History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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.

Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, Book One)

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Not Free SF Reader
Excellent Work of Fiction and Philosophy
Classics!
Book Three is best
Great allegory and Good Science Fiction

Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, Book One)
C.S. Lewis
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743234901

Book Description

The first book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

If I was lamenting the state of contemporary fiction, as wikipedia mentions Lewis says in his biography, this is not what I would want to see happen to provide a cure.

A cure for insomnia, or, in a pinch, a firelighter, perhaps, but there is not much else of interest here.

Excellent Work of Fiction and Philosophy.......2007-08-01

Lewis's account of a philologist kidnapped by a pair of scientists (one a warped idealist and the other motivated strictly by greed) is a wonderful work of fiction which touches on topics such as education, philosophy and religion. Its basis in Christian belief will be clear to the educated reader, though the unfamiliar names used to describe it may make the book more palatable to those who like science fiction but are wary of being 'preached to.' Perhaps its most charming strength is its reconciliation of a scientific understanding of the universe with a view of the world to which wonder, mystery and the miraculous are critical. In this book, the two are complimentary rather than contradictory and in the end Lewis makes it abundantly clear that this was his intent. The power of language is a theme throughout and its power both to mask and reveal ideas is sublimely shown when the philologist, Ransom, must translate into an alien tongue the philosophy of the physicist Weston. What Weston uses his polished vocabulary and oratory to convey, Ransom must restate in simple words and in so doing lays bare their real meanings and inherent contradictions.
Science fiction and fantasy fans will find a competently written plot filled out with engaging characters and plenty of fascinating, detailed images of alien landscapes, flora and fauna. Though it does involve a space journey, its tone is closer to Lord of the Rings than Star Wars or Star Trek (without LOTR's epic scope). Christians will find a reminder of the beauty of their faith and anybody interested in philosophy and ethics will find plenty of material to absorb and debate.

Classics!.......2007-07-12

This was a wonderful classic that I discovered! It can be read by adults and older kids (teens). C.S. Lewis is a master!

Book Three is best.......2007-06-10

This is a fascinating book and story that must be read all the way through book three in the series to be truly understood. One needs to remember that it was written so long ago that the prose is, to me, cumbersome and Lewis goes on and on about things philosophizing at great length about the smallest issue. I felt I had to stick with it in spite of this because by the time I began to see this, I had already invested too much time in the reading of it.

Great allegory and Good Science Fiction.......2007-05-28

Clive Staples Lewis can be called the father of Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Out of the Silent Planet, written in 1938, is the first of a trilogy of stories. The others are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.

Lewis is the author of many novels including, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and the other Narnia stories as well as non-fiction works including Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man and A Grief Observed. Lewis was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings. Both were professors at Oxford University and members of an informal literary group called the Inklings.

The science part of the story is largely dated. Lewis had little idea what space travel would be like. His Mars is a much more Earth-like planet than we now know it to be. The writing style is also somewhat dated, being told in narrative more than is done in modern literature, but it still works both as an adventure and allegory. In all of his fiction works Lewis uses allegory to teach Christianity. In the story Elwin Ransom, the protagonist, is kidnapped and transported to Mars by two acquaintances. Ransom flees his captors upon arrival on the alien world. After a couple days of travel he sees a Hross. At first he thinks it is just a beast but he realizes it is speaking and slowly they begin communication. Later he meets Oyarsa the ruler of the planet and, most likely, an archangel. Oyarsa's messengers, regular angels, are called eldila. Ransom also learns that Earth is the silent planet, cut off because it is ruled by the Bent One, a fallen angel.

As he says near the end of this story, "What we need...is not so much a body of belief as a body of people familiarized with certain ideas." His overriding purpose in Out of the Silent Planet is to familiarize a secular world with some of the principles of the Christian faith.

As the story wraps up, the narrator laments the evil he sees spreading across the world and of his hope that the direction of history might be altered. Of course Lewis knew that evil rules this world and only at the end would it be defeated.

Recommendation: To understand Christian Science Fiction, start with Out of the Silent Planet. It remains a five-star story.

Kyle Pratt

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hysterical fun
Exquisit Child
5 whole stars of fun
The Extraordinary Girl

Matilda (Puffin Modern Classics)
Roald Dahl
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142402532

Book Description

Matilda is a sweet five-year-old with extraordinary mental powers—powers she uses to teach her school's evil head mistress a lesson she'll never forget!

Customer Reviews:

hysterical fun.......2007-09-28

I feel sad for anyone who has seen the movie before reading this book because it certainly doesn't do it justice. Dahl is by far my favorite children's author and he never runs out of witty hilarity that's peppered throughout each book. Matilda is no exception. Dahl puts a spin on the orphaned child motif by empowering children. He also spices it up with a big of magic that's directly connected to Matilda's love of reading and her knack for creative problem solving. Matilda's lovable, humble, and a wonderful model for young readers who, well...love to read.

Exquisit Child.......2007-06-01

I adored Matilda. She was born into an abusive family with dim-witted parents. All they do is watch t.v and never pay attention to Matilda. She goes to the library every single day, and checks out tons of books to take home, things like Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, ETC. Her parents are so annoyed, that they send her off to school, where Ms. Trunchball, the headmistress, is very ugly, mean, and nasty to children. She hates them all. But Matilda soon falls in love with her teacher, Ms. Honey, and then she developes an exquisit power to move things with her eyes. I would love a power like that. I borrowed it off my teacher's book-shelf, took it home, and din't return it until the very last day of school! I would rather read this than watch t.v~!

