Science Books

My boys, ages 6 and 7, love this book. The art work is fantastic, and the story is great. We have read it many times and sometimes we just look at the pictures, which are so full of detail.

I would highly recommend it.

I grew up with this book and it is still relevant. The shipping was fast and the book arrived in perfect condition.

I have all the same things to say as everyone else. I loved this as a kid, my copy was all torn apart, the artwork is stunning, etc., etc.

The story is lovely and teaches a lesson. My 2-year old likes this story because of the illustrations and the COLORS. He likes to name the colors of the goblins. Of course, he does not really understand the story, which is good, because it might be a bit scary for little kids. By the time he does understand, it won't be scary anymore, and he will already have gotten a couple years of enjoyment out of the book just based on the pictures and colors.

I completely recommend this book for all children's libraries and collections.

My children (when they were young) and I LOVE this book. The pictures are beautiful, colorful renditions. The story is one that interests young children, but doesn't frighten them. While this is not the original, full-size art book, it is a very nice printing that can be read and enjoyed many times. I have purchased many copies as gifts and all were appreciated.

I found the story disturbing and no amount of beautiful artwork is going to change that. The goblins plan to steal the rainbow colors, but the flowers beat them to it. Then the flowers lie in wait for the goblins to drown them with the rainbow colors. The rainbow is saved and turns the flowers into colorful creatures as a reward.

Make your own choice, but we are not keeping this book.

Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.

It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.

She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.

Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.

Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.

I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.

Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.

This is one of the best books I have ever read- period! At the core of the book is Ms. Muir's message that we are part of nature, not separate from or above nature, and we have a great responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment. Granted, this message is not new. Where this book is very different is how Ms. Muir leads up to this message. She shows how the New England landscape changed from one where farming dominated to one that was a mixture of many different types of mills and factories. You learn the consequences of everything that was done along the way: the consequences to fish and birds of damming rivers; the consequences to forests and to the air we breath of heavy logging; the consequences of catching too many of one type of fish, etc. What is great about this book is that Ms. Muir does not deal in hazy generalities. She takes you step by step and shows you specifically how certain actions cause certain changes in the environment, often unforseen. There is nothing simplistic in her observations and she knows there are no easy answers. She lays out the data for you and you can come to your own conclusions. But what really takes this book to another level is the fascinating biographical information that Ms. Muir provides concerning the many, many New Englanders that invented the machines of the Industrial Revolution and kept the economy vibrant as the importance of agriculture diminished. The way this book is put together is very unusual, due to the combination of all of the above factors and in the space of 248 pages you will learn a great deal of information. The research Ms. Muir must have done in writing this book is staggering and her knowledge across many different areas is amazing. Don't miss reading this book.

Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.

From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.

I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.

His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.

This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.

Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it.

Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses provides the perfect balance to Bruce Catton's Gettysburg: The Final Fury. While Catton's history unfolds largly from the Union perspective, Foote walks the reader through the same battle from the Confederate perspective. I appreciate Foote's professional attitude. He is careful not to assign undue blame or indulge in excessive "what ifs". Instead he describes the strategic and tactical logic behind the battle, what led to its eventual outcome, and how crucial decisions were made during the fighting. This is a well written book, though, as someone has said, it would have been nice to have better and more frequent maps. Foote is the quintessential southern civil war historian, and you will not be disappointed with this relatively quick read.

Actually sought this out to give as a gift to a very big fan of Shelby. This work is tremendous and for the fan or the enthusiast a brilliant read.

Bought this after I went on a self guided tour of Gettysburg one gray winter day, and wanted to learn more than I did or could remember from Elementary/High School.

Wonderfully written. I just wish there were more of the maps in the book to refer to as he talks about the movements.

Highly recommended

I could write a long review about how good this book is but that would be a diservice to the author. We lost a great historian when Shelby Foote passed. He was a historian who prefered to be remembered as a novelist. As a proud Vermont Yankee, professional historian, and living historian of that period, I tend to get cranky about revisionist views or the whole Sourthern "lost cause" foolishness. However, Mr. Foote, a proud southerner, wrote about the most important event in our nation's history without the prejudice or regionalism, so many bring to the topic. He could write excellent history and tell the story with the readability of a novelist.



We are poorer for his passing but the body of work he left behind on the Civil War will remain some of the must have items in any serious collection of books about that second birth of our nation.



