of classic military ground action. Don't even think about trying to read this volume first, because you will have no idea of what's going on; start at the beginning of the arc -- but keep all the volumes handy because you won't want to wait to start the next volume!

Great read. So much detail in this book; I read it over again after I finished reading it the first time and was just as entertained. I hope the saga continues! More please...

plan B opens with Miri and Val Con in space and headed to the planet Lytaxin. They've put the word out to Val Con's clan to rendezvous there. There is also an invading force of alien warriors that is converging right along with them. plan B is full of widescale destruction, ironic humor and justified paranoia. It will have you ride a wave of human emotions as you are caught up in the story.

I did not know this was book six of the Liaden universe. But if you haven't read the other books, like myself, you won't have too much trouble following the events of plan B, I may have missed some subtly points by not having a background to pull from. But I still found it a very entertaining read and could not put it down.

"A changing array of safeplaces shall be maintained at all times, in the event of immediate, catastrophic threat to the Clan. There is no shame in strategic retreat. Even Jela sometimes ran from his enemies, the better to defeat them, tomorrow.
"Keep the children safe. Honor without love is stupidity."
- This by the hand of Cantra yos'Phelium, Captain and Delm, in the Third Year after Planetfall

This book comes closest to suffering from "middle book" syndrome of all the Liaden books, but only because it's obviously in the middle of a continuing story. Plenty of interesting things occur in this volume, but their origins lie in AGENT OF CHANGE (which introduced Miri and Val Con to each other), a story which was continued in CARPE DIEM. The cliffhanger ending of PLAN B itself leads to I DARE, the next book, so I recommend having that handy before tackling this volume.

If the gentle reader insists on beginning with PLAN B in this series, don't claim that I didn't warn you against such an ill-advised idea.

Val Con yos'Phelium, sometime First-In Scout and ex-Agent of Change, is still on the run with his new lifemate, ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, from Liad's so-called "Department of the Interior", a renegade government organization dedicated to giving Liad its "true place" in the galaxy even if Liad's own culture and people must be sacrificed to that aim. As heirs to Korval's ancient contract to protect the people of Liad, Val Con and his cousins can't let the Department win, even if their own lives weren't at risk as a family heavily intermingled with Terrans.

In this round of their ongoing battles, however, the Department is a relatively minor factor.

As arranged at the end of CARPE DIEM, the cousins are about to rendezvous on Lytaxin, homeworld of Miri Robertson's distant Liaden kinfolk - also, ironically, ancient allies of Clan Korval. (*Every* senior member of Val Con's family thinks it's ironic that he chose his lifemate from the most suitable family possible, and that if he'd *known* she was suitable he'd have taken forever to look in her direction.) Unfortunately, Lytaxin - having just undergone a massive rebellion - is now being invaded by the Yxtrang 14th Conquest Corps, who successfully executed their standard opening ploy of destroying the planetary communication net.

And in accordance with the principle that no good deed goes unpunished, the Yxtrang Explorer whom Val Con once captured and trussed up like a turkey is not only attached to the Corps but has just been captured by Lytaxin's defenders. And guess which Liaden on the planet is the *only* person fluent in Yxtrang?

Various nice touches of characterization and development of the cultures involved, including our first good look at the Yxtrang as well as Miri's first adjustments to interacting with Liaden culture as a Liaden rather than a Terran. We also get a more detailed look at Miri's old mercenary unit (who quite properly ask why Miri and Val Con didn't just tag along with them in the first place, if they were going to end up on Lytaxin anyhow).

I read the 2001 paperback of the 2000 book. It is very well written, which can't be said about all books on the topic. It is clear, at times funny, macabre, eye-opening, repulsive due to topic, fascinating and thought provoking.

Parasites outnumber other forms of life 4:1, are much more ubiquitous than commonly thought, have been essential for evolution and have directly influenced human DNA. (Not even considering mitochondria getting integrated in most forms of life.) Parasites make it necessary to revise the tree of life into a bush of many merging branches. Human cells within the average human are outnumbered by a factor of ten by non-human cells. Getting knowledgable about parasites is much more important a topic than the obvious peculiar yuk effect. Though I promise you that this book will fulfill the latter to the fullest as well.

