Simmons Books

Most people when they think of Tolstoy, War and Peace comes to mind. Others, Anna Karenina which is in large part due to Hollywood, the popular media and the numerous translations available over the years (Constance Garnet, Maud, etc..).

When people think of Nineteenth Century Russian Literature as whole, names like Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Chekhov come to mind. "Crime and Punishment", "Eugene Onegin" and "The Cherry Orchard" are works we might randomly associate with the novel, the narrative-poem and the plays of the great Russian masters.

Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth is that work which stands on the periphery, not only of Tolstoy's works but also of Russian literature in general. It feels Russian, the characters are Russians but the influences come from French literature (Rousseau) and Germany (Schiller, Goethe). There is a Bildungsroman element but I wouldn't want to label it a novel of development. There is also something more. Feeling, wonder, innocence, they too appear in the French and Germanic influences but there is also a great deal of sensation (a "novel of sensation"?). Reading this book, I could feel the narrator's home, I could feel his emotions. It is a work that explores the visceral aspects of being young, growing up and trying to find one's way in society.

Tolstoy's work often carry a great philosophical and moral weight. He was heavily influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and his theories about the "will-to-live" and the endless cravings of "desire". Not only that, he was reading up on the works of the Shakers, their celibacy stance. The Kreuzer Sonata and The Devil are essentially works in which Tolstoy is maddened with lust and morality.

Here, you could say is the lighter Tolstoy, a Tolstoy of impressions, beauty, and tender emotions. There is no moralizing or foreboding, no fear of judgment, no murdering of wives. It is novel that looks forward to Proust in its dreamlike presentation of being young. While reading this book I felt like I disappeared into the child I once was and still am. A true hidden treasure and also the perfect example of how all Russian literature is not necessarily dark and murky.

This semi-autobiographical youth memories are characteristic for the life of a young member of the Russian tsarist high society.

The main character wants to be a young man `comme il faut': `The comme il faut people I respected and considered worthy of being on terms of equality with me; the comme il ne faut pas I pretended to despise but in reality hated. The lower classes did not exist for me, I despised them completely.'
This stands in sharp contrast with: `His tendency of ecstatic adoration of the ideal virtue and a conviction that the purpose of man's life is continually to perfect himself. At that time it seemed very possible to improve all men, to destroy all the vices and miseries of mankind.'
But as the young man states himself: `noble words seldom go with noble deeds.'

His life is not without problems: his father, who loses all credit with his son, is a big gambler and doesn't give a damn for his estate. His mother adores her husband and forgives him everything. But she dies when the main character is still young. He receives an aristocratic education and, unsurprisingly, his life goes on very smoothly with `dancing' problems, adolescent loves and student exams.

This book contains beautiful pictures of the Russian countryside and lively childhood memories, but it is rather innocent stuff.
Only for Tolstoy fans.

For a picture of the lower classes (still not the `people of the abyss'), I recommend Maksim Gorky's `My Childhood'.

I have read most of Tolstoy's major work including his most well known short stories. This is an early work from 1852 to 1856 and it is considered to be semi-autobiographical. It is not up to the standards of his later works, although it is long and detailed and made up of three stories that flow together as one.

Tolstoy was born in 1828 and he was in his twenties when he wrote this early work. He his famous for detailed physical descriptions combined with emotional drama. For example, read that wonderul short story Master and Man that combines those two elements. The present work has the detailed descriptions but lacks the emotional appeal and lacks the great characters that we see in other works, i.e.: a crying youth because he is humiliated is hardly a great emotional experienece.

Tolstoy remains as one of the leading writers of novels. His impressive legacy includes three of four monumental works including War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and the novella The Death of Ivan Ilych. According to his own estimate, he has over 400 works - as he describes in one of his non-fiction works.

Tolstoy's writing can be divided into three phases: the early years up to 1860 to 1861, the mid-career years from approximately 1861 to 1890, and his final years when he turned to non-fiction polemics. His most important fiction was written in the middle period, and it started with the release of The Cossacks in 1863. That story contains emotional elements and descriptions similar to what we read in Anna Karenina. His writings before The Cossacks contains his famous detail but lacks the same level of drama and emotion.

The present work is a good example of his early work pre-1961. Tostoy follows a Gogol like approach to produce a lengthy and detailed account of a young man growing up. The narrative is about a young man living in rural Russia. He goes on to attend university in Moscow and he is the son of a landowner as was Tolstoy himself. The story covers the boy's experiences from around the age of ten to the age of twenty. The character is based on one of Tolstoy's childhood friends and includes other characters based on real people that he knew. The story is a work of fiction. Tolstoy's own father died when he was still young as did his mother who died before his father.

This is a very slow read. It took me a week on and off to get through 314 pages in small font. Readers should not confuse this work with his famous works that came in his mid-career. The prose is excellent, especially the description of the thunderstorm about one third of the way into the book, but the story lacks drama and charm. Considering the author and his complete body of work, this is just 4 stars among the stories by Tolstoy.

As a side note, this is a beautifully bound hardcover book.

One of my favorite novels is "Anna Karenina"; this trilogy starts off as strongly. In the first volume, "Childhood," the immediacy of experience is palpable, the vividness of sensations is high, the emotionality is less diluted by philosophical wonderings. Tolstoy's writing is evocative, clear, and engaging in this book. His writing becomes increasingly abstract with each volume in the series. As his protagonist moves through adolescence, his uncertainties, moodiness, and fickle nature bogged down the narrative, I thought. Of course, this reflects the state of mind of the young man, but in comparison with the brightness of the first volume, made for some tedious reading. The books do, however, show how masterful Tolstoy was from the beginning of his career.

