The Call of Earth

Book Description

As Harmony's Oversoul grows weaker, a great warrior has arisen to challenge its bans. His name is Moozh, and he has won control of an army using forbidden technology. now he is aiming his soldiers at the city of Basilica, that strong fortress above the Plain.Basilica remains in turmoil. Wetchik and his sons are not strong enough to stop a army. Can Rasa and her allies defeat him through intrigue, or will Moozh take the city and all who are in it?

Customer Reviews:

A good Card book, except for the ending.......2006-12-02

If the first book was about discovering the Oversoul, this one is about using it.

Card is great at writing drama, and his characters are always masters (or victims) of clever manipulations and roundabout plans. At the center of this drama in Call of Earth is the Oversoul, as well as another strange intelligent entity which gives the characters seperate dreams.

[spoilers below]
However, at the end of the book I felt kind of unsatisfied, because I didn't think Card fully explained Moozh's motivations for changing his mind and letting everyone finally leave the city. It kind of seemed like a cheap Grinch-like "his heart grew three times that day" moment. Also, I don't think he really explained well, through his characters, why they were willing to leave, although he attempted to do so, sort of.

Either way, it kept me interested enough to pick it up during any free time, and I'm anxious to read part 3.

I also would be interested to know what scene is depicted on the cover.

Dark sequel to the lead book in the Earth series.......2006-09-27

As the Oversoul continues to fail, more strong-minded people are discovering technologies that will ultimately lead to destruction of Harmony, just like what happened on Earth forty million years ago. One such leader is General Moozh, who is primed for conquest. Basilica, home city of young protagonist, Nafai, and his family, is starting to come apart at the seams, with militant groups roaming the streets causing the people to seclude themselves, creating general unrest. Nafai, led of the Oversoul's subtle nudging, must decide the fate of Basilica and planet Harmony. Yet, The Call of Earth is not about Harmony at all. Nafai is being called to bring the human species back to planet Earth.

The author delves deep into the politics of an increasingly unstable Basilica, a matriarchal society where women control marriage and the city itself. Titles are being stripped from leaders. People are starting to abandon the carefree lifestyles of a free society. Bring into the story General Moozh, a ruthless leader of an outside force. He cannot be defeated in military maneuver, by oral discourse or by sword. He can only be welcomed into Basilica and by pure fate, his own progeny defeats and yet, seals his militant conquest. A very satisfying turn of events for the reader.

The Call of Earth is much darker than is predecessor, The Memory of Earth, often leading the characters through forced maturation, conflict and even murder, at the direction of the Oversoul. We find that the Oversoul is much more of a machine that a god-figure and is quite fallible.

Orson Scott Card is the author of science fiction and fantasy books and series and also a set of books on the "Women of Genesis".

Seems like a filler if anything.......2006-05-27

After reading the first book in the homecoming saga I was fairly dissapointed in The Call To Earth. The 2nd book seemed to lack any real substance. There really is nothing going on, it seems to me that Card made this book as a filler. There are a bunch of useless characters and useless events, this book could easily be condensed to around 200 pages and be much better than it is now. Personally I did enjoy it, although I have to admit more then a few times I dosed off reading the book and skipped a few pages simply to try to stop the boredom. I am hoping this book is a build up to the 3rd book in the series, if not Im afraid the rest of the saga may be just as bad if nto worse.

Sadly disappointed.......2006-05-18

I'm a Card fan and have been for decades. I love most everything he has written and re-read many of his books twice yearly. The Ender and Bean series, Songmaster, Alvin Maker, Treasure Box, The Lost Boys, Pastwatch, all are more than worthy of reading again and again and again. I even read Saints more than once and enjoyed it almost as much as the first read...and I'm not a Mormon.

The Call of Earth series is incredibly boring. There is no other word for it. I forced myself through the first two books and about half of the third and then gave up. (I bought the entire set at once, simply because I had so loved his other works.) I'll never finish the series and have put the books into my 'Yard Sale' box of books I never want to read again.

I have no idea why this is. Someone told me that 'Call' is the Book of Mormon redone in SF form and, if this is the case, perhaps Mark Twain was right.

'Call' is "chloroform in print".

