Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that physics—the basis for all other science—has lost its way. The problem is string theory, an ambitious attempt to formulate "a theory of everything" that explains all the forces and particles of nature and how the universe came to be. With its exotic new particles and parallel universes, string theory has captured the public"s imagination and seduced many physicists. But as Smolin reveals, there"s a deep flaw in the theory: no part of it has been proven, and no one knows how to prove it. As a scientific theory, it has been a colossal failure. And because it has soaked up the lion's share of funding, attracted some of the best minds, and penalized young physicists for pursuing other avenues, it is dragging the rest of physics down with it. With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin charts the rise and fall of string theory and takes a fascinating look at what will replace it. A group of young theorists has begun to develop exciting new ideas that are, unlike string theory, testable. Smolin tells us who and what to watch for in the coming years and how we can find the next Einstein. This is a wake-up call, and Lee Smolin—a former string theorist himself— is the perfect person to deliver it.
Customer Reviews:
Scientific progress is never cut and dried.......2007-10-08
Lee Smolin presents a harsh critique of the last 30 years in theoretical physics, written by one of its practitioners. He makes the excellent point that science is a human activity like anything else. Progress is always hard to predict; scientists can and do get caught up in dead ends. Smolin thinks string theory is one such dead end, and makes a good case for it.
I think that, if anything, Smolin is a little too gentle on the field. The development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs left a tremendous impression that big money put into physics would bring big results. In recent years that hasn't happened. There are so many unanswered questions out there in science, so many important fields where solutions are desperately needed. When I consider the construction and operation of particle accelerators and other high-tech equipment, I can't help but think of the huge cost. The same amount of cash invested elsewhere might have brought much more in the way of useful results.
I am the mother of a 10-year-old boy attending public school. His instruction sometimes seems to me like a mishmash of well-meaning educational reforms that have been implemented with little or no testing to see if they worked or not. I am frankly disgusted by the quality of most research in the area of education--sample sizes too small, no proper controls, subjects followed for too short a time, etc. The cost of operating a single particle accelerator for six weeks probably exceeds all the funding for educational research around the world for the entire year. Yet which has the most potential for making major progress? Maybe it's time to back off on funding big physics projects for a while.
I would also like to point out that the building and use of instrumentation for high-energy physics is highly dependent on cheap fossil fuels. The future supply of such fuels is by no means guaranteed. The peak oil problem appears to be largely ignored by high-energy physicists today, but has the potential to significantly affect their ability to conduct experiments.
I really enjoyed Smolin's chapters on looking for seers rather than technicians in science. I especially liked his description of how unconventional scientists have built a career without a university job. Smolin points out that a typical professor spends a majority of his week on teaching, grant proposals, administrative tasks, and the like, leaving a surprisingly small amount of time available for actual research. Having a day job outside the field is not as big a hurdle as it might seem.
I tend to agree with Smolin that the big advances of the future are likely to come from completely unexpected directions. I can't wait to see what they are.
physics from many angles.......2007-10-05
This book provided several discussions pf physics and quantum theory. its good because the author speaks of the history the the originators of physics theory and the current champions of thought.
A mixed bag.......2007-10-04
At the moment, string theory appears to have many (possibly an infinite number) of "metastable vacua", each of which would allow for a universe with its own laws of physics. (For a brief, comic, yet essentially correct summary of the history of this idea, see Peter Shor's review here. For those who don't know, Shor is a celebrated quantum-information theorist.) According to the (far from established) inflationary model of cosmology, there is a vast collection of universes (the "multiverse") with diverse laws of physics. Which universe we find ourselves in is a matter of random selection, but of course we must be in a "biofriendly" universe, one whose laws of physics allow for the appearance of intelligent life.
The core argument of this book is presented on page 164-165 (US hardcover edition), where Smolin writes, "when it comes to the biofriendliness of our universe, we have at least three possibilities:
"1. Ours is one of a vast collection of universes with random laws.
"2. There was an intelligent designer.
"3. There is a so-far-unknown mechanism that will both explain the biofriendliness of our universe and make testable predictions by which it can be confirmed or falsified.
"Given that the first two possibilities are untestable in principle, it is most rational to hold out for the third possibility. Indeed, that is the only possibility we should consider as scientists, because accepting either of the first two would mean the end of our field."
I find this to be an astonishing argument. First of all, I don't know what "most rational" is supposed to mean. More importantly, to reject a scientific hypothesis for purely personal reasons (it "would mean the end of our field") is at best novel, and at worst absurd.
Very few string theorists are happy that #1 seems, at this point, to be the most likely outcome of string theory, and many hope that #3 will somehow eventually emerge. But to throw out the whole framework, simply because we don't like the result, cannot be said to be a scientific attitude.
One thing you won't learn in this book (unless you read it very carefully, and between the lines) is that the other approaches to quantum gravity advocated by Smolin have not come any closer to predicting specific experimental results than string theory has. Smolin talks about possible violations of special relativity, but these are not (as he admits on page 237) a definite prediction of loop quantum gravity. He has said (on Peter Woit's blog) that any quantum field theory in any number of dimensions is compatible with loop quantum gravity. If true, this would make loop quantum gravity even less capable than string theory of picking out our particular laws of physics.