I thought I knew a bit about parasites. For example those wasps which lay eggs in other invertebrates. To begin with, I didn't know that there were some 200,000 parasitic wasp species out there. I had also no idea, how EXACTLY some of them work. Like the species, whose two eggs, one female, one male, subdivide in the host, to produce ever more eggs, with the females developing into different classes of maggots, such as the soldier maggots whose only job it is to kill other parasitic wasps' maggots in the host - and all but one of the male siblings. Or that the social parasite, the cuckoo baby is able to mimic the sound of a CHOIR of eight singing host bird babies and the sign stimulus of as many youngsters in the nest to the parents' eyes. (Though the book doesn't mention that some birds cannot be fooled anyway and depose of the cuckoo (egg) and also doesn't mention that the near-by cuckoo parents may retaliate by killing all the hosts' surviving kids...) Or that there is something like plant bacteria, not as in bacteria of plants, but as in green bacteria. Being an essential part (originally parasite) of the parasite named "bad-air" aka malaria.

The book answers even the nagging question, wether there are homosexual parasites. (I wondered that ever since I read Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (Stonewall Inn Editions) about mammals and birds.) The flukes mentioned here are the first parasites I encountered (as in READING about them), which act homosexual in a benign way. To each other that is. (Other parasites - not mentioned in this book - may act homosexual in very twisted ways to procreate to the detriment of same-sex competitors.) Thinking about it: Shouldn't homosexual parasites of the former kind be our favorite parasites, if there is such a thing, because presumably they do NOT procreate, as in: in us? The book sure doesn't answer the question wether there are homosexual solidarity activists like there are for maltreated homosexual zoo animals.

Talking about questions I never knew existed: The book is full of them. Sticking with the homosexual topic, there's a fungus, which TURNS flies into necrophiliac homosexuals. As much as another parasite doesn't only fool crabs into believing that their attached parasite babies are crab babies to care for, but fooling male crabs to believe they themselves are females all of the sudden in order to (be able to) do that to begin with. If you ever sought a flabbergasting book, this will be it. Some animals have a bodyguard class against parasites (ants), others employ blind snakes as maids to free the nest of parasites (owls). And how much DNA itself can get parasitic in various ways sure wasn't on my radar of existing topics.

The book talks about allergies caused by the modern lack of parasites, complete fusions of life, the parasitic origin of sexuality, and that humans may be considered as parasites in the gaia concept. As stupid parasites that is, which are those defined who kill their host. Some readers may be a little lost with this spirituality capping ending of the book. As a Rasta, personally, I am not. As such, I was surprised to find welcome information on the spread of parasites through colonialism. Not only via the conquerors' imported bugs and slavery's transmission, but via relocating cattle within Africa. And via forcing the indiginous populations to live and work in areas unsuited for humans and/or their cattle. All of that having caused most severe and lethal epidemics. The Western apologetic lore has it that their colonial doctors brought healing power to their conquered new lands. (The book doesn't mention that some vaccines were necessary, because the diseases had been imported in the first place and that some FORCED cattle vaccinations occasionally caused more deaths in livestock than the diseases themselves, sometimes intended, sometimes not.) In today's shifted colonial world, the book warns (indirectly) against huge dams, which dramatically expand standing water, which in turn dramatically expands the habitat of dangerous to human parasite carrying snails. In case you are wondering how dams are colonial, please read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I find it also interesting to read that Konrad Lorenz didn't change his views of parasitism in the Nazi sort of way at all - even not a few days before his death in 1989. As celebrated as he gets in Western school books, it is usually not known (and not elaborated in this book) that he fully embraced the Nazi party and became an eager member immediately after Hitler marched into Austria. On a more enlightening subject around parasites, I didn't consider before I read this book that human (pre-)history can be reconstructed via tapeworms.

