Space Books

The Andersons did a great job melding the myths and legends of Europe into this epic. You will need 2 bookmarks for this book -- it includes a very thourough and interesting appendix of factual historical notes about the characters, events, etc. Anyone with an interest in dark ages history or religious history will love it. Much more than just another fantasy epic.

This is a stunning series. It has a wonderfully complex plot that weaves actual late-Roman Empire events with Breton myth, but one of its greatest attributes is the way the characters are brought to life. By the end of the books, what you remember most isn't the plot but the emotional struggle of the main character, Gratillonius, as he loses everything that was ever dear to him, and has to go on. The final scene is only a few pages long but is gut-wrenching because you feel every bit of pain it brings him. I normally don't enjoy fantasy because many books seem like a pale attempt to imitate Tolkein. This series is completely different but yet has the same ability to pull you into the story until you feel like these events actually happened. A word of warning: like the Lord of the Rings, it is written in slightly stilted, 'epic' English, which may bother some readers.

_The King of Ys_ enchanted me. It started as one of the very best fantasy series I've ever read. The setting is historical and meticulously detailed, containing a wealth of both magical and mundane details. Heck; the Andersons actually include an extensive collection of endnotes to each chapter detailing the factual elements of their story. In every way, this is a real world.

These people are not modern people stuck into a fantasy setting. They have the values of 4th-and-5th century people, exactly as they should. The gods aren't wimpy, ever-loving, beneficent friends; they're savage and demand obedience brutally. Bad things can happen to good people.

That's how I felt for the first three books, anyway. The fourth is kind of a letdown. The elements above are kept, but... I don't know. I can't go into exactly *why* it's a letdown, because I don't want to spoil the plot, but the story loses cohesion and really falls apart, if you ask me.

However, I still have to give it a "9" because, even though the last quarter was a disappointment, the first three quarters kept me riveted as few books have. Highly reccommended. And heck, you might even find more of worth in the end than I did.

I usually don't care for fantasy, but this is certainly an exception. The story, like most of Anderson's, starts slow, but by the time you get to Book 3: Dahut, you will see the horrible events coming but will be unable to put the book down. Not only fantasy, but possibly also a classic of horror literature.

A superbly researched and written book. Anderson transports the reader to a historical period with wholly plausible possiblities. A should-read for any who appreciate a well written book with the ability to grab and hold one's interest with an iron grip. A must-read for any who enjoy historical-fiction/fantasy

This book is one of the best I have ever read of its kind. If you like the Heinlein style of sci-fi, this is a must - truly an homage to his works, and a fascinating story in its own right. I wish he would write the sequel soon!

Frankowski's New Kashubia series has been a lot of fun since the first book, but this latest work, which focuses more on the upcoming villain than on the hero-to-date, is by far the best in the series, and is in my opinion the author's best work so far.

The Mitchegai are truly nasty, sadistic critters on the scale of Moorcock's Melnibonéans, though in a definite sci-fi world rather than the fantasy land of the Elric saga. They torture and eat their own offspring alive, among other things, and Kren is no exception. Nonetheless, I really found myself rooting for Kren to succeed, and actually liked his character in many ways more than I like the human main character.

This book tells the story of Kren in parallel with the story of the humans' preparations for his invasion. The human side of the equation is a bit too reminiscent of a future Conrad Stargard, but the Mitchegai story is really original, and a real winner.

The story ends just before the big battle is about to commence. It reminds me a lot of Ringo's "Gust Front" in that (and other) ways; spending lots of time developing the villain, ending just before the action heats up, etc. I think this is a far better book, though.

According to Frankowski's web site, his publisher thinks this book should be the last in the series, which would be a terrible pity. Perhaps if the hardcover sales go well enough, they'll reconsider.

This is REAL science fiction. No ghosts, goblins, witches or goddesses. Mr. Frankowski has come up with a totally original, absolutely believable, fascinating alien race and a great monster. The Kren side of the book reads so fast that just you can't put it down.

Warning: While it stands alone very well, it IS a prequel and you will spend restless nights waiting for the rest of the story. This is the probably best thing that this author has ever written.

Leo Frankowski's latest edition of the "A Boy and His Tank" series let's us see the enemy that destroyed humanity. Kren is a reptillian Duke, who has been granted rights to conquer a world populated by humanity. The story covers the preparation of the protagonist Mikolai and the history of Duke Kren. A very enjoyable read.

Leo Frankowski (and Dave Grossman) have done it again in the newest of the New Kashubia series which started with A Boy and His Tank then The War with Earth, very good books I might add, and now finally covers a war with some other species than humans. Namely the Mitchegai a very well done, nasty, villain species who due to their biology are seen as evil- they practice faginism (infanticide cannibal style)! However, the reason I knocked this wonderful book from 5 to 4 stars is because, and this is a bit of a spoiler, the whole book is basically a hook or rather a extended introduction to the next book, It even ends with TO BE CONTINUED!!!! But for fans of the New Kashubia series such as my self it is a invaluable must buy and I recommend this book along with the rest of the New Kashubia series to anyone who injoys good Science-Fiction.

This is truly a science fiction. Ms. Kirstein's imagery is very keen, with characters you can care about even while you might wish them dead. She has a great understanding of human interaction, the realities of terraforming, and keeping a social science fiction still very hard and reality based. She has woven in themes of life and love and intrigue and action and adventure into a very fine tapestry which draws you in and truly involves you. I appreciate that she has not fallen in with the use of gimmickry to get humans where they are, or that a science fiction is used as the gimmick to write a fantasy. For those who want a real science fiction, I highly recommend this series.