Smolin also discusses issues of sociology in physics. On page 335-336, he asserts that the all the truly negative characterizations of job candidates that he has ever heard have had a component of racism and/or sexism. I am on the faculty of the physics department of a research university, and I can only say that my experience has been entirely different. I have simply never heard a racist or sexist denigration of one scientist by another, nor have I ever felt that anyone was being evaluated by criteria other than merit. I think that there are definitely issues of culture and how we can construct scientific communities that have broader appeal, and that there are physicists who are not as sensitive to these issues as they might be, but I cannot accept Smolin's claim that the relatively small percentage of women and blacks in physics is due to "blatant prejudice".
Finally, Smolin discusses the issues of "seers" vs "craftspeople" in science, and argues that we should be supporting more "seers". Among the existing seers, he lists some (such as Roger Penrose and Gerard 't Hooft) who made their reputations primarily as craftspeople ('t Hooft received the Nobel Prize for his work on the renormalization of gauge theories, and Penrose did celebrated work on the singularity theorems of general relativity). Their record as seers has been less successful; none of their recent ideas on modifications of quantum mechanics have panned out as yet. Smolin laments the fact that more attention is not paid to these forays into alternatives to quantum mechanics. But 't Hooft and Penrose do not agree on what modifications are needed. Other seers identified by Smolin propose violations of special relativity, rather than (or in addition to) violations of quantum mechanics. Perhaps this is all deep thought, but there is little to decide, at this point, which if any of these avenues should be pursued. Most physicists have therefore sensibly adopted a "wait and see" attitude.
Even if we accept Smolin's argument that we need new seers, how are we to find them? Smolin writes (page 353) that in order to discover "the visionaries who ignore the mainstream and follow their own ambitious programs", we should "find at least one accomplished person in the candidate's field who is deeply excited about what the candidate is trying to do". So, the candidate's program had better not be *too* far off the mainstream; there has to be at least one "accomplished person" who is "deeply excited" about it. But if one deeply excited professional is good, wouldn't more be better? Wouldn't that up the odds that the program was, indeed, worthwhile? Oh wait, that would be just what we have now ... a system where there is constant debate, emergent consensus on the most promising approaches, and distribution of research funds primarily (but by no means exclusively!) to those approaches that appear, in the consensus view, to be most promising. To paraphrase Winston Churchill on democracy, this system for distributing funds for science may be the worst ever devised, except for all the others.
So, should you buy the book? I feel that it gives a distorted picture, by emphasizing the weak points of string theory while ignoring the (many more, in my view) weak points of the alternatives. It seems to me that the essence of the book's argument against string theory is captured by the excerpts above, and by Shor's review. Then there is a lot of discussion of groupthink in scientific culture. For me, it doesn't add up to an appealing package, but your mileage may vary.
The Endless Quest Continues .......2007-10-04
I like Lee Smolin and this is a good exposition of the current quandary in Physics. When the mathematicians "hijacked" physics in the 1920's, they created ever-so elegant formulas and abstraction upon abstraction upon abstraction. "Just give me a formula!" was their mantra, and what it all really "means" was not their concern. This is the essence of Bohr's position (no pun intended), and Einstein was not able to answer, even though he knew something was missing.
String theory has many intriguing ideas, and it's supporters should not be easily dismissed. Again and again, we come back to the basic question...particle or wave? Wavicle? Partiwave? String?
Outstanding piece of writing, A must-read for any science enthusiast........2007-09-22
I found this book to be superbly written and full of fascinating insights. I really loved reading it. Many of the longer reviews here do a great job of reviewing the content of the book, so I'll stick to offering my opinion.
I will no doubt read this book again in the future as much of the content was way over my head. However, as with any great book on any subject, this did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying it and learning a lot. What makes it so great is that each time I read it I will learn more.
I want to thank Lee Smolin for putting the current state of his field in some perspective. I highly, highly recommend this book!
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Average customer rating:
- The secret of being a successful barbarian is never to be where the enemy's weapon is
- Typical Pratchett
- all ones with rincewind rock, and cohen, plus the lady
- Discworld
- One of my favorites.
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Interesting Times
Terry Pratchett
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
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Amazon.com
Marvelous Discworld, which revolves on the backs of four great elephants and a big turtle, spins into Interesting Times, the 17th outing in Terry Pratchett's rollicking fantasy series. The gods are playing games again, and this time the mysterious Lady opposes Fate in a match of "Destinies of Nations Hanging by a Thread." --Blaise Selby
Book Description
"May you live in interesting times" is the worst thing one can wish on a citizen of Discworld -- especially on the distinctly unmagical sorcerer Rincewind, who has had far too much perilous excitement in his life. But when a request for a "Great Wizzard" arrives in Ankh-Morpork via carrier albatross from the faraway Counterweight Continent, it's he who's sent as emissary. Chaos threatens to follow the impending demise of the Agatean Empire's current ruler. And, for some incomprehensible reason, someone believes Rincewind will have a mythic role in the war and wholesale bloodletting that will surely ensue. (Carnage is pretty much a given, since Cohen the Barbarian and his extremely elderly Silver Horde are busily formulating their own plan for looting, pillaging, and, er, looking wistfully at girls.) However, Rincewind firmly believes there are too many heroes already in the world, yet only one Rincewind. And he owes it to the world to keep that one alive for as long as possible.