I have a little bit of criticism. Some things are sketchily mentioned only. There is a parasite which eats the flesh of the human face. Ok, horrid. But if I think about it after the initial impulse to turn the page immediately: How exactly do I have to imagine that? What consequences does this have? How is that livable? No answers in this book. The captions of the FEW black and white pictures on 16 pages in the middle of the book are sometimes not that precise. With that parasite, which replaces a fish's tongue, the caption is all we will ever read in this book about that parasite. How does it eat the tongue, i.e. getting into the mouth? How does the parasite help the fish grabbing food? How does the parasite mate? Does it cause infected fish to french kiss or what? If I want to research that, I would have appreciated the parasite's name. Or the name of the host. The caption only says a crustacean in a fish. Wow, that's precise! I don't even know, where on this planet I should look into a fish's mouth before eating it. Well, I was able to find some answers elsewhere nevertheless: The parasite is called Cymothoa exigua, lives in California and only in the mouths of Lutjanus guttatus aka spotted rose snapper. The parasite crawls under the tongue and severes its blood supply in a vampiric manner, causing the tongue to wither away to be replaced by the growing tongue with eyes. I still don't know how it procreates, so anybody who does know, please leave a comment with source. Five years after the book had been written, the first fish with second tongue was found in EU waters (in the UK). The book may not be that incredibly up to date, with some issues still pending when written. For example on the eradication of some parasites. As of 2008 some more countries could be added to the list of eradicated guinea worms, but with other countries still lacking behind.

The Hamilton-Zuk theory got its own book by Marlene Zuk herself: Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are, itself a great book about parasites, with little overlap. And if, it goes more in-depth, like with the fungus which attacks insects. If you like a coffee table book of the nasty treat, in which you can also read, which (utterly unexpected!) places in your household are the most yukky ones, "enjoy" the Canadian Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives on Us. If you are interested in more symbiotic body roomies, largely restricted to bacteria and in a systematic text book presentation, read the rather dry Microbial Inhabitants of Humans: Their Ecology and Role in Health and Disease. Much more grippingly written is Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World by a science journalist. Which is also about the history if antibiotic treatments and their failure due to mounting resistance. About former parasites, today our energy source and DNA family tree provider, mitochondria, read Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life. A more general biological approach of symbiosis is Liaisons of Life: From Hornworts to Hippos--How the Unassuming Microbe has Driven Evolution. A theoretic re-thinking, including reconstructing taxonomy and theories about gaia, read Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution.

I bought this book quite a long time ago and forgot to review it until now...I am a parasitologist and this is one of my favorites. Zimmer is funny and engaging and scientifically accurate--I HAVE GOT TO READ THIS AGAIN SOON.

"Parasite Rex" is great science writing. For readers familiar with evolutionary and ecological theories, they will meet these theories in a new guise. For readers not familiar, Zimmer has a talent for explaining complex ideas in a very simple fashion. In only one case did I detect a minor oversimplification: there is more to generating novel antibodies than shuffling genes. My only complaint about style is that Zimmer sometimes tries to make the reader horrified at what parasite does to prey, and when the prey is a lower order animal like a caterpillar, I am doubtful that having its insides eaten is as horrible as it sounds. I say this as a person who only eats free range meat. As regards content, fewer case histories of individual parasites would suffice to illustrate the ideas, and for me at least, make for an even more interesting book.

I was very surprised to learn of the strong environmental component to such autoimmune diseases as Crohn's: while once thought to be characteristic of a few ethnic groups, e.g. Jewish, it has become much more common in other groups as sanitation has improved, and the immune system has fewer parasites to fight off. Zimmer suggests parasites play a critical role in ecological balance, and points to some compelling case histories. Parasites are often able to control behavior of their hosts, and thus are a potentially important source of new behavioral drugs.

Another excellently-written work from Carl Zimmer. This book will give you a bad case of the creepy-crawlies in parts. It will also completely change your outlook on the nature of life, because you will learn that parasites are not really the gross, "devolved" hangers-on that most think of them as, but rather a vibrant, important part of the web of life...

... that is sometimes really disgusting.

Still, an outstanding book, one that give parasitology a much-improved face. Written in Zimmer's usual clear, very readable style.