5 whole stars of fun.......2007-05-29

I LOVED LOVED LOVED Matilda. She got control over her dimwitted parents. By all that reading, she got fabulous mind power to MOVE THINGS WITH HER OWN EYEBALLS! I would love a power like that! Ms. Trunchball was mean! She twirled a girl by her hair! She said she was never a child. How could that be? And I wonder how her parents could wtch so much T.V, and be so rude! Espiecally to a teacher! Her father was u-fair, too. Selling cars like that to people! What a twit! I also watched the movie, I saw the book on my teacher's book shelf, I picked it up, and I just got hooked! I borrowed it, and I didn't give it back until the very last day of school! i think the book is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY better than the movie is! I also can't take it that Matilda read GREAT EXPECTATIONS at 4 years old! And all those other ones! I can't wait till I go back to the library again and check it out! You'll love this book, I Garentee.

The Extraordinary Girl.......2007-05-24

Matilda by Roald Dahl will always be a classic. Matilda is a five year old girl from the U.K. who finds herself able to do extraordinary things. She is a brilliant person who comes from gormless parents and a family of crooks. However, along her journey she falls in love with her teacher, Miss Honey, and learns family doesn't have to be blood related. I loved the fictional story of Matilda, but thought the author could have taken more time developing the story and been more descriptive. Also, I wasn't quite sure who the book was written for because the vocabulary was exquisite, but the story was for a child. Therefore, I recommend this book for teenage girls. After you read the book, watch the movie and see the characters you love in even more depth!

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)

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Timeless Entertainment
A Modern Masterpiece
Nihilistic buffoonery that opens the door to truth, understanding and redemption.
Mind-warping and mind-expanding!
Thursday's Child has far to go

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)
G.K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375757910
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Amazon.com

In an article published the day before his death, G.K. Chesterton called The Man Who Was Thursday "a very melodramatic sort of moonshine." Set in a phantasmagoric London where policemen are poets and anarchists camouflage themselves as, well, anarchists, his 1907 novel offers up one highly colored enigma after another. If that weren't enough, the author also throws in an elephant chase and a hot-air-balloon pursuit in which the pursuers suffer from "the persistent refusal of the balloon to follow the roads, and the still more persistent refusal of the cabmen to follow the balloon."

But Chesterton is also concerned with more serious questions of honor and truth (and less serious ones, perhaps, of duels and dualism). Our hero is Gabriel Syme, a policeman who cannot reveal that his fellow poet Lucian Gregory is an anarchist. In Chesterton's agile, antic hands, Syme is the virtual embodiment of paradox:

He came of a family of cranks, in which all the oldest people had all the newest notions. One of his uncles always walked about without a hat, and another had made an unsuccessful attempt to walk about with a hat and nothing else. His father cultivated art and self-realization; his mother went in for simplicity and hygiene. Hence the child, during his tenderer years, was wholly unacquainted with any drink between the extremes of absinthe and cocoa, of both of which he had a healthy dislike.... Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, Gabriel had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left--sanity.

Elected undercover into the Central European Council of anarchists, Syme must avoid discovery and save the world from any bombings in the offing. As Thursday (each anarchist takes the name of a weekday--the only quotidian thing about this fantasia) does his best to undo his new colleagues, the masks multiply. The question then becomes: Do they reveal or conceal? And who, not to mention what, can be believed? As The Man Who Was Thursday proceeds, it becomes a hilarious numbers game with a more serious undertone--what happens if most members of the council actually turn out to be on the side of right? Chesterton's tour de force is a thriller that is best read slowly, so as to savor his highly anarchic take on anarchy. --Kerry Fried

Book Description

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.

Download Description

Widely considered as Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) defies classification. Subtitled 'A nightmare' by Chesterton, on one level it is a fast-moving and surreal detective story. Drawing on contemporary fears of anarchist conspiracies and bomb outrages, The Man Who Was Thursday is firmly rooted in its time and place - turn-of-the-century London - but it also defies temporal boundaries. Police Detective Syme finds himself drawn into a world that seems to have gone beyond humanity when he is elected 'Thursday', one of the members of the Central European Council of seven monarchs. Dreamlike, prophetic, and frequently funny, the novel attacks contemporary pessimism and, through a bizarre series of pursuits and unmaskings, returns Syme - and us - to earth more aware of its beauty, promise, and creative potential.

Customer Reviews:

Timeless Entertainment.......2007-05-18

Chesterton sure knows how to write a thriller. Its turns are anything but predictable; its twists are also anything but nonsensical.

Despite Chesterton's intimation that it is simply a nightmare, I find it highly allegorical. Perhaps what's in a man's heart just comes out on the page, whether he intended it or not.

It's interesting that Chesterton picked anarchists as symbolic of the greatest evil of Satan. The book definitely lends itself to allegory, and it seems to have a very ambitious goal: to answer why there is evil in the world. The answer is also very interesting: good people suffer so that in the end when the accuser stands, righteousness will prevail not because it is untested, but exactly because it has been tested and purified. Sunday/Sabbath is a very interesting figure: simply by his presence he exposes everything. The greatest evil and anarchy is the deception that turns brothers against each other, and that evil is nothing MORE than a great deception. It's a very interesting concept, and plays throughout the book in the theme of the rash vows the Days promised to various others--and specifically, Thursday's promise to Gregory.

The book is to be savored like a fine wine: with good food and slowly. You definitely need a few nights to absorb it, and, plan on a rereading. Personally, I loved it. I'm kind of sad *that* dream is over!