Customer Reviews:
The secret of being a successful barbarian is never to be where the enemy's weapon is.......2007-10-04
Rincewind, a notably unsuccessful wizard but a very successful survivor (nearly always by running away at top speed), was the protagonist of the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, and has appeared in several more books since. I can't say he's my favorite character, but this one is pretty good anyway. Lord Hong, a schemer after power in the Agatean Empire (pictured as a mixture of Chinese and Japanese culture) that makes up the Counterweight Continent, has sent to Ankh-Morpork for "The Great Wizzard" (yes, with two Z's), a figure in ancient legends. It's all part of his convoluted plan to become emperor when the current one dies (with Lord Hong's help). As it happens, Rincewind, who acted as guide to Twoflower, an Agatean tourist in his first outing, is the likeliest candidate for Great Wizzard and off he goes to the Empire. Where, of course, because of his pre-emptive karma, he quickly becomes caught up in the power struggle, gets saddled with a not very convincing cadre of underage revolutionaries, loses The Luggage, and crosses the path of the Silver Horde. The latter is a group of six geriatric barbarians led by Cohen the Barbarian (a/k/a Genghiz Cohen), an occasional character in several other Discworld books. Here, Pratchett uses the very straightforward barbarians -- who have gotten to be very old precisely because they're very good at what they do -- as a balance to the scheming, underhanded, poison-preferring, untrustworthy Agateans. And Twoflower reappears, too. Not a great book, but perfectly readable.
Typical Pratchett.......2007-01-10
This was about my 12th or 14th Pratchett novel. I enjoyed it and enjoy his all of his story lines but prefer the character development in Night Watch to that of Interesting Times. As are most of the plots involving the reocurring character Rincewind, there is lots of escaping, vicious villans and amazing magical events that keep your attention. This one spoofed revolutions, revolutionaries and Asian culture. Cohen the Barbarian and the silver hoarde were quite refreshing and represented a style of working man's thinking that has almost died out. This was an good read and up to to Pratchett's usual quality.
all ones with rincewind rock, and cohen, plus the lady.......2006-11-09
the lady plays a game of empires vs fate
rincewind the luggage, and cohen get involved
Discworld.......2006-08-27
I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing.
A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome.
Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome!
Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too.
Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves.
I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!"
I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.
One of my favorites........2006-04-14
I love Terry Pratchett, I love Discworld, and I love Rincewind. He's always been my favorite character, and the books revolving around him are my favorite.
I just read "Interesting Times" for the second time, and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than I did the first time around.
Rincewind gets sent to the Agatean empire, because the rebels need a "Great Wizzard." He gets pulled into a conflict between the rebel army, the incredibly perfect Lord Hong, and a group of elderly barbarians.
It's Pratchett, so it's funny. I giggled all the way through. Rincewind is just as cowardly as usual. The rebels are very polite. The Barbarians are trying to learn civilization. There's a lot of fodder for jokes here, and Pratchett takes advantage of it.
Twoflower comes back. He's a bestselling author. New characters are introduced. Mr. Saveloy is a former teacher who joins up with Cohen the Barbarian and Company. Lord Hong is a frightening villain. Twoflower has daughters, including a cynical revolutionary by the name of Pretty Butterfly.
And yes, there's a plot. A good one, too.
This is a five-star novel. Read it. You'll love it.
Book Description
This book follows the hapless Lieutenant Otto Prohaska in the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and finds Otto taking an ill-considered break from duties to engage in a mad fling with a Polish actress. After a desperate attempt to elude his lover's husband, he finds himself mistaken by anarchists as one of their own. Otto soon masters their code names and secret handshakes, but when he also learns of their plans to assassinate the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, his duty is clear. He must alert his superiors—now, if only he can find someone who will believe him!
Customer Reviews:
engaging story on interesting times.......2007-03-18
John Biggins' second Otto Prohaska book is essentially more of the same as the first, 'A Sailor of Austria.' There is a good dose of World War I history especially covering the decaying Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, and it is told with some dark gallows-humor while retaining a good deal of empathy for many (certainly not all) of the characters involved.
In this book, really a prequel to the first, Prohaska is bumped around first Austria as a sailor assigned to an older battle cruiser, then the fledgling air force, then the staff of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, then a river monitor on the Serb border - and suddenly he is involved in the conspiracy to murder the Archduke, the attempted prevention of which then leads him headlong across the world to the China station. Prohaska's long and dangerous journey back home sees him and his small crew encountering a variety of threats to life and limb from storms at sea to headhunters to corrupt officials to a ship of religious fools to you name it; the trip is worthy of Odysseus himself.
Besides the narration of the story, in which he writes better, funnier, and more smoothly than in his first Prohaska book, Biggins gives us details on weaponry, alliance politics, on-board procedure, and technical stuff, and here the book excels. It is a pleasure to learn some of the more arcane bits and pieces in the way they are here related, where otherwise it would make for exceedingly dry reading.
Finally, a part of Biggins' point in writing these books seems to be that, as much as was wrong with Europe and Austria-Hungary in particular in the time running up to WWI, the destruction of the world order in which Austria still figured as a major part did nothing to advance the welfare of mankind. The romance and charm of a somewhat decrepit and dysfunctional 'empire' run by bureaucrats and superannuated fools may have been short of ideal, but considering that Europe replaced these by the criminals running fascist, nazi, and communist dictatorships, responsible for the murder of tens of millions, the death camps, and untold human misery, it looks pretty good by comparison. There is an element of sadness and tragic romance behind Biggins' writing here.