Warning: if you have not read the previous books, some spoilers to the overall plot line of the previous books follow:

This series explores the complexities and immense lengths of time involed in humans terraforming a new planet. The stories are set in a time period when the purposes of various groups who were working together to create a human friendly world have forgotten their original heritage, and thus function has devolved into tradition. By the time of this book, we can recognize that the steerwomen's role has been to chart new territory as it is claimed, while keeping the knowledge and intellect of science alive and open to all citizens. The Outskirters expand the human territory by destroying all native lifeforms without recalling what this contributes to the long term goals of the terraforming project. Technology, however, has been withheld by those now called wizards, until it becomes mystical and secret, and even the wizards are unclear as to their original role in the greater scheme. As with all human endeavors, cooperation has been subverted by the too common motives of greed and power in the face of survival. Her quest for Slado the wizard continues, and Rowan finds that magic is not so far from her own knowledge as she once thought.

Rosemary Kirstein's THE LANGUAGE OF POWER is a bit different, but after all is said and done, it is a worthy continuation of the very gripping saga she has been unfolding in the preceding books, beginning with THE STEERSWOMAN'S ROAD.

A reviewer needs to tread carefully here, since too much attention to a plot summary can prove to be a "spoiler" for those who have not begun the book.

Let us put it this way. THE STEERSWOMAN'S ROAD and THE LOST STEERSMAN were painted on a large canvas. They involved quest, and crossed the mapped world. They involved peoples, countries, cultures, all beautifully brought to life by the writer.

THE LANGUAGE OF POWER pretty much stays in one place, the port city of Donner. Rather than taking us across a world, this book "drills down deep." Rowan, the protagonist, is on the trail of the elusive "wizards." She has good reason to care-- she was severely injured and saw an entire people destroyed by the callous exercise of the wizards' powers.

Now Rowan puts all her analytic powers toward unraveling the mysteries and secrets of the wizards. And that involves going into the past. She interviews the villagers, getting a bit of information here, and a bit of information there. We have numerous interesting characters, most rather well sketched, who provide bits and pieces of information. Out of this, we observe a brilliant deductive mind at work-- Rowan's. Only Rowan has the capability to piece together fragments of the past, to finally clarify the frightening nature of the wizards. And then, to find the courage to GO HUNTING THEM.

With her dear friend Willam now returned (Willam, not William as another reviewer kept putting it) Rowan goes on the attack at the end of this book. Willam, a half-trained apprentice wizard, as well as Bel, Rowan's swordswoman soul-mate, are her indispensible allies -- they keep her alive while she pursues an old, cold trail of evidence. The upshot of this book is the destruction of one wizard, plus priceless information that will allow her personal war to continue.

One thing so exciting about Ms. Kirstein is -- throw out the EXPECTED. Things happen in this book that are truly ORIGINAL. Her narrative detailing the capture of a dragon is marvelous. I can't spoil this by describing it, but it is totally gripping. One can never anticipate what will come out of the pen of this writer. To illustrate my point, I have recently read TANEQUIL by Terry Brooks. Not bad, really, but so predictable. Fantasy by formula. Change character names, and a plot summary would be much like those for Mr. Brooks's earlier epics. Ms. Kirstein throws out the formula. No one can imagine what is going to happen as one starts one of her novels.

The element of surprise in her books is paramount. It brings to my mind a quotation from Lawrence Durrell's THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET -- "Take but a step to the East or West and the entire picture changes."

This book is a fascinating blend of fantasy and science fiction. The world of the Steerswoman is a fantasy (sword and sorcery) sort of world. But to drill down into the mystery, the protagonist Rowan must begin to enter a world of scientific thought.

And ultimately, Ms. Kirstein has great villains ! ! The wizards. So cold, so ruthless, so incredibly powerful -- and yet... The wizard she fights in this book, Jannik, reminds me of the wizard of Oz -- a short, plump little man with silver hair and a smooth, disarming manner. Not very prepossessing -- but in reality quite frightening and quite deadly. We learn from this book that the wizards are of a different race, and of unknown origin. They kill with no remorse. They "move the very stars." Who can stand up to them? Rowan learns that their plots will turn the world into a holocaust. She MUST stop them.

As this book ends, Rowan has far more pieces of the puzzle. She knows where to look for Slado, the wizard master. Rowan goes on the hunt. This woman has deep scars from her near fatal encounters with the wizards' minions. She is "ticked off" -- totally. She is going for the kill. A bit like David and Goliath perhaps, but personally, I am betting on this very sharp woman to take down Goliath.

I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

If you are new to this outstanding series, stop where you are, go back and read "The Steerswoman's Road" and "The Lost Steersman." This is a series that carefully builds on itself and you will lose half the delight in these books if you start in the middle.

And another thing: many reviewers seem to think this is a fantasy. It's not. It's pure science fiction. And it is all recognizable science. Many of the characters in the stories think that there is magic involved. There isn't, but they don't know that. Understanding why that is so, and why some of the characters call themselves "Krue" is at least half the fun in reading these books.

Clarke's Law says that any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. Kirstein's premise is that if a population is unaware of science, then all science is magic. Kirstein has invented an alien world still undergoing human terraforming. The general population is ignorant of all science and all but the most primitive technology. Those who do know science and technology are called wizards, and ruthlessly cut down challenges to their power.

The protagonist, Rowan, is a Steerswoman, a member of a scholarly order that has re-invented logic. Rowan discovers puzzling "jewels," integrated circuit and solar power chips, and in trying to reason out what they are and what they mean discovers terrifying threats to her world. Through the earlier stories she has had to avoid the efforts of the wizards to kill her, and in her efforts to understand the dangers, explored parts of her world that her people have never seen. But at no time does that exploration degenerate into a Larry Niven-like travelogue. This isn't wandering or touristry; Rowan is on the track of a deep mystery and her travels are purposeful and focused. But they give Kirstein the excuse to describe the world she has invented. And that world is fascinating and rigorously self-consistent.