A Modern Masterpiece.......2007-04-18

Chesterton, the master of paradox, hits his stride in this dream of paranoia. For those of you who like your thrillers to pack their punches in terms of caliber, pints of blood shed, or body-count, you can all sod off. This is a thriller for the mind and the soul -- its aim is to save you from yourselves.

If you want your English simple, straighforward, fed to you in easy subject-verb-object format, leave as well. This is more post-modern than any of those douchebags you've been fed in your graduate classes at U.C. Santa Barbara.

If Chesterton is not the greatest modern author, then that is only because T.S. Eliot or Evelyn Waugh is slightly better.

The chief pity is that Americans -- most direly in need of this sort of instruction -- will not read this work.

Nihilistic buffoonery that opens the door to truth, understanding and redemption........2007-03-26

Because of our own doing, evil has been given a permanent place in our world, and G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, illustrates that fact perfectly.

At the very beginning of the novel, the daylight scene of the neighborhood changes by nightfall to a reality that is mind-bending and questionable, at best: "More especially this attractive unreality fell upon it about nightfall, when the extravagant roofs were dark against the afterglow and the whole insane village seemed as separate as a drifting cloud. " Page eight. As that evolution of perception can be placed upon an environment, again by our doing, how can that affect the perception of the people who are occupied within its confines? It does, yet it does so on a deeper plain. When is the presentation of goodness real goodness versus goodness out of obligation or duty? And can the person discern kindly obligation vis-a-vis authentic Christian goodness? Or are the two so firmly meshed together that they can not be extricated, for past events have indeed raised that question mark. It is a slippery slope, and one must always be on guard when goodness is used in order to obtain something compared to when something is offered freely without expectations or obligations, and we are speaking about the philosophical, and especially the theological here. Who can be trusted, and who can not be? Even though the act of proving oneself is cyclical, who is more credible, the one or the other, and what if the two are a part of the same circle and there is a divide, as say in religion? Who will predominate? Who is truer to God? And are facades used to mislead people? It has happened before.

What I enjoyed very much about The Man Who Was Thursday was that it raised an assortment of these types of questions upon my reading it, and they too were applicable in regards to faith and the Catholic Church, whose exposed duplicity (and I say that without spite) also raised a vast array of questions. As human beings are inherently fallible, religious or otherwise, it is faith (choose your denomination) that is the stabilizer for the unsteady human condition: "'You were,' said Syme seriously, and hung the heavy lantern over the front. There was a certain allegory of their whole position in the contrast between the modern automobile and its strange, ecclesiastical lamp." P. 137. The strange, ecclesiastical lamp was doubtlessly symbolic of the light of Christ, the light of God, who is Truth in times of duplicity and doubt, where people, the anarchists, who appear to be anything what they really are. And when you can not even trust those who are close to you, which happens quite frequently to the characters in The Man Who Was Thursday, via fumbling idiocy and gnawing black doubt, you can only trust the light and blood of Christ as the last vestage of hope, for that love is life changing, and pages 163 through 167 are vital to the minute comprehension of that unknown gloriousness, for Sunday, towards the latter end of the novel, for escape purposes, rises via the aid of a balloon in a bumbling form of resurrection that is humanly endearing, pleasing and desirious in its own right.

Another element that makes The Man Who Was Thursday so appealing is that it has such an in-your-face truth offering in respects to people of power and authority and those who abuse that authority that is anything but faith-oriented: "The only crime of the Government is that it governs. The unpardonable sin of the supreme power is that it is supreme. I do not curse you for being cruel. I do not curse you (though I might) for being kind. I curse you for being safe! You sit in your chairs of stone, and have never come down from them..." Page 180. For someone in any capacity of religious or poiltical authority, who abuse their power and overlook their fallibility, to be privy to an act of evil (you choose what evil) and yet stay stoned silent, that is where that Light needs to seep into. Let not pride or the haughty veneer of what one is or desires to be prevent that.

In order to accept faith, one must know fully what he or she is, and that is what makes the novel so uplifting and jolly; it is an optimistic novel, because it mocks the bleakness of nihilism. Chesterton even has the happy-go-lucky audacity of inserting himself in the novel, but he does so with the full knowledge of where he came from, and where, in the end of life, he is fortunately going towards. "Chesterton is so thrilled by his acrobatic stroll along the razor's edge of nihilism that he earns hus sunniness a new on every page."--xvi. It is because he was never alone. We do seem to forget that every now and then.

Mind-warping and mind-expanding!.......2007-03-22

The Man Who Was Thursday is a Christian allegory, but it is not a simple allegory of the Christian faith, ala The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This book is an allegory by a Christian thinker, for Christians. The Anarchists of this book are not the real-life bomb-throwers, but represent free will - the freedom to do evil. The policemen represent the Christian's desires to reign in the evil, and Sunday represents the Universe, the ultimate giver of good and evil.

Is this a great philosophical work, a key to understanding the ultimate nature of God? Well, you'll have to read that and decide for yourself. As for me, I found it to be a fascinating and at time unsettling work. It's easy to see why this book is considered a Christian classic, and its also easy to see why so many people read it and declare that they had no idea what it was about.

This is another one of those mind-warping book that is difficult to understand, but mind-expanding as you begin to grasp what the author is saying. I highly recommend this book!