I don't know why, but I find parasites interesting. However, I wasn't exactly looking for a book on this particular subject; rather I merely stumbled upon it. When I go to the book store I typically peruse my favorite sections, one of which is science. On the shelf I came across the title "Parasite Rex"... so I picked it up "King Parasite...huh." Then I made the mistake of reading the back of the book and found out what it was about. I had to buy this book immediately!

I'm always reading, so I had to finish up a couple other books before I could start reading this one, so I waited patiently in eager anticipation. I'll usually read two or three books at a time, and when I finally got freed up, I started this book. I didn't read another book until I finished this. It is one of the most engrossing scientific books I have in my collection. Carl Zimmer is actually a phenomenal writer. I'm not a scientist, but I enjoy reading about it and it's written in a manner just about anyone should be able to understand. It's like a science report that flows, but doesn't sound overly scientific, yet it's still science!

Parasite Rex doesn't just deal with one specific parasite, like the title might suggest, rather it's a veritable tour of the parasitic world. The reader finds themselves enthralled with each creature. It really changes your perspective on the world as a whole, realizing that the major importance of sex is so that we can vary up our genetic code to better defend against such parasites. It also makes you realize that for all intents and purposes the fetuses of mammals would also be parasites as well because they force the mother to change her chemical reactions to support the fetus. Also the mother treats the fetus initially as a threat to her system. I personally found all this very fascinating and made me realize that perhaps Agent Smith in the Matrix, when he assessed the human race as a virus, probably should have identified them as a parasite.

The book is also terrifying in some regards because there are parts where it explains where parasites go wrong. Parasites are essentially programmed to thrive in specific locations in your body (or some other creatures). So a parasite that gets lodged in your brain, but it's supposed to be in your stomach could end up killing the host. Or screw up which species it attaches itself to. From what I gathered, the parasites main focus isn't to kill the host, but to feed off of the host's life, so when a parasite is in the wrong spot it executes its program, but it ends up having terrifying affects on the host.

In the end this was a phenomenal read and I can't recommend this enough. In fact I will probably read this a second time because when I read it the first time through I read it pretty quickly. One other thing this book made me not want to do is visit any location that's in the central area of the earth, such as the Amazon. Considering there have been 2,500 different parasites identified in one small location. Carl Zimmer is seriously the kind of writer we need in science to help transfer complex knowledge to the lay population.

What a great beginning! I'm a sucker for interesting worlds, and this seems to promise a well-thought out and well-developed one. I generally don't read noir, and so I can't yet feel for the characters, but the chase scene and the little details made for a fast and engrossing read. I hope to read more of this!

All in all I'd say I am very impressed by what I've seen so far in this book. Be that as it may, one gets the sense while reading that all Subspace needs to bring it to the forefront of modern science fiction is a thorough pass by a talented editor.
The characters and setting are clearly top notch, but unfortunately the pacing - particularly the rate at which invented words are introduced - tends to bog the reader down. A little jargon here and there can pique curiosity and draw the reader in; but introducing four, five, six new terms before the reader has time to figure out what the first three mean for page after page is simply asking us to juggle too many balls at once.
To conceive of a new and vigorous universe is the mark of a good writer, and Justin Robinson has clearly achieved that. Is there a great novel here? Yes. Absolutely. Unfortunately one has to dig a little more than most casual readers would be comfortable with.
That said, I must be fair to insist that once the setting is established, once the politics of the era is set in perspective, once the new lexicon is metabolized, there is one hell of a story here.

Blending genres can be as risky as performing oral surgery on a cranky Sarlacc that declined the anesthetic. Chances are you're going to get bit, and it's going to hurt something fierce. In his debut novel "Subspace", Mr. Robinson has woven a seamless blend of Noir and Science Fiction sure the please the fans of well written stories set in either milieu.

The beginning of this excerpt is tense and fascinating. I was eager to know why Montoya was moving so quickly and who was chasing her. The description of the corridors in Santiago was vivid and interesting, and the author managed to reveal details about this world without slowing down the action.

There are some excellent details about how a world without gravity would function, as in the description of the bar that included where the bar was, where the tables were, and how the patrons would stay where they belonged.

I was a bit lost in the slang of this world. Some I could pick up through context, but other words I thought could have been saved until later, when I would have been able to get a better idea of what they meant.