Morpil is pretty cool.......2005-11-24

The character of Morpil completely made this book interesting enough to finish. The General picked up the otherwise listing storyline and made it worth the read.

How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshipping Nature/a Christian's Call to Save Creation

Average customer rating:

Excellent book - why out of print?

How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshipping Nature/a Christian's Call to Save Creation
Tony Campolo
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0840777728

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book - why out of print?.......2000-11-11

Though out of print and a bit dated (early 90's), still the best case for Christian concern about the environment I've seen. Campolo strikes the right balance between stewardship/care for God's creation and steering clear of the "red flags" of the New Age/paganist approach to the environment. (Does a better job of this than Al Gore in "Earth in the Balance"!) He should revise and re-issue the book for the new decade.

Telos : The Call Goes Out from the Hollow Earth and the Underground Cities

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Telos : The Call Goes Out from the Hollow Earth and the Underground Cities
Dianne Robbins
Manufacturer: Mt Shasta Light Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Spiritualism | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 097009020X

Book Description

The Telos book engages you in a communication from Earth's Interior. The book presents series of timely and fascinating messages from the people of the Hollow Earth and from the Golden City of Telos situated beneath Mt. Shasta, CA.

Telos is an ancient Lemurian City of Light that is real and exists to this day in the physical realm, underneath Mt. Shasta. Meet Adama, the High Priest of Telos, as he describes the kind of earthly paradise they have forged for themselves as they raised their consciousness to let go of all violence and negativity. Because they have moved into a consciousness of total love and true Brotherhood, it has been possible for them to survive until now from the time of the sinking of the continent of Lemuria. They have created Heaven on Earth for themselves in their underground cities, and throughout the Hollow Earth. They are looking forward to be coming out, when we are ready, to teach us how to do the same here on the surface.

This book brings magic for all those of you seeking to discover your ancient roots and heritage. This book will re-open your mind and heart to the great possibilities and wonders that are awaiting us on the surface when we finally let go of the old paradigm of duality and violence, and turn to Love and true Brotherhood for all. This book brings all of us so much hope for a better and easier life here on this planet.

Explore the rich family life of the people from the lost continent of Lemuria, who have been underground for the past 12,000 years, and who, due to their isolation from the surface population, have created a civilization of peace and abundance with no sickness, aging or death. They have mastered immortality in physical expression.

Read about the Advanced Civilizations that live in peace and brotherhood in the Center of our Earth, which is Hollow, and contains numerous physical cities of Light, its own inner Central Sun, with oceans and mountains still in their pristine state. Vividly and heroically, Telos delivers a very clear understanding of what is required on the surface to create a prosperous society and a healthy environment. The Telosians, along with many other spiritually advanced civilizations, are very real inside the Earth. They are coming forward at this time to inspire us to follow in their footsteps.

Average customer rating:

Fabulous Book!

The archdruid at his best

A Minor Fault--Attention Publisher

Outstanding

Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Those Who Would Save the Earth (New Society Classics)
David Ross Brower , and Steve Chapple
Manufacturer: New Society Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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Encounters with the Archdruid

Environmental Science: Ecology and Human Impact

Listening to the Land: Conversations About Nature, Culture and Eros

Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)

The End of Nature

ASIN: 0865714118

Amazon.com

David Brower, elder statesman of the ecology movement, reflects on his half-century of controversial environmental activism as former Sierra Club executive director and founder of Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute. Sparing no sacred cows - himself least of all - Brower outlines his plan to save our planet. Recalling past glories and stinging defeats - Glen Canyon Dam chief among them - Brower outlines his modest yet thoroughly plausible plan to rescue Mother Earth for the next generation. An intellectually moving and emotionally stirring book, Brower challenges readers to change their ways because, as he says, it's not too late to administer CPR for an ailing planet if we all work together to win the crucial battles for the Earth.

Book Description

Credited with galvanizing an entire generation of environmentalists in the 60's, David Brower, the highly respected "archdruid" of the modern environmental movement, recalls with wit and wisdom his 50 years of controversial activism and offers an inspired strategy for the next generation of "those who would save the Earth."