When this book first hit the stores in Russia about 150 years ago, folks didn't think too much of it, seeing it merely as a minor work by one who had read Dickens. Tolstoy himself claimed that no one taught him more about the art of fiction than Dickens, and the literary circles of Russia were Dickens-fanatics, Russia recieving his works only after England.

But beyond being similiar to David Copperfield, this book has moments in it that match parts of Karenin and War and Peace in beauty and texture if not in scope. What's amazing about Tolstoy is that his earliest work (this and his early war sketches) seem as artistically mature as his later, epic masterpieces. The death-obsession and intense philosophical and spiritual doubts that plagued Tolstoy later in life did not all of a sudden erupt while writing Anna Karenin; but rather they were always there in one form or another... an echo of adolescent sadness.

this book was in the cslb suggested study materials for the contractor exam. understand and be understood by subs; impress customers. expensive and worth it.

This book is an excellent resource for those entering the Architecture profession. It is exhaustive and has information I couldn't find easily elsewhere.

This book is a great desk reference for any materials needed in construction. I am a student and find myself going back to this book semester after semester. Great Book.

As the other reviews stated this book is in depth. If you are a building professional than you should already know the fundementals and require a reference that is the basis of your field. This book is too exausting for school, but as soon as you move to the office you should use it as the starting point for your details, CD's and specs. I used this book to study for the ARE and it has also come in handy when questions arise on the construction site with contractors. I have always felt that, as Architects, we have enough books all about subjects that we hire consultants for ie. Structures, MEP but we are the ones who need to be the experts about our handicraft: Construction.

It is certainly THE BIBLE for construction. Boy, I sweated it! But, if you can get through it, it is certainly worth the efford.

It's a good book - but if you get a chance to hear the author speak somewhere, go.

My sense is that Ms. Simmons is a very genuine person but this book is just lame. She identifies 4 kinds of people adders, subtractors, dividers and multipliers- guess what their characteristics are?

If you're a teenager this book might be insightful but if you're an adult working to understand people and relationships, leave this book on the shelf. I assumed that a PhD would write something with significantly greater depth. I was wrong.

I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on a local TV show. I decided her ideas were interesting enough to want to find out more. Gosh!! It came just in time. I was feeling completely powerless over my job, my life and my future. After reading this book (in one weekend), I took control of my life with my own power! I found out who where the power people I needed to stick with and the power people who were making me fail! I would recommend it to anyone who feels lost!

This is very helpful. It is an excellent tool for anyone who values relationships. It gives you insight into the personalities around you, making it evident whether or not your relationships are helpful or harmful. Anyone interested in growth should read this book because "No Man is an Island;" therefore, we need to make sure that the personalities in our lives are enhancing rather than detrimental. In so far as the relationships that we cannot release, having a greater insight, we can learn how to effectively deal with these personalities to either help them or protect ourselves.

I enjoyed this book immensely because it caused me to realize the importance of developing relationships with people that will fuel my internal growth and severing those relationships that will deplete my growth. I have also learned the importance of being an adder by encouraging each person that crosses my path to be the best that they can be and to acknowledge their gifts and talents. This book is written clearly and precisely and there are questions and exercises that you can work through. I have purchased this book for my friends and family. If you want to be more successful in your everyday life, read this book!

This was a really good book. I could not find it in any of our local stores after a friend recomended it. I got the book in a very timely fashion and it was in good shape.

I have been reading true crime for as long as I can remember. And although you always feel frustration, anger, disgust, and a wide variety of other emotions toward the murderers and sympathy for the victims and their families, this particular book hit me harder than any I have ever read. Often times I was unsure as to whether I could continue reading; not because the book was boring or not well written (quite the contrary, actually), but because of the emotions that the paragraphs describing the heartless, brutal, selfish crimes commmited by Gene Simmons evoked from me.

For writing style, detail, and organization, this is one of the best books I have ever read. As for the crime that is the foundation, it is the worst about which I have ever read.

The story of Ronald Gene Simmons and the worst family mass murder in US history. These murders actually happened in my hometown of Dover, AR when I was 8 years old. The book does very well at bringing the craziness of Simmons to the forefront and will give you chills. An excellent read.

Until I picked up this book, I had no idea about the crimes committed by Gene Simmons not the Kiss musician but a man who tortured, abused, traumatized, dehumanized, etc. of his own wife, children, and relatives. Gene Simmons was a war hero who earned a Bronze Medal for his services during Vietnam. Despite a military career, Gene's obsession with order and documentation and the control of his own large family. On December 22, 1987, the book begins with an introduction of the crime about a man murdering his own family before Christmas in the Ozarks of Arkansas. The book and it's writers should be commended for writing about this case after Gene's death by execution in 1990 which is suitable punishment for his crimes which are not just murder but cold calculated murder. When you read how he planned and plotted for months for this crime spree, you just get chills to think this is how he treats his own family and people who loved him regardless of the constant abuse, heavy workloads, and a kind of life more in tune with a German concentration camp than with a normal family life. The children never got to be children but slaves to their father who forced them to work over school activities. They were barely allowed to communicate outside the family in facing their father's wrath of terror. Poor Sheila may have been the favorite daughter because she was the oldest but she paid dearly by being her father's mistress as well as the favorite child. She had been unwilling to play the mother and wife role to her own father. Even though they have a child together, Gene never believed he had done anything wrong in raping his own daughter and impregnating her. Unfortunately the New Mexico authorities never caught up with him in time, he fled to the Ozarks. No matter how much he tried to keep his children under his control, it would be more reminiscent of John List who murdered his family in Westfield, New Jersey but at least John never looked them in the eyes. Gene even had his children dig up their own graves prior to the crime spree that not only shocked the town, the state, and perhaps the world before he got caught. Gene purposely and unconsciously murdered his own family because he could not control him and that's a coward. He was afraid of disorder in the family.