Thursday's Child has far to go.......2007-01-30

The plot of this book is crafted with mechanical precision. Start to read and you've pulled the switch and it all gets rolling. Each word, sentence and paragraph accumulates into a picturesque ride moving initially at a cruising pace. Then the story continues to develop page-by-page gaining momentum and the reader at warp speed is drawn completely into Chesterton's improbable world. It is a not so subtle allegory of broadly drawn characters and events informed by what I interpret as the author's deeply held religious convictions. Here is planet Earth and the jolly, impish God overseeing every little thing of his creation. It's rough out there all right but hard work and great fortitude will see us mortals through. This is just what Thursday and the other bogus "anarchists" find through all their trials and lunacy. The Man Who was Thursday is not a great book (there are many people that think it is) but it is entertaining; clever through rather sophmoric. It occurred to me that the old Monty Python gang could have made it into a great movie that would have done justice to its zaniness. Maybe Tim Burton?

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fantastical
Good Book
To Find What You Truly Want
Present
Neverending Story

The Neverending Story
Michael Ende
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140074317

Customer Reviews:

fantastical.......2007-07-31

this is one of the most beautiful books i have ever read. i come back to it because i feel that there is a very important message in it.

in buddhism there is a profound experience called anatta, also known as no self or the unborn. this experience where you no longer have an 'I' is an experience of pristine emptiness. a bit like the emptiness of pure water... you can see and feel it within you... well my emptiness was attacked by this grey meaningless 'nothingness' and i found that i had to create a new 'i' for myself. otherwise, i think i would have been lost totally in limbo.

since this experience, i have come even more to see this story as true and a real magical interface with our aspect of reality. nothingness is real and it is attacking our world. just look at the grey concrete tower blocks, the grey streets in some of our cities. the unemotional coldness and indifference so many people feel nowadays.

this man did not write this story, it birthed itself. michael ende merely held the pen and bastian bulthazzar bux leaped through a magical doorway into our world.

so watch out for the nothingness, the grey wolves are on the prowl...

love snow-flake xxx

Good Book.......2007-07-26

This book will take you away,,, to the neverending story. I like how the book differenciates the story itself with different color print (the book the boy reads is in a different color) so you know which part is the story and which part is the book the boy in the story is reading! Buy it in hardcover, it gives you a sense of permanence.

To Find What You Truly Want.......2007-07-06

If you've never seen the movie version of "The Neverending Story," then read the book first. If you have seen one of the movies, then read the book as soon as possible, since neither of the movies do the book justice.

The story starts out with young Bastian Balthasar Bux going into a bookstore and stealing a book entitled "The Neverending Story." For reasons he can't explain, Bastian felt that he had to have the book. Shutting himself up in the school attic, he reads about Atreyu, the chosen messenger to find a cure for the Childlike Empress and prevent The Nothing from destroying Fantastica. Atreyu discovers that the Childlike Empress needs a new name, and that only someone from the human world, the savior, can give her one. The savior turns out to be none other than Bastian himself! He thinks of a new name for her once he reads about her, but he must say her name out loud for Fantastica to be saved. Fearing what the Childlike Empress will think of him once she sees him, Bastian holds off saying the name aloud. Eventually, when Fantastica's destruction is imminent, Bastian says her new name out loud, and he is drawn into Fantastica, and transformed into a handsome, heroic-looking figure. The Childlike Empress tells Bastian that whatever he wishes for will come true, until he finds out what he truly wants. Unfortunately, he soon finds out that for every wish, he loses a memory of his life in the human world. I will leave off at this point, except to point out that Bastian journeys in his wishes from self-centeredness to self-giving.

"The Neverending Story" is a multi-layered work that people of all ages can enjoy. In addition to being a wonderfully readable fantasy/adventure story, it is rich in philosophy and symbolism. For example, The Nothing that is slowly destroying Fantastica could be symbolic of people losing their capacity for imagination and creativity. In addition, Bastian's quest to find out what he really wants is immensely rich in its philosophical implications, not to mention Campbell-ite hero quest overtones. Hopefully a movie will be re-made (possible as a mini-series) that will follow the book more closely and do this great work justice.

Present.......2007-07-03

I like many other people have seen the movie, and I love it. Last Christmas a friend gave me the book.
It is a beautiful story and a classic.

Neverending Story.......2007-05-17

This is a wonderful story that draws you into it just like it did Bastian. It's a must read for adults as well as children. I was looking for the same printing of the book I had found in a local library in the 1980's which was larger and printed in different color inks. Even though this edition of the book is like a hardbound paperback, the story is just as good.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Modern Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

Excellent edition of an enduring classic
A Trip Down The Rabbit Hole All Grown Up

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Modern Library Classics)
Lewis Carroll
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375761381
Release Date: 2002-12-10

Book Description

Conceived by a shy British don on a golden afternoon to entertain ten-year-old Alice Liddell and her sisters, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have delighted generations of readers in more than eighty languages. “The clue to the enduring fascination and greatness of the Alice books,” writes A. S. Byatt in her Introduction, “lies in language. . . . It is play, and word-play, and its endless intriguing puzzles continue to reveal themselves long after we have ceased to be children.”

Customer Reviews:

Excellent edition of an enduring classic.......2006-06-07

The Modern Library edition is a nice choice for the adult reader, featuring all the wonderful original illustrations (by British political cartoonist John Tenniel), a thoughtful forward by A.S. Byatt, and just enough notes and commentary to provide some additional historical and cultural context.

Lewis Carroll was an imaginitive genius and has created some of the most unforgettable and timeless characters with this work - the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee & Tweedledum, the hookah-smoking Caterpiller, the perpetually late White Rabbit - and the absurd situations Alice finds herself in are poignant and amusing at the same time.