While there are sword fights and moments of very high tension, this is mostly a story of ideas and the joys of understanding. The most important moments aren't the battles; they are the moments when Rowan understands, reasons out and comprehends critical aspects of the problems her world faces. She has known since the second half of "The Steerswoman's Road" that she cannot fight her enemy with force; she must learn and comprehend.

This is a story of ideas, exceptionally well-told. We get to revisit dangers and friends from the first book, and watch Rowan make considerable progress in her quest. Wonderful characterization, flawless plotting and considerable suspense, all told with flashes of humor and delightful surprises.

Special thanks to Ms. Kirstein and her publisher for getting this sequel out so quickly on the heels of "The Lost Steerman." And yes, I want my next desktop computer to be like Kieran's.

Without spoilers, at the end of this story Rowan actually has a piece of the puzzle in front of us. But Rowan, because she lacks a context to understand what it means, cannot understand. Kirstein is a skilled enough writer that we don't either. But I can't wait to find out.

If you are looking for swords and sorcery, try a different author. If you want an engrossing, enthralling and well-told adventure of ideas, this is the best there is. Very highly recommended.

The Language of Power is the fourth novel in the Steerswoman series, following The Lost Steersman. In the previous novel, Rowan traveled to the Demon lands searching for Janus, the lost steersman. She learned that the indigenous Demons are fellow sentients who communicate by body language and by physical icons produced by the females. She also discovered that Janus has gone mad and killed many of the Demons. She was badly burned on her left leg and only lived to return to civilization with the assistance of Janus, who jumped ship and disappeared prior to her recovering full consciousness.

In this novel, Rowan takes up her hunt once more for the elusive prime wizard, Slado, within the Annex archives at Alemeth. She discovers that Slado had been an apprentice to the Wizard Kiernan in Donner, so she takes ship to question the inhabitants of that town. Since Slado had ordered Jannik, the current wizard in Donner, to attack her during a prior visit, Bel and Dan the Cooper pretend to be a separate party while actually guarding Rowan.

Once in Donner, they discover that Jannik is out of town for a few days. Rowan begins tracking down older inhabitants and learns more about Kiernan and Slado while Bel and Dan continue to watch her back. They discover that three people are constantly intersecting their paths: a stinking beggar faking blindness, a middle-aged woman and a mature man. Rowan and Bel assume that these people are minions of the wizards and set up an ambush. However, the results of this gambit are quite unexpected and they find themselves reunited with William, their young friend who had been apprenticed to the Wizard Corvus. Together they plan an intrusion into the former home of the Wizard Kiernan (and present home of the Wizard Jannik) to search for information on the fallen Guidestar.

In this novel, Rowan finds out much more about the history of her people, the nature of magic, and the events surrounding the fall of the Guidestar. However, the new answers only invoke new questions. Obviously there will be another installment in this fascinating series.

Highly recommended for Kirstein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of human settlers on an alien planet and the resulting conflict between local and imported ecologies.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Every two decades, the Guidestar performed a Routine Bioform Clearance sending out massive heat rays in lands past the outskirts that would destroy dangerous creatures and poisonous flora. This can no longer happen because the Guidestar fell out of the sky which means the outsider tribes couldn't move east and would have to travel to the Inner lands to survive. Rowan the steerswoman discovers that the Guidestar was deliberately knocked out of the sky by the use of magic.

The wizard who did this is Slado; Rowan and her friend the Outskirter Bel desperately needs to find him and make things right or war will break out between the two groups. In the port city of Donner, Rowan and Bel are looking through the steerswoman archives and talking to people trying to find Slado, who apprenticed to a wizard who died under strange circumstances. Slado disappeared and the new wizard prevents the dragons from overrunning the town. They meet Will, the wizard Corvus' apprentice and together they devise a plan to enter the wizard Jannik's house and use his belongings to find out why Slado is moving the world towards war.

This installment of the Steerswoman Saga moves the reader one step closer to finding out what the unseen antagonist is doing and why he is doing it. The protagonist shows the townsfolk that wizards are not invulnerable and they can work in secret groups to throw off the repressive yoke of the wizards. Rosemary Kirsten is a powerful storyteller who has created a series in which each book can stand alone although it is part of a larger saga. THE LANGUAGE OF POWER is a fine work of speculative fiction where the lines between science and magic constantly blur.

Harriet Klausner

This book is fun for whoever loves science.Its an example of applying science to data gathered from earth telescopes and space probes,mainly through the eyes of Hubble and Voyager. Attempts at explaining theoretical models behind possible chemical and physical processes at work on this moon are made.It would be interesting to compare the current thinking with what Cassini will actually reveal in a years time!

Rare is the work that meets the high publication standards within a given scientific discipline while being simultaneously accessible to the public at large. In particular, and notwithstanding its cachet and increasing multidisciplinary approach, the field of planetary sciences often offers up works that are either overspecialized to the point of alienating all but a very select readership or those works appealing to a broad audience but derisively dismissed by experts as popularizing and superficial. Bridging the wide chasm separating these two extremes requires talented writing. LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL: EXPLORING THE GIANT MOON OF SATURN, by Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton, is a book that accomplishes this with a professionally credible, yet highly readable, account of mankind's attempts to unravel the mysteries of Saturn's largest moon. Lorenz and Mitton succeed in this collaboration due in no small part to their highly impressive credentials. The former is one of today's most prolific planetary scientists, especially regarding the study of Titan, and also a participant in the current Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan. The latter, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics, is a renowned science writer credited with authorship or co-authorship of sixteen astronomy-related works.