Zero at the Bone is without a doubt one of the most horrifying accounts of family massacre ever written. Williams very clearly gets across to the reader the contents of Ronald Gene Simmons' twisted, sick mind. His obsessive lust/love for his daughter Sheila is horrifying; and the detailed steps Simmons took to wipe out his immediate family detail him as nothing less than totally mad. The reader cannot help but feel saddened for Sheila, for she is truly a victim of her father's depraved actions. Simmons' wife Becky is a tragic figure, yet she possesses a core of steel which sustains her up until her murder. Simmons is nothing short of a monster, and Williams spares no words in getting this point across. A note of caution: DO NOT read this book before bedtime!! It is capable of producing some of the worst nightmares, and I would not recommend it for those with weak constitutions. I am an Arkansas native, and remember very vividly these murders. And 15 years later, it still sends shudders down my spine.

Each mathematic's book has its particularities. I had said before the Tanembaum book was the one better than I had on differential equations, considering its easiness reading , its methodology and its organization, but evidently these three elements can be present in many other books. This is the case of the present book, which I consider excellent. This is a great book, a very well achieved work . It introduces each element interesting the reader for the following topics, with exercises very well planned according to the exposed theory and with answers at the end of the book. Each chapter contains a historical note that will be extremely instructive and stimulants for the reader that doesn't feel pleasure for the exact sciences . Of special mention they are the chapter 6 (Some special functions of the mathematical physics), the chapter 8 (non lineal equations), and the chapter 9 (calculus of variations). The calculation of variations is an introduction to this branch, but I assure you that when reading it, you kept desires of treating other texts specialized in the topic like that of Sagan. You won't find in this book any complication, and you will be satisfied considering that it is a book for undergraduates, an excellent introduction to the differential equations.

Among the book of Tanembaum, Derry Grossman, D'prima, and the introductions of differential equations of C. R. Wylie and Kreiszig in their books of advanced mathematics for engineering, I keep this. If you plan to learn differential equations, if you want to have a really good text as introduction to the topic, then this is the book to buy, you won't lose your money.

This is a good book. Simmons has an eye for what would motivate each step and shows enough explicitly to keep the text flowing nicely. There are lots of fairly easy problems which extend the material in the book. He points the students to other sources before getting into heavy complexity. The historical notes are particularly enjoyable. Simmons has an aversion to using complex analysis, or even just complex numbers. This means that he has to resort to trignonometric identities for many manipulations which would have been done more compactly using Eulers formula.

I would have given this book 4 or 5 stars except for one glaring fact: Large sections are copied without attribution from other authors. When I went to my bookshelf to seek clarification on some points I noticed that large sections of the chapters on Fourier series, and partial differential equations were copied without attribution from the excellent book "Mathematics of Physics and Modern Engineering," by I. S. Sokolnikoff and R. M. Redheffer (McGraw Hill, Kogakusha, 1958). I provide some details below. Although Simmons has inserted some historical and other comments, and shown some minor manipulations more explicity in a few cases, errors, sloppiness, and omissions have crept into the copy which make it less clear and accurate than the original. Sokolnikoff's excellence still comes through Simmons' light reprocessing, and it is hard to give Simmons credit for that. I would be very unhappy if I were to see my work being used without attribution the way Simmons does. One wonders what other books Simmons has copied from to produce this text.

Details

Fourier Series. Simmons pp 246 -262. Sokolnikoff pp 175 -211

Simmons rewords the text, and reorders it slightly, but the flow of the argument, points made, and equations are exactly the same. Simmons leaves out a good section on complex Fourier series because of his aversion to complex numbers. Here are examples of Simmons "light reprocessing":

Simmons: "We begin our treatment with some classical calculations that were performed by Euler. Our point of view is the the function f(x) in (1) is defined on the closed interval - Pi LE x LE Pi, and we must find the coefficients in the series expansion."

Sokolnikoff: "We take the point of view that f(x) in (18-1) is known on (-Pi, Pi) and that the coefficients an and bn are to be found."

An error has crept into Simmons copy. Simmons refers to a closed interval, whereas Sokolnikoff's original refers to an open interval by using rounded brackets. Also, Sokolnikoff's English is better. There are many examples like this.

Simmons fills in a few steps by explicitly giving trigonometric identities, whereas Sokolnikoff merely asks the reader to recall them. This makes Simmons' treatment a bit easier to read.

Simmons' treatment of "Pointwise Convergence of Fourier Series" on pp 293-297 is a complete copy of Sokolnikoff's treatment on pp 204-207.

Partial Differential Equations. Simmons: pp302 - 322; Sokolnikoff pp 431-471

Simmon' treatment of the vibrating string copied part of the derivation from Sokolnikoff, particularly the discussion around Simmons' Fig 48 (Sokolnikoff's Fig 3 in Ch. 6). Simmons copy of this diagram showing the forces on a string leaves out some critical elements making it unclear. It does not show the tension on the element of the string from BOTH left and right, it just shows the rightward tension - acting on the LEFT end of the element. Also it doesn't show the differential dy in the diagram. Quite a muddle. Sloppy. If Simmons had copied Sokolikoff's diagram accurately, it would have been much clearer.