In this intelligent and engaging chronicle of his years as an agitator for the planet, Brower points out the irony that since the first Earth Day 25 years ago, we've lost one-seventh of the world's productive land to pollution, clearcutting, and pavement-and our population has doubled! From the politics of preserving the environment and how to use New York-style PR to save tigers and dolphins, to reengineering cities, the future of hypercars, and his vision for the Earth Corps, Brower takes us on a sweeping journey of what has been and what could be if we apply CPR (Conservation, Preservation, Restoration) to our wounded world.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous Book!.......2002-04-28

This novel was great. It was innovative and original. Unlike a lot of environmental books, this one wasn't dull or scientific. Instead, it reached out at you with it's practicality and simplicity. Brower uses real life examples to make his ideas tangible to the reader. This book was well written and is a modern Must Read. Get Inspired!... Read this book.

The archdruid at his best.......2001-01-31

The Late David Brower takes us through the journey that was his life. With explicit detail, david brower shows us the world in his eyes. His deep passion to inspire everyone with CPR ( conservation preservation restoration) and respect for the environment in which we live in is truly written with heartfelt words, and continues to move me. Founder of Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Insitute, Browers Legacy will indeed never be forgotten. Being so involved in some of the most important national monuments to be made such as dinosaur national park, his spirit and love will forever shine through in his life work to both serve and protect mother nature in all of her natural glory. Told by Brower he takes you on the path of his life, both past and to the present, giving such details of an exciting and meaningful life, such as his times with the wonderfully talented photographer the late ansel adams, work with JFK, and much more! From start to finish this book is indeed a classic, and a wonderful tribute to the late archdruid himself.

A Minor Fault--Attention Publisher.......2000-11-28

I'm about 180 pages through the book and have been marking it up extensively for future reference. Brower does an excellent job of summarizing a lot of current and older but useful thinking on environmentalism. Each time I go back to my reading, I keep wanting to refer to earlier passages, so I look for an index. In fact that's why I'm writing this brief review. I hope that the publisher sees it and actually produces one for a future edition or printing. It would be very helpful, since I'm sure I'll want to come back to the book.

Over the last several months, I've hit upon the topic of saving the earth from another author, Daniel Quinn, the author of Ishmael. The goal is the same, but Quinn offers an alternative way of thinking that I find quite interesting. I'd like to ask both Brower and Quinn what they think of one anothers approaches, but, of course, that is now impossible in the case of Brower. If anyone knows whether they have ever met or read about one another, I'd be interested in knowing their reactions to the other's work. Since Quinn's approach is not an environmentalist's approach, I doubt that they have knowledge of one another. However, Quinn is pretty savy on all aspects of saving the earth.

I don't know if I specified it was OK to show my e-mail address, but here it is if someone wants to respond: mtn_view@sirius.com.

Outstanding.......1999-05-20

Although this is somewhat irrelevant to the book itself, I'm amazed that David Brower was able to write such an articulate, evocative ecological eye-opener at the age of 82...which is not to say I applied a lower set of standards to the judging of "Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers run". Such a bias wouldn't be necessary for the book to be praised and revered by all environmentally-conscious readers who happen upon it; in this, the era of unfettered desecration and destruction of the Earth, the former president of the Sierra Club provides a much needed argument on behalf of all those who enjoy nature and, also, all those who merely want their descendants to be able to breathe . In the gentlemanly prose he maintains throughout the book, Brower explains the necessity of wildlife preservation, what the restoration of the planet would entail, and the political factors involved in the environmentalist movement; he recounts pass successes of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, encounters with prominent individuals such as FDR and John Muir, and, when he was a boy, describing the beauty of the pristine bay area locale he grew up in to his blind mother. Aside from issuing an eloquent "call to arms to those who would save the Earth", Brower also seems to attempt to convert those who have not yet recognized how nature can enrich their lives tenfold; from dramatic descriptions of his mountaineering exploits to waxing poetic about

the simple enjoyment one derives from observing creatures in the wild, he tries valiantly to convey the euphoria one attains from cherishing and truly experiencing the wonders of the Earth to the unenlightened. All in all, a fantastic book that ranks as one of my all-time non-fiction favorites, and required reading for all the indolent armchair environmentalists like myself who desperately need a motivational boost to start working at saving the planet.