However, one thing I did not realize coming back to these stories for the first time as an adult was just how largely character and situation-driven these stories are. Carroll moves rather disjointedly from one nonsensical scenario to the next, paying very little attention to a cohesive narrative thread. Indeed the world of Alice is best experienced as a whole, when the menagerie of characters can come to life, but these stories could just as easily be read out of order or taken out piece by piece. The creative work doesn't suffer a bit because of this, but readers should not come to these books expecting a novelistic experience.

These are creatures to love, lines to savor, and the most curious things to consider.

A Trip Down The Rabbit Hole All Grown Up.......2005-07-14

There is one thing that all potential customers must keep in mind when buying any Alice book: Do not purchase one that does not include the illustrations of John Tenniel! This edition includes all of them and the quality of the reproductions on the pages are excellent. Tenniel's illustrations help add to the childish excitement of Carroll's stories and will be especially invaluable to teenagers and adults, having just by nature of growing up lost some of the imaginative innocence, that ability to stretch reality, that we all possessed as kids.

Of course, the illustrations wouldn't mean jack if they didn't have a captivating story to work with. Carroll's amusing tale of nonsense is targeted as a kid's book, and that is always where many of our fondest memories of it will remain, but as a college student reading it I was amazed by its power to suspend reality and return me to a level of imagination that I had simply thought I lost somewhere along the way. The trip down the rabbit hole can be quite a different experience from a different point of view.

This particular edition also includes a good introduction and very helpful explanatory notes organized chapter by chapter. The introduction and notes offer insights to Carroll's life and his relations with the real life Alice and her family that, from a student viewpoint, reveal an interesting and more personal side of the Alice tales.

Average customer rating:

Quite a good book
Pleasant story
Excellent Book!
Funniest Book I've Ever Read
Short & Refershing!

The Mouse that Roared: A Novel
Leonard Wibberley
Manufacturer: Four Walls Eight Windows
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568582498

Book Description

The basis of the 1959 film starring Peter Sellers, this classic cold war satire-cum-parable-cum-political farce was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post almost 50 years ago, appearing under the title The Day New York Was Invaded. At the time, the U.S. was afraid of a nuclear attack by Russia — the idea of an attack by a small country was so absurd as to seem comical. Wibberley’s tiny European nation is furious about unfair U.S. trading practices, so they send an army to invade New York City, march up Broadway, and accidentally capture the world’s newest and most destructive bomb. Then they have to figure out what to do with it. A whimsical cross between Kubrick and Kafka, The Mouse That Roared is a quirky classic of world literature, a poignant tale of political morality, and a hilarious, ultimately triumphant portrait of international relations from the perspective of the little guy.

Customer Reviews:

Quite a good book.......2007-08-23

I had to read this for 10th grade English, and it is one of the (very) few good books i have read for school.
The author tells the story in a humorous, interesting manner, and the story line is good. If I had not already known, I would have never guessed that is was written in the 50's. Being a political satire, the novel poses many things to think about besides the story. This is fairly quick and easy read also. I would recommend it.

Pleasant story.......2007-05-22

We are spending part of the weekend at my brother's house. When I visit family and friends I like to spend a few minutes and look through their bookshelves. You can tell a lot about people by the kinds of books they read. I've been checking out my brother's books.

Last night I happened across The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberly in one of my brother's bookshelves. (Yes, he had a nice collection of books.) Years ago I had watched part of the movie version with Peter Sellers. It seemed like a pleasant movie, but for some reason I had never watched the whole movie. I started the book last night and finished today.

The book takes place in the 1950s, during the height of the Cold War. The book creates a country named Grand Fenwick up in the Alps of Europe. It was founded 600 years ago by an Englishman. This small country is five by seven miles with 4,500 people. The country is suffering economically. An American company is illegally ce making the exact same wine that Grand Fenwick sells. Grand Fenwick tries to go through diplomatic channels for redress and is ignored. Finally they decide to declare war on the United States, with the expectation that they would lose, but that the United States would invest money into them. There was precedent for this, after World War II the United States spent billions helping Germany and Japan rebuild.

Since this is fiction there is little surprise that Grand Fenwick wins the war about two thirds of the way through the book. The rest of the book is about how Grand Fenwick handles its unexpected victory.

I enjoyed the book. It was fun and light hearted. I don't plan to track down the other four books. Maybe some day I'll happen across one of the sequels.

Excellent Book!.......2006-05-03

I did not put this book down, it was very amusing and creative! It is definitely worth a read!

Funniest Book I've Ever Read.......2006-02-06

I first read this book when I was in high school, and I liked it so much the first time that I read it again. Years later, when I was preparing my "lesson" plan for a literature class I was to teach for advanced high school-aged students, I picked this as one of the novels to study. Unfortunately, at that time it was out of print, but we found enough copies for our class and had a great time learning and laughing with the book.

Unfortunately, the topics are still as relevant today as they were in the 60's and 70's. America is still waging war. America is still a "super power" willingly flexing its collective muscles whenever and wherever. We're still seen as this huge corporation with no knowledge of or regard for the people we (often negatively) affect. It's like in the movie Hotel Rwanda, the hotel owner thanks the cameraman for filming the massacre and states a belief that it will cause an international outcry, and the cameraman states that he thinks people will see the images, say, "How horrible!" and go back to eating their dinner.

Thankfully, Leonard Wibberly did not just say, "How horrible!" but chose to write about it in a humorous and entertaining way. Maybe someday, we'll heed the message :). Until then, I'm thrilled to see that the book is back in print and has found a new audience.

