Maximum Ride #3: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride)

Book Description

There's one last chance to save the world in MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the closing chapter of James Patterson's thrilling trilogy. The time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?

Customer Reviews:

Everybody loves Max? Not quite........2007-10-07

I bought this book under the impression that it would be entertaining and at least relatively well-written. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. Although younger readers may like Max and her companions, I would advise against the series for anyone over the age of eleven.
Many parts of the book were poorly thought-out, and there were gaping holes when loose ends should have been tied up. For example, there is no explaination of how Max's arm began functioning again, but the chip was gone. And what were Itex's motives for 'torturing the bird-kids,' as Max puts it? I could go on and on, but I would probably be typing for the next few weeks. Lastly, Max seems to have no flaws--she's pretty, strong, smart, and fast. And it's not just Max, none of the characters have any depth at all. The book would probably be about half as short if it weren't for the pointless space-filling details.
All in all, I think that Maximum Ride was a waste of time and trees, not to mention space and gravity. Don't waste your money.

Satisfying thrid instalment.......2007-10-05

It's nice to see that once again, the cast of Maximum Ride is portrayed as young people, rather than just little adults. Even in their not so perfect world, the episode where Max and Fang butt heads over Ari and Fang's reactions further down the line illustrate what it would be like to not only have to take on an evil multi-national conglomerate, but what it's like to be fourteen and taking on such a task.

The use of the internet as a rallying cry to bring other young people into the scene to help out the flock shows readers, young and old alike, that young people are bright and resourceful, not just running to the closest adult (who'd hear a kid telling a crazy story and blow them off) to resolve the situation.

Mr. Patterson has done a great job at creating a universe where young readers will very much enjoy themselves and want to come back for more. Heck, I've got a Master's degree and am ten years out of high school, and I can't wait for the next book in this series.

Pleasant diversion.......2007-10-04

Max Ride is a fun character. She and her companions have been well developed through the series. As the fifth book in which these winged adolescents appear, it is a pleasant way of relaxing into the world of one's imagination.

If you are a teen you will love it!.......2007-09-18

If this book was targeted for a broad audience then I would rate it a 1. However, and fortunately, it is not. If you are 9 to 14, buy it, you will love it! The series has a very specific range of readers: kids under eight will not be able to comprehend the concept (excluding the elite); teens over fourteen may be psycologically beyond accepting the elementary concept (for them I recommend adult science-fiction).

Patterson does a wonderful job of delivering an outstanding teen series. Read them all!

I hope this isn't the last for Max!.......2007-09-13

A great trilogy! I just hope this isn't all for this delightful yet action packed series. A great book series for any age.

Fight: Or, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking

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Fight: Or, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking
Eugene S. Robinson
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Boxing | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Extreme Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0061189227

Book Description

Crushing your enemies, driving them before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women? It doesn't get any better than this." –Eugene Robinson, ripping off John Milius

That's the sentiment that surges just below the surface of Eugene Robinson's Fight – an engrossing, intimate look into the all–absorbing world of fighting. Robinson – a former body–builder, one–time bouncer, and lifelong fight connoisseur – takes readers on a no–holds–barred plunge into what fighting is all about, and what fighters live for. If George Plimpton had muscles and had been choked out one too many times––this is the book he could have written.

When Robinson and his fellow fighters mix it up, they live completely for the moment: absorbed in the feel of muscles slippery with sweat; the metallic tang of blood mingling with saliva in the mouth; the sweet, firm thud of taped knuckles impacting flesh. They fight because it feels good. They fight because they want to win. And even if they get their asses kicked, they fight because they love fighting.

Fight is part encyclopedia, part panegyric to fighting in all its forms and glory. Robinson's narrative – told in his trademark tough–guy, stream–of–consciousness noir voice – punctuates this explanatory compendium of the fighting world. From wrestling, jiu–jitsu, boxing and muay thai to bar fighting, hand–to–hand combat, prison fighting and hockey fights, from the greatest movie fight scenes to how to throw the perfect left hook, Fight is a scene–by–scene tour of the bloody but beautiful underworld that is the art of fighting.