The Heat flow example in Simmons' Sec 48 is a copy of Sokolnikoff's Ch. 6 Section 9 (p455).

Treatment of the Dirichlet problem in Simmons' Sec. 41 is a copy of Sokolnikoff's Ch. 6 Sec. 12 (p 467), except that Simmons shows explicitly some easy manipulations that Sokolnikoff had left as a problem for the student.

This is one of the best books out there for introductory ODEs. This book should be read by everyone who's interested in the physical sciences. It has many applications to physics, and that's one of the main reasons I've decided to take the course. By the way, I took the course at UCLA with professor Grossman (he reviewed the book below). He's a brilliant and a challenging mathematician, which comes at no surprise since he's a graduate of Caltech. Anyhow, I really recommend this book for all mathemticians and physicists. It's a great investment, since it can be a great reference in the future!

I have read this book in my first year of engineering along with a few others related to calculus. But compared to this book, the other books seem a lot less effective.
The subject treatment has sufficient detail for the really interested people and is sufficiently concise for those seeking nifty tricks and methods to solve ODEs.
Some higher end stuff such as non-linear DEs has also been treated well. Though I didn't know a word about these particular equations, the book taught me well enough to handle a few types of those.
Great book!

One of the best written books on the subject I've seen. As long as you're prepared to follow his anaylsis line by line (no skimming at the back there) you can give yourself some serious mathematical muscle.

He derives the first type of elliptical integral from the motion of the pendulum at page 21 (on my elderly foreign-printed software version I've had for years). That's the level it's pitched at.

When I first started reading shot glass diva I thought it was your typical urban fiction book but Jacki Simmons kept it very real. There are consequences that come with the choices we make. I felt sorry for honey a little but she was doing some real dirt. In the end she prove to us that she learned her lesson and did what was right for herself and daughter. Now thats whats up!!!

Shot Glass Diva is a story that shows you that money does not always buy happiness and elegance. Honey knows what she wants and will do whaver it takes to get it.

This book was about a girl that had everything. Her parents gave her everything that she ever wanted, but true love. She was a rebellious girl so her mother cuts off her trust fund. She finally gets pregnant and leaves home with her so called boyfriend. He eventually leaves her stranded in another state. She has her baby and leaves the baby with her boyfriend's relative. She is so use to having money that she learns how to scheme men out of their money until she becomes this man's mistress.
Eventually she comes to her senses and make amends. Good reading material so get book to find out exactly how things work out for her.

I started this book on Tuesday night and I must say that I was very impressed w/ Shot Gun Diva! This book very interesting from start to finish, I will recommend this book to all of my friends! I think every young girl who wants to get the finer things in life quickly should read this book, they will hopefully realize that all of their actions have repercussions. I must say that the last paragraph really touched me, "Life is too short to take for granted" ! Great Novel!

Shot Glass Diva is a coming of age story. The lead character Honey hails from a prominent family in New York, but loves to live life on her own terms. It is the typical story of a rebellous teen. Honey endures heartache, heartbreak, and teenage pregnancy. After living the life of a mistress, which leads to being framed for murder she finally realizes it time to take responsibility for her past actions.In the end Honey creates a stable life for her family and herself.

It's July in Stillwater, Minnesota. It's hotter than hot and about to get hotter as the town moves into record breaking temperatures.

After a known pedophile was killed last year, the murder was quickly shoved under the rug because no one was too concerned. Unfortunately, the recent murder of a priest, believed to be a pedophile, suggests the murders will continue. The murder of a priest isn't something people are soon to forget about. The media has sensationalized the killer by naming him "the Saint" because of the St. Nicholas medallion (patron saint of children) left behind at all the scenes.

The police force doesn't have the time or resources to handle the case so retired cop Phil Broker is brought back because of his involvement in the original search for the killer and to help take care of one of the suspects; fellow officer Harry Cantrell is an alcoholic with a quick and sometimes volatile temper. He and Phil used to be partners and best friends until a falling out split them apart. Phil's side mission is to make sure Harry gets into rehab. Harry also has a well publicized hate-on for pedophiles. The other suspect is lawyer Gloria Russell who lost a case that put a pedophile back on the street.

I enjoyed reading Vapor Trail which is the sequel to the hit police thriller Absolute Zero but you don't have to have read it to enjoy this novel's plot and characters. The characters were true to life and the plot was suspenseful. There wasn't a lot of jargon to distract from the storyline or flow of reading. The ending was great. I thought things were going one way and they ended up going the other, for the betterment of the story. I recommend reading Vapor Trail and I would also like to read more from this author.

This is a very straightforward, compelling mystery/police novel. The characters are well developed and the story moves along at a quick pace. There is not a lot of superfluous exposition in Mr. Logan's novels. He writes about characters and plot and his stories are interesting and easy to read.

I found that this thriller left quite a few loose unexplained threads when the story ended. I liked Broker, and think he has possibility to be a good main character, but I found that he wasn't actually shown in the best light in this one. He was hired on as a special consultant to find the person who is going around killing presumed pedophiles. He does some preliminary background checks, but I found he really didn't follow up on a lot of the information that he supposedly got. He seemed to be along for the ride when the plot stepped up and got there more or less by accident when things started happening. Too many loose ends to mention without giving the story away, so not, I'm afraid, my favourite thriller.

