Clarke Books

If you're enthralled by 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, you'll have to read this book. Written during, before, and after film production with the complete cooperation of Clarke and Kubrick, this book explains everything but what the %$#&%!!?!!* movie MEANS.

It's got Clarke's original story, THE SENTINEL, and almost 100 pages of photos. It has special effects information, casting stories, and the back-and-forth between Kubrick and Clarke.

It's jam-packed with fascinating (as Mr. Spock would say) info, including a smattering of reviews of the film (including pictures from a fan sequel and demands for refunds).

It's a fine book about a confounding artifact. "Its origin and purpose still a total mystery."

Details the important part played by strategic and tactical deception, including the use of double agent spy rings in World War Two, especialy in the Middle East.

I have been a student of Spanish for many years now. As a student I always look for ways to improve my language skills that is why this book captured my attention. It is a book that has been written for students of Spanish that have reached the level of basic communication and that are simply trying to expound on what they have learned. The book helps speakers of Spanish to fine tune their skills. I find that anyone that speaks a second language, that they consider not to be their native language, could use reminders now and then to help them improve. Mr. Clarke's book is just the ticket. When one sets out to learn a new language there are four areas that they must master in order to become proficient. These areas are, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking and writing. This book is designed to help students improve in these areas. A tape can be purchased to help the student with their listening comprehension while other activities are created to help the student write and read. The only drawback is the speaking excercises or lack thereof. I imagine if the reader actually read out loud they could practice forming the words. This is what I do. The book has been written with the Spanish that is spoken in Spain as the main focus. Students of Latin American Spanish may note some of the lexical differences. As one who has lived in Spain I recognize and appreciate the Castillian that is used, but it may be viewed as not being universal. If the reader is interested in Spanish culture and society this book addresses some interesting facets while at the same time teaching the finer points of the spoken and written language. Overall I have found this book to be very helpful and interesting at the same time. As I follow the journeys and experiences of a couple from England on holiday in Spain I learn ways to improve my Spanish or review areas, such as grammer, I have forgotten

Well i dont have much to say about the book i just wanted to tell you maya angelo that i really like the books u have and i want you to know that i am a new collage student and i will love for you to tell and help me threw out collage by emailing me and letting me know what books i should read and i would really love that i know i sound kinda crazy emailing you threw here but this is the only way i know how i am trying to become a strong black man like you are a strong black women so like i said if u can help me or give me fether information please do so and dont be a stranger. P.S Life seems to love the liver of it. by maya angelo a new friend willie christian please email me back

At the beginning of Green Mars, a plucky group of adventurers gathers to climb Olympus Mons, the highest mountain on Mars (indeed, the book says, in the entire solar system). Eileen Monday is the spirited and competent expedition leader, but we see most of the journey through the eyes of Roger Claybourne, who is recently retired from his post as Minister of the Interior of the government of Mars. Will it be a daring climb, full of danger and despair? You betcha.

The book is thoroughly proficient in technical detail and captivating in the story of the climb, but what really drew me in was the larger story of the human experience. In the book, humans have extended their lifetimes to hundreds of years. With this extension, however, the maximum useful limit of human memory has been surpassed. In other words, though they can live very long times, most people can only remember specific experiences for a hundred or so years. People, places, and events of experience in the more distant past are simply forgotten. The limit varies from person to person, of course, and some people are blessed-or cursed-with being able to remember longer, sometimes far longer, than others. Roger is one of those people, and because of it he spends most of the book in a quiet gloom. And that is precisely what drew me in.

Roger, we are told, spent his career as an advocate of conserving Mars, of preserving its wild state. His opponents were in favor of terraforming it to fit the use of humans, and they slowly and steadily got their way. Now, the people around him can't remember Mars the way it used to be. They don't recognize what they've lost, but even more significantly, to them, Mars has always been green. They don't remember the arguments waged to preserve or develop Mars-arguments they themselves had with Roger, who can remember it all too clearly. Now, everyone is happy to find themselves on a green planet so full of potential, and only Roger remembers the pristine beauty that was lost.

Even worse, Eileen doesn't remember that she and Roger were graduate students together, and that they were more than friends-they were lovers.