With his aficionado's enthusiasm and fast–paced, addictive voice, Robinson's Fight combines compelling text with beautiful photographs to create an illustrated book as edgy and interesting as it is gorgeous.

Extreme Fiction: Fabulists and Formalists

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A rather banal bunch of blathering postmodern bathos
a lovely guide to the underside of contemporary fiction

Extreme Fiction: Fabulists and Formalists
Robin Hemley , and Michael Martone
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0321179722

Customer Reviews:

A rather banal bunch of blathering postmodern bathos.......2005-04-30

An anthology with a few good authors like Barthelme, Angela Carter, Borges, Isaac Babel, etc., rounded out by a preponderance of pretty mediocre, boring post-modern short stories that rely a bit too much on gimmicks and metafictional concepts. But if you're going to charge $25+ for a paperback, even publishers are smart enough to make it seem a bit substantial. However,the reviews on the back cover are all from university professors, so it seems this book has been marketed as a college textbook. Unfortunately, the models here are more likely to choke creativity than inspire it. It has mock-Miro cover art to buttress the idea that the writing contained within is both unconventional and intriguing. Somebody forgot about that adage about the lack of a correlation between the content of a book and how it's bound. How does that saying go again?

a lovely guide to the underside of contemporary fiction.......2004-05-29

This text has a very nice selection of offerings from some writers that you might not ordinarily encounter. As a primer to a more experimental fiction tradition, it works very nicely. Fits well into a fiction workshop, too, as it's not too pricey and packs a lot of bang in their for yr buck.

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La Bibla Extreme Del Joven Radical
Grupo Nelson
Manufacturer: Grupo Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Bible & Other Sacred Texts | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Infantil y juvenil | Libros en español | Formats | Books

Book Description

Una Biblia unica que da a los jovenes lo que buscan: respuestas reales para las preguntas dificiles de la vida. Todos los estudios novedosos de ayuda son dirigidos a la cultura juvenil y se garantiza que tocaran los temas que la juventud enfrenta todos los dias. Con historias al comienzo de cada libro y cientos de notas de estudio con un mensaje biblico, ayuda al joven a conocer el plan de Dios para su vida. Incluye cuarenta paginas a todo color que narran relatos de jovenes en la Biblia que hicieron impacto al permitir que Dios trabajara a traves de ellos para cambiar al mundo.

Maximum Ride Book #3: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride)

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Maximum Ride Book #3: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride)
James Patterson
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Adventure & Thrillers | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books

Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 031615427X

Book Description

There's one last chance to save the world in MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the closing chapter of James Patterson's thrilling trilogy. The time has arrived for Max and her winged "flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?

Average customer rating:

Wow, that was bad.
IT'S IN THE STARS
Truth is stranger than fiction????
Heart Pounding Suspense!
Trite work of fiction

The Other Extreme
T.J. MacGregor
Manufacturer: Pinnacle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0786013222

Customer Reviews:

Wow, that was bad........2006-02-16

This book was terrible. Honestly terrible. The best thing I can say about it is that the individual sentences are grammatically correct and mostly readable, though they're occasionally written badly enough to be unintentionally hysterical. I especially liked, "During the hours that Webster slept like the dead, he woke twice." Because, you know, the dead are known for their insomniac habits.

Then there's the plot. The characters manage to solve the mystery not by any real application of reasoning or effort, but mainly because all of them happen to be conveniently psychic in ways that bring them to the right places and the right conclusions at the right times. They also get a little help from the Amazing Scientific Power of Astrology. Oy. I don't think even people who actually believe in astrology credit it with the kind of all-seeing power it has here. And, you know, I'm hardly an expert in legal procedures, but even I am pretty darned sure that there's supposed to be a difference in the function of the police vs. the function of the defense attorney, and I find it hard to believe that any lawyer with half a brain would expect to be able to go disturbing a crime scene without permission, let her dog traipse around it, and secretly remove important evidence without experiencing some pretty serious negative consequences. And let's not even mention the colossal coincidences on which the entire plot hangs.

