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.

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age

Average customer rating:

Little Ugly Duck
Very well written book
But wait, there's MORE!
Knowledge
An extraordinary book

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age
Charles H. Hapgood
Manufacturer: Adventures Unlimited Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Atlases | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0932813429

Customer Reviews:

Little Ugly Duck.......2007-07-04

Charles Hapgood made an outstanding scientific work on Piri Rais map, together with his students and professional map-makers. The conclusion of the book, that there were excellent navigators with sophisticated techniques to set the longitude over 4000 years ago, was difficult to swallow for the established learned culture, which assumes that Progress is a one-way process, from ancient barbarians to ourselves being on the top. This explains in part the lack of reaction of scientifics. But the worst drawback was the enthusiasm of Esotericians and Traditionalists who praised Hapgood on the basis of the Platon's Atlandide tale.
Last but not least, Hapgood developped a theory of the terrestrial crust being subject to brisks slippages and displacements. Althoug A. Einstein approved the idea, the theory of continents drifting was institutionalised and widely accepted. Hapgood was therefore tagged as an outsider amateur, and forgotten.

Very well written book.......2007-06-16

Anyone interested in exploring ancient historical anomalies should absolutely begin with this book. This is NOT a von Daniken-esq hack job written by some pulp fiction fanatic looking to cash in on a popular trend. Hapgood was a professor at Keene State College NH, and he approached the analysis of these maps from a rigorous academic point of view, but presents his findings in an easily readable format. He did an excellent job researching and describing these maps, including the Piri Reis map of South America, and the Oronteus Finaeus map of Antarctica published in 1531 - some 300 years before Antarctica was discovered by western explorers. This latter map even shows the true coastline of Antarctica as it appears under hundreds of feet of ice (something we only recently were capable of verifying circa 1950). Hapgood was one of the first to present hard evidence which challenges the fundamental assumption taught by modern Anthropology that man only recently developed the intelligence to explore the Earth's oceans. In fact, this evidence shows very clearly that humans many thousand years before the Renaissance actively explored and mapped the Earth's oceans well in advance of Columbus or Magellan, with a skill level that easily exceeded that of Columbus as well as all of his contemporaries. (The active exploration of the new world by ancient peoples has since been validated by more recent research, such as the forensic evidence published by Balabanova et. al. showing cocaine and tobacco in dynastic period Egyptian mummies.) The material on the Oronteus Finaeus map alone is well worth the read.

But wait, there's MORE!.......2007-06-08

Yes, Hapgood's book is a great read. But there is a wonderful treasure waiting for those who would like more evidence of these ancient mariners. And on this subject, "the dead yet speak." Cyrus H. Gordon, who passed away in 2001, left us a fine little book in 1971 called Before Columbus. This book provides a very scholarly foundation for the theory that intercontinental trans-oceanic commerce commenced and flourished at times so long ago that Columbus is a relative newcomer. So, if you like Ancient Sea Kings, by all means order yourself a copy of Before Columbus.

Knowledge.......2006-06-26

Still reading the book as part as an old hobby regarding the origin and nature of our world.
This is only one more volume on a subject for which I have read tens of books ranging from Carl Sagan, Louis Powels and Jacques Bergier, Charles Hapgood, Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov, Van Daniken, Huxley,...
As a retired petrophysicist anything to do with our planet is a worthwhile subject for me. The Piris Reis map has long been on my list of item to read more about. I am still looking for subject such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and others.

An extraordinary book.......2006-06-13

Charles H. Hapgood was a professor at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire who used the Piri Re'is map and others as a student project in the early 1960s to examine the origins of ancient maps. The Piri Re'is map was ostensibly a Turkish copy of a copy of a map that showed the new world before Columbus "discovered" it. It appears that Columbus believed that there was a new world to be found precisely because the map already showed it to be there!

What Hapgood discovered astonished both he and his students. Maps such as the Piri Re'is and Oronteus Finaeus maps showed, via a kind reverse engineering, evidence of being drawn using earlier maps that appear to have been composed using spherical geometry, which was not invented until much later than the Greek and Roman era. Hapgood notes that the maps also appear to have been drawn without what is known as the Eratosthenian Error, (a two percent error in the measurement of the earth) so they would appear to be definitively not originally composed by a map maker versed in the Greco-Roman tradition. He also discovered that the coastline of the Antarctic was accurately drawn (this confirmed by the chief of the cartographic section of Westover Air Force Base) at a time when it was not covered with ice. This would place the mapping at the very latest at about 4,000 BC and at the earliest, well beyond the purview of recorded history.

So what does all this mean? It means that there may have been an ancient seafaring people whose origins antedate recorded history, whose navigational skills were very close to those of our own era from a mathematical and geometric perspective. Who were they? Atlanteans, the Chinese, a civilization from the Indus River, Lemurians, Greenlanders, or unknown Antarctic wayfarers? No one knows but as Hapgood notes in his conclusion, "We find what we look for."

Average customer rating:

Malibu
Fantastic!
Nice, but not nice enough
Stunning!

Malibu: A Century of Living by the Sea
Julius Shulman , and Juergen Nogai
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0810958856

Amazon.com

Renowned Southern California architectural photographer Julius Shulman began exploring Malibu in 1929. Nearly 80 years later, he is still bringing back pictures of paradise—except that the pristine landscape is now a backdrop for luxury homes. In Malibu: A Century of Living by the Sea, more than 300 lush vintage and new photographs by Shulman and his collaborator Juergen Nogai capture the look and feel of a private Shangri-La. While many of the homes were designed by architects with local and international reputations--including James Moore, Frank Gehry and Richard Meier--the book also conveys the quirky flavor of do-it-yourself designs that hark back to the beach town's beginnings. A brief historical section describes how a Massachusetts millionaire's $10-per-acre land purchase was transformed into the Malibu Film Colony. Beginning in 1924, 30-foot-wide oceanfront lots were rented to Hollywood stars, who built modest weekend hideaways. Once ownership restrictions were lifted, the style parade began. In 1948, Modernist architect Welton Becket designed a flat-roofed beach house for his family with broad expanses of glass facing the ocean and a deep roof overhang to protect against the dazzling sun. Twenty years later, John Lautner worked his magic on a narrow lot by designing a towering curved concrete shell—like a surf rider's wave—enclosing the floor-to-ceiling glass facade of Stevens House. Before land costs became prohibitive, artists and musicians often designed their own homes in eclectic, personal styles that incorporated local crafts, or even an oak tree growing in the living room. Local architects developed inventive ways of handling difficult sites, the constant threat of fire and the requirements of the California Coastal Commission. And the super-rich built their palaces, ranging from a crenellated monstrosity called The Castle Kashan to an 7,000-square-foot modular compound designed by Bart Prince. Invitingly packaged, except for the hard-to-read gray type, Malibu is above all a showcase for Shulman's signature manipulation of sunlight and shadow to reveal architectural form. —-Cathy Curtis

Book Description

In addition to being one of the most recognized places in the world for its long association with celebrities (many of whom live here), Malibu's strikingly beautiful coastline contains a greater concentration of world-class residential architecture than perhaps any other city in the United States, if not the world. This gorgeous book offers a behind-the-scenes view of the most exciting houses built here since 1894-by John Lautner, Richard Meier, and Frank Gehry, among others-presented decade by decade by legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman and his colleague Juergen Nogai.

Shulman, now 94 years old, first came to Malibu in 1929 and, armed with a Vest-Pocket Kodak, started taking pictures of the landscape and wildlife. He continued to visit for the next 75 years, and his personal archive of pictures from those years-a guided tour of houses that, for the most part, have never been shown to the public-forms the heart of this book. Hollywood historian and best-selling author David Wallace contributes an introductory walk through the history of Malibu and its inseparable relationship with Hollywood glamour. AUTHOR BIO: Julius Shulman is one of the most important and influential architectural photographers of all time. His numerous honors include a lifetime achievement award from the International Center of Photography. Juergen Nogai is an architectural and fine arts photographer based in Santa Monica, California. In 2001 he began a collaborative partnership with Julius Shulman. David Wallace is the author of the best-selling Lost Hollywood and Hollywoodland. Richard Olsen is an editor and writer specializing in architecture and design books. He is the editor of Abrams books such as The Ranch House and The Abrams Guide to American House Styles.

Customer Reviews:

Malibu.......2005-08-13

I thought that the book was "outstanding" Particulary liked the history part and the progression of Malibu over the years.

Fantastic!.......2005-07-29

Despite reading the "Nice, but not Nice Enough" comment by one reviewer, I purchased this book and considered it for myself. I'm so glad I did. The reviewer misses the point. It's an architecture-oriented lifestyle book about the history of living in Malibu, not a technical book. Which explains why there are no floorplans. It's about the photos that take you thru each decade and each house, and they are gorgeous. The introductory text/concise house-specific texts are well-written and informative. The featured houses are mostly private, which explains why no addresses are provided. The 2 or 3 houses in the book that are open to the public are well known in this area, easily findable for those who have a yellow pages.

Nice, but not nice enough.......2005-07-21

The photography was excellent and commentary was okay. Very few detail images, no floor plans and few, if any, construction details. I'm interested in the details and how to replicate features or at least the materials used....but nothing in this book to help much. There was absolutely no street addresses of the houses mentioned, other architect books do---why not here??? The author did manage to keep very good track of the years of birth and death of the people involved.

Stunning!.......2005-05-11

I got my copy today... and roared through the pages and images... Beautiful and fascinating images of Malibu's past... Paradise Cove in 1890, the Malibu Ranch, The Adamson House. So many interesting stories and images... and lives! And... some great surf shots too. This is a perfect blend of the many lifestyles here in Malibu... all in one book. Educational and informative and with some good humor too. I know what I'm giving for Christmas presents now!

People of the Sea (The First North Americans series, Book 5)

Average customer rating:

People of the Sea (The First North Americans series, Book 5)
probly the weakest story of the series
Good exercise bike read.
Never push the One, you won't win.
More inventive storytelling from the Gears.

People of the Sea (The First North Americans series, Book 5)
W. Michael Gear , and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0812507452

Book Description

The glaciers of the Sierra Nevada are melting, destroying the habitat of the mastodons, creating the rich land that will become California. The coastal people struggle to understand the changing world around them: their seer Sunchaser has lost his way to the Spirit World, and mammoths continue to disappear.When a beautiful woman arrives, fleeing from her abusive husband, the people know what they must do--for if the Spirits are already taking the animals away, what will happen if they shelter a stranger?Now Sunchaser must make a choice--between the woman he loves and the preservation of his people's world.

Customer Reviews:

People of the Sea (The First North Americans series, Book 5).......2007-06-11

I've loved everything I've read by the Gears and I've read just about everything they have published. Wonderful interposing of fiction onto the facts! They use their expertise as anthropologists and as story tellers to combine what really has been found about North American Indians and interpose a very believable story onto it. They really make the past come alive! The inclusion of what has really been found by anthropologists adds tremendously to the books!

probly the weakest story of the series.......2006-03-15

I really liked the saperate storys of the 2 main characters a lot better than the combined story of the 2. I liked the story of kestral a lot she is pragnet by a another man and is running from her husband and she has to survive by her self.

Good exercise bike read........2004-03-02

I liked this one. It's a charming saga of prehistoric peoples somewhere in California. Our heroine gets afoul of her husband for adultery, and decides to run off instead of facing the death penalty allotted to her. Her angry husband and his brothers follow her for weeks with murderous intent. During her escape we read of her many exploits trying to throw them off her trail, the birth of her baby alone in a cave, and how she manages to cross a raging river with the newborn. Always heading west, finally she's taken in by a coastal tribe. Meanwhile the coastal tribe has their own problems. The mammoth migration has declined in recent years and they are forced to look elsewhere for a home. The angry husband eventually shows up and a deadly confrontation results. I found the story readable. The battered wife, angry husband confrontation is a bit overdone. Do we really believe that he would spend a year and risk death to find and kill a adulterous woman who ran off and kept going? I didn't believe it. The disaster that befalls the coastal tribe is a little overboard too, but I guess it's almost believable. With those exceptions it's a good entertaining read for the hot tub on an afternoon.

Never push the One, you won't win........2002-12-21

Seeing WolfDreamer again was like hearing from a long lost friend, like a message from the past. I found the scene with him and Sunchaser in the future at the ruins of Chaco Canyon to be some of the most powerfull writing they have done so far. The Spirals crying out for WolfDreamer to save them and now knowing what became of Green Ash's(People of the River) son Born of Water was gutwrenching. You can relate to the panic the people must have been feeling watching their world change before their eyes, having mammoths drown themselves and forgetting what some animals looked like must have been unsettling to them. It also dosen't help that their best Dreamer has lost his way to the One and has fallen for a hunted woman. The only annoying side of the story was Lambkill,he was a bit to inhuman too evil and crazed to care about or even feeling the least bit sorry for him.

More inventive storytelling from the Gears........2000-10-10

Pregnant and fleeing from her abusive husband, Kestrel is in grave danger. When Sunchaser, a Dreamer who has lost his way, finds her they unexpectedly fall in love. At a time when mammoths are being driven to extinction, Sunchaser must hold his people's faith steady and save his lover from her husband and enemy. How can he possibly complete these difficult tasks when Power has abandoned him? Set in the Sierra Nevada's of the Ice Age, their world was in a dramatic state of environmental flux which affected the lives of all living things.

Average customer rating:

A Fascinating Story that I found through Five In a Row
Educational and enjoyable
Beneath the Ice.....
Amazing Time
Wonderful - a genuine adventure for young girls.

Very Last First Time
Jan Andrews
Manufacturer: Groundwood Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 088899043X

Book Description

Eva lives in an Inuit village in northern Canada. In the winter, people search along the bottom of the seabed beneath a thick shelf of ice for mussels to eat. Eva usually helps her mother, but for the first time, she’s going to go by herself. She soon gathers a pan full of mussels. But then, her candle goes out, and the tide threatens to return! When she is finally safe with her mother, Eva proclaims, “That was my very last first time walking alone on the bottom of the sea.” An ALA Notable Children’s Book, Very Last First Time comes from one of Canada's most distinguished storytellers and an award-winning illustrator.

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Story that I found through Five In a Row.......2005-11-10

My children (1st & 2nd grade) really love this book. The premise had them leaping off the bed in amazement - "She goes under the SEA??? The ice is over her HEAD???? She goes by HERSELF????"

Every detail was interesting to them - the tools used to hack under the ice, the mother letting her child go alone, the small Inuit homes, Eva living in a land where no trees grew - and they had so many questions - most of which were answered by the end of the story.

We used the book to talk about:

1. mussels and how they grow & live,
2. tides, what causes them and how much the water level can vary between high tide and low tide,
3. the climate in northern Canada
4. the Inuits,
5. emergencies - what happens initially to our bodies when we are afraid, and what we should try to do so that we can get out of our emergency safely, and
6. pointillism and the artist Seraut, and we made our own pointillism art masterpieces with Q-tips and paint.

I did search the Internet for actual photographs of what Eva might have seen, but I couldn't find a single one! I couldn't find other references to the Inuit walking under the ice either. I would have loved to have shown those to my children.

Educational and enjoyable.......2004-01-21

It has been said that a good children's book is a good read for people of any age. This book is another example of the truth of that statement. It teaches people who don't live in the northern tundra on the seashore about what their life is like, and it does so in a way that you enjoy the learning.

My five year old son loved it; we read it over again a number of times. But the reason I knew it was such a good book was that I didn't dread reading it after several times. In fact, I looked forward to it.

Beneath the Ice............2003-05-05

"Eva Padlyat lived in a village on Ungava Bay in northern Canada. She was Inuit, and ever since she could remember she had walked with her mother on the bottom of the sea. It was something the people of her village did in winter when they wanted mussels to eat. Today, something very special was going to happen. Today, for the very first time in her life, Eva would walk on the bottom of the sea alone..." So begins Jan Andrews' tale of a young girl's first trip alone through the thick winter ice. In painstaking and intriguing detail she describes Eva's adventure; cutting a hole in the ice at low tide, descending to the dark ocean floor below, lighting candles to illuminate the sea bed, collecting mussels, and exploring this beautiful hidden world..... Ms Andrews' engaging tale, filled with history, mystery, drama, and suspense captures the imagination, and is rich in imagery and magic. Illustrator, Ian Wallace's quiet, dreamy artwork, in soft, textured tones, pulls the reader beneath the ice and right into the story. Perfect for youngsters 5-9, Very Last First Time is a fascinating and evocative experience that shouldn't be missed, and works well as part of a unit introducing the Inuit culture and way of life, or as a stand-alone for story time.

Amazing Time.......2000-09-08

The possibility of gathering mussels under the ice at low tide was absolutely amazing to me. I had never heard of such a thing or imagined it. What a wonderful world we live in! Andrews writes of young Eva's solo walk on the bottom of the sea and she does an intriguing job of it.

The illustrator,Wallace,enriches and expands the written story through his detailed pictures of the village and native life on Ungava Bay.

I hope Andrews & Wallace collaborate again and soon!

Wonderful - a genuine adventure for young girls........1999-07-26

This is one of the best books for young girls that I have come across. A young Inuit girl is sent under the ice at low tide to collect muscles for the family.. this time by herself. She gets distracted, the candles burn out leaving her in darkness just as she starts to hear the water returning. What an adventure. I buy this book as a gift whenever I need a present for a beginner reader girl.

Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S)

Average customer rating:

EXCELLENT BOOK!!!!!
Into That Silent Sea
One of the best I've read!
Fresh Takes On Classic Stories
Excellent, excellent book

Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S)
Francis French , and Colin Burgess
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Astronauts | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0803211465

Book Description

It was a time of bold new technology, historic moments, and international jousting on the final frontier. But it was also a time of human drama, of moments less public but no less dramatic in the lives of those who made the golden age of space flight happen. These are the moments and the lives that Into That Silent Sea captures, a book that tells the intimate stories of the men and women, American and Russian, who made the space race their own and gave the era its compelling character.

These pages chronicle a varied and riveting cavalcade of human stories, including a look at Yuri Gagarin’s harrowing childhood in war-ravaged Russia and Alan Shepard’s firm purchase on the American dream. It also examines the controversial career of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and the remarkable struggle and ultimate disappointment of her American counterparts. It tries to uncover the truth behind the allegations that shadowed Gus Grissom and Scott Carpenter and then allows the reader to share the heart-stopping suspense of Alexei Leonov’s near-fatal first space walk. Through dozens of interviews and access to Russian and American official documents and family records, the authors bring to life the experiences that shaped the lives of the first astronauts and cosmonauts and forever changed their world and ours.

Customer Reviews:

EXCELLENT BOOK!!!!!.......2007-10-04

As a confirmed space geek, I too have read as many books as I could get my hands on .
This book was a great read from cover to cover!!!
I couldn't put it down. I particularly enjoyed reading about the cosmonauts exploits AFTER their historic flights.
Definitely one to put on your gift list.

Into That Silent Sea.......2007-09-06

For many years now I have made presentations on NASA history as well as all of the human space programs. I have focused mainly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Into That Silent Sea is clearly one of the most well written and authoritative books on the subject that I have ever read. Through exhaustive research and personal contact with the pioneers of space exploration Francis French and Colin Burgess have compiled a treasure. Full of anecdotes, and including much little known information it gives a fascinating insight into what the early days were like for both our astronauts and for the Soviet cosmonauts. Many others who lived this history contribute their perspective as well. I highly recommend this work to all who are interested in the human experience. The book is easy to read, captivating, and one of the most fascinating books that I have found.

Capt. William (Mike) Lucas
US Airways
Space Historian

One of the best I've read!.......2007-08-31

I've been a space geek ever since I was about 1.5 years old and mom made me watch the moon landing in 1969 - I don't remember it, but I did see it!
I've read just about all of the best books on the space program and I thought I had read everything, and knew all the stories - until I read "Into That Silent Sea". The book wasn't a fast one to read, not because it was overly technical, but I just kept reading stuff that I never knew and would re-read the page/paragraph again and say to myself "I never knew that!"
The chapters on the Russian space program were absolutely fascinating and sometimes frightening, I never knew the early Cosmonauts had so many near disasters on re-entry (I won't more and spoil it with details - read the book!). This was the first book I read that I felt I really learned more of the behind the scenes stories of the Russian side of the space race.
Great chapters on the American side of things, Dee O'hara was kind of an unknown figure in the space race (other than the depiction in the "Right Stuff"), but now she has her much deserved place in history with this book also. Fun to read how the early astronauts picked on her too with the "gotchas"!
I just started reading "In the Shadow of the Moon" on my bus commute to work and back. I enjoy the heavy traffic trips - more time to read!
For a long time Andrew Chaikin and Micheal Collins held the spots with the best space books in my opinion. Move over guys, Francis French and Colin Burgess have to share the spot with you now!

Fresh Takes On Classic Stories.......2007-08-17

Writing this book, really, would not have been an enviable task. Yes, it would be a fun sandbox to play in, and, yes, it would be very cool to get to talk to the people you would have to interview to write the book.

But, it's been done, you know?

The Gemini period perhaps a bit less so, but how many books and movies and documentaries have covered the Mercury and Apollo programs? Were it me, I'd rather tread ground a little more fresh.

But the great thing about Silent Sea is that it is, in fact, fresh.

For the people who are relatively new to these stories, it's a wonderful introduction. To say that it's thorough is putting it lightly. Yes, the Mercury program is covered completely. The book includes everything you need to know. And it's told in a way that's interesting not only to a technical crowd but also to a lay audience, because, ultimately, Silent Sea is the story of the people who lived the history. These people who have become legends, after all, were people. Where did they come from? What were they like as children? How did they get to the point where they were making history? What was the experience like for them? What was it like living with having done something so exceptional? With the aforementioned thoroughness, Silent Sea paints portraits of the individuals behind the history.

Silent Sea is unusual, as well, in that it's not a history of the Mercury program. It's a history of human spaceflight from 1961 through 1965, regardless of where those humans were from. The U.S. and Soviet programs are covered in a combined chronological account, presenting the stories side-by-side as two components of one historical period. As a result, even for someone who is fairly well-versed in the history of NASA spaceflight, Silent Sea is an extremely informative volume, filling in the gaps from the far side of the Iron Curtain.

Even in telling the more familiar stories, however, Silent Sea keeps it fresh. No matter how many times a reader has heard these stories, they haven't been told in quite this way before. Yes, the major events are covered in detail, but they're shown as seen through different eyes, people like Dee O'Hara and Wally Funk. If you know who those people are, you know why you need to read the book. If you dont know who those people are, that is why you need to read the book.

Excellent, excellent book.......2007-08-06

Having been an engineer on Gemini and Apollo, I eagerly devour any books on space history I can find. Unfortunately, far to many of them are marred with an excessive number of technical and/or historical inaccuracies. Silent Sea, I was happy to find is a wonderful exception. This is a fantastically interesting book, and I hated to put it down. As I was too young to work with most of the subject astronauts, it was most interesting to read their stories in such incredible detail. It is written in a very readable style, and I especially enjoyed the first-person accounts by those people who were there, but not among the famous. I learned a lot about the Russian space program, a subject that rarely gets such an in-depth treatment.

It is such a pleasure to read a space book written by people who take the time to get it right.

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Caribbean Camera
Lennox Honeychurch
Manufacturer: Macmillan Caribbean
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People (Studies in Cultural History)

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Outstanding
A Non Traditional Approach to American Religious History

Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People (Studies in Cultural History)
Jon Butler
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674056000

Book Description

Challenging the formidable tradition that places early New England Puritanism at the center of the American religious experience. Yale historian Jon Butler offers a new interpretation of three hundred years of religious and cultural development. Butler stresses the instability of religion in Europe where state churches battled dissenters, magic, and astonishingly low church participation. He charts the transfer of these difficulties to America, including the failure of Puritan religious models, and describes the surprising advance of religious commitment there between 1700 and 1865. Through the assertion of authority and coercion, a remarkable sacralization of the prerevolutionary countryside, advancing religious pluralism, the folklorization of magic, and an eclectic, syncretistic emphasis on supernatural interventionism, including miracles, America emerged after 1800 as an extraordinary spiritual hothouse that far eclipsed the Puritan achievement--even as secularism triumphed in Europe.

Awash in a Sea of Faith ranges from popular piety to magic, from anxious revolutionary war chaplains to the cool rationalism of James Madison, from divining rods and seer stones to Anglican and Unitarian elites, and from Virginia Anglican occultists and Presbyterians raised from the dead to Jonathan Edwards, Joseph Smith, and Abraham Lincoln. Butler deftly comes to terms with conventional themes such as Puritanism, witchcraft, religion and revolution, revivalism, millenarianism, and Mormonism. His elucidation of Christianity's powerful role in shaping slavery and of a subsequent African spiritual "holocaust," with its ironic result in African Christianization, is an especially fresh and incisive account.

Awash in a Sea of Faith reveals the proliferation of American religious expression -not its decline-and stresses the creative tensions between pulpit and pew across three hundred years of social maturation. Striking in its breadth and deeply rooted in primary sources, this seminal book recasts the landscape of American religious and cultural history.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2007-01-23

Thoughtful and scholarly, yet readable, history of religion in US history and its ups and downs.

A Non Traditional Approach to American Religious History.......2000-04-29

Awash in a Sea of Faith is a book of its time. The intellectual and historiographical context of Jon Butler's revisionist history of religion in America is found in the camp that Jack Greene, Keith Thomas and David Hall have been preparing for some time now. This trend, which Butler perfects, is marked by a strong skepticism toward the influence of Puritanism in American culture, toward the major claims of American Protestantism, toward the basic dogmas of traditional American religious history and by a desire for historical and geographical egalitarianism. A pervasive skepticism is not the only component at the foundation of Butler's approach. His historical logic is partially guided by a continuous dialectic between the sacred and secular, elite and popular, the barren colonial landscape and the rise of sacred structures, orthodoxy and occultism. Considering the large and long religious historiographies in North America, Butler's approach starts with profoundly untraditional premises and assumptions. It should not surprise us, then, that Butler would arrive to untraditional conclusions. After all that is what revisionism is- to change the way we perceive history and to challenge some rusty assumptions. His main argument, that the Christianization of America came through a process of syncretism, would have not only alarmed Protestant leaders in the 19th century, but would also have worried religious historians in the 20th century. In his presentation of European Protestantism and its journey toward the America continent, Butler emphasizes occultism as a transforming force in religion and society. In doing this, he ignores the strength of the anti-idolatry Protestant movements that "cleaned out" many churches, the close relation between modern empiricism and Protestantism with its emphasis on the "Biblical evidence," and the influence of effective preaching on parishioners.

Considering that the word "holocaust" in the post World Wars is related with the Nazi's massacre of the Jews, Butler demonizes American Protestantism for its missionary zeal and for its emphasis on civil obedience among the African Americans. By doing this, Butler completely disregards the humanitarian impulse in their behalf, which was equally syncretic. And by assuming that African American ideology was secular before 1760 he contradicts his conclusion that "Slavery's destruction of African religious systems in America . . . . constituted cultural robbery. . . . of the most vicious sort." If we still ignore this contradiction, his analysis of the African-American mass movement into Protestant Christianity cannot explain how would the unsophisticated African religious systems could have been a match to Protestantism and to the complex life in American Slavery.

In revising the Great Awakenings Butler take luster out of these movements by emphasizing its conservatism and downplaying its egalitarianism. But here Butler's assumption falters in logic. He presumes that increase social status for the clergy and increment in church authority always meant conservatism. In the American religious context, where pluralism was the main characteristic, more leveled status to clergy, and more authority to non-state-churches (dissidents) meant egalitarianism- particularly compared with the European religious experience. Furthermore, by indicating that itinerant ministers opposed settled ministers selectively, he is not only ignoring their significance, but is also ignoring social forces that would naturally motivate the Itinerants to seek support and sympathy from some settled ministers while ignoring others. Curiously, Butler's analysis of American revivalism is distinguished by a robust defense to the Anglican Church, and a downplaying of dissent's strength and growth-, which is also a revision in traditional American religious history.

Throughout his entire book, but especially on the Antebellum Christianity, Butler always defines the practice of Alchemy, the curiosity for the gothic and the secret, and the believing in dreams and miracles as indication of spiritualism and witchcraft. Defining these religious experiences, which some orthodox leaders, have seen with suspicious eyes, may belie Butler's position of standardization-a secularized Protestant mainstream. At this point the reader would wonder why Butler includes the practice of alchemy with the believing in miracles, since science (to mention only two) was not as clearly define and not as evenly spread as it was a century later, and miracles have always been regarded as part of Christian beliefs. It may be that Butler needs this combination to highlight his point of Protestants' lack of purity and imprecision, which would have been impossible otherwise. Perhaps inexactitude is inbuilt in certain aspects of the study since Christianity is itself syncretic, thus invalidating any model of Christianity detached from "its" culture and historical setting.

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"Sometimes life is a ripe fruit too delicious for the taste of man."

Must read

The journies of a Hero

Great!!!!

A wonderful memoir

The Big Sea: An Autobiography (American Century Series)
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0809015498

Book Description

Introduction by Arnold Rampersad.

Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In The Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds of the decade--Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet--at the center of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Arnold Rampersad writes in his incisive new introduction to The Big Sea, an American classic: "This is American writing at its best--simpler than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born writer...Mark Twain."

Customer Reviews:

"Sometimes life is a ripe fruit too delicious for the taste of man.".......2007-09-30

Published when Hughes was 38, the subject of The Big Sea is the period of his life from 1902-1939. It covers a wide variety of episodes in Hughes' life, with key elements being his travels as a youth, his relationship to his father, and the Harlem Renaissance.

I knew his poetry, of course, from all those years as an English major. I have not had the occasion to read any of his prose, and decided to pick this up after reading the collected works of Nella Larsen.

There was a lot to engage with in The Big Sea. I particularly liked Hughes' description of the Harlem Renaissance. His tone when he talked about it was affectionate and wistful, but still acknowledged the limitations that it had as a lasting solution. There were many great stories ("never hit a woman") and fascinating details-- reproductions of the whist party invitations, for example.

I also really was interested in the way that Hughes discusses his father and the issue of the race. His father left the US (first to Cuba, then to Mexico) in order to avoid race prejudice. His father had nothing but scorn for people of color who stayed in the US and subjected themselves to the inevitabilities of race and class limitations. The anger that this self-imposed exile cost him comes out in his dealings with his son and the way in which he engages with the world around him.

At points, it is as though Hughes is meditating on all the different ways that people around him (including him) have used to address the race problem. It is not the most uplifting of sketches, since none of the various paths seem (according to Hughes) to be a good or lasting solution.

Well-written, interesting, and with many pointers to further reading.

Must read.......2007-05-12

I read this as an assignment in college and found it wonderfully painful in its realism and truth. A must read for every American, regardless of what ethic origin.

The journies of a Hero.......2006-07-17

"On a radio show, he (Hughes) defended the right of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who had long faced the white world with a broad grin, to vent his racial anger."

Like Armstrong, Hughes also faced the same world with his broad smile. Throughout the BIG SEA and I WONDER AS I WANDER, there in the texts of both autobiographies is the ever smiling Hughes. Other than the people he met and the foreign lands he visited---all making for great and entertaining reading--- very little is revealed about the man he was. His larger than life personae masked a man who was only 5'4 in stature, closeted gay
because being open would have meant a short career and ostracism, especially in the African American community who was a refuge from a racially hostile world and who Hughes loved with an unmatched passion back in his day, and, according to the late Gwendolyn Brooks who had known Hughes since the age of 16 wrote in a New York Times article that when Hughes was subjected to offense and icy treatment because of his race, he was capable of jagged anger - and vengeance, instant or retroactive. She has letters from him that reveal he could respond with real rage when he felt he was treated cruelly by other people.

Both autobiographies do a great job at documenting the world in Hughes' day. The most fascinating thing about the first book of his life is the Harlem Renaissance and the people who moved in it during its illustrious height. Till this day, the BIG SEA provides one of the best sources of this important period in American culture. Few people realized that if not for best friend Arna Bomtemps the autobiography may have never been written. Bontemps encouraged Hughes to write the book. Up to that time, few blacks, especially black males, had seen and done what Hughes managed to do. Plus, the book challenged stereotypes about black America in general. The challenge he had in writing the book was how to write for two audiences, white and black. Characteristically, Hughes did not pander to the white audience, "I do not hate `all' white people," nor did he distance himself from and sacrifice the racial pride his grandmother taught him to have for his people, who he primarily wrote for. In the second autobiography, Hughes is on the road again and much more time is given to his travels, especially in the then Soviet Union. Absent are his communist sympathies. Like many blacks of the day, socialism was preferable to segregation. Blatant is the unspoken critique that in the absence of capitalism, everyone man is "equal." As far as romance is concerned, scholars have noted Hughes'rather perfunctory and insincere rendezvous with the very few woman he talks about in these autobiographies. Quite understandably, Hughes attempts to pass himself off as having all the accoutrements of straight men. His situation with the over zealous Russian woman who he does not portray favorably in I WONDER AS I WANDER is interesting. She is portrayed as the Duboisian woman whose association with black men destroys them. Plus, Hughes did not favor interracial marriage so it is peculiar that he proffered the idea in the text of bring the Russian woman home as a wife as she wanted.

The above quote was from Volume 2 of Arnold Rampersad's biography of Hughes. What made Hughes' defense of Armstrong so intriguing is that Hughes also reveals much about himself and what lied behind the mask he wore. The readers of the BIG SEA and I WONDER AS I WANDER will not see the man behind the mask. They are largely presented surface, a fleeting glimpse of Hughes here and there. A scholar said to really understand Hughes, one must read Rampersad's two biographies. This scholar was partially right. But, don't dismiss these autobiographies! They are worth the read and are a enjoyable read. Time and interest permitting, do read LANGSTON HUGHES Vols. 1 and 2 by Rampersad for balance also read Faith Berry's LANGSTON HUGHES: BEFORE AND BEYOND HARLEM. Reading these latter biographies with the two autobiographies by Hughes, one will be presented the man Langston Hughes was: proudly African American, gay, brave, smart, ambitious, often very angry, and often lonely.

Hughes doesn't reveal much of himself, but his autobiographies are still 5 star ratings because like his work they continue to inspire and for everyone, especially young blacks in the inner city, let them know that they can overcome any obstacle in life so long as the desire and determination is there.

Great!!!!.......2005-09-27

Even though my book got lost in the mail, I was still able to get my money back. Thank you very much. I hope I have the chance to buy another book from you.

A wonderful memoir.......2003-12-04

Langston Hughes was a wonderful poet and story teller so it is not surprising that his autobiography/memoir is a joy to read. He tells the story of his life by giving us delightful episodes that each read like short stories. Each chapter has the structure of a short story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Along the way, the reader has to be amazed at the texture and breadth of his life adventures. He lives for a short time in Mexico with his father, in several cities with his mother and other relatives, and then his wonderful sea going adventures in Europe, Africa, and also his stay in Paris. The reader also gets a first hand glimpse of what it was like to be "Negro" in America as well as in other places in the world. The writing is bright and energetic and the book is very difficult to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone who might be thinking about writing an autobiography or memoir.

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Cave Beneath the Sea
Jean Clottes , and Jean Courtin
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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