Broker's back and now instead of freezing to death, he's fiery hot in "Vapor Trail." You don't think of Minnesota having such tremendous heat waves, but like their winters, this one is excessive. The villain in this one is called "The Saint." He or she disposed of a known pedophile who got off on technicalities, taking justice into his or her hands. Now a year or so later, the Saint returns wiping out a priest who had been accused of fondling a teenage girl. She (we now know it's a she?) has a list of people she plans to dispose of, and thus the journey begins.
Throw in the cop who used to be Broker's friend, who is now an alcoholic and renegade, and who could possibly be the Saint; the ambitious attorney Gloria Russell, who has a picture of the young victim in her office; and Broker's ex-girlfriend, Janey, and you've got a potboiler going.
Logan agains masters his skill of believable characters, a strong feel for his surroundings and a great twist at the end. The identity of the Saint...ah, well, you just have to read it...great reading.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Chuck Logan is one of those rare talents that just keep getting better as they go, even though they started off with a bang. You can read any of his first novels, and get the same feeling that he's been there, lived it, and has inherited the story-teller's gene needed to make it real for the reader. Great, believable characters, incisive writing, a very much appreciated brevity of language, and intelligent plots grace all of his books. I read an earlier review that panned "VAPOR TRAIL" based on a lack of descriptive prose about Stillwater, Minnesota. Time to read some nonfiction, pal. I read Chuck Logan and John Sanford for gripping suspense, action, humor, and, HELLOOOOO, entertainment, not for a lesson in geography.
Well, "Vapor Trail" has it all, in spades, ( as they say), and I enjoyed it tremendously!
One thing more....Logan is on my very short list of authors that I'll buy without bothering to read the blurb on the back page. He writes it, I'll enjoy it. Buy "Vapor Trail" without reservations. You won't be disappointed.

If Holden Caulfield sired a love child on Nancy Drew while Huck Finn looked on, the result would be Evan Macalister, hero of FINDING LUBCHENKO. Who IS Lubchenko? Who wants to find him? Evan? How come? For answers to these questions, and others, you must read FINDING LUBCHENKO.

there is one thing a mystery has to have to be good. a plot twist. this book doesnt have it. the person you think it is from page1 ends up doing it. how boring. i mean it has a preaty good story line and likeable characters(except for his dad, but youre supposed to hate him) but the last 20 pages ruined it for me.

Simmons has invented a new subgenre, the touching thriller, and his novel succeeds at being both. Meet Evan Macalister III, a sixteen-year-old slacker living in Seattle with his incredibly wealthy tightwad father. In his father's eyes, Evan can do no right and so does not see the point of trying. He is a "charming, funny cutup" and incredibly nonchalant, a teenage James Bond who gets mixed up in bioterror. The story here, though, is better than any 007 movie.

Motherless, he and his seventy-year-old father suffer a huge generation gap. The touching part is the way they navigate their relationship. His father is arrested for murder and Evan finds himself with some evidence that would clear his father but implicate him in some criminal activity of his own. Aided by his nerdy partner in crime, Ruben, Evan discovers a clue and decides that the best course of action is to look for more evidence that would not incriminate them. The action moves to Paris as they hunt down the mysterious Lubchenko. The Bond girl is Erika, Evan's other best friend, on whom he harbors a secret crush. She speaks French and joins the caper to translate when they head to Paris.

Told in the first person in an incredibly consistent narrative voice, no sentence is out of character. Evan walks a moral tightrope throughout and the buildup to the climax is masterful, a perfectly paced thriller. Simmons employs a unique style of characterization; instead of assigning them adjectives, he has Evan tell a story about the characters' behavior. So when he tells the story about his father's business partner offering him beer at twelve years old, the reader knows what sort of man he is. Though there is underage drinking, there is also a mild anti-drug message. The language is relatively clean and the single violent scene is necessary. Chapters are short, as few as four pages. This title has appeal for young adult readers tired of the same old stuff. One of the most exciting reads to come along in a while--the intriguing cover art and title are only icing on the cake.

FINDING LUBCHENKO is a new novel by Michael Simmons. The main character is a cocky and arrogant 16-year-old kid by the name of Evan Macalister. The story is told in Evan's words and I have to admit, as the reader, I had a love/hate relationship with Evan. The kid in me admired his bravado, but the parent in me would like to lock him in his room and put him under house arrest. The truth is, Evan gets in your head and even a little in your heart. His mother's death a few years earlier left a void in Evan's life and I wanted things to work out for him. His outlandish behavior and over confidence actually hides a lonely young man who has learned a way to cope with a remote father.

Since Mr. Macalister, Evan's millionaire father, is not willing to give his son a lot of cash, Evan who works part-time in his dad's medical company takes to stealing what he considers unused electronic equipment and selling it online. Evan actually says that he "liberates" the items! When a man from the company is murdered and Mr. Macalister is arrested, Evan's realizes that the police need the murdered man's laptop computer. Unfortunately, it's one of the items that he had sold on eBay. Evan learns that the computer is in Paris and a man named Lubchenko holds all of the answers. Evan feels guilty and wants to help his father. He talks his two best friends into going to France with him. Of course, his Dad's credit card is used for a lavish visit to Paris, but finding Lubchenko is not as easy as they had hoped.

This breezy, humorous story of teenagers seemingly outwitting adults is something that, I think, both parents and their teens would enjoy.

I personally think that "Finding Lubchenko" should be sub-titled "Ferris Bueller Goes to Paris." The main character, Evan, is a smart-aleck troublemaker who lures his nerdy best friend, Ruben, into trouble. Ruben and Evan end up skipping town to go to Paris for a week, accompanied by the lovely Erika, where they have many adventures. Ruben and Evan's backgrounds are backwards from Ferris and Cameron's (from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Evan has the difficult, strict father who yells all the time, while Ruben has the liberal, lenient parents who don't notice what's going on right in front of their eyes. However, reading the dialog between Evan and Ruben, as Evan basically bullies Ruben into getting into dangerous situations, made me think of Ferris Bueller over and over again.