As for the characters, the above-mentioned attorney is supposed to be a paragon of loving motherhood, but anyone who declines to take her kid to the doctor when he's showing signs of serious mental illness just because he says he doesn't want to go immediately loses my vote for Parent of the Year. The "heroic" FBI agent spends most of the book conducting intrusive illegal surveillance on people he has absolutely no logical reason to suspect of any wrongdoing whatsoever, thus making me regard him as, well, not a good guy. The killer at least had the potential to be interesting, but ultimately his actions and his feelings about them just don't seem to connect up in any sensible way with the other things we know about him. I find it utterly impossible to believe that, even in a fit of massive denial, someone who has been involved with the legal system for most of his life could have such incredibly naive ideas about the nature of crime and punishment. (And, no, I'm not giving anything away there. This is one of those whodunnits where the identity of the killer is revealed in the first chapter.)

To cap it all off, I have the distinct suspicion that the title was just used because it sounded like something that would sell books, because it has nothing whatsoever to do with the story, and it appears only once in the text, shoehorned into a sentence in which it makes no sense at all.

All of that having been said, I can't entirely say I didn't enjoy this book. But most of its entertainment value came out of the way I kept imagining snarky robots sitting in front of the pages making sarcastic comments.

IT'S IN THE STARS.......2004-02-05

This is one of McGregor's more accessible and entertaining books. In Kit and Ryan Parrish, Abuelita and Ben Webster, she has given us some likeable and multi-faceted heroes. Jay Hutchins and his wife Isabel are also quite well drawn, and the wife's character takes on some strange dimensions by the end of the novel. There is a tragic undertone that McGregor maintains well, and overall the story's little twists and turns come just in time to save the novel from falling into a predictable pattern. I was a little concerned that when someone sets fire to Kit's office, she didn't have sprinklers? Also, I felt some closure would have been nice in the characters of the Hutchins and the accused Steve Poulton.
However, a fun read and recommended.

Truth is stranger than fiction????.......2003-05-31

This is the first book I have read by TJ MacGregor. Frankly, I don't believe in past-life, tarot cards, and astrology. I never read horoscopes becuase it completley goes against my beliefs. Inspite of my feelings on these topics, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were a lot of good surprises and twists. Kit Parrish of course sticks to her guns and I like that in her. She is also a very devoted mother. She also goes to any length to protect her client who is a murder suspect being held in custody. The story portrays The Florida Keys as a beautiful area. I give TJ MacGregor tons of credit for a job well done. I will recommend this book to even those like myself who have no part of mystical spiritism.

Heart Pounding Suspense!.......2002-10-30

THE OTHER EXTREME by author T.J. MacGregor is a novel swelling with suspense, intense action, a bit of romance, and bizzare twists. A truly compelling story, this book will keep the reader on the edge of thier seat till the last word. THE OTHER EXTREME consists of two egregious murder mysteries, one happening ten years earlier, that tie together in a heart pounding search for answers and truths.
T.J. MacGregor immediatly unmasks the virulent crime of murder committed by Jay Hutchin to the reader at the beginning of the book. Some readers may find this upsetting, but they will soon discover an interesting twist! MacGregor allows the reader to be deceived by the incomplete parts of the known crime, as the main characters, Kit Parrish and her son Ryan, work to unveil the mystery. Midway in the story, MacGregor throws in an unexpected turn and the reader discovers that there is more to the first crime then was revealed. The two mysteries become an enigma to the reader, and newly unearthed evidence accumulates into a confusing pile. Nearing the end of the book however, bits and pieces of the two mysteries eventually coalesce and the puzzle comes together to reveal a thrilling end to both mysteries!