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Rise Up & Call Her Name: A Woman-honoring Journey Into Global Earth-based Spiritualities (Sourcebook and Journal.)
Elizabeth Fisher
Manufacturer: UnitarianUniversalist Women's Federation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K0BE5A

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Renewl of the Earth

To Care for the Earth: A Call to a New Theology
Sean McDonagh
Manufacturer: Bear & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Theology | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Ecology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0939680424

Customer Reviews:

Renewl of the Earth.......2001-11-13

To Care for the Earth: A Call For Green Theolgy is has got to be one of THEE best Progressive Eco-Christin books I have ever read! It is such a sahme that it is out of print now. However, there are at least 7 copies used for sell here I saw and I would well recommend getting one! This book explains how the Old Testament's orginal call was for humanity to 'SHAMAR" the earth and animals which in Hebrew means "To take care of" NOT to "rule OVER", exploite or "dominate". The writer also explains how history HAS PROVED that man's efforts to destroy and ruin God's earth and exploit animals has also gone hand and hand with dominating women. The book brings out how Jesus was and IS so striking different in his positive and non-sexist ways towards women vs. the modern day fundamentalists! I highly recommend THIS book!
(...)

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Heaven on earth family style
Norman J Charles
Manufacturer: Logos International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0882704958

Tatters of the King: Hastur's Gaze Gains Brief Focus Upon the Earth (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)

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Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?

Tatters of the King: Hastur's Gaze Gains Brief Focus Upon the Earth (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
Tim Wiseman
Manufacturer: Chaosium Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1568821840

Customer Reviews:

Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?.......2007-04-01

I run a Living Arcanis campaign, which also contains Freeport. With a wealth of material at my disposal, I decided to pick up Tatters of the King (TOK) to see how I could fit it into my campaign. I should point out that this is a long playtest review that contains spoilers galore. To help clarify what I did differently in my campaign, I will use a PLAYTEST tag.

Tatters of the King is a massive Call of Cthulhu adventure that details the invasion of Hastur on Earth. It's Hastur's grand oeuvre, presenting him as a Cthulhu-like entity, as the King in Yellow, and as a husband deity to Shub-Niggurath. Four cultists, each participating in a different path to bring about Hastur, attempt to contact him, only to go their separate ways. It's up to the player characters (PCs) to stop them.

Montague Edwards and Lawrence Bacon made an Unspeakable Oath with Hastur. Edwards regenerates, Bacon never sleeps. Alexander Roby is inexorably tied to Carcosa and the Yellow Sign, and only he can summon it to Earth. Malcom Quarrie is the most dangerous and the most committed to bringing the King in Yellow to Earth. The four unknowingly have a rival cultist in their mist, one Wilfred Gresty, who worships Shub-Niggurath and doesn't buy any of this "bride of Hastur" stuff.

The adventure begins with an opening night of the play, The King in Yellow, that drives people mad who witness it. There's an after-party held in celebration of the success of the event, wherein the PCs get to meet the author, Talbot Estus, and his players. A great introduction to the insanity to follow.

[PLAYTEST: I placed the events in Freeport. Two of the PCs were present and ultimately escaped the madness that ensued. They returned in time to attend the opening night reception. There, one PC (Sebastian the sorcerer) decided Talbot Estus, was too dangerous to live and murdered him in cold blood.]

In the mean time, the PCs are tasked with getting their friend, Alexander Roby, out of an insane asylum at the behest of Doctor Trollope. There were murders in the prison blamed on Roby, although how he committed them is impossible to tell. In reality, Edwards, who posed as a guard in the prison, committed the murders. The PCs are encouraged to interview Roby, who provides a telling prophecy both for the end of the campaign and of Doctor Trollope's death.

[PLAYTEST: I changed Doctor Trollpe to be Kham the psychic warrior/rogue's father. I made Roby a childhood friend of Kham to provide more relevance. I also inserted a few adventures here involving finding Kham's father and a side jaunt into a "The Thing"-like adventure. The PCs witnessed a strange summoning involving nine monoliths and were attacked by byakhee. It also started to snow, unheard of in tropical Freeport. I made it a point of having an incarnation of the King in Yellow tell Kham that "he was the key."]