For Otto Prohaska Good news Is Just a Sign of Bad News Ahead .......2007-02-28
John Biggins continues the adventures of Otto Prohaska, first introduced as a captain of an Austro-Hungarian submarine during the Great War in 'Sailor of Austria'. This tale is also told from Prohaska's perspective as a 100-year old resident of a nursing home in rural Wales. Biggins' style, while reminiscent of George MacDonald Fraser in the 'Flashman' series, is darker, less flippant, more serious.
If you enjoyed 'Sailor of Austria' you will enjoy 'The Emperor's Coloured Coat'. The events in this second book actually preceed those in the Sailor of Austria as our man Otto finds himself tumbling across Central Europe and the follies of the soon-to-be-no-more Austro-Hungarian Empire. He finds himself in one troublesome spot after another - like being shot out of the air by a blast from the hunting rifle of the...well, read it and find out! Good news is usually a sign of bad news just ahead.
It's exciting to see the renewed interest in John Biggins' works, which were hardly big sellers when first published in 1991 but are now being brought back by McBooks Press. Discovering Biggins has been one of those great unexpected experiences that come along only rare even to devoted readers.
The writing is really first-rate and so is the story. Highest recommendation.
The Emperor's Coloured Coat by John Biggins.......2006-11-10
"The Emperor's Coloured Coat" is volume 2 in the fictious memoirs of Otto Prohaska of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (the first is "A Sailor of Austria"). The book describes Prohaska's adventures in the period leading up to the outbreak of war in August 1914, which includes flying training, personal service with Archduke Franz Ferdinand, customs operations on the Danube, and encounters with Serbian and other extremists. If that wasn't enough, the hero also serves in the seige of Tsingtao in China and has various adventures as he makes his way back to Austria.
John Biggins has a fine attention to detail, and all of the events in the book could have happened, as the locations, personnel and equipment are all very accurately described. The action is fast and frantic, making the book a very difficult one to put down.
Prohaska's adventures continue in the eagerly-awaited "The Two-Headed Eagle", which is scheduled for publication in November 2006, and then in "Tomorrow the World".
An Engaging Adventure.......2006-09-20
Except, perhaps, for diehard fans of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, few people are likely to associate a naval story with Austria. This book makes the association and does a good job of it. It is the fictional reminiscence of Otto Prohaska, a former naval officer of the old Hapsburg Empire of Austria and Hungary. It begins just before the First World War and follows the adventures and misadventures of this likeable young officer.
Prior to the war, he goes for flight training and becomes a pilot. In doing so, he becomes entangled with Arch Duke Ferdinand, a thoroughly unlikable character as his naval attaché. Even though he bears no great love or respect for this monarch to be, he is diligent about his duties. Unfortunately, his pedigree is somewhat lacking so he is dismissed and assigned to duty on a river boat. While engaged in this duty and while trying to fend off an outraged husband, he stumbles onto the plot to kill the arch-Duke. He does his best to report his findings but is not believed. The bureaucracy cannot believe that he has stumbled onto a plot when their plodding administration has been unable to do so. To keep him quiet, he is sent off to the Far East. While en route, the fatal shot is fired and thus begins WWI.
The war in the Far East is a pathetic thing, especially for the Austrian Navy. Still, young Prohaska tries to do his best and manages to do a great deal as he fights his way back towards the war in Europe.
The book is written with a dry humor and does a wonderful job of evoking the decayed decadence of the waning days of the Habsburg monarchy. It is fun and sometimes even toughing. It is well worth reading.
A Simply Brilliant Entertainment.......2000-05-13
This chronological prequel to "A Sailor of Austria" is considerably more wacky and far flung than its predecessor. In this one, the memoirist recounts his adventures as one of the first rank of military pilots, who, by dint of accident, ends up in the retinue of Archduke Ferdinand (yes that one) for some time. Eventually he returns to naval duties, where he gets tangled up with a former lover. Then, by dint of coincidence, he gets involved in the Serbian plot to assassinate the Archduke! Once again, Biggins brings the history and political milieu of the time to convincing life. After that peters out, the hero ends up in a blockaded Chinese port, and even faces a sword-wielding Japanese officer in trench warfare. Further adventurers take him and a crew of Chinese sailors into unknown waters an encounter with pirates, and a hilarious encounter in the jungle. Then, even wackier, he ends up on a ship headed to Mecca and has to make his way by land to Syria! This particular entry in the series is highly reminiscent of George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman" series.
Average customer rating:
- Great autobiography of Hobsbawm
- An Interesting Life
- A donnish interpreter for the working class
- a sad tale
- Interesting but humourless
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Interesting Times: A Twentieth-Century Life (Lives of the Left)
E. J. Hobsbawm
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1565849655 |
Book Description
Eric Hobsbawm has been widely acclaimed as one of the greatest living historians. Called "a lyrical, pungent, and provocative memoir" by Publishers Weekly, Interesting Times offers a personal tour through what Hobsbawm terms "the most extraordinary and terrible century in human history." The book takes us from his birth in Alexandria, Egypt, and early schooling in Weimar Berlin to his student days as a Cambridge Red and Apostle at King's College. Hobsbawm took E.M. Forster to hear Lenny Bruce, demonstrated with Bertrand Russell against nuclear arms, translated for Che Guevara in Havana, and inaugurated the modern history of banditry. With Interesting Times, we see the making of one of the Left's most important intellectuals, and the history of the twentieth century through the unforgiving eye of one of its most intensely engaged participants.