We'll miss you Shelby but thank you for what you left behind.

Foote isn't just a historian who writes, he's (IMHO) first and foremost a writer who really knows his history. What that means is that in his books, you get great narratives that draw you in, but the story stays true to the facts and isn't over-dramatized.

This book strikes the perfect balance between giving enough detail that you can follow the key events clearly, but then not getting so bogged down in details that you get bored or lost in them. He is great about sprinkling in stories that bring in the 'human element' and make the story come alive. I especially liked how he handled the contention between Longstreet and Lee over tactics at Gettysburg.

I'd recommend this book to anyone, but especially to someone who knows a bit about the Civil War but wants to flesh out their understanding of this key battle.

One last thing... the book has no index so going back to find information later is difficult. Why no index?

Sad to hear that Foote has passed on and that there will be no more wonderful books from him like this one.

A beautifully written book. This book is simple and highly informative. It is a must read for everybody who is interested in organic gardening. Once you have read the book you will have a deep appreciation and understanding of soil.

I love this book! I raise red wiggler worms and lecture on worms and composting. This book has added to my interest and fascination with worms and now with worm/compost tea. I will use it as part of my lectures and recommend it in my classes and lectures.

This is a detailed description of organisms in the soil, what kind you need for different types of plants, and how to get and keep them. It explains why organic gardening is more efficient, and eventually an easier way to grow. It is well written and informative.

Finally, a REAL organic gardening book. Wish I had written it. It's an easy read; I feared that it might be an academic study. Great pictures. I only skipped chapter 13 on doing a soil census. I wished the author had addressed the roles of irrigation, mineral supplements, and organic fertilizers in increasing crop/fruit productivity. I'm not nitpicking about the author's chemistry. Excellent Book!

Despite the short length of this book, it was packed with lots of good information and was easy to read. It brought to my attention aspects of fungi versus microbial activity that I was never aware of and how these affect soil quality for gardens versus shrubs. The book has had an immediate payback for me, as I am a novice composter and now know how to do that better. It also described compost teas which I was only vaguely familiar with. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in gardening in an earth-friendly way or to those who have relied solely on inorganic fertilizers and need to learn their true effects.

Author Melissa Fay Greene, who is the adoptive mother of two Ethiopian children, relates the story of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian mother who becomes the foster mother for a multitude of AIDS orphans during the height of the pandemic. Greene truthfully tells the tale without painting Teferra as a "modern day Mother Teresa," but rather as a very real and human woman who is asked by clerics to take in one abandoned orphan after another. A grieving mother whose adult daughter died from AIDS, Teferra discovers that helping the children provides her with a means of overcoming her grief. The individual stories of these "lost children" who arrive on Teferra's doorstep are riveting, as is Greene's account of the assimilation of her adoptive children into her family. Accompanying photos show children shortly after they arrived in very bad shape at Treferra's compound and then later with adoptive American families.
Greene spares no one as she rails against the pharmaceutical companies that withheld AIDS medications from third-world countries at the height of the pandemic, causing the loss of a whole generation of parents. Despite having no drugs to help the children, hit-or-miss medical care, and scarce food for all, Teferra does her best to feed, clothe, house, and educate the orphans put in her care. Although one might think that this book is a "downer," it is a very uplifting page-turner that relates the indominable spirit of one Ethiopian woman and her many foster children.

Melissa Faye Green is an excellent writer. She is a true artist painting a vivid picture of scenes, and weaving historical, political and social aspects of the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is an incredibly powerful book. It is not easy to read due to the difficult emotional toll it can take on one, but I felt morally obligated to read it, so that I wasn't just shutting out the devastating misery suffered by so many millions. She portrays the human face of this awful disease with poignancy. It is an inspiring and human story of one woman's efforts to alleviate her own and others suffering. God bless Melissa for opening our eyes.

This was a wonderful book! Having myself been to Addis Ababa recently (July 07) with my daughter to pick up her adopted Ethiopian baby boy (4 months old), you can just imagine how this story of one woman's love for so many orphans resonated with me. The book is a quick read -- something interesting in every chapter. The author intertwined Haregewoin's up and down story with bits of Ethiopian history and the unwinding spread and theories of HIV-AIDs plus added her own experience with H. and the adoption her own Ethiopian children -- which made the reader come away with a true cultural experience. H. is truly a "Mother Theresa" figure and an inspiration to all women. Thank you, Melissa, for introducing us to her. I really enjoyed having the photos of many of the children and their adoptive families to relate to. I will be sure that my daughter reads this book and I have suggested it to my book club in Boulder, CO which will read it in the fall. -- Gayle Weiss

There should be another Lady added to the Mother Theresa's of the world!

Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian who has helped many orphaned children. Children who have been left behind because parents either died or left to have a chance at life! This books shares the struggles of Mother Teferra who had a wonderful life with her family to a helping those children with AIDS and with no homes.

I like what the story is about, however the book has so much detail it is hard to get through the first chapters.

Hi, how are you all? Well I know this book is wonderful! Acually i never read the book charmed but i did read the book so little time, which is by the same author. That was a very good book. So if that was a good book that she wote then this should be good also. The book is very intersting and tells you alot of information and some good heads up and tips. Kids my age would like the book, i would belive..... I might not be giving alot of information right now but the more information you want is right inside the book. So i would suggest to read the book and i think you will injoy it! I also think Charmed is a good book to read too.!.!.!.!.! Well i hope i at least helped you out a little bit. And i hope you read BOTH books because reading is good for you , and just enjoy them! Thank you for taking your time out to read this.

I have a penchant for time-travel stories, as they are striking, interesting, not to mention compelling. This book is inevitably one of them. Phoebe being abducted into past by a time-demon during the times of the Salem Witch Trials was huge (amazing)!! I'm not going to reveal details of the story, but what I don't get is that how on earth could the Charmed Ones use their powers in the past, and how the Law of no coincidences is oblivious to the author.


But as this is not the tv show, I suppose authors are able to use their imagination freely. My fave bit of this book is how Piper and Prue was under the evil influence of the root tea Prudence drank, given by Hugh, and they acquired amazing powers, which included being "evil" themselves and coming in handy to rescue their sister. I especially like the fact that Prudence did not succumb to the tainted root tea to nearly kill her own descendant, as the power of good always prevails!!! Also, its nice to involve the Charmed Ones' ancestor to this book, as readers somewhat know more about certain witches from the Warren line. Rosalind Noonan did a good job portraying each sister's characters, and how all their different and unique personalities combined together can pack a huge wallop. True to the series, with dry humour added and the Power of Three situation makes Whispers from the Past all the more enjoyable. And the fact that poor Phoebe, despite "stuck playing cinderella", she was determined to stay focused on the path to solving the problem, is also rather warmth-evoking.

In a nutshell: If you like Charmed, there's no doubt you will like this book. Not as excellent as Soul of the Bride, but close. One of my all-time faves. Well worth it!!!

Finally, a Phoebe episode [well book] that any Charmed fan can get behind. It's a time travel piece and a family get-together. Need I say more?

Fantastic addition to the Charmed series :) Not as good as 'Soul of the Bride' but up there with the best of the books.

I always love a good time-travel story if it's: 1) Well-Written, 2) Believeable. This book gets it on both counts.

The evil piper/prue angle was kinda amusing *ducks* The new powers they got were awesome too (though Piper's was kind of an extension on her stopping tme power)

This book does have a couple errors (Girls using their powers in the past to get home) but considering these books aren't written as fast as the series is ('least most of them seem that way)... we need to give the author's a break. We can't expect them to keep up with the pace/storylines of the show.

Considering SOME of the storylines 'Charmed' has taken, maybe the creators should look to some of these books for plot ideas.

I hope Miss Noonan puts in another contribution to the Charmed series again sometime.

This was the very first Charmed book I read and it was solid. I have now watched every episode of every season and there were no holes in it. I love all episodes that the sisters go back in time or forward or relive memories etc. If you are like me, then you will love this book too!

The space race of the 1960's was a crossroads in time that will never be repeated.

Walt Cunningham had a crow's nest view of that period. As a member of Apollo 7, the first Apollo mission and the first successful flight after the catastrophic Apollo 1 fire that almost disbanded the space program, he was able to see the inner workings of the American space program. He has recorded this unique perspective in "The All-American Boys."

"The All-American Boys" is a rare document of what really happened in the early days of the space program. In my opinion, most other astronaut memoirs are cleaned up versions of the truth--all "flag waving" and "ballyhoo." One gets a sense in the All-American Boys that the space race is being presented warts and all, including the social and political quirks of being an astronaut.