With Trollope knowing too much, Edwards' chief henchman, Michael Coombs, assassinates him. The PCs receive a posthumous note from Trollope indicating that Roby predicted his death with a spell. Wilfred Gresty, a rival cultist of Shub-Niggurath, slips one of the PCs a note about Lawrence Bacon's whereabouts with the intent of catching him in the act of draining the homeless of their lifeofce.

[PLAYTEST: Having Trollope be Kham's dad infused the adventure with a lot of emotional energy. Once he connected Bacon to his father's murderer, Kham tracked down the cultist and a showdown ensued, resulting in Bacon falling off a bridge into icy water. One cultist down, three to go!]

A subsequent search of Bacon's home reveals a group of ghoul living in Bacon's basement.

[PLAYTEST: In my campaign, ghouls were created through an addictive drug called ghoul juice. It wasn't too much of a stretch that Bacon was both a drug dealer as well as a dealer in antiquities. Kham, with no regard for his own safety, barely escaped with his life.]

Determined to summon Hastur, Edwards breaks Roby out of prison. The next connection is an obituary for Bacon, written by none other than Aleister Crowley. The PCs are expected to visit Crowley and wheedle information out of him about Montague Edwards.

[PLAYTEST: As a real-life analogue, Crowley had no place in Arcanis. So I went all out, turning him into the front man for a sadistic cult. They kidnapped one of the female PCs. This culminated in a battle in Crowley's basement, who eventually gave up the information they sought but escaped penalty due to his social and political connections.]

Hot on the trail of Edwards, the PCs journey north only to discover that Roby succeeded: Carcosa has been summoned to Earth. Coombs plays a cat-and-mouse game with the PCs until they finally kill him. They then track down Roby and Edwards just in time to see Edwards summon thousands of byakhee and Hastur himself.

[PLAYTEST: Kham killed Edwards easily, but was unable to stop the summoning. There are several ways to stop it, but I went for the dramatic approach. Roby demanded Kham throw him a pistol in self-defense--in reality, Roby knew he was the key to closing Carcosa. So he shoots himself. Ilmare and Kham barely escaped with their lives. The town left behind was utterly obliterated by Carcosa and Hastur's appearance. Three cultists down, one to go!]

Time passes. The PCs meet Gresty, presumably when he's in prison. He reveals information about Shug-Niggurath and its rivalry with the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. He also provides a link to events happening at Nug's Farm.

There, Hillary Quarrie, the wife of Malcolm, is in fact the heir-apparent to the Shub-Niggurath priesthood. Only Gresty lusts for her power, creating an inevitable showdown. This is the single-most exciting part of the campaign, with the PCs going toe-to-toe with a Dark Young. Only a ritual cast by Hillary saves them.

Using information gleaned from Hillary, the PCs travel to Milan. There, they met up with Thomas Villiers, who ultimately betrays them with another byakhee. This in turn reveals where Malcolm disappeared to: Drakmar, in Tibet.

[PLAYTEST: Fortunately, Arcanis has portals that span the planet, so I skipped what I consider to be the most boring part of the adventure: long overland travel. The PCs resumed the adventure at the Monastery at Te, wherein they met Carlo Schippone, a crack shot. They made short work of him and journeyed onward to meet the Horror from the Hills.

And that horror is Chaugnar Faugn. The PCs didn't do anything stupid, although the adventure makes much of what happens if they do. Surrounded by Tcho-Tchos, the PCs were dutifully ushered past Chaugnar Faugn into the Plateau of Leng, where they met Malcolm Quarrie at last.

Only Quarrie is a pacifist. Bound and determined to summon the King in Yellow, Sebastian convinced Quarrie that they are aligned in their goals. This worked for a little while until Shantaks attack. That's when Sebastian used the opportunity to kill Quarrie in cold blood. See a pattern here?]

Finally, the PCs meet the King in Yellow. He simply asks who will lead him to Earth. PCs who hesitate...DIE.

[PLAYTEST: Kham, convinced that this was his burden to bear, agreed at first...then changed his mind. The King slit his throat. Sebastian was up next. He planned to lead the King astray. And so he did, leading him back to Carcosa and taking Sebastian (at least temporarily) out of play. The adventure left the PCs feeling like they had lost even though they had saved the world.]