Yes, the technical details of the climb and the harrowing storms and all were exciting, but what really held my attention was Roger's struggle to find peace with himself, how his ability to remember the past made him alone in a sea of humanity.

Kim Stanley Robinson is a successful science fiction writer, and he certainly doesn't need my endorsement, but I will give it nonetheless. Green Mars is a thoroughly absorbing book, with both the technical and human details imagined and presented in beautiful prose. Now that I've discovered Green Mars, I intend to explore the rest of mars through the works of Kim Stanley Robinson. You should join me there.

This book is basically in two parts: the first is a listing of all 51 men associated with the L & C expedition and their biographies (most are very short since little or nothing could be learned about them); the second, and much longer part, is a reproduction of those sections in the Journals that mention specific men and their roles. Clarke believes that "as the men are rather lost in the maze of descriptive matter found [in the Journals], the aim of this condensation is to bring them back into sight." He has therefore culled the original journals, not only of Lewis and Clark, but also of Gass, Ordway, Floyd, and Whitehouse, seeking out the names and activities of the expedition's members. It's an interesting approach to the records of the expedition: in studying the original journals with all their mention of miles traveled, campsite locations, weather highlights, etc., it's easy to forget that it's a body of men who are performing this monumental task of exploration. Jefferson wanted the diarists to record "the facts"; this account adds the human element to those facts. A most interesting book.

Narrated by the character for whom the title is named and set in the late 1600's, Micah Clarke describes the battle of peasants against the existing king of England in the hopes that they can replace the monarch with his brother who feels he has been unjustly denied the throne. Micah Clarke, a young, innocent peasant joins forces with other peasants, among the Puritans, to fight for this pathetic duke's cause. Not a subject that would appear to be on the surface to be too exciting, in reality it is enjoyable reading. From the descriptions of the English settings, not unlike some of Thomas Hardy's relaxing paragraphs of the moors, to the gory horrors of the culminating battle, Doyle's writing keeps you turning the pages for more. At the same time, each chapter is so rich in dialogue and setting description, that you feel you can set down the book, and then pick it up the next day, thereby getting your fill of a relaxing, interesting trip into another world. As an aside, Doyle's thoughts on God and organized religion that appear in some of his other literature, are found here too. Through various character's dialogue, he's able to respectfully discuss differing "sides" of this sensitive subject, while appreciating the plight of all men, whatever their beliefs, church, political party, or economic class.
Those who have read Sherlock Holmes should attempt Arthur Conan Doyle's historical fiction, such as Micah Clarke. It's well worth it.

Yes i know Tal also wrote a great book. But, if you want the best coverage of his emergence in the 1956 USSR championship up to his title match this 1960's book is it. The notes are deep, well-researched, thorough and written to the best of the writers ability. The biography is good and gives a nice feel for how Soviet chess looked to westerners in the early 60's. P H Clarke knows his stuff - he wrote a good book later on Petrosian, translated the Smyslov book (now cheaply available from Dover) and other translations and an interesting book of USSR miniatures. All chess players can enjoy this book for the pleasure of the games, the exhuberance of the writing and picture of how exciting it was when Tal shot from nowhere to world champion in four years.Weak players will like the story, medium players will learn to attack and stronger players can study the deep notes, learn some chess history and find out how the Benoni Defense became popular for a while.

The book is all about attacking play. Of all the world champions, Tal made the most modest impact on openings and was only a so - so endgame player, with good but not great technique. But the tension he produces in these games!!! David Bronstein has described how in the opening Tal's plan is to get his pieces off the back rank in order start sacrificing them somewhere - usually around the the enemy king. Tal has been called the Magician from Riga; this book covers his best period before his health problems set in. If you like Tal from his own two masterpieces (the Botvinnik-Tal match and his Life and Games) this is a book you need, to see how he was viewed by his contemporaries and begin to get the feeling why grandmasters began to talk of the Tal Problem (e.g. how to cope psychologically when scheduled to play him - like they have to with Kasparov now - only Tal is universally reported as a having been a pretty nice man to know). This very readable book is probably the best single volume for explaining to non-addicts about being addicted to chess, chess books and the possibility of this being an exciting pasttime. When any chessplayer needs a lift then get a fix from one or two games in this book.

Really interesting book if you like amphibian vehicles. It has some great pictures and histories of different types of vehicles.