Customer Reviews:
Great autobiography of Hobsbawm.......2007-02-27
This book is a very good autobiography. Let first me state that I don't share a lot of Hobsbawm's politics (he was a member of Britain's Communist party for more than half a century). Yet I have always found him a very engaging writer. Maybe because of his age - he was born in 1917 - he is immune to the neomarxist, postmodern cant that have afflicted much of leftist writers since the 1960s. His writing style is instead simple and to the point. He tells the story of his life - the story of his parents, his accidental birth in Egypt, growing up in Vienna as a jew, the sudden death of his father and mother in a short time during his teenage years, his life as a young man in Berlin in the early 30s, his coming to England, his years in Cambridge, joining England's Communist Party, his rejection of Zionism, his life (wasted, according to him) during World War II, a visit to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, his position after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, his later visits to Latin America - in a candid, simple and matter of fact, way. A very engaging book even if you disagree with his politics.
An Interesting Life.......2004-10-31
Hobsbawm's book is called Interesting Times rather than An Interesting Life, but that is just Hobsbawm being modest. After a lifetime of analyzing history from the perspective of a leftist, but generally even-handed, professor, he takes an opportunity to get a few things off his chest.
He tackles the question of why he stayed a communist for so long, even after the Stalin years forced so many believers to reevaluate their views. He discusses America frankly, past (loves New York, hates the suburbs near Stanford University) and present (the reaction to September 11). He reminisces about wars, academia, and jazz.
About the only question he doesn't address is when and why he changed the spelling of his last name. Unimportant perhaps, but curious. A readable, entertaining, and thoughtful memoir of an interesting man in a troubled century.
A donnish interpreter for the working class.......2004-09-13
After a slow 150 pages in which Hobsbaum tells of his birth in 1917 in Alexandria to a Jewish father, son of an émigré cabinet-maker, and a Viennese jeweller's daughter followed by his youth in Austria and then Weimar Berlin and his stint at Cambridge, his story gains energy, if intermittently. Certainly Hobsbaum has led, after a rather tenuous period of living hand-to-mouth via the courtesy of relations and friends, a life more comfortable than that gained by many, communist or capitalist. His adherence to the Communist Party for so much of his life, from his profession in 1932 in Germany to his joining in 1936 and his allegiance throughout Stalinism and after the Hungarian revolt of 1956 motivates his four-hundred page apologia. Balancing his ideological commitment to a concomitant refusal to accept dogma results in a curious tension. How can a securely employed, well-travelled, multi-lingual, and nimbly minded individual stay loyal to a cause that rallied the poor and the intellectual while committing so many murders in its name?
Hobsbaum argues well his reasoning. Surprisingly, little of his book recapitulates his scholarly mission, the fame of which derives first from his popularising of the earlier century's "primitive rebels," those who resisted capitalisation and globalisation and their own redundancy. Far too many pages provide lists of luncheons, flights, and friends. Hobsbaum warns the reader that little of his private life will emerge here, and his sons gain only a couple of sentences here and there, for example; their half-brother, apparently the result of an affair in-between his two marriages, is mentioned in half-a-sentence. Instead, as the blurb and the cover images trumpet, Hitler, Che, and the Soviet Man of Steel gain attention, and even more the milieu in which he and his internationalists roamed in between seminars and scholarship-again, little of the classroom to be found here. Hobsbaum actually gives little insight into the Great Men, but much on his mates.
Idiosyncratically, the book's form skips about. Most of it tracks his own career, while latter chapters sum up his thoughts and chats in France, Italy, Spain, the Third World, and the U.S. One chapter, fascinating to me for its oblique mirroring of recent Ireland, takes on the land of his holiday home in Wales near the eccentric Clough Williams-Ellis, builder of among other wonders, the seaside resort of Portmeirion, later the site of the 1960s television series The Prisoner. In this chapter, the author carefully analyses the resurgence of Welsh separatism in that decade, to the point that it drove him to a safer and more anglicised portion of the principality in which to vacation. Hobsbaum dismisses "ethnolinguistic nationalism" and has little time for the 1960s legacy of individualism that led to the promotion of non-conformity at the expense of the social ideal for which earlier revolutionaries had struggled.
Hobsbaum pinpoints the crucial difference between himself and later radicals. He is one of the last living intellectuals inspired to hoist the Red flag by the events in the year of his birth. A teenager when he cast his lot with the German communists just before Hitler's consolidation of power, Hobsbaum defends his faith in Marx. While later converts recanted once the allure of the anti-fascist crusade dimmed, Hobsbaum emphasises that he remained a believer after Khrushchev's decision to undermine the monolithic power of the CPSU in 1956-the second time that "ten days shook the world." "To put it in the simplest terms," he summarises, "the October Revolution created a world communist movement, the Twentieth Congress destroyed it." (201) Because Hobsbaum and his CP allies had been lied to, "something that had to affect the very nature of a communist's belief," the concealment of the truth about Stalin led to the instability of an presumed solid façade of political and cultural endurance, and foreshadowed the fall of the Wall.