Trite work of fiction.......2002-07-27

After having read many great books in my life, I have come to realize one thing about today's movement towards mass market fiction...in most cases you can hardly ever find a good book! The same can be said for TJ McGregor's work "The Other Extreme." The book's characters and plot, while sometimes showing flashes of glory and interest, are nothing more then the amalgamation of other characters from a host of different books. If you can, pick up a copy of a literary classic like "Great Expectations" or "Of Mice And Men" to show what an author can do to bring characters to life, and to make an even sometimes convoluted plot make sense. But stay away from this type of fiction! It's not worth your time!

Dark Life: Martian Nanobacteria, Rock-Eating Cave Bugs, and Other Extreme Organisms of Inner Earth and Outer Space

Average customer rating:

Politics, personalities, and science of the dark world
Geology & Biology Intwined
Damn interesting, heavy on the human drama
Nanobacteria, A New Form of Life and Its Pathology in Humans
Space science can still be an adventure - here's your guide.

Dark Life: Martian Nanobacteria, Rock-Eating Cave Bugs, and Other Extreme Organisms of Inner Earth and Outer Space
Michael Ray Taylor
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

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Collection & Preservation | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Spelunking | Outdoor Recreation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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Caves: Exploring Hidden Realms (Imax)

ASIN: 0684841916

Amazon.com

The microbes that caver Michael Ray Taylor calls "dark life" are found deep in the earth, in boiling oceanic vents, Antarctic ice, and lots of other places far from the reach of the sun's energy. These "extremophiles" are energy opportunists, subsisting on chemicals, radioactivity, or the faint light of molten rock. The study of these organisms is quite new, and scientists are learning that examining them may provide hints about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Dark Life is a first-person tour of the places Taylor has looked for archaebacteria and other strange microorganisms--Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico, the hot springs of Viterbo in central Italy, NASA laboratories, and the halls of academia. Taylor met with passionate scientists searching for answers about how things can live deep in the earth and if they can survive in the unimaginable cold of outer space while hitchhiking on meteors. Dark Life chronicles the triumphs and disappointments of this new field of science with engaging and personal stories.

The steady but frustrating progress of science is never more apparent than in the passages relating to the rise and fall of ALH84001. The potato-sized meteorite from Mars (and the scientists who analyzed it) enjoyed brief but frenzied attention when it was announced that microscopic forms in the rock may have indicated the presence of nanobacteria. But if you're expecting resolution to this question in Dark Life, be warned: to Taylor, it's the journey that's most exciting. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

In a narrative that combines cutting-edge science with intense physical adventure, Dark Life tells the fascinating story of the quest to find life far underground and deep in space.

Able to thrive without sunlight or oxygen, dark life is a mass of subterranean bacteria that would likely tip the scale if weighed against all other living matter combined. Journalist Michael Ray Taylor takes us from Antarctic lakes to Hawaiian volcanoes to the satellites of Jupiter in search of these mysterious underground creatures that are redefining our understanding of evolution.

Taylor serves as a field assistant on several key scientific expeditions. He descends deep into New Mexico's tortuous Lechuguilla Cave and focuses powerful NASA microscopes on never-before-seen life-forms. He accompanies a young NASA intern who unknowingly kicks off a raging international scientific debate when she uncovers traces of dark life in a rock extracted from nearly two miles below Washington State -- traces that appear identical to the "micro-fossils" found in a Martian meteorite. He meets another scientist who has staked his reputation on using dark life to generate a cure for breast cancer. Throughout his adventures, Taylor gains unique insight into a growing controversy about the very definition of life itself -- an issue that scientists had long ago considered settled. Whether he is exploring the structures of a mysterious cell or reconnoitering tropical caves, Michael Ray Taylor is an adventurer for the new millennium.