Finding Lubchenko is actually a mystery/thriller. Sixteen-year-old Evan is called to the principals's office one day to hear the news that his wealthy father has been arrested for murder. The fact that his straight-laced, Lutheran father could have actually committed the murder is never a serious possibility. However, Evan's own shady activities (stealing from his father's biotech firm) put him in a difficult bind. He has the evidence to free his father, but to share this evidence with the FBI will surely get Evan and Ruben into deep trouble. Evan decides instead to find evidence regarding who really committed the murder. This requires a trip to Paris (charged to Dad's credit card), and a somewhat dangerous investigation following the path of a real killer.

Despite the presence of a murderer, and the extremely dysfunctional relationship between Evan and his Dad, this is a relatively light novel. Evan's voice, expressed in first person, is entertaining and smart-alecky. The book is peppered with brief tangents illustrating Evan's relationship with his Dad, Evan's unrequited love of Erika, Evan's insecurities, and the teen night life in Paris. Most of these asides contribute to the development of Evan's character, and particularly illustrate his relationship with his widowed father.

I found Finding Lubchenko to be a fast-paced, enjoyable adventure, with an engaging teen voice. I will keep my eyes open for other books by Michael Simmons.

This review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on April 24th, 2006.

One of the best science fiction stories of all time as it should have been released originally, as one complete book combining both Hyperion and Fall Of Hyperion.

Almost everyone else who's reviewed this omnibus has given it 5 stars and to be honest, Simmons' scope, breadth and depth of imagination fully deserve a top rating. His universe is mind-boggling, his grasp of modern quantum physics and relativity is very believable (the hawking mats and farcasters are especially novel) and his ability to marry the old (19th century poetry) with the new is unbelievably good. So why 3 stars? Because at times, I found the story overly complex and confusing and as a result, it became turgid, plodding and failed to hold my interest. The book is too long and as I neared the end, I found myself wanting to finish it not because I was desperate to know how it turns out but because I was desperate to get it over with. And after ploughing through 800-odd pages, there's a sense of incompleteness at the end because the really important questions are left unanswered: what is the Shrike? Who built the Time Tombs? Why was Hyperion chosen as the site for the complex and final battle? What happened to Weintraub? What happens to the poor tourists who step through the shining light that hangs in the middle of one of the Time Tombs? Yes I know leaving so many issues unresolved was probably intentional so that readers would go out and buy the Endymion series. However by itself this omnibus, though entertaining enough, just falls short in my view.

im afraid that this review comes as a bit of a confession! yes, i do read science fiction from time to time... but my god, this book is a stunner.
addresses problems like good and evil, powerfully emotive. but i regret that i have given it spur of the moment five stars, since i think actually it merits three, and i dont know how to edit the star rating. it is nonetheless a great read.

having time on my hands now... i hope to more appropriately address this book! it addresses a fundamentally important issue: does god use evil and pain as an instigator of these two things, to whatever ends. as a christian, i believe that god has to deal with these things but does not insigate them. it may however be in accordance with Gods purpose that we go through a form of crucifixion or whatever. Jesus for example was 'obedient' in that "he humbled himself and became 'obedient' unto death, even the death of the cross". of course God does not gain anything but pain himself in allowing us to be afflicted, however it is part of his scheme in moving us towards perfection -"that we may be one, even as he is one","i in them and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one". i quote st Augustine's prayer at the end of "de trinitate": "that augustine may be one even as God is one". the goal is a movement towards our perfect oneness in God, and it may just be that suffering is necessary.

if we say that suffering is not necessary then all suffering is just a 'waste', a dreadful waste, therefore i have to conclude that it is necessary and taken in grace, of some form of benefit. of course, if we say that suffering may be necessary, we also have to believe that it is unnecessary and unwanted, ie we cannot be blase and apathetic in the face of suffering. the stoics argued that "what is meant to be is meant to be". in a sense yes, but also clearly these dreadful things are not meant to be... hence the term 'evil'. evil is unwanted and is that which seeks to negate and destroy all that is good... including being itself.

God is true love (loving kindness), and does not want suffering... ergo 'the enemy and accuser of the brethren and of all that is good.' we must for our own preservation accept the presence of an anti-god and the prescence of its attribute 'evil'. nonetheless... nature and the cosmos, all creation are somehow still perfect, even in their imperfection. perfectly imperfect. this is because god is the great mender. he can join the pieces back together and can maintain a high degree of order inspite of that which seeks annihilation and destruction.

where it gets more difficult is when we assume that God is all powerful. if he is all powerful, then why has he allowed evil and suffering. and yet he is true love! we shall have to wait and see.

thank you dan simmons for a hell of a good stomping read! very intelligent. choose again?... yes i would choose this book again.

love and respect, snow-flake.xxx

I've not read Dan Simmons before, but after picking up this Omnibus, I'm hooked. I bought it on a whim, and now I'm glad I did. Simmons has a very distinct style and has created a rich fantasy world that is easy to buy into...which I find to be quite rare. I've always been a fan of LeGuin and Atwood, so I demand a compelling 'human' voice in what I read (which is hard to find in sci-fi). And it is even harder to satiate that need when an author bluntly pays homage to some of the most recognized writings in western literature; but Simmons does it quite artfully - which is quite a feat. I promise that if you pick up this book, even if you are only a casual sci-fi fan, you'll quickly find yourself comparing it to some of the greatest books you've ever read.