Which perhaps was a Potemkin village, but one where, Hobsbaum claims, protection against the harsh blows of capitalism and unrestrained greed did enable Soviets and those under their subjection to pursue a laudable goal of communist equality and worldwide fraternity. Hobsbaum cautiously tiptoes around the conflict of the dream with the reality.
He acknowledges that communists like himself and their western parties never had to govern from a position of actual power, and therefore mitigates the decisions made by those who did rule in the name of the working class. No creed since Islam in the seventh century, he reminds us, spread so rapidly and so far across our planet.
Speaking of this takeover, Hobsbaum elides complications. He compares the removal of communist ministers in western governments circa 1947 with their inclusion in non-communist administrations "in the countries under communist rule." (180) He laments the establishment of the Orwellian-monikered Cominform before continuing: `The Eastern regimes, deliberately not set up as communist, but as pluriparty "new" or "peoples' democracies" with mixed economies, were now assimilated to the "dictatorship of the proleteriat", i.e. the standard Communist Party dictatorships.' The author seems to skip over how a country can be "under communist rule" with a mixed economy and a pluriparty regime for long, before being standardised as a CP one-party dictatorship, given the logic of communist consolidation of power within a single party model. And, from my admittedly non-specialist understanding of those nations soon to be mortared into the façade of the Eastern bloc, such a pluriparty system was never seriously intended to survive, given the 1943 Tehran conference and the Cold War's surrender to the USSR of those Central and Eastern European nations as a buffer zone to defend Stalin's empire.
Hobsbaum confused me with a statement about one of those buffer nations with which I have some familiarity, Hungary. Discussing an intellectual who claimed to be a victim of Soviet repression post-1956 who in fact was a Party organiser after the revolt, the author states: `Unfortunately in the course of those years, under the benevolent eye of the Kadar government, the sympathizers with the 1956 movement, that is to say the bulk of the communist intellectuals and the academics, quietly re-established their positions.' (145)
Those less informed about Hungary at this time might misconstrue this passage, intended to contrast the fake refugee from the revolt with his comrades who remained, as praising the regime of Kadar, who pretended to side with the rebels only to turncoat to the Soviet invaders as they returned to crush the revolt, and to imply that the majority of those who were sympathisers with the rebellion suffered no harm under the Kadar regime. Although a communist revolt, the Hungarians sought neutrality apart from the Warsaw Pact and a mixed economy. These aims, Hobsbaum agrees, could not have been tolerated under Soviet domination, but he diminishes the struggle of those who sought a more human face for socialism by too often defending the Russian bear's slashes across the face of those who defied its imperial might, feigned as a blow for people's equality.
Throughout his book, Hobsbaum distances himself from Judaism and Zionism, in the name of a greater identity with the oppressed everywhere. Yet his early identification with the position of the outsider, the alien, and the non-conformist (witness too his long championship in scholarship and avocation of an appreciation for jazz) could only have been gained by his Judaic stance, secular as it was, and his similar oppositional decision to embrace communism at fourteen. I find his lack of sympathy for Israel predictable therefore, but still would like to know what alternatives could have existed for his relatives who did not survive the camps, or those who did survive in a hostile Europe.
His detachment from issues like these when they effect the individual may be attributed to his rather distanced position as that outsider, whether in Wales, in London, in Berlin, or in Alexandria (although his lectureships at the New School in New York City, at Stanford and the Getty Center, or his frequent global trips in search of like-minded companions sounded quite enjoyable to me). He claims that after his forties, whatever happened of note in his life was inside his head, and these transatlantic odysseys merely widened his intellectual horizons. Or maybe not, as he remained loyal to the Cause throughout the Cold War, despite New Labour, and now in spite of Bush. His chapters on the rest of the world outside the dons' room and the overseas seminar open up many intriguing insights, but I never felt that Hobsbaum was quite on the same level as us proles.
A sample, taken from a discussion of the Party's `cultural group' protesting in 1956: `The Indo-Scandinavian intellectual Palme Dutt, one of those implausibly tall upper-class figures one occasionally meets among Bengalis, belonged through his mother to an eminent Swedish kindred-Olaf Palme, the socialist premier assassinated in 1986, was another member.' (208-9) This, like his analogy of labeled decanters in "the combination room" at Cambridge to keep dons from confusing their port and their sherry, speak of a privileged world in which Hobsbaum has earned his eminence, and one where, his communism to the contrary, he continues to thrive. It is natural for any of us to write from the position we know, so I don't mean to criticise the laurels which Hobsbaum has earned, but I do wish to point out that, as he confesses, `somewhere inside of me there is a small ghost who whispers: "One should not be at ease in a world such as ours." As the man said when I read him in my youth: "The point is to change it."' (313). However, he interprets the world marvelously--if evasively.