Customer Reviews:

Politics, personalities, and science of the dark world .......2004-12-18

_Dark Life_ by Michael Ray Taylor was a very interesting book. The author began it writing as a science journalist - having written a previous book on cave exploration as well has having articles published in such magazines as _Audubon_ - but over the course of the two and a half years he worked on this book went from becoming an observer to an active participant, a point he himself made several times in amazement and wonder. Originally he had set out to chronicle what was known about "dark life," microorganisms that dwell far underground or in the deep sea, organisms that derive their nourishment from sources independent of sunlight. These organisms, which have been found in such varied places as salt domes, Antarctic ice cores, and in highly acidic caves, have continually challenged notions of what life can tolerate, organisms so common that they may outnumber surface organisms (indeed Taylor rejected the commonly used term "extremophile" as he believes the term implies that these organisms are a "rare curiosity"). Taylor wrote of the history of the search for these microbes, the personalities involved, and where current research was in the field (as well as possible applications of this research).

Somewhere along the way he became part of the story, as he became the friend and later colleague of several of the researchers he covered. While not a trained scientist per se, at least not in the field of microbiology, he assisted in and even proposed a number of experiments in the search for controversial nanobacteria (microbes with a size of less than 0.2 micrometers, once thought to be too small to be an independent functioning organism or at least too small for a prokaryotic organism, including known bacteria and archaea; not a virus) in a variety of environments, mostly notably Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. By the end of the book he was regularly exchanging email with researchers, providing samples for them, and even had co-authored a few presentations at various seminars.

Much of the book is focused on personalities - understandable given Taylor's increasing personal involvement in the story himself - though mainly in the context of research on the topic at hand. The main characters (if you will) in the book were Larry Mallory (a scientist who had devoted his career to harvesting and culturing cave microbes in a promising search for a cure for cancer, particularly from microbes from the fascinating Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico, an interesting place described in great detail in the book), Bob Folk (a colorful scientist who discovered nanobacteria and their presence in a number of substances and had been in the lead in efforts to prove that microorganisms are vital in the formation of travertine in caves and hot springs as well as in some cases at least entire caves and cave systems), and Anne Taunton (an undergraduate student who as part of a NASA internship became embroiled in the efforts to determine whether or not the famed Martian meteorite ALH 84001 contained fossils of extraterrestrial nanobacteria). Others are followed to lesser degrees, among them Finnish nanobacteria expert E. Olavi Kajander, who had done pioneer work showing that nanobacteria may be the possible agents of many maladies such as kidney stones, Alzheimer's, and Mad Cow Disease that involve mineral precipitation in the body. In large measure these and other personalities faced considerable skepticism, criticism, and worse in their studies, as scientists found it hard to accept (in different instances) what was thought of as "impossibly" small bacteria, biological origins for various types of minerals and mineral formations, and the presence of microfossils in ALH 84001. Mallory had to leave his university because he was essentially denied tenure, the administration not believing his study of cave microorganisms important, Folk faced considerable criticism for suggesting that such substances as travertine owed their origins to bacteria, and Taunton (and the team she worked with) had a very difficult time with several scientists - including even her own undergraduate academic advisor - over efforts to demonstrate that the ALH 84001 microfossils were evidence of Martian life or even life of any kind. Although Taylor did a good job of showing the fact there was sometimes intense and even rather personal criticism in science, I don't know if he always showed why people had such a hard time accepting bold new theories. In particular some of the opposition to ALH 84001 fossils was quite heated.

Though much of the focus was on personalities, politics, and the process of research the microbes were much discussed as well, many with bizarre biologies. Some cold-loving organisms were termed "psychrophiles," capable of growth below freezing, at -5 degrees Celsius, organisms that exhibit slower metabolisms at temperatures above freezing and death at anything approaching human body temperature (organisms that for years - like many other examples of dark life - proved difficult to study and culture in the lab). Some organisms found in apparently solid rock two miles deep, existing only on hydrogen and water, have unbelievably slow metabolisms, appearing to divide cells no more than once per century. Though many caves and indeed individual pools in caves produced unique microorganisms there were also astonishing similarities; the closest relatives to some sulfur-oxidizing thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria from a cave in Kentucky were found to be a sulfur-oxidizing, symbiotic bacterium from a deep sea polychaeta worm, a relationship that has not yet been explained.