This version is an unabridged audiobook of Walt's book, which was first published in 1977 but thoroughly updated for this version. It covers Mercury/Gemini/Apollo but also shuttle/MIR/ISS. Walt himself narrates the audiobook, which is a great bonus. His pleasant narration makes the 22 discs go by very quickly

Unlike most other astronaut memoirs, you get your money's worth with this book. Highly recommended.

Col. Cunninghams's audio CD version of The All American Boys is, simply put a great listen! Having read the hardback, I thought that there would be little to gain in buying the CD version, but I was wrong. His carefully spoken rendition has laugh-out-loud moments, and his tough but thorough thought provoking commentary on the space race, NASA, the Russian's, the International Space Station, and the future of man's involvement in space is a must have. I don't know why, but hearing it 'first person' and in the spoken words of someone who was there, and who made this history, is a remarkable thing. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Absolutely Fantastic!
Walt's voice resonates through you as he recounts his life experiences before, during and after his NASA years. This is a wonderful way to learn about Americas Space Program from the ground up.
Whether you have read the AABoys or not, nothing matches hearing this incredible story with the true life passion only the author and main character, Walter Cunningham, can convey.
A great joy, and true and exciting find! A must have for anyone interested in space history and space exploration. What fun it was to replay parts to hear the subtle inflections in Walt's voice just to gain a greater insight into how this space hero must have felt during the space race years, through to the changes that are on the horizon today.
A most favorite addition to my space collection!

I got the title of this review from Apollo 11 astronaut Mike Collins who described fellow astronaut Walt Cunningham this way. Only a few people have flown in space, and so we would expect astronaut auto-biographies to talk about this, but unfortunately, only Mike Collins book "Carrying the Fire" does it. After reading a few other autobiographies I finally came to the conclusion that it is not really worth the time and money to get their books, with them spending most of the pages discussing petty jealousies, practical jokes, celebrity golf tournaments, and their success or failure in the world of business.. Thus, I was somewhat reluctant to purchase Cunningham's, but the reviews convinced me to give it a try. Fortunately, it was worth it. Cunningham does share the flaw of the others in that he also doesn't describe his Apollo 7 flight in any detail, but the uniquness of his book is that he does give an interesting perspective on the American space program, and his fellow astronauts, not seen in the other autobiographies.
Part of the reason is, as Collins pointed out, that Cunningham received a rigorous scientific education and was involved in scientific research before going to work for NASA. This gave him a greater ability to objectively judge the qualities of his fellow astronauts.
The original Mercury astronauts were good pilots, but one of the most important qualitites that they were chosen for was ability to stand immense stress, because at that time, it was not known how spaceflight
would affect the astronauts, physically or mentally. After Project Mercury proved the stresses were not as bad a feared, new generations of astronauts were chosen who had better education, better ability to understand the increasingly complex Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and a greater appreciation of the importance of the exploration of space in a scientific sense, something the Mercury astronauts did not have so much.
Cunningham also shows that the grind of training took a toll on the Mercury astronauts, and he says frankly that the commander of his Apollo 7 mission, Wally Schirra, who flew outstanding missions in both Mercury and Gemini (piloting the first rendezvous mission with another vehicle) didn't really have his heart in his Apollo mission and it negatively influenced his performance. Schirra repeatedly lost his temper during the mission which gave his whole crew a bad reputation leading to both Donn Eisele and Cunningham being banned from further flights (everyone admits Cunningham got an unfair rap in this). Cunningham also frankly points out that although the crew indeed proved that Apollo spacecraft was flight worthy, they didn't really accomplish nearly as much as they could have during their relatively long-duration flight in a scientific sense.
Other interesting things I learned from this book was that, starting with the two-man Gemini flights, the Mission Commander was the astronaut who controlled the abort initiation sequence, so he had to be significantly better, and management required more confidence in him than in the other astronauts who flew along, and in borderline situations, he had to have the best "feel" for how the flight was going and the spacecraft was performing.
One surprising thing Cunningham reveals was the most astronauts felt that
in the Gemini 8 mission (first docking of a manned spacecraft), astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott made a serious mistake leading to their spacecraft to spin out of control. Fortunately, they got it back under control and made an emergency reentry. Most histories of the space program say it was a mechanical glitch and that Armstrong's cool response gave Deke Slayton the confidence in him to assign him to be the commander of the first landing on the Moon.
Cunningham feels that ultimately, although all the astronauts were talented and qualified, the flight crews were chose based on Slayton's
feelings of friendship
for the fellow (although it should be pointed out that the great success of the space program shows that Slayton did generally pick the best to fly) and this was more important than ability, physical fitness or other objective considerations. Famous examples was Slayton giving Alan Shepard the Apollo 14 mission without him having served as a back-up crewmember on a previous mission. Although Shepard did an excellent job landing the Lunar Module very close to the desired target, his subsequent performance during the lunar EVA left a lot to be desired and much possible scientific gain was lost. Another example was Gene Cernan crashing his helicopter while he was ogling sunbathing girls. Many people
thought this would wash him out of his Apollo 17 command position, but Slayton covered up for him (it should be pointed out that Cernan did an outstanding job both piloting and carrying out his scientific duties on that flight).