As war rages above the planet Hyperion seven pilgrims embark on a journey that six of them may never return from. They are on a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs an area of the planet where time runs in reverse and that is guarded by the three meter tall four armed metallic Shrike a creature covered with spikes with red glowing eyes and no sense of mercy. The creature can appear at any time, any place with no warning taking its victims in a seemingly random fashion. The Church of the Shrike believes that the Lord of Pain has come to announce the end of the universe and a time for atonement. Oh, and the seven pilgrims have all been warned that there is a traitor among them.

Each of the pilgrims have their own reason for going on this journey of no return. One wants to save the life of his daughter who is aging backwards after encountering the Shrike; one wants to kill the creature after being duped into starting the war; another believes that somehow he brought the Shrike back when he wrote his Hyperion Cantos. They are all seeking answers which might result in death. The Shrike's reappearence means the end of everything to many and an answer to mysteries for others.

Dan Simmons' first two books in his quartet set in and around the planet Hyperion is a well written space opera that lives up to the genres potential--it is epic storytelling that really hasn't been seen since Frank Herbert's DUNE series or John Varley's Gaean trilogy. While the prose can often become overly florid at times, Simmons does a terrific job of creating his universe and the characters that inhabit it. Many have pointed out the parallels to The Canterbury Tales and with good reason--Simmons is an educated writer that isn't afraid to throw in literary references to enrich his story.

This book along with Endymion, The Rise of Endymion (again, both were written as a single novel) and the short story "Orphans of the Helix" (published in the collection Worlds Enough & Time)are all worth reading. Don't let those who argue that Simmons' intelligent references to other novels is a bad thing--he makes assumptions about the intelligence of his readers--it just enhances the experience.

I bought this hoping for a haloween scare but so far no scares. I'll admit I'm not done with the book but while the stories inside are good It doesn't really make me feel I've been visited by the living dead. I'll put it down and read some more another time.

For lovers of Stephen King and Clive Barker, two of the best horror minds of our generation, and for those who appreciate a good zombie book, definitely he way to go!

What could be more enjoyable than a Zombie story anthology? How about enjoying one during and after Hurricane Ike, with no power and candlelight?? How about one that includes three of my all-time fav authors (Dan Simmons, George R. R. Martin and Stephen King)? How about one nearly 500 pages long (at least the ARC is)? How about one edited by John Joseph Adams, who also brought us the anthologies Seeds of Change and Wastelands (which, yes, I need to finish).

Many of these stories have been previously published, but almost all were new to me. One obvious component: sex angles and zombies seem to mix. Not all include that perspective, but this is certainly not PG-13.

My favorites from this LARGE collection were Ghost Dance by Sherman Alexie, The Third Dead Body by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Malthusian's Zombie by Jeffrey Ford, Home Delivery by Stephen King, Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale, The Song the Zombie Sang by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg.

This review originally appeared on duskbeforethedawn.net.Thoughts on each story:

* This Year's Class Picture by Dan Simmons: the author of the Hyperion series plus the Illiad/Olympus duology tells the tale of Ms. Geiss, teacher extraordinaire, continuing to teach her class and recruit new students even though they and most of the rest in the city are dead and zombies. The repetition of the lessons and Ms. Geiss persistence are well told.
* Some Zombie Contingency Plans by Kelly Link: interestingly written and well paced story of Soap the ex-con with a painting, who always has a contingency plan against zombies and several other possibilities; the ending threw me (re-read the final paragraph until my eyes hurt), but the journey to the end was enjoyable, as Soap crashes Carly's party and cons her.
* Death and Suffrage by Dale Bailey; zombies dig their way out to vote, based on a presidential campaign manager's repressed memories being brought to the fore after a little girl's accidental shooting. If only the dead would vote this November...
* Ghost Dance by Sherman Alexie; one of my favorites, though I wish it were longer. Custer's army arises from the dead, drawn by murdered Indian blood, and an FBI agent named Edgar (not Mulder) has visions of their lives and the damage/murder that they do.
* Blossom by David J. Schow; okey-dokey! A little kinky sex gone awry turns a beautiful girl into a dead girl and then into a man-eating zombie. Descriptive, to say the least!
* The Third Dead Body by Nina Kiriki Hoffman; a zombie story from the zombie's point of view; a murdered hooker, cursed by her voodoo grandma, must love the man that killed her and rises from the grave to find him. Very well written and entertaining.
* The Dead by Michael Swanwick; the third zombie + sex story in a row, interesting grouping, Mr. Adams. The business side of using cheap zombies for everything - factory workers, stunt doubles...and, yes, as call girls/guys. Good character work in this story.
* The Dead Kid by Darrell Schweitzer; school age bullies who keep `the dead kid' in their forest fort put one young man through a right of passage; should he abuse the zombie dead kid like the other gang members or save him?
* Malthusian's Zombie by Jeffrey Ford; Mr. Ford bases this on a book by Julian Jaynes (which I actually have in my possession, and have always thought it would be a great basis for a story). A well written slight of hand, featuring mind programming that turned soldiers to zombies in a secret government project, following the theories of Dr. Jaynes.
* Beautiful Stuff by Susan Palwick; a 9/11-ish story about what the dead would say to the living about revenge and death. Nicely done.
* Sex, Death and Starshine by Clive Barker; the upcoming death of a theater motivates it's dead patrons and stars to gather for one last performance and viewing, taking some of the living with them;
* Stockholm Syndrome by David Tallerman; surviving human gets sympathetic with a semi-intelligent zombie who reminds him of his dead son...even though the zombie is trying to break into other humans houses.
* Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead by Joe Hill; two former lovers, one now married, on the set of Dawn of the Dead as extras. No real zombies, just remembrances of how things used to be and wishful thinking of how things could have been.
* Those Who Seek Forgiveness by Laurell K. Hamilton; I enjoyed the first few Anita Blake novels, before they became overly porno. This story hearkens back to her early work, where she deftly describes Anita the animator, the woman doing a job that she is bound to do, explaining zombies and how they work to the living and raising the dead.
* In Beauty, Like the Night by Norman Partridge; hmmm...a porn mag star on an island where he'd planned to weather any disaster with his centerfold girls turns into...you guess it...night of the living porn queen.
* Prairie by Brian Evenson; a poetically written parable of exploration in the new world, but instead of indians we find the walking dead;
* Everything Is Better with Zombies by Hannah Wolf Bowen; an enjoyable tale of high school kids, imagining zombies at every grave of their small town cemetery, to take their minds off of their other problems.
* Home Delivery by Stephen King; a excellent tale from the master, an isolated Maine (of course) island community, that bands together when a zombie plague from space attacks the rest of the world. The characterization and back story are indicative of King's other great works.
* Less Than Zombie by Douglas E. Winter; from the intro, this is a mod of another story by Bret Easton Ellis, a tale of people in LA, getting high, and believing if they kill their friends in gruesome ways, they will come back as zombies. Not one of my favs of the collection.
* Sparks Fly Upward by Lisa Morton; the politics of over population and abortion in an isolated colony after a zombie outbreak told from the diary of the mother. An unique zombie story for this and any other collection, and exceptionally well written.
* Meathouse Man by George R. R. Martin; a sad short story by one of my favorite authors, featuring a young man who can run corpses to do multiple jobs, but all he wants his to find his true love. His search takes him to many jobs, many worlds, and to the meathouse, where corpses respond to his needs. A sad tale, but as always well paced with a well brought out leading character.
* Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale; a Texas western zombie tale, with the resolute Reverend Jebidiah Rains, part gunslinger, part warrior of God, always fighter of evil. He helps a deputy escort a prisoner down Deadman's Road, in search of an evil zombie who was a killer and bully when alive.
* The Skull-Faced Boy by David Barr Kirtley; superbly written from the point of view of an intelligent zombie (his brain wasn't eaten) who has to decide if he is on the side of the living (his father) or the dead (his friend). The zombies organize behind the intelligent zombies!
* The Age of Sorrow by Nancy Kilpatrick; instead of being the last man on earth, what about being the last woman on earth? well-imagined, nicely written, a sad downward spiral, as one would realistically expect.
* Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman; a fantasy of drifting, where the people that you meet you are supposed to meet, leading you on a path to voodoo lovers and zombie powder taking a professor's place at a conference in New Orleans.
* She's Taking Her Tits to the Grave by Catherine Cheek; a lively tale of a blonde L.A. barbie, called back from the dead but she doesn't know who did it. She stumbles from lover to husband trying to find out who, decaying all the way (except for the silicone).
* Dead Like Me by Adam by Troy Castro; if you want to live amidst a zombie plague, pretend to be dead. A somewhat lackluster self-help manual.
* Zora and the Zombie by Andy Duncan; voodoo and zombies in Haiti around Roosevelt's time. Zora seeks to solve the puzzle of Felicia, a woman found after she was thought dead 30 years, and of the voodoo gods that surround Haiti. The same coffee girls as in Gaiman's story are mentioned here as well!.
* Calcutta, Lord of Nerves by Poppy Z. Brite; "It seemed to me that the dead were among the best-fed citizens of Calcutta." A great line from a lyrically written tour through Calcutta after the zombies came. The goddess Kali worshiped by the living and the dead.
* Followed by Will McIntosh; corpses follow around the well off, or people who have used or invested in something that causes other people to suffer. One of the shortest, but sweet.
* The Song the Zombie Sang by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg; one of the best of the bunch. A skilled musician kept animated after his death to perform, his music technically accurate but not passionate, encounters a live equal as a musician who sees through his charade and pain.
* Passion Play by Nancy Holder; we've been to Oberammerau and seen the Passionspielhaus. I haven't seen the play but the way Ms. Holder describes the event of having zombies in the play portraying Christ crucified on the cross is outstanding. The play has been done since the time of the plague....the plague returns when the zombies are treated inhumanely, even though given the sacrement from a sympathetic priest. Well done.
* Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man by Scott Edelman; stories of a writer locked in a library as the world around him deteriorates overrun by zombies.
* How the Day Runs Down by John Langan; the "Our Town" Stage Manager narrates the zombie invasion of the town, and shoots a few zombies of his own. Explanation, characters with stories, a well written parallel.

Great book, poorly made. We bought this book new and the pages have all popped out from the binding. If you're buying this for a gift I suggest looking for a hardcover.

There are a bunch of good compendiums of short stories that have to do with horror topics, and even a few dedicated to zombies (the editor of The Living Dead even goes out of his way to list a few). But The Living Dead is probably one of the best rounded 'theme' anthologies I've ever come across. Each of the stories are solid and contribute to a rich tapestry of diverse zombie stories. No two are really alike and each one is well-chosen to really get to the reading audience. No matter what your taste, you will find something in this book that you'll like, I think, even if you're not a zombie fan. The author also takes the time to recognize that zombie stories are a wonderful way to address issues of a particularly sensitive nature and chose stories that have solid messages without being preachy, and are well-written in the process. There is no way to describe how much I enjoyed this book and I recommended it to many of my friends. Check it out, even if you're not much of a short story writer, each separate story is another chance to find something you might enjoy.