Ramirez's inner conflict about Montoya's plea is interesting, and his character is obviously very complex. I liked him and would be interested in learning much more of his story. The history of Ramirez, Montoya, and Calderon is enlightening and creates the opportunity for a great deal of tension between the characters of Ramirez and Montoya.

So far this was a fascinating story, and I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to read more of it.

The author of Subspace has created a richly believable zero gravity world. Vibrant descriptions and colorful details draw the reader in, and make him believe - I could smell the odors of the world. The pace of the story is perfect; it keeps moving while continuing to impart interesting information to the reader. The description of the bar is excellent, completely adding to the zero gravity feel.

The slang adds to the story; however, I did feel that it needed some accompanying explanation. Most of it I was able to puzzle out, but this did slow down my comprehension and enjoyment of the story as a whole. Also, some of the characters need the same depth and detail as the world the author has created. At times, they felt a bit shallow or underdeveloped.

All in all, this is a fun, fast-paced read.

Books like this - Wizardology, Dragonology, The Wandmaker's Guidebook, and other "ology" books are the very thing a young person just starting to learn about magick and paganism needs to get started. Even a young adult (age 16-24) who is just getting their first lessons could benefit from books like these. They are very practical and well-written - much too well-written to be simply dismissed as books only suitable for children. I recommend all the books in this series to kids and adults alike!!

My grandson is an avid book reader but this book makes you slow down and check out all of the envelopes and hidden agenda within the book. Fun to read and watch the children read.

The book is veeery good, just like all the others in the '...ology' series, perfect gift for anyone. I love it! Lots of windows, and stuff to explore inside! GREAT!

I ordered this book as a Christmas gift for my mother, she is into all the fantasy type reads and such and it seems like a pretty good book for just some fun reading.

I love this book in fact my kids and I have read it together many times since it has arrived. I like that this book is easy to read so that my children can read it themselves if they want. Its also very interesting the way all the information is presented to the reader it almost makes you think you really can be merlins apprentice. Anyone who likes the medievel era would like this book, especially if you have children.

I picked up Infected several weeks back and loved it so I really wanted to pick up Ancestor as well, but was shocked at the price. After a little research, like 2 minutes, I found out it was a limited print and the only way to get it is eBay or other auction sites. Any way I found the whole book available as a free pdf download (see link below) and I'm sure glad I did.

Ancestor is an excellent read if you like the sci-fi thriller / horror genre and I thought a maybe better book than Infected. The action is fast paced and the contrary to what some are saying the dialog is well written, but does fly in the face of the FCC and is pretty accurate as to how soldiers / cops speak. There's also some sexual content that may offend the Bible carrying crowd, but again nothing out of the ordinary for most of us.

As with all thrillers some of the scenes are far fetched the ending is well out there, but if you want something totally believable head over to the non-fiction works. If you liked Infected, Amazonia, Black Order, Deep Fathom, or Tyrannosaur Canyon you'll love this book. You just have to be willing to read if from your computer (which I hate) or pay the $85 price tag for a used copy.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/01/scott-siglers-ancest.html

Another great science fiction adventure novel with great characters from Sigler. I didn't like it quite as much as Earthcore, but it was still a lot of fun to listen to. Sigler does some great voices, which really adds to the fun and humor. Highly recommended.

The book is cover to cover action, spiced with science, and broiled to perfection with the flames of suspense and horror. Overall, Ancestor is a heaping helping of gory goodness that should sate the homicidal hunger of sci-fi fans as well as the mainstream horror fan.

There's non-stop action, remote islands & bioengineering gone horribly wrong...what more could you want? This one was hard to put down (or turn off if you listen to the pocast) because there was just so much happening all the time. I was riveted throughout the book and I still wonder if the end is really the end. I hope not!

Wonderful tale. great idea who would suspect cows could be so ... gruesome ... well ok mutant cows with human genes. Scott succeeds again in telling a suck you in and gross you out tale.

This book is full of clear, common-sense talk, just the thing I needed when I bought it. Dealing with an aging parent can be tricky in the best of circumstances, and at worst can threaten the whole family structure. The level-headed advice in this book can help to keep things on track, and can help family members to develop the best plan for dealing with their particular situation, as it did with us.

I did a "speed-read" of the book in the 24 hours before a family conference. I did note a fair amount of repetition of ideas in the book, but that is not necessarily a bad thing: if you're reading just the chapters that seem most relevant, then that's where those ideas need to be mentioned. One bonus: reading the book made it clear to me that I need to be doing some elder planning for myself, and with my own children, to make things easier for them later.

"Am I doing the right thing?" Every adult child of a family member requiring eldercare asks this question. The Complete Eldercare Planner will help today's busy caregivers with medical, financial, and personal issues by condensing hours of research into a concrete plan of action. In one volume, readers will learn about emergency preparedness; how to tell when your elder needs help; talking about sensitive subjects; sharing the care; long-distance assistance; money and legal matters; health and wellness; insurance; housing; safety; transportation; maintaining quality of life; aging with a disability; death and dying; and more.

This carefully designed guide also presents material in an unusually accessible way, with dozens of checklists, step-by-step mini-planning guides, lists of low-cost/free resources, website index, questions to ask with places to write down answers, spaces to record elder's vital medial, financial, and personal information, and more.

For those who have been, or will be, managing the health and financial welfare of your elderly parents, this book provides very helpful and detailed guidelines on how to do this with tact and compassion, as well as providing numerous resources. I ordered copies for all of my siblings. Best resource I found on the subject.

7-22-05 -- Recently I found myself along with 3 other siblings and spouses thrust into new uncharted waters in a totally new season of our lives. Suddenly and without any training we were and continue to this day having to take care of my aging parents. I for one will freely admit that as a child I was never trained, prepared, nor exceptionally gifted to undertake such a task. It is just not the type of thing that you can ever really get to a line and say ready...set...go...and do it very well. Elderly health care in 2005 does not always afford us the luxury of any long preparation either emotionally or financially.

Suddenly unmercifully and usually without warning you hear over the phone in the midst of a busy American routine those words you dread. It's Cancer, a stroke, or replacement surgery, just minor or major operations which means weeks of homecare and hospitalization's, etc., You are suddenly no longer swinging a few bats warming up in the on deck circle there in safety at a bit of distance. But you find yourself thrust into the batters box. You are no longer the stand by just in case fill in player who dressed for the game just in case you would or might be needed. But suddenly with a phone call, you find yourself thrust without any prior warning into the batters box. You are to take charge with 3 others voices and votes, your parents primary healthcare.

Now, if you call a frantic call for "HELP" in the middle of the night when just the week before things were okay a warning, well then, you're doing better than we were. You find yourself suddenly up at the plate with bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth your teams behind 3 runs. To top it off you're facing a 94mph fastball pitcher who also throws a mean slider called the reality of life. You have never been good at hitting these kinds of pitches. Much less being the homerun hitter the team needs at this moment and are all looking to you now for. Then you hear through your wife there is a book available on just such a thing. It allows you to calmly and logically check out all of your options. It tells you in simple language just how you go about walking through this difficult mine field you've been thrust into without training or any real prior warning. It tells you how to do this without losing your mind, your family unity, and most of all your parents dignity.

I found myself literally reading the pages of Joy's, "Elder Care" wonderful "How TO" book on the plane going headed to Florida. I was then going there for my Dad's 80th B-day party as well as a visit to help out for 10 days at my elderly parents. Little did I know then, that I would see those 10 days turn suddenly into 46 long and hectic days I ended up spending there. Little did I realize as I paged through this how to book on Elderly Care that it would be like a daily Bible to me. I was literally reading a chapter ahead of the events as they unfolded in the next days. It was giving me the answers to question I had not yet asked, but found myself doing so in the next days to follow.

As a former Eagle Scout, USMC SGT., Police Officer, Business owner, 20 years as a Lay Minister and being Happily Married to the same woman for over 26 years now, I'd received lots and lots of great training. Even you will have to admit that this background covers a lot of diversified and really good training. But nothing, absolutely nothing, but my Faith prepared me emotionally, physically, or all of us financially for the events that would suddenly and totally unwelcomed show up in the middle of the night. They just seem to attack you without ceasing on these issues when it's "Your Mom or Dad."