[Review edited from an on-line essay for the Belfast-based journal The Blanket.]
a sad tale.......2004-08-09
Much as I admire Hobsbawm's histories of Europe and "invention of tradition", I felt, when reading this account of a long life, as if the author is evading his own personality, his own roots, seeking refuge in apostolic and childish occupations without having a real sense of humour, and setting to write his own history and diaries without a keen talent to face and practice life and times as it realy faced him in a sensitive, humam attitude: The Holocaust, of which he hardly makes a note, and with it Jewish collective fate, both in Nazi Germany and in his beloved Soviet Russia. Moreover(on page 295 in the Abacus paperback edition), he makes a rather stupid, or perhaps malicious comparison between Stalinist Russia, Vichi France and the State of Israel. He does mention the great Israeli Historian, Prof. Jacob Talmon, as the only person giving him a helping hand in hard times, but has other than that only bad language and simple, narrow thoughts about the only place on earth which has opened welcoming doors to ANY Jew escaping Nazi Europe, not only to a lucky, selected few which had landed elsewhere.
Similar opinions are widespread in Europe today (and in academic circles in Israel too). I for one welcome any debate on Israeli policies. But In Hobsbawm's book there isn't any. Only harsh, cold, unjust remarks, which stand in harsh dissonance to his kind description of almost anything and anyone associated with left-wing English Sports or British Jazz. Pity how Brecht's poem which he likes so much ("An die Nachgeborenen")could apply to this "unfriendly" autobiography of a great historian and scholar.
Interesting but humourless.......2004-03-26
Eric Hobsbawn has led a fascinating life and has added enormously to the understanding of the last two centuries withhis brilliant historical mind.
I enjoyed reading his autobiography, but I found it to be almost humourless and astonishingly free of anecdote. He comes across as an earnest devotee of communism. His wrestling with the failure of communism - both morally and materially - is one of the most engaging features of the book. But I wanted to know the person and person does not seem to appear at all. In truth, it is an extended essay on his life and times, but very little else.
Average customer rating:
- So you want to be a Barbarian
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Interesting Times (Discworld)
Terry Pratchett
Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0552153214
Release Date: 2005-10-31 |
Book Description
The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought on by the revolutionary treatise “What I Did on My Holidays.” Workers are uniting, and war is spreading through the ancient cities. And all that stands in the way of terrible doom is . . . Rincewind the Wizard, who can’t even spell the word “wizard.”
Customer Reviews:
So you want to be a Barbarian.......2006-01-16
"Interesting Times" features Rincewind, the inept wizard who prefers to run away from danger, but always ends up in the thick of it. He's been bounced through life like a "pea on a drum" along with his companion, a carnivorous, multilegged suitcase.
He's not my favorite Discworld character by any means (he comes in well below the igors and the members of the Vampire Temperance Union), but Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde also stomp and wheel (as in wheelchair) through this book, so it's well worth reading.
(If you do decide Rincewind is worth pursuing, start with "The Colour of Magic" (Disworld, Book 1) and "The Light Fantastic" (Discworld, Book2)).
When the Counterweight Continent's Empire of Hong, Sung, Fang, Tang, and McSweeney requests a 'Great Wizzard' from Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University, Rincewind is not the first name that would have popped into my mind, but the Archchancellor, Mustrum Ridcully is much cannier than I. He knows that only Rincewind spells his (dubious) title with two 'Z's. As Ridcully puts it, "'what kind of sad, hopeless person needs to write WIZZARD on their hat?'"
The reason Lord Hong requested a 'Wizzard' is rather convoluted. Basically he's looking for a fall guy to take the blame when he assassinates the current Emperor. One thing you could say about Rincewind is that he's the perfect fall guy.
Unfortunately for Lord Hong, wanna-be Son of Heaven, Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde arrive in town about the same time as Rincewind, and they also think they'd like to take a shot at ruling the Empire.
The Horde may be well past the age of collecting Social Security, but the old reflexes are still intact. When the tax collector, Six Beneficent Winds makes the mistake of threatening them with 'seas of blood' and 'mountains of skulls', Ghengiz Cohen and his horde of six are ready to rumble--as long as there's no siege. As one of the barbarians puts it, "Sieges are messy. I hate eating boots and rats."
Not even the god of Fate can predict the outcome of the Silver Horde plus Rincewind versus the Counterweight Continent's entire army.
Book Description
One in six children in Canada lives in poverty. These children go to school hungry, in clothes that aren't warm enough for northern winters. They get sick more often than other children. They are more likely to drop out of school and end up in a low-paying job, out of work or on the street. In A Child Is Not a Toy, Sheila Baxter provides a voice for adults who had been poor as children, and social workers, teachers and others who work with young people. In search for solutions to these problems, Baxter looks at the federal government's new support programs and the provincial welfare programs for families with children, at community street workers and drop-in centres, and at the needs of children who are poor.
Book Description
This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library New York State Historical monographs collection.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent series of stories about a real woman and her world
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May You Live in Interesting Times (Iowa Short Fiction Award)
Tereze Gluck
Manufacturer: University Of Iowa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0877455198 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent series of stories about a real woman and her world.......1999-05-19
This lovely collection of stories is refreshing in it's honesty and authenticity. This is how real women think and emote. A refreshing change from the more frivolous, albeit amusing, fiction genre that has become so popular. If you want to have short journeys with an interesting woman, read these stories. This author truly understands how intellectual women and men process the world they live in.