Short & Refershing!.......2005-06-27

The book captivated me from beginning to end. Its observations were dead on, the plot was hilarious, the language was elegant and the characters were loveable. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Average customer rating:

The Book of Sin
Like a mirror in which we see our selves
I was moved to tears.
Very moving.
Shattering, moving, brilliant sequel to Dun Cow

Book of Sorrows, The
Jr., Walter Wangerin
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 031021081X

Book Description

This sequel to the award-winning The Book of the Dun Cow stands on its own as a powerful work of literature. In this absorbing, highly original fantasy, Chauntecleer, Pertelote, and the other familiar characters of the Coop struggle to piece together their shattered lives in the aftermath of the terrible conflict with the dreaded Wyrm. But their respite is short-lived: Into this struggling community, Wyrm again insinuates himself, with dire consequences for all. The reappearance of the dog Mundo Coni unveils a darker mystery yet -- and the threat of a final horror when evil yields up its most devastating secrets. Told by a master storyteller, The Book of Sorrows is a taught and spellbinding tale that immerses readers in a variety of adventures -- heroic, humorous, and touching -- moving inexorably toward the final confrontation that decides the fate of the characters and their world. No one who reads it will remain unmoved. It explores the value and goodness of existence, the darker side of reality, and qualities of love, kindness, courage, and hope that can transform even "this troublous existence." Here is fast-paced fantasy filled with richly drawn characters and gripping excitement, set against a colorful, fully realized world, and with depth of meaning that will draw readers back again and again to ponder the images long after the final battle is waged between the forces of life and death.

Customer Reviews:

The Book of Sin.......2007-06-04

I actually found this book rather anti-climatic because I literally thought every character was going to die. That's what someone told me anyways. Well, not every character dies, but some do. Of course, the deaths aren't really all that unpredictable. They aren't meant to be surprising. They're just demonstrations of how we are able to destroy ourselves when we hold dear the things that hurt us most. Although this is most obviously demonstrated mostly through Chauntecleer's obsession with defeating Wyrm and taking care of Mundo Cani, we see it earlier in the book as well with the fox character and his talking. This book is more of a book of sin than a book of sorrows I think, because to me it screams how dangerous it is for our health when we treasure the sin that destroys us.

Although I liked this book, and how the struggles of Chauntecleer reminded me of the Concrete Blonde song "Joey," I didn't find its resolution as appealing and climatic as the inconclusive resolution of its prequel. But hey, at least I can say I know all about sorrows now that I've read the Book of Sorrows.

Like a mirror in which we see our selves.......2006-10-08

Wangerin's writing style is excellent. His understanding of human nature is clear and truthful. Pride (this may be Chauntecleer's primary fault) has dire consequences. Pride is beneath and gives power to being self-consumed as Chauntecleer was with his perceived failures after the battle in The Book of the Dun Cow. This thinking and brooding of our failures, our pain, our sin leads us to neglect our responsibilities to those around us. We are led to think only of ourselves and to feel sorry for ourselves. As with the Lord Chauntecleer, those under his authority were full of fear and also became selfish. By the end of the book, Chauntecleer is released from the evil because he allowed himself to be loved and forgiven. Chauntecleer no longer needed to carry the burden of his failures and sins. But he would not allow the Dun Cow to forgive and heal him. Had he been humble and allowed the Dun Cow to forgive him, would the new sorrows have been avoided?

What is the lesson here for us? In this book, I see the importance of community, the importance of leadership, the need we have to be led justly and with love, the tragic result of self-pity, the damage caused by bitterness held within our hearts and, most of all, the power of forgiveness.

I was moved to tears........2006-03-29

Because I am a Dean Koontz fan I always wondered why and from where the quotes from The Book of Sorrows appeared so many times in his latest novels. So I found the book and read it for myself.
I've never actually cried while reading a book. But at least twice I wept as I read. Perhaps having the profound truths of being human were made more palatable expressed by animals. A Dun Cow exhibiting unrelenting forgiveness and love? A hen the courage and loyalty of a queen? All animals exhibiting our own worst and best. I've been a reading addict since childhood, now 57 and I've never read anything as moving as this...not even Holy scriptures. Glad Dean led me to it.

Very moving........2006-03-03

One of the previous reviewers is correct - this book is violent, but then it's worth remembering that so is tragedy (and violence, in part, helps make it so). This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read, and despite its violence I would recommend it to anyone. Sorrow is not an easily classified, nor friendly and uplifting, thing, and if you felt comfortable reading it then it would lose its effect. A must-read.

Shattering, moving, brilliant sequel to Dun Cow.......2003-11-18

In this shattering novel, Wangerin outdoes himself (and most others). I have read this book over 20 times. I keep coming back to it for its amazing characterizations and its ultimately uplifting and hopeful view of human nature. It still moves me to tears every time--and I'm not one to cry over novels.

Yes, the characters are animals, but this should not be a hindrance, as the characters are deliniated with such beauty and compassion that you will recognize the people in your life within them.

Yes, you should read "Dun Cow" first. It will enhance your understanding--though this book can stand alone. To know the background for this book will greatly improve your feeling for the characters.

Amazon.com

The brilliant Italian writer Italo Calvino (1923-1985) compiled Fantastic Tales: Visionary and Everyday, a historical overview of great fantastic literature of the 19th century. Many of his 26 selections are from well-known authors (Sir Walter Scott, Honoré de Balzac, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgenev, Guy de Maupassant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and H.G. Wells), but Calvino largely avoided their best-known stories; the only inclusions likely to be familiar to many Americans are Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," and H.G. Wells's "The Country of the Blind." The remaining contributors range from moderately well-known to obscure. So the reader who purchases Fantastic Tales gains not only an intelligently annotated anthology of superb fiction, but, in one pleasant sense, a collection of mostly new stories.