At least as far as this reader is concerned Taylor made his case that nanobacteria exist, that they are key in the formation of some minerals and many caves, and I am very open to the idea that ALH 84001 may indeed contain Martian microfossils. I enjoyed reading about the discussions scientists had about whether or not subsurface Antarctic lakes such as Lake Vostok and Jovian moon of Europa might have dark life and hope that both can be analyzed in the not too distant future.

Geology & Biology Intwined.......2001-05-21

For starters I will never look at my mineral collection quite the same again. Dark Life has shown that nanobacteria (only recently confirmed)is the absolute frontier of a new world. Minerals and "life" coexist and the nanobacteria "feed" upon the chemical compositions of minerals. The scientific world will be turned on its' head in the near future as a whole new science emerges. This book is easy to understand for those of us who aren't scientits but who are interested. As one who also has Multiple Sclerosis the possible connection with nanobacteria and mineral plaques in the brain was astounding as I read it.

Damn interesting, heavy on the human drama.......2001-01-21

I read this book after buying on a discout shelf in some clearance book seller. It was a pleasant surprise. It, as I wrote in the title, a little heavy on human drama and soap operatic themes. The science behind it is absolutely interesting and has spurred me to read further on the topic of nanobacteria. This is a great starting out book, but not a great book for those reading for the science of it.

Nanobacteria, A New Form of Life and Its Pathology in Humans.......2000-10-16

Nanobacteria have been researched by many prominent scientists worldwide. This book looks at the findings of scientists with respect to Nanobacteria and the science of Geology. Nanobacteria, specifically Nanobacterium Sanguineum, have been studied by scientists and medical researchers as they pertain to causing human disease or Pathology as well. Nanobacterium Sanguineum is a Nanobacteria that is approximately 10,000 times smaller than regular bacteria. It replicates from 1000 to 10,000 times slower than regular bacteria as well. It grows in the human system in blood, and has been found by various medical researchers and scientists to cause many human problems. Some of the various diseases that it has either been implicated to be involved with or to cause are: Calcification in atherosclerotic plaque, kidney stones, calcification in the lenses of eyes that ultimately causes "cataracts", soft tissue calcification in scleroderma, calcification in tumors, calcification in arthritis or osteoarthritis and other pathological disease states in humans. These Nanobacteria colonize and secrete a "biofilm" over themselves that causes them to be covered by a calcium "shell". These Nanobacteria are implicated to be the cause of all calcification in the human system that you were not born with, that you subsequently develop as you age. These Nanobacteria are also implicated in causing some forms of cancer and "apoptosis" or cell death. Scientists are now working on ways to eradicate Nanobacterium Sanguineum with prescription medications. Please keep your eyes open for further research regarding Nanobacteria. Try surfing on the web for "nanobacteria". Sincerely, Gary S. Mezo, President of the Academy of Medical NanoScience, Tel:813-264-2241.

Space science can still be an adventure - here's your guide........1999-12-02

This book documents journeys of discovery and transformation at several levels. It documents a journalist's personal journey from observer to active participant. It also serves as a chronicle of the journeys being taken by scientists all over (and underneath) the Earth and across our solar system to obtain an understanding of life's amazing ability to exist and thrive in the most improbable places.

The author starts out as a spelunking (cave exploring) science journalist and ends up as an active participant in the science he had originally set out to cover. In so doing he has provided an interesting mix of observer and participant perspectives. Being a seasoned cave explorer, the author is at home and adept at describing the techniques and hazards of natural laboratories such as Lechuguilla Cave located in New Mexico.