Finally, although he wrote the book before the Space Shuttle first flew,
he points out that many of the astronauts felt too many compromises were made in designing it and that it wasn't safe. Cunningham points out that fighter pilots and astronauts find taking life-endangering risks to be exhilirating IF THE RISK IS NOT TOO GREAT. However, they oppose taking foolhardy risks, and not a few astronauts felt the Shuttle fit into that
category. Subsequent history has unfortunately shows that was the case, and the new Orion spacecraft is going back to an Apollo-like design and getting away from the "space-plane" concept.
All-in-all, I found the book a good read and a pleasant reminder of the
glory days of the manned space program that led to man walking on the moon.

This guy is one opinionated s.o.b. - but this book is all the better for it. Because Walt Cunningham is aware of his limitations, and has the virtue of being right in his strongly-held opinions.

I'd recommend this book even for those not interested in space flight. To see the cut-throat office politics behind a smooth veneer... it's something that relates so much to many walks of life. The fact that it is told here in the golden age of space flight makes it all the better. Wow! A great book.

David Eddings' Belgariad series is one of the masterpieces of modern fantasy literature. I fell in love with his books many years ago, and re-read them to this day. His characters are lifelike and amusing, and written in a very human manner. Every time I read, I feel like I am visiting with old friends. Although Eddings writes conflicts into his story, he writes with an assurance that success will come which parallels the great epics of history. His novels, though not thrilling, are relaxing and enthralling in a more stoic fashion-- you will care about the characters and want to see them succeed.

I would recommend this book to the starting fantasy reader, or the reader of modern fiction who hasn't yet delved into the genre. Eddings' personal style and lovable characters have turned me into a dedicated fantasy reader, and I have not yet found his equal among the other authors I've read.

Eddings' series The Belgariad is one of my all-time favorite reads. It's the classic fantasy good-vs.-evil, coming-of-age, lost-kings-returning, quest-with-companions epic. These are common themes in fantasy, but Eddings' writing is so witty, and his characters so intriguing, that it never gets old. He seems very aware he is using some well established cliches, but puts new twists on them and even makes fun of them as the story goes on. I especially love Eddings' twist on the concept of prophesy: In this story, the prophesy is actually sentient, and does not hesitate to tell our hero, Garion, when he is being an idiot.
This series is funny, entertaining, engrossing, and complex. It was my introduction to the sword and sorcery genre of fantasy, and I absolutely love it.

I recomend all of david eddings books to any reader of any age.
David eddings is my idle in a short way of putting it... he has brought a new light to me and my writing since i was a child... His books have a certian amount of amusement in them. Yet the characters are all lovable. This is a book that i promise all will remember and read again... I love all of his books. his philosiphy is simple to understand, yet the writing syle is one that i still have not seen in any other books. He allows a certian amount of ammusement into them, yet keeping them serious. His books are like a good movie that you dont want to end. After reading one of them you want more and more. until you have devoured the very sould of his writing.

To put it short i dont know why i like them there just fun loving and honest to god books.

I have never came across a set of books that is so moving,very few authors have made me as emitional as this athor has with this set.I hope their will be a follow up,it would be nice to see how everything whent after all was said and done,peace doesn't last for ever. Highly recomened,own the full set,have read them so much I can almost tell the story myself.

This is, I believe, Eddings' first real foray into the realm of true Fantasy, and it doesn't disappoint. Eddings does well to develop characters over time and doesn't sacrifice depth for brevity. I've always enjoyed the sense of humor he brings to his works and the repartee that develops between the characters.