TOK is an excellent series of adventures, marred occasionally by the usual Cthulhu foils: assuming investigators will be naive or helpless (these days, most investigators carry guns and in my D&D game, they carry really heavy firepower in the form of spells), spending way too much time on overland travel, and an overemphasis on how PCs can avoid going insane by closing their eyes...a decidedly unheroic thing to do that shouldn't work anyway.

But when TOK hits its mark, it really makes for memorable sessions. The moral quandaries that the PCs regularly faced made for exciting play, and the fever pitch of the Dark Young showdown is magnificent...unfortunately it has very little to do with the main plot (it's essentially internecine squabbling with a completely unrelated cult).

There are plenty of notes and props, all of them useful. Especially intriguing are the nightmares that the PCs experience and the means of conveying the King in Yellow's telepathy (it involves cue cards). All of this made for evocative scenes that kept my PCs guessing.

Best of all, TOK plays for keeps. While the sacrifice of two PCs was a serious blow, it FELT like the conclusion to a series. And given the grand tour of Hastur and his ilk, we all appreciated the ending.

The Lost Gospel of the Earth: A Call for Renewing Nature, Spirit and Politics

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Kinship with Nature
Addressing previous criticism on this page
Extraordinary--If You Read One Book This Year, Read This One
The Green Spiritual Manifesto
A thoughtful and well-written plea for Mother Earth!

The Lost Gospel of the Earth: A Call for Renewing Nature, Spirit and Politics
Tom Hayden
Manufacturer: Ig Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0977197247

Amazon.com

Drawing upon the work of John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, St. Francis of Assisi, and even the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II, activist Tom Hayden writes that religion is the answer to today's environmental crisis. Though he berates many religions for perpetuating man's dominance of earth, he cites a growing awareness of the sanctity of all creation. He calls for the unification of increasing numbers of eco-spiritualists and a revamping of traditional religious doctrines--including the Ten Commandments--to include guidelines for taking care of the earth and to acknowledge the dependency of our own lives on its healthful existence.

Book Description

More timely and necessary than ever in the wake of recent calamities like Hurricane Katrina and the Republican war against the environment, The Lost Gospel of the Earth is legendary activist Tom Hayden's eco-spiritual call for revamping traditional religious doctrine to reflect a greater environmental consciousness, which he believes is the only way to save the planet from catastrophe. Drawing upon the historical seeds of the major world religions-Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, as well as Native American traditions-Hayden shows how only an enlightened partnership between religion, politics and the natural world can reverse the environmental disaster we have heaped upon the planet and lead to a rediscovery of the lost gospel of the earth.

This all-new edition of The Lost Gospel of the Earth has been completely revised and updated to reflect the major developments of the past decade.

Praise for the original edition of The Lost Gospel of the Earth

"... a lucid analysis of how the errant path we have taken [has] led us to a state of fundamental alienation from the elemental world."- San Francisco Chronicle

"... beautifully argued and well-written..."- Publishers Weekly

"... provocative, well-researched, and well-argued..."- Library Journal

"Such a book is urgently needed. Tom Hayden is precisely the person to do it."-Thomas Berry

Customer Reviews:

Kinship with Nature.......2005-12-01

This book deserves 5 stars based solely on the importance of the subject. Tom Hayden describes three types of relationship that we as humans can have with Nature: dominion, stewardship, or kinship. He correctly concludes that only reestablishing a kinship relationship with Nature offers humans and Earth's other inhabitants any kind of future. In 1982 Paul Shepard published "Nature and Madness" (also Sierra Club)which also pointed a finger at mainstream religion's role in the enviromental crisis. So Hayden's basic thesis in not entirely new.

Addressing previous criticism on this page.......2004-09-09

Tom Hayden's work in this text, while not perfect, illustrates some legitimate concerns about religion's role in the environmental crisis. To discredit this work based on his background or denounce the writing as "sophistry" would be a poor evaluation.

The work is worth reading, and if necessary, refuting based on the content.