Astrobiologists have found caves to be excellent laboratories for the extreme environments that may be found on other worlds such as Mars. Moreover, the amazing adaptations Earth life has made to these environments also serve as indicators of what is possible in terms of life's ability to adapt - and may be indicative of what we might find underneath Mars. Getting around in these caves is not your run of the mill field trip. Sulfurous and caustic fumes, anoxic conditions, temperature extremes, risk of injury, and a myriad of other hazards all combine to make these explorations something that only skilled individuals should undertake. In so doing, the rewards to the risk takers are obvious - and are thoroughly documented by the author.

There is much more to this book than crawling around stinky caves with excited astrobiologists. There is tedious work back at the lab, and the inevitable politics that accompanies academic life and government-sponsored research. Given that the discoveries being made about life in extreme environments are brushing aside long held views about biology, the politics can get rather nasty at times. The author provides a cogent description of what happens when the politics and dogma of science collide with new data and ideas. As you read this book you can almost hear the old paradigms crumbling as life's very definitions get an overhaul.

In describing some of the research done at NASA on the ALH84001 Martian meteorite, Taylor provides a classic description of paradigm crumbling - and the threat it can represent to the status quo. The events described surround the work of a student involved in a career-making discovery (possible fossils within a piece of Mars) and an advisor who disputes the findings and seeks to thwart her education at every turn.

While not nearly as dramatic, the author describes many other situations wherein old accepted notions about what life is and where it can be found are challenged. As you travel around - and under - the world with Taylor, you learn about life at abyssal ocean depths, within rocks miles under the Earth's surface, in the cold dry Antarctic, within volcanic deposits, and within highly radioactive environments. Such are the abodes of Earth's so-called "extremophiles".

If astrobiologists have learned anything in the past decade or so, it is that Earth life is capable of existing everywhere that it can theoretically exist. Since some of these "extreme environments" may well pass for "normal" elsewhere in the solar system, the chances of finding life elsewhere start to become quite probable. It is that exciting prospect which is woven by the author throughout the fabric of this book.

The author has gone to great physical extremes to write this book - and it shows. If you want a status report on how astrobiologists are using the Earth as a laboratory for what life may be possible on other worlds, this is it. Moreover, if you are looking for proof that science can still be a bona fide adventure in this Internet-shrunken world, then this book offers that as well.

Book Description

With the records theme of "extreme," it's all in there--from skateboarding to space, diets to dogs, and much, much more. Now, you can get in-depth with your favorite outrageous records like never before! Zoom along at extreme speeds by foot, wing, or furniture. Grab a snack at the world's largest food fight, or maybe you'd prefer a bite of the fastest sandwich made by human feet? Marvel at the smelliest flower, the loudest burp, and a special elephant's artistic talent. Discover amazing all-new facts, photos, and much, much more. It's extreme!

Novels of the Contemporary Extreme (Continuum Literary Studies)

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Novels of the Contemporary Extreme (Continuum Literary Studies)

Manufacturer: Continuum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0826490883

Book Description

This book investigates a new form of fiction that is currently emerging in contemporary literature across the globe. 'Novels of the extreme' - from North and South America, from Europe, the Middle East and Asia - are set in a world both similar to and different from our own: a hyper-real, often apocalyptic world progressively invaded by popular culture, permeated with technology and dominated by destruction. While their writing is commonly classified as 'hip' or 'underground' literature, authors of contemporary extreme novels have often been the center of public controversy and scandal; they, and their work, become international bestsellers. This collection of essays indentifies and describes this international phenomenon, investigating the appeal of these novels' styles and themes, the reason behind their success, and the fierce debates they provoked. Alain-Philippe Durand is Associate Professor of French, Film Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Rhode Island. Naomi Mandel is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, University of Rhode Island.

Extreme Encounters: How It Feels to Be Drowned in Quicksand, Shredded by Piranhas, Swept Up in a Tornado, and Dozens of Other Unpleasant Experiences--

Average customer rating:

Extreme Encounters
Do you want to FEEL a quick thrill
So-so
A Quirky Reprise of Multifarious Demise
So what DOES it feel to die?