Answering, in the most basic way, the "why" question that often accompanies any discussion of planetary exploration, the authors write, "More than anything else, planetary exploration gives us a sense of perspective, a notion of who we are, where we came from and what our destiny might be. We can learn from all worlds. Each planet and moon in the solar system has its own unique history. Each is an experiment with a different set of conditions..." More specifically, they note that Titan, with its orange-tinted, nitrogen-rich 1.5 bar atmosphere containing traces of hydrocarbons and other organics, might represent an analogue, albeit a cyrogenic one, of the prebiotic atmosphere surrounding early Earth. Considering that mankind has yet to demonstrate time travel, studying Titan may be the only way (outside of modelling and laboratory experiments, both of which have obvious limitations) to explore this critical phase in Earth's history. It goes without saying that studying Titan, especially in situ, is exploration at the cutting edge.

Coming at an especially propitious moment, the book provides a comprehensive synthesis of the body of Titan-related science, which is placed into historical context. Starting with the moon's discovery in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch astronomer, LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL spans a time frame of three and a half centuries of astronomical observations leading up to the modern era of spacecraft reconnaissance and exploration. The book is organized topically, with a distinct narrative style (e.g., the unique "Ralph's Log" feature), and runs the gamut from astronomy to meterology to geology to speculation about future Titan exploration. I highly recommend LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL to all readers. Anyone interested in Titan, this "pale orange dot," will, I think, find something of worth in this work. Indeed, I personally feel that Chapter 3, "Titan's puzzling atmosphere," is alone worth the price of the book.

The authors do a good job in this book and it is a good read. What is interesting is how much we do not know about this amazing satellite. We have no idea about what the surface is like. In less than 5 years the Cassini mission w/ the Huygens lander will make this book obsolete. You have to wonder why this book was written so close to Cassini's arrival. Until then this book should be standard text in any amatuer astronomers library. The authors give too much credit to Carl Sagan and not enough to the real scientists who have contributed to our limited knowledge on the subject. Besides that this book almost gets my highest rating.

In "Lifting Titan's Veil", Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton have written a lucid account of what we know about Titan, and how the Huygens probe which will parachute down to its surface in 2005 is designed to tell us more. As a research scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory whose doctoral thesis was on the topic, Ralph is well placed to sift through the various competing theories. In fact, he designed the probe's spear-like penetrometer which - if all goes to plan - will be the first human artefact to come into contact with this intriguing moon's surface. As an avid reader on the topic, I thoroughly recommend this book.

This is an exciting time for planetary exploration, when after the solar system has been reconnoitered by spacecraft (except Pluto) and now spacecraft are being sent to specific planets and moons, etc., for closer examination. LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL covers the Cassini mission to Saturn and it's large moon Titan, known to possess a thick atmosphere and perhaps a hydrocarbon ocean, due to insert itself into Saturnian orbit in July, 2004, the attached Huygens probe should enter Titan's atmosphere January, 2005.

The authors include a lot of science in this volume, including background information concerning moons and planets across the solar system. Most of this book covers Titan of course, what we know about it and how we came about that knowledge, from early times to the present. Titan's atmosphere and surface and sub-surface conditions recieve the most attention, with the chemistry of the atmosphere discussed at length. Also, the authors debate the possibility of an ethane/methane ocean existing on Titan as the surface temperature, according to available evidence, is close to the triple point of methane. All of this science can of course, as the authors point out, shed light on the formation and evolution of the solar system and in turn give us clues to our own origins in the misty past. As a chemist I especially enjoyed the information on the chemistry of Titan, and the space-buff in me enjoyed all of it. In addition, the Cassini spacecraft is detailed, and there are lots of illustrations, many in color.

On a personal note, I remember being at the space center as a visitor just a few days before the launch of Cassini, in October, 1997, and thinking that here is this spacecraft sitting out there on the pad just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic beach, I wondered then, will Huygens, at the end of it's journey, find another beach? Space travel is cool!

I started reading this book and nearly threw it down after just two chapters. There were numerous spelling and grammatical errors which initially made me question the validity of the material being presented. Fortunately I pressed on. This book, though not a masterpiece of English prose, is hands down the most understandable, comprehensive text on the subject that I have read. The book breaks down material from vastly diverse disciplines and explains them in a manner that a layman can understand. Prior to reading this book, I read Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD), also of the NASA Space Technology Series. I found that this book (The Lunar Base Handbook) presented the same topics as SMAD, but in a more understandable format. I found myself often reading a topic in The Lunar Base Handbook and then continuing my education in other books from the Space Technology Series such as SMAD. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in lunar development or space exploration.

In this book, Peter Eckart has assembled the collective writings of many of the leaders who are developing advanced engineering and science concepts for a return to the moon and the establishment of a permanent lunar base, which is capable of exploring the moon in great detail. These writings are not reprints from a conference or a previously published paper, but a detailed summary of the work to date on a variety of subjects from the site selection of a lunar base and the transportation means to get to the moon, to the details regarding advanced exploration and regenerative life support systems. The book also includes the more mundane systems needed to make a lunar base function, such as the thermal control system and the communication system.

While portions of this book maybe overly technical for some readers, there are numerous sections that provide a general overview of equipment, lunar exploration history, and transportation techniques. There are two sections, one written by Buzz Aldrin and one by Jack Schmidt that describe in great detail various aspects of lunar exploration. Typically, most astronauts authored writings found in books are simply a page or two. All in all, I couldn't find a topic that was omitted from the book.