Extraordinary--If You Read One Book This Year, Read This One.......1998-10-11

This is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. It addresses a fundamental question now facing humanity: will we continue to delude ourselves that we are lords of the universe, that the Earth is ours to do with as we please, or will we come to understand and acknowledge our kinship with nature and the Earth, and our utter dependence upon them for our survival? There is a great spiritual division in our society today. One man or woman walks through a redwood forest, and sees the hand of God at work; another walks through the same forest and sees only board-feet. Which viewpoint ultimately wins over the hearts, minds, and allegiance of our species will determine whether or not we survive. Hayden realizes that if we come to understand the "immanence of the divine" in all creation, we can shape the future of politics to protect it. This is very heartening; "Lost Gospel" is not another hand-wringing book which offers us no guidance. By the way, the first reader review is a classic illustration of this chasm between viewpoints. How anyone at all familiar with the environmental record of the former Soviet bloc could confuse todays Greens with yesterday's Reds has me scratching both my green cover and my red, curly head! There is no need to look for an ulterior motive or hidden agenda to explain environmentalist passions. The goal is to save the Earth. Environmentalism is not a means to any other end, be it restriction of private property rights or anything else.

The Green Spiritual Manifesto.......1998-04-06

There has been a backlash against the environmental movement initiated by corporations that do not want to be regulated. By an immense stroke of luck, they have found allies in the Christian Right. Let's face it. The environmentalists are losing. Wilderness is on the verge of becoming a theme park. Because of pollution, the rates of various types of cancer are rising. Too many good people are silent, and those who are speaking out appeal almost exclusively to utilitarian and scientific reasoning. Unfortunately, this does not affect people at their deep emotional core--as religion can do. Hayden argues persuasively for the greening of Christianity, Buddhism and other religions. He cites St. Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, and the vow of the Bodhisattvas to protect all beings. He calls for a new Martin Luther to "nail a Green Spiritual Manifesto on the vaulted doors of the powerful." He says we should appeal to spirituality, because people ARE spiritual beings.

A thoughtful and well-written plea for Mother Earth!.......1998-03-28

...Well, I read this book and found it very rich ( although not exhaustive ) in its attempt to search out the religious/spiritual sources of our alienation from the earth. Hayden is looking in the right places here; the environmental problem is wholly a spiritual/moral issue. How can we honor the Creator whilst heaping contempt upon Creation? So clear to me; so impossible for others...to see. A great book, Tom!

The Antarktos Cycle: Horror and Wonder at the Ends of the Earth (Call of Cthulhu Fiction)

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The Thing from Another Planet
Mega collection of Antarctic fiction
Stories are alright, text itself has problems
almost....almost....almost good
A great collection of stories...

The Antarktos Cycle: Horror and Wonder at the Ends of the Earth (Call of Cthulhu Fiction)
Arthur C. Clarke , John Glasby , Roger Johnson , H. P. Lovecraft , Edgar Allan Poe , John Taine , Jules Verne , and Colin Wilson
Manufacturer: Chaosium, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568821468

Customer Reviews:

The Thing from Another Planet.......2005-12-19

I bought this book solely for the John Campbell story, "The Thing from Another Planet." I've been looking for this story since seeing John Carpenter's "The Thing" in the mid-1980's. A older friend in Denver told me he had read Campbell's story many years before and that it was a good story.

I just finished reading "The Thing..." and the story didn't disappoint me in the slightest. While I don't recommend waiting as long as I did to read this story, it was worth the wait and the hunt to find it. "The Thing" is definitely creepy.

I've read Lovecraft in the past and the remainder of the stories will be candy on top of the Campbell treat. Yes, there are typographical errors. The stories are still worth the read.

Mega collection of Antarctic fiction.......2005-01-30

There is an interesting story about this Chaosium collection [...]Charles Engan relates that when Chaosium was preparing to release the enormous campaign "Beyond the Mountains of Madness", there was not enough money to print everything in its entirety. The authors wanted to include "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" as well as "At the Mountains of Madness", but since it was too expensive to include with the campaign, a friend offered to underwrite the expense of publishing the material, plus other fiction, as a separate volume. Voila! The Antarktos Cycle.