Interestingly, some of the finest stories are by authors least known in America. Théophile Gautier's beautifully written, wrenchingly ironic "The Beautiful Vampire" establishes the traditions for romantic vampire fiction. Mérimée's "The Venus of Ille," a tale of culture clashes (Parisian and rural, ancient classical, and contemporary Christian), is sharp, well-written, and uncommonly horrific. With the gorgeous "A Lasting Love," the sole woman contributor, Vernon Lee, paints the most vivid portrait of obsessive, transcendent, destructive love.

Caveat: Calvino's introductions sometimes reveal more of the plot than readers will like. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Compiled by Italo Calvino, one of the essential writers of the twentieth century (and editor of the best-selling Italian Folktales), Fantastic Tales is a rich and wide-ranging collection of twenty-six classic, uncanny tales from the nineteenth century written by an intriguing panoply of European and American authors. Master storyteller himself, Calvino has contributed an informative introduction to the collection, and an engaging précis to each story.

As Calvino writes in Fantastic Tales, which traces the genre from its roots in German Romanticism to the ghost stories of Henry James: "The fantastic tale is one of the most characteristic products of nineteenth-century narrative. For us, it is also one of the most significant. . . . As it relates to our sensibility today, the supernatural element at the heart of these stories always appears freighted with meaning, like the revolt of the unconscious, the repressed, the forgotten. . . . In this we see the modern dimension of the fantastic, the reason for its triumphant resurgence in our times."

Fantastic Tales is a fantastically canonical anthology assembled by an editor who, in the words of Salman Rushdie, "possesses the power of seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams back to life. "

Italo Calvino's works include The Road to San Giovanni, Numbers in the Dark, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, The Baron in the Trees, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, Invisible Cities, and Mr. Palomar. Calvino died in 1985.

Customer Reviews:

Hoping to be swept away..........2001-07-13

I was instead disappointed. I enjoyed Italo's Italian Folktakes so much that I thought this would be another endless read. Instead, I found it dry and methodical. While some of the stories were intriguing, the majority were immature works created by talented authors. Meaning, many of the stories just didn't have the direction, plot, or moral I expect from a "fantastic tale."

The Literary Fantastic According to the Master Himself.......2000-06-29

The stories collected in this volume span through some several hundred years and many languages. The authors represented wrote not only in the genre of the fantastic, they are recognized masters. But here we find their finest, eeriest, most bizarre and phantasmagoric tales. Reading through the book provides a real sense of the development of the ghost story and the fantasy through the years.

Book Description

From its first publication in 1981, Lanark was hailed as a masterpiece and it has come to be widely regarded as the most remarkable and influential Scottish novel of the second half of the twentieth century. A work of extraordinary imagination and wide-ranging concerns, its playful narrative conveys at its core a profound message, both personal and political, about humankind's inability to love, and yet our compulsion to go on trying. With its echoes of Dante, Blake, Joyce, Kafka, and Lewis Carroll, Lanark has been published all over the world and to unanimous acclaim. This edition marks the novel's return to its original publisher and features a superb new introduction by the award-winning novelist Janice Galloway, and the author's Tailpiece, a fascinating addendum to the novel. "It was time Scotland produced a shattering work of fiction in the modern idiom. This is it." -- Anthony Burgess "Alasdair Gray is one of the most important living writers in English." -- Stephen Bernstein, The New York Times Book Review "Remarkable ... Lanark is a work of loving and vivid imagination, yielding copious riches." -- William Boyd, The Times Literary Supplement (London) "Undoubtedly the best work of fiction written by a Scottish author for decades." -- Time Out (London) "A quite extraordinary achievement, the most remarkable thing in Scottish fiction for a very long time." -- The Scotsman

Customer Reviews:

A True Modern Classic.......2006-07-03

"Lanark" was first published in 1981, but its author spent 20 years writing it. And it's indeed a massive piece. The whole book is divided into four books (starting with book 3). I think it's one serious classic novel, sadly not as famous as it ought to be; but this here review will change that for the best. Of course.

This novel is a bit of two stories in one. There's a "surreal" story and a more autobiographical "realist" story. If I was to go into details, this would quickly become very complicated. It's not exactly an easy read, but it's worth it. I don't even know how I am going to say anything about it without going crazy...

The story begins in a world which at first seems fairly common, but quickly turns into something you're not familiar with. I won't say more on that, but it's a kind of hell, or afterlife of some sort. Within that frame, the second story occurs (or the first, since book 1 and 2 are the "realist" story and book 3 and 4 are the surreal world). The order of the books is: 3,1,2 and 4. I'm sure this sounds messy as hell but I promise it makes much more sense when you are into the book.

Book 1 and 2 are very much autobiographical of Gray's life, though not an actual biography. In short, Duncan Thaw (the main character) is a young boy living in Glasgow and we follow him throughout his (short) life, and then in the afterlife world, hence the subtitle of the book "a life in four books." Duncan is a very talented boy and grows up to be an art student (Gray worked as an art teacher for a long time, and is a great painter himself, he did all the illustrations found in Lanark). I can't say enough those two books, I think I prefer them over the surreal ones but they're not quite comparable.