I also conducted a comprehensive review of several sections of the book, which are related to my engineering area of expertise. Specifically, I reviewed the thermal control system, power system, EVA, and life support sections. In all these sections, I only found one error, which appeared to be a typo. The lone error leads me to believe that other sections were equally as error free.

In summary, I always enjoy reading books like these, because they show that even though the US government does not support going back to the moon, many individuals are still committed to returning people to the moon. Finally, regardless of your technical ability, you can learn a great deal from this book.

This book, which is not only extensive and exetremely usefull but also very easy to read, provides the only complete overview of aspects considering the moon from an engineering point of view. All aspects are explained and start with basics and summarizes all possibilities. My book is full of post-it notes where the parts are marked that I had to use frequently. It is the most used book from all my moon-related books I have, because it is so complete. The essays from lunar explorers around the world are a nice extra. It would be a good study object for a course.

This book, which is not only extensive and exetremely usefull but also very easy to read, provides the only complete overview of aspects considering the moon from an engineering point of view. All aspects are explained and start with basics and summarizes all possibilities. My book is full of post-it notes where the parts are marked that I had to use frequently. It is the most used book from all my moon-related books I have, because it is so complete. The essays from lunar explorers around the world are a nice extra. It would be a good study object for a course.

This book is a MUST for eveyone seriously interested in lunar exploration. Since Wendell Mendells generatuion-inspiring lunar base document, this is the most complete overview on technical and non-technical aspects of the selenological adventure. One can start as an amateur: after having completed this large volume he/she will have an excellent interdisciplinary insight into our future on the Moon.

This was a wonderful pictorial book with all kinds of useful ideas for small spaces. The photos were colorful and clear, the text explaining them was informative and brief enough to keep interest and keep the pages turning.

For about 5 years, my adult and single son has complained about the inefficiency of his kitchen. Since he is an excellent cook, the kitchen is a hub in his historic but small home. When I sent him this book, he found immediate adaptability to his situation and the thinking process began. As a package design specialist, he decided to draw up plans and "repackage" his kitchen. One space saver that really caught his eye was the concept of building drawers in the steps up to the second floor.

In "Making Room: Finding Space In Unexpected Places", author Wendy Jordan draws upon her more than twenty years of experience in the remodeling industry to help apartment dwellers and homeowners to create new areas of `liveability' within their existing residence without the necessity of major remodeling. Profusely illustrated throughout, "Making Room" features more than one hundred creative, do-it-yourself ways to make the living space within a home bigger and better without adding on or tearing down walls. More than forty case studies illustrate dozens of ideas highlighting transformation that are `small in scale but big in impact'. From converting the toe-kick under kitchen cabinets into perfect storage areas for serving dishes; to the use of hooks, shelves, and slim cabinetry to enhance the usefulness of a closet, to building a draw into a stair and thereby creating a jumbo-size storage area for bulky items, "Making Room" offers a highly recommended wealth of practical ideas and recommendations for interior design and remodeling that are easy to do and enduringly useful.

Brought this book to Friday lunch at our Design-Build company. Passed it around the table and everybody had different favorite great idea's they wanted us all to check out. I like the way the material is organized great idea's, a couple different versions, suggestions for ways to "Make it your own"

A permanent addition to our design library. If you are building or remodeling there are good ideas to be had in this book.

It took me about five minutes of looking quickly through this book to realize that I needed to take the book home and to carry it around the house looking at things in an entirely different way than I'd ever seen it before. I've been wondering about storage space for some time. This book points out that there is room for about twice as much as I have if I would just look at some of the areas of the house in a different way.

Just some of the ideas:

Stairs: Make the treads to flip-up lids to access the box underneath, or insert drawers underneath. Page 17

Dorway: The space over the door can be converted to a small bookshelf of antique display area. Page 56

Under/Over Kitchen Cabinets: Build a drawer into the toe-kick area under the cabinets for storage of thin things like serving dishes, or all kinds of things can be put into the space above the cabinets.

This is a great idea book of how you can probably double your storage area.

This series of essays, edited by and partially written by William Glen, provide readers interested in the Alvarez theory a snapshot of the debate between uniformitarians and catastrophists, as it stood in 1994. The authors include Digby McLaren, David Raup, and Victor Clube, and obviously includes essays by those either opposed to the concept of impact or by those who thought (or perhaps still think) that the impact at the K-T boundary did in fact take place, but didn't have any bearing on extinction.

This reviewer gives it four stars because, despite its quality, it is over ten years old. The debate still simmers, but over the long run, the impact model for mass extinction will become the only game in town. Saying, as some did or still do, that if all the volcanoes on Earth erupted simultaneously, sufficient iridium would have made it into the K-T boundary layer, used to be seen as a viable alternative. As we see, even in 1994, it had already been debunked.

This doesn't even consider the fact that, if the Chicxulub impact had no effect on Earth's species, the fact that so many plants and animals went extinct essentially immediately was just a huge coincidence. The alternative denial is to deny that mass extinction even took place. Gradual extinction was still being trumpeted back in 1994 when this book was published. It still can be seen here and there today, but is itself going extinct.

One reason this book is such an interesting read -- besides the frank expressions of the underlying assumptions on all sides -- is that it was published in the very year that all waited with breath abated for the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet fragments to impact on Jupiter. I doubt that a book of this kind would have been possible after those impacts, because those scars on the Jovian surface buried most of the opposition to the significance of impact.

The various fallback positions of those who denied any role for impact (and in some rare cases, continue to deny it) are seen fully formed even in 1994. The Deccan Traps, a large but otherwise unremarkable volcanic scar on the Earth, as well as other volcanic alibis for mass extinction, were already touted then, and had already been shown as fallacious in some of these essays.

It is only natural that impact is now seen as a uniformitarian phenomenon. This was predictable and predicted simply as a consequence to the politics of science. The late Eugene Shoemaker, codiscoverer of the SL-9 comets, is quoted in this book as supporting that idea. While it is ironic that random catastrophes have been co-opted into a uniformitarian framework, some of the thinking behind that co-opting can be seen in the essays by David Raup and others. The supposed periodicity of mass extinctions in the fossil record motivated Raup et al to look for various possible causes for showers of comets, a sort of Gouldian Punctuated Equilibria model based on causes from the skies. Even in 1994, none of those had held up. Since then, it has been purported that the Hubble Space Telescope has ruled out any stellar dark companion(s).

The Hubble hasn't shown the existence of the Oort Cloud, which is a necessity for most of the models claiming periodicity in the mass extinctions. The Oort Cloud is also a necessary prop for the nebular hypothesis of solar system formation. There's absolutely no evidence that it exists. For those who don't know or seem to care, the existence of a hypothesis isn't grounds to posit the existence of evidence.

Clube's contribution is a good place to start for those interested in Velikovsky, for reasons which should be obvious to readers of both. The book isn't a difficult read for most adults, although it may be a little dry in spots. There is adequate amusement from mischievously selected quotes from scientists pro and con, as well as the slapping around of uniformitarian biases.

While this review is of a hardcover edition available to this reviewer, the book remains in print as a paperback. Get it, read it, and enjoy.

Geologist and historian of science William Glen has assembled an excellent overview on current research on mass extinctions, noting the anomosity which exists between advocates of comet/asteroid impact induced mass extinctions and their critics. This excellent volume is largely assembled from a history and philosophy of science symposium on mass extinctions held at Northwestern University. Major advocates such as paleontologists David Raup and J. John Sepkoski describe how their research led to their acceptance of the Alvarez team's impact theory as the cause for the end Cretaceous mass extinction, and their eventual discovery of periodicity of mass extinctions seen in the marine fossil record. On the other hand, skeptics such as John C. Briggs and William A. Clemens defend their objections to comet or asteroid impacts as the cause of mass extinctions. There are also insightful articles on the history and sociology of science as these pertain to the mass extinction debates.

Dr. William Glen, in his book The Mass Extinction Debates: How Scinece Works in a Crisis, shows how the conclusions of many scientists often differ. Each scientist believes that their theory is correct and thus stands by their ideas. This can often culmunate into several groups of scientists working to verify their hypothesis. The mass extinction debates were a group of conferences designed to get to the bottom of the most famous mass extinction, 65 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs. Was it a comet, climate or volcanism? Each scientist in the book presents their views in a language that is very accesible to the lay person. The reader becomes drawn into the debates when each new conclusion becomes a logical possibility. The power, whether manifested from within the earth as volcanism or from space as a comet, had to be strong enough to eleiminate everything over 50 pounds from the face of the earth. The theories presented offer a window into the strongest and most dynamic forces of physics. The book does not represent a viewpoint of its own. Rather, it presents the arguments for the reader to review, digest and contemplate. The attraction to this book comes from the readers realization that a mass extinction is possilbe today. The cause of such extinctions is intriquing. The book swept me away and I reccommend it highly.

From Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta by Christian Koeberl, University of Vienna: "I found the book easy and fascinating to read--it was hard to put down, so I finished it in two long evenings and part of a day. This is one of those books that has something for everybody, and provides a very good account of how science progresses despite the efforts of some scientists. Glen's book is very well edited...thought provoking and makes for excellent reading (and discussing)...I want to reiterate that the book provides a good chronicle of an important part of the K-T boundary [debates] research, sets the whole debate in the framework of previous geological debates, and renders a lively picture of science in progress. I recommend this volume to practically everybody with an interest in the earth sciences...this volume should also make great reading for undergraduate and graduate seminars." From James W. McAllister, University of Leiden, the Netherlands: This semester I am giving a seminar course based on the book The Mass-Extinction Debates. The course has attracted biologists and physicists as well as a number of students of ours who are specializing in philosophy of science. I find that the book works very well in this role: I am especially pleased to be able to offer students a detailed picture of a concrete scientific controversy that is still unresolved...Thank for for a very interesting book that my students are enjoying." From Contemporary Sociology by Homer Le Grand, University of Melbourne: "Glen's deftly assembled and edited collection bears out the value of controvery studies as a window onto science. Glen contributes expository and analytic chapters in which he presents the first detailed examination of both arguments and the behavior of those actively engages in the [mass-exstinction debates]. Many...including some of the debaters themselves, will avidly turn to the...chapter in which Glen gives a precis of some of the lessons that he would draw from the debates thus far. Glen's presentation is notable for its clear explication, and its effective and arresting coupling of technical matters and social worlds. His analysis is particularlyu compelling because it is based upon a highly detailed longitudinal study... He avoids many of the traps by drawing freely upon his unrivaled archive of contemporaneous interviews, preprints, correspondence, and ephemera. This gives considerable depth to his comments about the cognitive and social importance specialization... This volume constitutes not only a valuable source of insights into a major, ongoing scientific controversy, but also a resource for those of us who will surely mine it to enrich our own sociological, philosophical, and historical models of scientific culture." From Choice by M.A. Wilson, College of Wooster:"This is a wonderful volume, highly recommended for all libraries and everyone in science or the philosophy [and sociology] of science.[Glen's] genius has been to record interviews and collect papers, preprints, and referee reports on the issue "as it has unfolded since 1980. He can thus provide an extraordinary view of how scientists work during a conceptual "crisis'. The analysis of the social dynamics affecting how disciplines and subdisciplines receive new ideas is fascinating, and the revelation of the levels of ignorance some scientists have as they state strong opinions on the issue is disturbing. Glen is a geologist, so he knows the subject and the main characters well, and he expresses complex issues in clear language. The book had many contributions, but those by Glen are the most interesting. An analysis of the impact hypothesis and "popular science" by Elizabeth Clemens is also well done. An excellent book for upper-division undergraduates or graduate students. All levels. Review by Joseph T. Gregory, University of California, Berkeley: "Readers from the natural sciences and also the history, sociology and philosophy of science will find this diversely-comprised book--that includes the first report of Bill Glen's pioneering, decade-long study of the mass-extinction debates--indispensable to understanding both the ideas of the conflicted science and the behavior of scientists in this ongoing upheaval." Science Books and Films: "Exceptionally well organized by its editor William Glen, the book illustrates how many passionately different points of view there are...and makes it exceedingly interesting for the reader to observe how proponents' views evolve over time...and also observe the evolution of theories relating to such topics... The book will serve as an excellent introduction to the subject. The editor is to be commended for making it possible to evaluate a topic analytically from the standpoint of several disciplines."

A reader from Aliso Viejo, CA Best balanced overview by the leading historian on subject Glen has studied the debates for 14 years and thus was able to provide an overview and analyses that only one with his expertise can provide. The acrimony and bitterness between the warring theoretical camps of scientists is wonderfully illumninated. The two major groups of debators believe that either an asteroid or comet on one hand, or massive volcanic eruptions on the other caused the death of the dinosaurs and most of other life on Earth. The story is excitingly told and seems to place the reader at the center of the storm of controversy that has raged for over a decade. Glen's two opening chapters make up a small book in themselves which explain the whole affair. This small book opens the larger anthology which also includes chapters by almost a dozen world-class leaders of various sciences including Stephen J. Gould. It is a wonderful work for both layman and scientist that shows both the science and the life of the scientists who struggle mightily to make their cases in an arena that seems to test both their intellects and emotional integrity. Glen notes that this work contains his larger conclusions briefly presented which he hopes to more fully detail in a future work. This is simply a fascinating, lucid, indispensible read for all interested in the subject--its hard to put down once begun.

Having read this book- and met Charlie Duke in person,it is very much about how Charlie was touched whilst walking on the moon. It tells of his personal life- and what his thoughts were -during the time he spent with NASA- If like myself you are interested in the Astronauts who went to the moon,this book is for you.It tells of his journey in Apollo 16.how he was able to take samples back- and waht the moon was like.
During the Apollo era- many other Astros wrote books and told of their tales, each person is individual-I loved this book- because it is rather personal for me- knowing Charlie,and understanding why he chose to go to the moon.

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Charlie Duke does a nice job of telling his story from a small town in South Carolina to the surface of the Moon and back again. Duke does an admirable job of telling the story the way it happened. Knowing of his "born-again" status, I was unsure how Duke would tell the story. He is refreshingly honest about the toll the Astronaut years took on his family and marriage. Only when he finds Christianity does the issue enter the book. I was pleased, as often people who find religion tend to color the facts of their life previous to their conversion in terms of how they feel later. Certainly not a tell-all book, Duke seems to have a genuine like for those he works, and ultimately travels to the moon , with. If you are looking for a book that deals with the "everyman" who was fortunate enough to be chosen to visit the Moon, then "Moonwalker" is for you.

If you would like a copy, autographed by astronaut author Charlie Duke, try boggsspace.com

A well written book about an event that only 12 others have ever experienced: a moonwalk. Charlie Duke articulates the tale very well. His style of writing is reminiscent of the storytellers throughout the ages who have handed down stories from generation to generation, except of course here it is in print for all of us to enjoy. Charlie and his wife Dotty are quite honest about the sacrifices that were made not only by the astronauts but of their families and the damaged caused by the neglect due to the demands of the mission and of the space program in general. Charlie Duke carried the same drive that he showed as an astronaut into the business world and this of course continued the damage on the family relationships. Charlie and his wife Dotty are quite honest of the sacrifices that were made not only by the astronauts but of their families and the damaged caused by the neglect. The "awakening" of the Dukes comes from Dotty's faith which was renewed just as she was considering suicide. The transformation of both Dotty and Charlie is very inspirational but the book itself is not preachy at all. In fact only near the end of the book do we get to hear about their walk with God. The book ends with the death of Charlie's dad, now we need an update! A good book.

Barlow tackled the large topic of how Mormons view the Bible, and how Mormon belief has changed through the years. To illustrate LDS points of view, he focused on several "case studies," going into great detail on the views of nine particularly influential and characteristic church leaders: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, B.H. Robers, Joseph Fielding Smith, William H. Chamberlin, J. Reuben Clark, Bruce R. McConkie, and Lowell Bennion.

It was fascinating to see the wide spectrum of views on the Bible, from e.g. Brigham Young's liberal view that parts of the Bible were "baby stories", written in a way that the unsophisticated people of the time could understand but should be supplanted by modern science as appropriate, to Orson Pratt (Young's contemporary) who had the much more conservative view that the text of the Bible was literally dictated by God to its authors. Overall the case studies are fairly evenly split between the conservative and the liberal.

One of the main themes of the book was how the current prevailing LDS view (fairly conservative, and basically King James Version only) of the Bible came to be. Barlow pointed to J. Reuben Clark as one of the prime factors--Clark, as an LDS apostle and a counselor to David O. McKay, the President of the Church at the time, wrote a book called "Why the King James Version" explaining why other translations are sub-standard--a sentiment with which church president David O. McKay actually disagreed. (Pres. McKay felt that blanket criticism of e.g. the Revised Standard Version should be avoided because "in some places it was more accurate than the [KJV] and also got rid of confusing outdated terms.") However, Pres. McKay & other church leaders were not vocal in their disagreement, so the net result was that the KJV-only view of Clark's became the de facto LDS position.

Barlow also pointed to Bruce R. McConkie as another key figure in framing the current LDS view on the Bible. Like J. Reuben Clark, McConkie believed that higher criticism and literary methods of scriptural interpretation were essentially designed to destroy the Bible's divine authenticity, and were absolutely meaningless for theological issues. He published "Mormon Doctrine," an encyclopedia on doctrinal matters, despite misgivings by the church's First Presidency. He wrote the chapter headings in current LDS-published Bible (KJV), which will be around for the foreseeable future, giving tacit but lasting approval to many of his conservative doctrinal views.

What I thought was most interesting in Barlow's book was how wide the spectrum actually is on "acceptable" LDS views on the Bible-something that might not at all be apparent in the typical LDS church of today. Overall it's an excellent book.

The Mormon view of the Bible is often misunderstood both in and out of the LDS church, which in contrast to Protestant Christianity professes additional books of scripture as well as reverencing the Old and New Testaments.

Dr. Barlow traces the origins and historical development of Mormon attitudes towards the Bible by focusing on a number of leaders and lay members who have influenced Mormon attitudes, often with surprising diversity. Additionally, he also deals with some of the 'outside' vectors, particular american conservative protestant scholars who have helped to shape the views of particular LDS church leaders.

Barlow organizes his thesis well and writes with an uncommon fluidity. His focus on specific individuals representing different attitudes in the church is particular effective. Due to the narrow subject matter, Barlow is necessarily abrupt on some interesting lines of thought. He does however provide a large bibliography and adequate references. The effect though is not an impression that the work is incomplete, but rather that the reader should consider following some of the paths he points out, to see where they lead. I would have like to have seen more references to conservative protestant works to provide more insight into the tantalizing Protestant influences in Mormon thought.

While there have been a number of articles in various Mormon journals on aspects of Mormon's attitudes towards the Bible, particularly the church's attachment to the Authorized, or King James Version, Barlow has, in my opinion, created the definitive work on the subject, at least to date. I would recommend the book to any serious student of Mormonism as a "must-read".

This is an excellently written and objective work. I loved it and found it to be very scholary.

This is one of the best books about Mormonism to appear in the last 20 or so years. Its real subject is not just the way LDS people regard the Bible, but the way the Mormons look at truth and the world. Non-Mormons should be fascinated by the LDS concept of an "open (scriptural) canon." The quiet arguments within the LDS church about how doctrine is revealed can shed illuminating light on the "culture wars" of the larger American ethos.

This is an excellent book. Period. Philip Barlow uses the life and teachings of several prominent Church leaders to demonstrate the evolution of biblical thinking in the Mormon Church, and raises some important spectres along the way. Most significant to me was the powerful influence that the ultra-conservative Bruce R. McConkie has had on the contemporary LDS understanding of the bible. His personal bias toward the "literal bible" has been incorporated in both his "Mormon Doctrine" (considered by most faithful members to be THE LAST WORD on all doctrinal points), as well as his subtle influence in the brief synopsis at the first of each chapter in the most recent correlated Old and New Testaments used by the LDS church. Contrast that with the "open canon" of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and you have a case for bonafide doctrinal evolution in the Mormon Church. Barlow points out that it is was the very ability of Joseph Smith to question the bible in the first place that led him to found a new religion.

This books gets the highest recommendation I could possibly give to anyone genuinely interested in understanding the genesis and growth of Mormon thought. Barlow writes about complex things in a manner that is easily consumed by the lay reader, without sacrificing scholarship. This is an excellent book.

As a parent of three kids now 12-20, I can remember reading this book to them for years, and them going back to it. I've recommended it to my astronomer friends. It's just a plain wonderful book, one of the most memorable of the very many I read to my kids over the years.

It's a lovely book, but -- based solely on the reaction of my just-turned-four book lover who wants to be an astronaut/basketball player -- I'd say it will go over better with the older kids. There's a lot of interesting, subtle, and funny stuff going on in the illustrations -- but it's like observing an ant farm in terms of the scale. The town-continent-solar system-galaxy progression is really nifty, but a lot of the time, distance, and really big numbers are just too abstract. Having the setting in Australia is a really nice feature, since Earth's continents seems to be a topic of interest and comprehensible. I'm glad I have the book, but it will probably be resting on the shelf for a while for my guy.

As an astronomer and educator, I love to let people know how amazing the universe is. My Place in Space is a fun way to introduce children to the wonders of astronomy and awaken their curiosity. It's especially nice because of the two confident children, Henry and Rosie, who show us that children too can be wise. With vibrant illustrations and accurate text even adults will enjoy it and be left wanting to know more. I have given a copy to everyone I know who has children!

I absolutely love this book. I am a teacher of both English as a Second Language and the gifted, and I have used it with both populations. The space pictures are beautiful, the other pictures are hilarious, and the information is both simply given and interesting. I would take exception to the rating of baby-preschool, both because I know high school students who enjoy it and because there is violence (albeit comical) in some of the pictures. For example, if you look at the playing field, you will see what appears to be a person getting decapitated with a tennis racket.

This book is an excellent tool to use in teaching geography to children. It gives them a visual picture of where we are in the universe as well as helps them to see the size differences between countries, continents, etc. I use it every year with my third graders, and they love it!