Extreme Encounters: How It Feels to Be Drowned in Quicksand, Shredded by Piranhas, Swept Up in a Tornado, and Dozens of Other Unpleasant Experiences--
Greg Emmanuel
Manufacturer: Quirk Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1931686009

Book Description

After reading The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, did you ever wonder what it s like to be struck by lightning? To run with the bulls in Pamplona? To ride the crushing swell of an avalanche? Extreme Encounters describes these adventures and 37 others with endlessly addictive you-are-there second-person narratives so you chill to the numbing effects of frostbite, you hear the 110-decibel roar of a grizzly bear, and you feel the stomach-lurching drop of an elevator freefall. Extreme Encounters is a moment-by-moment, blow-by-blow account of what happens to you physically, emotionally, and scientifically during life s most perilous experiences. Like a cross between The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook and Into Thin Air, these heart-racing stories take readers where few have gone before.

Customer Reviews:

Extreme Encounters.......2006-11-10

For those who have always dreamed of moments after seeing Jaws, and the like, this book is perfect. Describing all the goriest details in the second person view. I found this book extremely interesting, along as educational with all the scientific phenomena associated with each painful experience.

Do you want to FEEL a quick thrill.......2006-06-08

This book was outstanding. The only complaint I have is that it wasn't longer. What I enjoyed most was that each story refers to the characters as YOU, and has enough scenerary information to give you a clear image in your head of where your suppossed to be, then BAM something crazy happens and your drowning in a lake in the middle of nowhere. I could literally taste the water in my mouth during that story. Then after the climax of each story the author throughly describes how each situation can kill you. He is very descriptive and interprets it in an easy to understand language. He must have done his homework to be able to describe those many different situations as he did. I loved this book, it is a quick fun and factual read for anybody at any age level.

So-so.......2006-05-07

I thought the concept for the book a little more exciting than the book itself. The stories seemed too short, and a few end abruptly without much explanation as to what happened next. It seems only obvious that extreme encounters should have extreme details, but that's not the case here. Overall, I think 5th through 8th graders would appreciate this book most.

A Quirky Reprise of Multifarious Demise.......2006-02-02

Quirky apropos of its publisher, Quirk Books, "Extreme Encounters" is formatted like one of those books to keep in the bathroom: the information is fascinating but not sufficiently in depth for anything more than morbid curiosity. Nevertheless, this is a fun little book to read, with anecdotes of demise as diverse as the effects of a shark attack to Civil War amputations. In a break from the subject matter (which mostly deal with death or dismemberment), author Greg Emmanuel also describes the experiences of sky diving and rocketing into space in a Gemini capsule.

Emmanuel is definitely on to something with "Extreme Encounters". We are drawn by our fears toward descriptions of what scares us the most, and the author does describe some of the neurological processes that govern our behavior while under life-threatening stress, but the book is a little haphazard and mixed-one can envision a series of books on this topic, more in depth, with the non-lethal, purely experiential anecdotes such as sky diving filling a book of their own.

A consistent theme in this book is our neurological responses to stress in life-threatening situations. Readers can get more information about these responses than Emmanuel offers with Laurence Gonzales' book "Deep Survival".

So what DOES it feel to die?.......2005-06-01

So what does it feel like to die? According to author Greg Emmanuel, it all depends on how you go. 39 separate, horrible fates are chronicled in this book, and though not all of them end in death, they do all make your skin crawl. The categories include When Animals Attack, The Great Outdoors, Somebody Get a Doctor, Crime and Punishment, Everyday Mishaps, and Going to Extremes. Most of the scenarios only last for 2-3 pages which makes this a great book to pull out at parties and read aloud from, or take with you on vacation. The story style is conversational and informal, and the book length is a scant 175 pages, so it's a quick read all around.

Yes, the stories are creepy and gross, and at times they'll make you laugh though you might feel a little guilty for doing so. This is a novel and fun book.

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