Contents:
"Antarktos" - from the "Fungi of Yuggoth" poem by HPL
"The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket"
"The Sphinx of the Ice Fields" - excerpts
"The Greatest Adventure"
"At the Mountains of Madness"
"The Tomb of the Old Ones"
"At the Mountains of Murkiness"
"The Thing From Another World"
"The Brooding City"
"The Dreaming City"

Traditionally, these cycles are used to illustrate how HPL developed the concepts used in his stories. "Arthur Gordon Pym" might be included solely for the purpose of the aformentioned campaign, but it is excellent Antarctic fiction by a rather important author in the development of horror. Also, have you ever wondered where "tekel-li-li" comes from? "Sphinx of the Ice Fields" has excerpts related to Pym's narrative.

"The Greatest Adventure" might also be useful for keepers planning to run the camapign for which Antarktos was designed - it describes the preparations for an Antarctic expedition as well as the actual undertaking itself. The incredibly potent seeds of life that they find undoubtedly inspired the movie "Evolution" as well as other fiction

"At the Mountains of Madness" is one of HPL's finest stories. I would love to see a cinematic version of this. Perhaps with global warming, Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness will someday be seen rising over the Antarctic plain!

I don't have much to say about the other titles. The last two develop the "Old Ones" that lived in Irem. Lovecraft sometimes used the same name for different concepts - he claimed that contradictory facts were more appropriate to an ancient myth cycle than having everythinng fit together neatly. They could have been left out and finished the book with ...

"The Thing From Another World" - I expected this to be pulpy, but it was surprisingly serious. Antarctic researchers discover an alien craft embedded in the ice. Unwittingly releasing an alien with control over its morphology at the sub-cellular level, it replicates itself by consuming and imitating life around itself. Who is human, and who is the monster? Do the infected humans even know that they are no longer human? Can they take the chance on anyone leaving the base alive? An incredible psychodrama as well as science fiction and horror. Great stuff - made me want to watch Carpenter's version again.

So yes, there are some very annoying typos, but the quality of the fiction is mostly top-notch, with some very unusual themes being explored. Don't let this collection pass you by.

Stories are alright, text itself has problems.......2004-12-29

My main problem with this collection is the typos. At one point, I found three of them on one page. These weren't hard to spot typos either. Most of them involved spanish characters, tildes, umlauts and the like. While the occasional typo isn't all that big of a deal, if they occur in these amounts, it breaks the mood, which is all important in a horror story.

Of the stories themselves, I didn't get the Taine one at all, although there were some cool scenes in it, the tomb of the old ones was good fun but predictable, the thing from another world seemed over rated, the brooding city was also formulaic, but rather amusing, and the narrative of arthur gordon pym was uneven, although at its heights, it demonstrated unprecedented imagination.

At The Mountains of Madness itself is somewhat odd. It starts very, very well, establishing the threatening menace of its setting and then getting right on to the monsters, which are very imaginative. Slowly, however, it loses its way. The monsters become an alien race we are meant to sympathize with. A second set of monsters is introduced, and these are memorable, but they are not given enough time to attain the desired impact. However, the story does possess Lovecraft's funniest (and possibly only) joke (although whether this is intentional or not is somewhat debatable).

almost....almost....almost good.......2003-04-09

againandagainandagain. it gets almost interesting. lovecraft's scientific story ending up with nothing much of a climax, Poe drowning in nautical technical information and fragmentary style. taine's is the most interesting one. first too little happens, then too much. could have been good, but is first too boring then too much in the overwhelming action-genre. glasby has good descriptions, but his story doesn't go anywhere. some of the other stories could have been good too. but always, something destroys. too boring, not going anywhere, lacks suspence. truly sad since many of the stories shows potential.

A great collection of stories..........2002-10-29

From the ends of the Earth come stories of adventure and really BAD things. Start off with a sonnet by Lovecraft himself, called, 'Antarktos', then on to the first course with 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket' by Edgar Allan Poe, with a follw-up of excerpts by Jules Vern's called 'The Sphinx of the Ice Fields'. This is followed by the not-so-well-known 'The Greatest Adventure' by John Taine. 'At The Mountains of Maddness' by H.P. Lovecraft is served next, the main course, followed by 'The Tomb of the Old Ones' by Colin Wilson. Arthur C. Clarke cooks up a fine story in 'At the Mountains of Murkiness' and what meal would be complete without 'The Thing From Another World' by John W. Campbell Jr.? We finish off our fine dining with 'The Brooding City' by John S. Glasby and 'The Dreaming City' by Roger Johnson. Full yet?

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