As to book 3 and 4, I'll give you a tiny taste of it with the following stuff: the story begins in the city of Unthank, and it's a bit of an urban hell where the sun shines for a few minutes each day. That's where Lanark is, and he has no memories of his past. He wants sunshine and love. In that world, people "disappear," and that won't make sense till you're further into the novel. But I'll tell you what, people get strange diseases in this world, and these diseases reflect the problem with them. Eventually everyones is... can I even say that without sounding completely weird... everyone is swallowed by giant mouths into the "institute," which is a place much like hell, only it's an hospital where these people, who have "disappeared," are treated. I won't say more because it's important that you find out for yourself (and anyway summing this stuff up is just like talking about an acid trip).

Gray is a really brilliant writer and his books 1 and 2 are stuff to be worshipped. Maybe I'll post selected bits later on in this thread. I really recommend this for anyone interested in something that will surely be looked upon as one of the best novels ever written in the universe (no less). It's already a big classic in contemporary literature, but my guess is it won't cease to grow.

It's only worth reading books one and two.......2003-02-10

Maybe I missed something, but this didn't do a lot for me. It's a jumbled up ragbag of ideas which don't fit together coherently while its characters are unlikeable and without much individuality.
The story starts in a depressing world called Unthank, and follows the character Lanark as he arrives in town. He craves for sunlight in a world where there is none and since he's fast turning into a dragon he decides to throw himself down a large mouth in the ground (as you do...).
He comes out the other end in an institute where he is cured of his dragonhide and becomes a doctor for a short while before, like me, getting very bored and frustrated with the place.
So he decides to leave but that's quite dangerous involving a trip across an intercalendrical zone. Inevitably he leaves the hospital and takes along his girlfriend who, unsatisfyingly, doesn't seem to display any affection towards him at all.
In the intercalendrical zone, time moves erratically, and his girlfriend discovers she's heavily pregnant. They return to Unthank in the expectation that shortly the place will be swallowed by an even larger mouth and they'll be transferred to a sunnier land.
But Rima leaves Lanark, taking the (talking) baby with her. Lanark is then sent on a mission to return to the institute to ask them to save Unthank, which has suffered a pollution spill that threatens to destroy the place. At the institute he is stitched up by his rivals and finds time to meet the author of the book, who spends a chapter trying to explain what the hell the book is about. Lanark returns from the institute to Unthank in time to witness the place destroyed.
Books one and two in the middle tell the story of Duncan Thaw (Lanark before arriving in book three) and surprisingly this part of the book is a lot more readable. The chapters follow Thaw as he grows from a child to a sickly adult. There are some parallels with the Lanark story (Thaw is emotionally inhibited, he suffers an illness as a result, he can't keep hold of the girl he likes). In my opinion, if this story stood alone it would be a much more satisfying read. It's very reminiscent of the writer Iain Banks who no doubt was inspired by Gray. Interesting also the split between contemporary fiction and sci-fi which Banks also practices. However, in my opinion, a book like Walking On Glass by Banks is far superior to Lanark in that it made me think about the connections between the strands of the stories.
I suppose my review is a little biased because I'm not a huge fan of science fiction any more. But since the author asserts in his incarnation as god in the final chapters that he doesn't write science fiction I suppose I shouldn't worry.

A bleak yet compelling vision of survival.......2003-02-09

First published in 1981 and set in the dystopic cities of Unthank and Glasgow, Lanark: A Life In Four Books by Alasdair Gray is an emotional and starkly brilliant saga about the struggle to love despite contradictions and vices in human nature that attack bonds of care or trust. A bleak yet compelling vision of survival and the endless search for something more in life, Lanark consists of parallel tales of an eponymous hero living in a bizarre city of the future called Unthank, and Duncan Thaw, a young Glaswegian of the twentieth century. This edition of Lanark is enhanced with a new foreword by novelist Janice Galloway and includes Alasdair Gray's "Tailpiece" which serves as an unusual addendum to this surreal and highly recommended novel.

Daunting to be the first.......2003-01-11

I don't know if no one has reviewed this tome for fear of where angels tread lightly or what, but I have to say something about this amazing book, if for no other reason than to start a dialogue.

I first heard of this book from a Village Voice article about the republication of "Lanark" in a four-volume set. The structure of this edition is that it begins with Book 3, followed by the Prologue, Book 1, Book 2, and Book 4 is divided by an Epilogue that takes place 4 chapters from the end. This convoluted structure actually makes the book rather fascinating, in that Gray has said that he wishes for the book to be remembered in a certain order, which is why he put "Book 3" first. This edition also features artworks by the artist at the front of each Book, and the Epilogue features some interesting typesetting.

For readers of science fiction, this book will offer an interesting challenge, for books 1 and 2 are more a coming-of-age of the artist sort of affair. Books 3 and 4 center around the Lanark character, who is called Thaw in 1 and 2. The Thaw books reminded me many times of Maugham and Joyce, while 3 and 4 seemed positively Dickian. (Not to be confused with Dickensian, which slant-applies, if at all.) There's a lot of ferocious literariness going on in this book, yet there's all sorts of humor. And also a slice of life in a city I know absolutely nothing about. The depictions and commentary on Glasgow reveal a lot about the self-consciousness of 2nd-tier and below cities--the cities that are not New York, London, Florence, Paris, Moscow, etc.

I found this a wise book, filled with difficult ideas and a morose feel for the future of mankind and the difficulties of being a solitary individual in the anomie-infested modern civilization. Book 4 I think is a fascinating attempt to turn Hobbes's Leviathan into a sentient being, as viewed by the hapless adventures of the eponymous hero. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

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