If you are looking for a great starter series in the fantasy genre or a more developed work, look no further. Those looking for the complexity and seriousness of high-fantasy should stick with Tolkien and Donaldson.

This was one of my favorite starting fantasy series, and continues to entertain after all these years.

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.

This is an amazing and original fantasy novel.

It takes place in either the future, or on another planet. Death has been illiminated along with sickness and old age. You change bodies, change gender, change anything, the whole world (which appears to consist of three domed cites in a large uninhabitable desert wasteland) is controlled by human like androids.

You go to school until roughly the age of five and then you're "Jang", or teenage for up to a hundred years afterwards. Jang are encouraged to kill themselves and come back in wacky bodies, have sex with dozens of people in both genders (though they have to get married first and annual it afterwards) and take tons and tons of drugs, mostly ecstasy pills. Also Jang are encouraged to steal, but since no money exists and paying consists of putting out emotional energy to power the domes in forms of excessive "thank yous", it doesn't really matter if they do.

Basically this society has no soul, no responsibilities. Androids handle everything. Death means nothing, so life means nothing. (Which is a very profound concept if you think about and not one I've seen used in fantasy before.) And one mostly female Jang rebels (in sort of a roundabout fashion) and changes all that.

It's a cool book and it reinforces ideas of the human spirit. I look forward to reading other books by this author (this was my first.)

Five stars

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.

"Catspaw" is a MUCH better book than its prequel, "Psion." As with "Psion," I don't care much for its theme that humans, especially wealthy powerful ones, are evil. But, for "Catspaw," that's pretty much overridden by how well Vinge writes and by the tightness of the plot. About the only thing I didn't like in the book was the occasional lapse into unnecessary sexual details in about five different places. Other than that, this is a very well-written book that I highly recommend. If it weren't for the sense of loss a reader would suffer without having read "Psion," I'd suggest skipping that book entirely. Most of the necessary information comes out in this book. But, it's not complete until almost halfway through the book.

Whoah! I've read this book three or four times already! I love it so much. and Cat is just a great character you can just fall in love with him. I really hope others read this book too. i still haven't read the 1st or 3rd books to this series but i feel like i understand them perfectly. but i still really wish to read them. I've never liked a book quite this much.

This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. Thought provoking, emotional, and exciting, the author draws the reader into a world that could easily be the real future. Cat's unique point of view illustrates the universe in such amazing clarity that his pain and wonder is completely tangible. He's moved from street rat to university student forced to do the dirty work for a huge conglomerate and each word of his experience resonates.

This second installment of the Cat books was the first I'd ever read from this author, all because I took a chance on a book in a library give away box. It's one of the most amazing treasures I've ever found.

I loved this book. I've read the entire series of the main character, Cat, but Catspaw I believe is best in the series. What's more, the book can stand alone. The unique writing kept me interested the entire journey, with the 1st person view of the main character, but his abilities to read minds lets you have the perspective of other characters in the book as well. I liked Cat's personality. He's real, with flaws, and fears, and yet does the right thing without being a do-gooder. Even the villians in the book seem real, and you can almost- but not quite- understand why they are the way they are.
This story encompasses Cat being pressed into service to be a body guard for a political member of the very government he hates. You get political intrigue, a hint of romance, and a splendid view of a futuristic world with a well thought out plot. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This was the first book I'd read in this series, many years ago. At the time, I was more impressed with it than I probably would be now, because I didn't recognize that the world she was building was somewhat standard cyberpunk (never even heard of cyberpunk at that time). Therefore the world seemed more original to me than it actually is (also illustrating one of my standard ideas about genre fiction--if someone who has never experienced a genre before suddenly comes to it, the most hoary and ancient cliches of that genre will seem dazzlingly fresh and familiar).

However, though the world fascinated me, in the end, the real heart of the series are Vinge's characters. Cat, Lady Elnear, Argentyne, Jiro, are all wonderfully drawn, and Vinge portrays them with a great deal of heart and honesty; she plays fair with the reader. Good social commentary too, with a message that is both uplifting and sobering; she explores a theme I've seen other authors do as well but one that I think is quite profound, that human connections are necessary to allow human beings to succeed in the face of evil (Cat's bond with Argentyne and his link to Mikah are what enable him to ultimately succeed in his goal). I recently bought a copy of PSION and I'm working my way through it, eager to meet Jewel and some of Cat's earlier friends.