Thank you Joy, for the time it must have taken you and the wealth of information this book contains. I personally know that it was truly a Godsend at a time of crisis in our lives. It still today continues to guide us along these slippery slopes. But because of this well timed work of Mercy and Grace, we have maintained as a family, and continued to allow my parents their Dignity and somewhat their independence. I believe this book will help answer the question of the heart on elderly care and give you practical and timely information to steer you to through the minefields of elderly care life. You should have a copy on the shelf in your own homes and be reading it now, if your parents are near or reaching retirement age.

We waited and it caught us totally by surprise. But it didn't catch Joy by surprise...I personally believe that she was obedient to the Spirit of God to produce this work for a time such as this. Our generation will Thank Her one day I believe for her unselfish actions in writing this Elder Care "How To Bible" for the uniformed. The Word of God says that "...my people perish for a lack of knowledge..." I believe that this book is full of knowledge that will help us all in our moments of crisis and bring life and health to all who read it.

Thanks for listening to my lengthy review and a very special Thanks to You Joy. You just keep on writing Joy and we will keep getting filled with the great knowledge we all need and can practically use for our loved ones. God Bless you and again... Thank you from our families hearts to yours.

God Bless You,
David D. Spaulding

My mother in law needs so much care and we had no clue on what to do. We bought this book and we bought the 36-Hour day. We are completely sure now that we are making the right choices because of the tips in both of these books. I recommmend this book highly.

I read this book many years ago, and I don't remember much about about it other than the following: Its one of the best books of science fiction I have ever read, has one of the bests plots about time travel, and finally is one of Asimovs bests. So I highly recommend it if you like science fiction, time travel and/or Asimov.

Harlan is a technician and works for a political sort of organisation called The Eternals. They minister to time over tens of thousands of centuries, and try and keep it running with a minimum of adjustments.

People being what they are, Harlan decides to make a minor fiddle because of his feelings for a woman.

I probably first read this classic sometime in the late 1950s; certainly, it's the earliest time travel novel I can remember reading. Andrew Harlan, a native of the 95th century, is a Technician in Eternity, a member of a corps of self-appointed guardians of reality that exists outside of ordinary time. It's a highly stratified society and Harlan is a member of the caste that actually effects changes by making the "Minimum Necessary Change" at the selected point in time and space. Then he meets a woman outside of Eternity with whom he falls in love -- sort of -- and takes it upon himself to protect her from a Change planned for her continuity. Of course, it's a far more complicated matter than that, as Harlan finds out the hard way. In fact, the very existence and survival of Eternity is at stake. But maybe it ought not to survive. The writing seems a bit sappy now, a bit turgid, but styles and tastes change. The basic "time patrol" theme, however, has been riffed on by scores of subsequent novels and short stories. Some points seem rather naive to us now: The enormous size of the "computaplexes," even thousands of years in the future, a voice recording device that's still large enough to require a storage case and a separate microphone, and so on. (It's always surprised me how many Golden Age authors failed to anticipate the minute size of electronic devices so short a distance in their future.) But ignore all that and just enjoy the story for what it is.

Isaac Asimov has written a brilliant glimpse into the fragile psyche of man. In our neverending quest for knowledge and to seek the unknown, we take chances. In Asimov's future we have The Eternals to keep us safe from ourselves. The Eternals manipulate the timeline by altering any dangerous situations that may harm mankind in the long run. This creates a dichotomy as mans adventurous and sometimes self-destructive basic need to break free clashes with our conservative desires to play it safe. Asimov explores the end results of this clash with the central character Andrew Harlen. Harlen is the catylist as he unwittingly is played by both sides in a fascinating chess match of truly epic proportions. Some of the aspects of this story were later explored in Spielberg's "Minority Report", as in preventing future events from happening before they can do harm. The best Science Fiction is the kind that really makes you think and this book most assuredly does that.

Time travel is a great, speculative sub-genre of scifi. Although mildly dated this is book highly worthwhile. Asimov's storytelling and imagination are legendary due to works like this.