Book Description
That's Fit to Print""All the NewsOn June 21, 1950, the front page slogan appeared like this. By the time the error was noticed, it was too late to correct it that day. But it was corrected, in a manner of speaking, the next day and every day thereafter.Even Homer nods. Some mistakes are careless oversights while others are genuine howlers. This irresistible collection of notable errors from the pages of The New York Times includes everything from gross historical inaccuracies, glaring misidentifications, and disastrous recipes to a wide range of inexplicable, unsupportable boners. Kill Duck Before Serving is a quirky selection of all the corrections fit to print by one of our most esteemed newspapers.March 11, 1975In yesterday's issue, The New York Times did not report on riots in Milan and the subsequent murder of the lay religious reformer Erlembald. These events took place in 1075, the year given in the dateline under the nameplate on Page 1. The Times regrets both incidents.April 7, 1995Because of a transcription error, an article about Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato's remarks about Judge Lance A. Ito misquoted the Senator at one point. In his conversation with the radio host Don Imus, he said: "I mean, this is a disgrace. Judge Ito will be well known." He did not say, "Judge Ito with the wet nose."October 22, 2000An article about Ivana Trump and her spending habits misstated the number of bras she buys. It is two dozen black, two dozen beige and two dozen white, not two thousand of each.July 14, 1985A report misidentified the document on which John Hancock put his famous prominent signature. It was the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.
Customer Reviews:
Some gems, but neither humorous nor useful.......2007-04-21
There are two ways in which a book such as "Kill Duck Before Serving" can succeed: as a comedy or as a warning. "Kill Duck Before Serving" does neither.
Yes, there are some funny errors in this book (most of which are mentioned in one of the editorial reviews published on this page), but most of the errors are as boring as any corrections page. Consider this one from page 90: "Page 52 of some copies on Saturday was blank." Is that something most people are interested in? Is that funny? It didn't seem so to me.
The book also fails as an exercise in journalistic transparency. No information is given as to why these specific mistakes were chosen to appear in the book. There's no commentary explaining why the errors happened in the first place, or discussion of how errors (such as the erroneous report that Bill Clinton tied up an airport to get his hair cut - I'm sure most Americans still believe this to be the gospel truth) can cause serious damage to an individual's or a corporation's image.
I did enjoy Tom Bloom's drawings, which livened up some of the duller corrections.
I don't particularly recommend this book.
Mediocre bathroom book.......2005-12-05
Occasionally humorous, often obtuse, frequently pointless, this correction collection is only good for one thing I can think of: To briefly take one's mind off one's business while in the necessary room. It's certainly not worth the $13.95 cover price, but for this one purposes it passes the time with an occasional chuckle. Odd premise for a book.
Hubris leads to continued Red Faces @ Grand Old Lady.......2004-11-18
"Red Faces at The New York Times" is "[a] collection of the newspaper's most interesting, embarrassing[,] and off-beat corrections".
Some would say that this NYT publication is an amazing display of collective hubris, and they would be right. It is an amazing example of dangling pr[o]positions, which is something of which they would not be put.
Others would be amazed at the examples of NYT writers, and copyeditors, fact checkers, editors, et al, failing to get it correct in repeated tries, e.g. referring to Dickens' Xmas bird as a goose instead of a turkey. Which establishes beyond a doubt that, at Christmas, not all of the NYT turkeys are on the table. And these other observers would be most correct.
Which leads to this reviewer's glee at finding two uncorrected faux pas on the same page of this delightful source for Letterman's 10 Most lists. I refer to page 21, where in two successive paragraphs, Fermat's conjecture is displayed incorrectly.
Fermat's conjecture, not a theorem, concerned an equation: "x[superscript]n + y[superscript]n = z[superscript]n" which Fermat suggest would have no solution where x, y, and z are positive whole numbers and [superscript]n is a whole number [power] more than 2. Unfortunately, in this tome of contrition, the equation is given as "xn +yn = zn" [no superscript "n"] which of course has an unlimited number of solutions.
This book was also compiled prior to the wholesale invention and plagarism embroglio which terminated two arrogant editors.
Non tu scis, quom et alto puteo sursum ad summum escenderis, maximum periclum inde esse ab summo ne rursum cadas. [Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 1150-1151]
Ho-hum.......2003-12-06
Wish I'd read the customer reviews before I bought it. A bit of humor, but mostly tedious. Disappointing.
Amusing? Sometimes. Hilarious? Not Really........2003-05-19
Be sure you buy this book with the right expectations. It's not a collection of uniformly hilarious bungles like the "Anguished English" series. As an earlier reviewer noted, there are a few genuinely funny bloopers mixed with many, many dry errors of fact, number, or spelling. There's an irritating undertone of "Look how we at the great New York Times can laugh at ourselves" here, and it doen't make for entertaining reading.
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Recommended Books
- The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers
- Mio, My Son
- Chemical Engineering Dynamics: Modelling with PC Simulation, 2nd Edition
- Flea Palace
- Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor
- Introduction to Cosmology
- Grandmothers Are Like Snowflakes...No Two Are Alike: Words of Wisdom, Gentle Advice, & Hilarious
- Design Through Discovery: The Elements and Principles
- Elliott Erwitt Flip-o-Rama Italia
- DEAR AND NOBLE BOY: The Life and Letters of Louis Stokes, 1897-1916
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes
