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.

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A Book To Remember
The undisputed champ after 52 years
A Minute-by-Minute Account of the Sinking of the Titanic
A great book to read
The 'definitive' version?

A Night to Remember
Walter Lord
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805077642
Release Date: 2004-12-23

Amazon.com

James Cameron's 1997 Titanic movie is a smash hit, but Walter Lord's 1955 classic remains in some ways unsurpassed. Lord interviewed scores of Titanic passengers, fashioning a gripping you-are-there account of the ship's sinking that you can read in half the time it takes to see the film. The book boasts many perfect movie moments not found in Cameron's film. When the ship hits the berg, passengers see "tiny splinters of ice in the air, fine as dust, that give off myriads of bright colors whenever caught in the glow of the deck lights." Survivors saw dawn reflected off other icebergs in a rainbow of shades, depending on their angle toward the sun: pink, mauve, white, deep blue--a landscape so eerie, a little boy tells his mom, "Oh, Muddie, look at the beautiful North Pole with no Santa Claus on it."

A Titanic funnel falls, almost hitting a lifeboat--and consequently washing it 30 yards away from the wreck, saving all lives aboard. One man calmly rides the vertical boat down as it sinks, steps into the sea, and doesn't even get his head wet while waiting to be successfully rescued. On one side of the boat, almost no males are permitted in the lifeboats; on the other, even a male Pekingese dog gets a seat. Lord includes a crucial, tragically ironic drama Cameron couldn't fit into the film: the failure of the nearby ship Californian to save all those aboard the sinking vessel because distress lights were misread as random flickering and the telegraph was an early wind-up model that no one wound.

Lord's account is also smarter about the horrifying class structure of the disaster, which Cameron reduces to hollow Hollywood formula. No children died in the First and Second Class decks; 53 out of 76 children in steerage died. According to the press, which regarded the lower-class passengers as a small loss to society, "The night was a magnificent confirmation of women and children first, yet somehow the loss rate was higher for Third Class children than First Class men." As the ship sank, writes Lord, "the poop deck, normally Third Class space ... was suddenly becoming attractive to all kinds of people." Lord's logic is as cold as the Atlantic, and his bitter wit is quite dry.

Book Description

The classic minute-by-minute account of the sinking of the Titanic, in a 50th anniversary edition with a new introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick First published in 1955, A Night to Remember remains a completely riveting account of the Titanic's fatal collision and the behavior of the passengers and crew, both noble and ignominious. Some sacrificed their lives, while others fought like animals for their own survival. Wives beseeched husbands to join them in lifeboats; gentlemen went taut-lipped to their deaths in full evening dress; and hundreds of steerage passengers, trapped below decks, sought help in vain. Available for the first time in trade paperback and with a new introduction for the 50th anniversary edition by Nathaniel Phil-brick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Sea of Glory, Walter Lord's classic minute-by-minute re-creation is as vivid now as it was upon first publication fifty years ago. From the initial distress flares to the struggles of those left adrift for hours in freezing waters, this semicentennial edition brings that moonlit night in 1912 to life for a new generation of readers.

Customer Reviews:

A Book To Remember.......2007-10-09

Walter Lord did his homework on the Titanic's fateful night in this unforgettable and memorable book. He did not need to create fiction or suggest anything to the contrary. In fact, he writes about it from the survivor's perspectives. Despite the horrors, what shocked me was the situation in the lifeboats in the aftermath of shell-shocked people who have watched their loved ones, mostly their husbands, go down with the ship. I don't know why California didn't seek to assist them or inquire about the distress signals. We'll never know what makes people ignore others in time of great distress. When the Carpathia arrived to pick up the survivors, they are shocked by the news that Titanic is gone and they are the only ones to tell a shocking story of so many people's last moments on earth. Forget James Cameron's movie, this book is real and faithful to those fifteen hundred men, women, and children who perished as it is to the survivors who never recovered fully. Because of the Titanic disaster, every ship since was required by international shipping law to have enough lifeboats for everybody on ship and supplies during the worst of disasters. The last pages of the book are the names of those who died and survived. Where they embarked for their final destination to New York City but most of them would never make it there. I remember survivor Eva Hart who lost her father in the disaster that it was all about arrogance. The ship had to be fast, unsinkable, and yet the disaster was unthinkable. She said her mother, Miriam Hart, lashed back with a comment that has stuck with me for years that when saying the ship is unsinkable is like tempting fate to occur. Mrs. Hart, Eva's Mother, spent her nights awak and days asleep as if a premonition of this ship never making New York City. This story was not included in this book but Walter Lord does his best and it's remarkable that he prefers facts to rumors or gossip. It has taken me years to read this book maybe because of all those who perished still resonate with the Titanic's ultimate fate. The Titanic was the ultimate ship and none has ever come close in the ship's genius, magnificience, style, and sophistication. The third class passengers never enjoyed it. The second and first class passengers must have felt like they were in heaven with first class service catered to their needs and fancies. Rest in Peace, Titanic, and all those who have sailed with you on that fateful trip. You will always be in my heart as the ship of dreams and destiny.

The undisputed champ after 52 years.......2007-08-01

Two things set A Night to Remember apart from every other book and film on the subject of the Titanic:

First, with the exception of the ship breaking up as it sank (and the official record, with its conflicting testimony, shows it could have been written either way in 1955) and the use of the first SOS (which Lord corrected in later editions), there is not a single fact in the book that has ever been proven wrong. And, oh, how supporters of Capt. Lord of the Californian have tried.

Second, this is not a book about the sinking of the Titanic so much as it is a book about the PEOPLE involved in the event of the sinking. Take just the first sentence of the first chapter: "High in the crow's-nest of the new White Star Liner Titanic, Lookout Frederick Fleet peered into the dazzling night." Remember back to your English grammar classes and you will note that the subject of this sentence is a person, not a ship. So it is throughout the rest of the book. As readers, are we not more compelled by people rather than objects? Of course we are.

And as Walter Lord reminds us from the first that this is a story about people, so does he employ the expertise of a reporter and the flair of a novelist. The reporter . . . Who? Frederick Fleet. What? He peered. When? Night. Where? The Titanic's crow's-nest. Why? He was a Lookout. But by dressing up these facts with a few choice words and phrases ("High up", "new", "dazzling"), Lord draws us in dramatically.

Over the years, science and technology have given us greater insight into the building, operation, and physical break-up of the Titanic. But no one has ever come close to Walter Lord in recreating and relating the events of the night of April 14 - 15, 1912.

A Minute-by-Minute Account of the Sinking of the Titanic.......2007-01-26

At 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912, the White Star liner Titanic, on its maiden voyage to New York, struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic. Less than three hours later, the ship known to the world as "unsinkable" was on her way to the bottom of the sea.

The unexpectedness of the event, along with the shocking number of lives lost (more than 1500 by most estimates) and the many stories of carelessness and incompetence contributing to the disaster, cemented the Titanic into the collective consciousness of Western culture. Countless articles, exhibits, books, and movies (the most famous, released in 1997, grossed over $1.8 billion in worldwide revenue) have documented and fictionalized various aspects of the tragedy. Even nearly a hundred years later, it would be difficult to find someone who had never heard of the Titanic.

In 1955, while many of the survivors of the Titanic's first and only voyage were still alive--and before the journalistic novel became fashionable as a genre--Walter Lord researched and wrote a minute-by-minute account of what happened during the ship's final night. Called A Night to Remember, Lord's account provides an interesting blend of minute details and broad sweeping overviews in its description of what happened onboard the ship.

The book is easy to read and goes very quickly. Lord gives his prose a very journalistic feel, with short sentences and easy language. Entertaining is hardly the right word to use for a description of an event that claimed so many lives, but compelling describes the account pretty well. Lord puts readers right on the deck of the doomed ship, and then right into the lifeboats and, later, into the courtrooms and newspaper editors' offices during the aftermath of the sinking.

Chapters are entitled with snippets of the dialog that occurs within each. Examples include "There's Talk of an Iceberg, Ma'am," "God Himself Could Not Sink This Ship," "There Is Your Beautiful Nightdress Gone," and, perhaps most poignant, "Go Away--We Have Just Seen Our Husbands Drown."

The book's primary weakness is that in trying to include glimpses of so many people's experiences, Lord was mostly unable to go into much depth with any of the individual characters. Unlike later books in this genre--such as Blackhawk Down or The Perfect Storm, both of which describe in detail the experiences of a relatively small number of people during catastrophic events--A Night to Remember has to catalogue the experiences of over 2,000 individuals. Lord manages to include a lot of names, but without any background or detail, they quickly become meaningless.

Though the scope of the book (probably necessarily) minimizes the amount of emotion connected with the tragedy, there are a few emotive moments when the reader realizes along with a child or a wife that a beloved husband or father will not be coming on a lifeboat. Depictions of the wireless operator sleeping onboard the nearby Californian, panicky passengers in lifeboats violently refusing to assist drowning swimmers, and determined high-society men donning formal evening dress to "go down like gentlemen" evoke flashes of emotion as well.

Overall, the book is worth reading for its historically accurate picture of what actually happened on that cold April night. Though it's no literary masterpiece, it is informative and interesting, particularly for anyone who has seen James Cameron's movie or read Clive Cussler's book and would like to know the real story. The book contains nothing objectionable (except for the event itself), and is suitable for any reader. I recommend it without reservation.

A great book to read.......2007-01-10

This is a great book. The descriptions and detail of the ship are brought to life through the writing of Walter Lord. Let you imagination go as you read this book before watching any of the movies if at all possible.

The 'definitive' version?.......2006-10-02

I've wanted this book for ages, and have both the book and the criterion collection DVD on my wishlist. The DVD is virtually impossible to get, unless I want to part with some serious money, so for now, it's a wish to have.

I thought the book might be quite appropriate to read when I took a boat to Belgium - instead it gave me nightmares. But I was ever so slightly disappointed with the book. I've been what has been called "obsessed" with the Titanic for many years now, and have got every book that I've been able to get my hands on, but this is in no way the definitive version. It has been since 1955, and it's said that Walter Lord interviewed the survivors, to get a first hand account, but there's nothing new that hasn't been written in other books before and better. There's also a definitive passenger list at the back - there's been many quibbles over the Titanic passenger list for many years now, and there's always different versions in each book. There was even a J Dawson found in the Titanic cemetery (a place I would love to visit) after the film came out, which no one knew about, or remembered on the boat.

I hope the movie will be better, however I will still keep this book. It may not be as good as I would have hoped, but it's still about the Titanic after all.

Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas

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Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas
Spike Walker
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312199937

Amazon.com

Frantic and entertaining in a guilty sort of way, Nights of Ice is like Endurance on steroids. The book presents eight true stories of disaster and survival involving commercial fisherman off the coast of Alaska (said to be one of America's most dangerous occupations). Included are tales of subzero temperatures, 100 mph winds, 60-foot-high waves, boats encased in ice and capsized, men trapped underwater, and other horrors. Author Spike Walker, who interviewed many of the survivors in compiling this book, is no stranger to such tales of the high seas; he worked as a commercial fisherman off the Alaska coast and wrote about it in Working on the Edge.

Nights of Ice begins promisingly enough but unfortunately gives way to a sensationalism that cheapens the whole affair: "At that moment, Bruce Hinman's past life flashed before his very eyes. Launched instantaneously through time, he watched the events of his life play out before him...they flashed and froze there in his consciousness, in a kind of nostalgic collage of all that had once mattered in his life." As a result, there are a lot of unintentionally funny moments. Despite its problems, though, Nights of Ice is fun to read, and lovers of true-adventure stories or those interested in the dangers of the Alaskan fishing industry should enjoy it. --Andy Boynton

Book Description

Spike Walker has spent more than a decade fishing in the subzero hell of Alaska's coastal waters. This collection--coming on the heels of his classic memoir Working on the Edge--is a testament to the courage of those who brave nature's wrath each fishing season, and to the uncontrolled power of nature herself... The crewmen in Nights of Ice face a constant onslaught of roaring waves, stories-high swells, and life-stealing ice. Tested by the elements, these seamen battle for their vessels and their lives, on every page evincing a level of courage and a will to live seldom found elsewhere in modern society.

In the Ocean of Night (Galactic Center, Volume 1)

Average customer rating:

Wow how thing's (scifi) have changed...
Ambition that exceeds the writer's ability
not great, but i couldn't put it down!
Old idea, poorly written
Better Physics than writing SciFi!

In the Ocean of Night (Galactic Center, Volume 1)
Gregory Benford
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 044661159X

Customer Reviews:

Wow how thing's (scifi) have changed..........2007-07-30

After you've read enough scifi you can start to get a feel for how novels are influenced by the era in which they're written. This novel reads like a cultural excursion back to the flower power era. Benford attempts to extrapolate the cultural aspects of the time (novel relationship triples, effects of pollution on health, resource depletion of the Earth, casual use of mind altering substances, etc...) into the future but completely fails to visualize any advances in technology (computers and the internet). The book is a not enjoyable to read, there's too much juvenile bravado and characters that serve only to echo the writers ego. Benford becomes quiet full of himself in the Epilogue.

One good thing: I have always been haunted by an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man (yes, Lee Majors) that involved a moon base and BigFoot. I vaguely remember this show as I was very young when it was aired. But after reading this novel, I have an idea of where the plot came from.

Ambition that exceeds the writer's ability.......2007-02-19

Entombed in this 420 page novel is a decent hard sf short story about Earth's first contact with robotic aliens. Unfortunately, Benford takes on the ambitious task of marrying his traditional space alien story with a literary story about human relationships and the meaning of life, a worthy project he is not equipped to bring to a successful conclusion. So, the interesting alien encounter plot is buried under hundreds of pages of tedious domestic drama (the main character, a British-born astronaut, has a menage a trois marriage, and one of the women is terminally ill) and political infighting (the astronaut is a Bob Dylan- and John Lennon-loving rebel who refuses to play the dishonest games of the warmongering bureaucrats and religious fanatics in the U.S. government.) Benford gets an "A" for effort as he unleashes literary allusions, unconventional prose techniques, and scads of metaphors and similies, and piles on chapter after chapter about the sex lives, religious beliefs, cocktail parties, drug use, day trips to the beach and vacations of the astronaut and his circle, but the characters are uninteresting and the only parts of the book that really work are those two or three dozen pages in which a character is in the cockpit of a space ship or Lunar craft. Too bad.

not great, but i couldn't put it down!.......2005-03-08

I hate the term "page-turner" but this book was just that. Even though I was never particularly impressed with the book, I found that I constantly needed to know what was going to happen next.

The future painted in this world, is suprisingly beleivable considering the year the book was written. However, the world is not painted as clearly as in a Gibson book, so a lot of it is left to your imagination. Usually I HATE when authors write foggy, unrealised future speculations, but for some reason it didn't bother me in this book. You can tell that the state of earth in the future is only a secondary aspect of this book.

The prose are pretty good throughout the book. At times it seems like Benford is unnaturally pushing himself to be poetic, but in the end it winds up being a lot better than 90% of the sci-fi writing out there.

The plot, while incredibly gripping, had some serious pacing issues. It almost seems like the events in this book could have filled three equally long novels. Now that I've finished the book though, I've come to realise that this entire book is like the back story for the next ones to come. It kind of stands on its own, but i feel like i would be jipped if I didn't read the next ones in the series.

Despite my criticisms, and I realise I am a very picky sci-fi reader, this book was thoroughly entertaining and worth the read. It didn't change my life or anything, but I have a feeling that it is all going to pay off in the next books in the series.

Old idea, poorly written.......2004-11-19

The premise of this book is certainly nothing new, and the writing itself is nothing to write home about. Benford spends a large number of pages telling very little story, with numerous uninteresting side-trips and distractions. He also frequently switches between present tense and past tense randomly, and engages in long run-on sentences with no punctuation or capitalization - this must be considered "cool" in some writing circles, but as a reader, it is a great annoyance. I certainly won't be bothering with any more in this series.

Better Physics than writing SciFi!.......2004-07-07

I really fail to see what all the hype is about this very boring book. It is a long, boring collection of misconnected thoughts. Since they are misconnected they never come together.

What is the final resolution of Alexandria being resurrected? That is never developed.

What is the point of the "new sons"? It is just an incidental group that comes and goes through out this endless barage of ramblings.

In my estimation, Gregory Benford should stay with teaching Physics, which I hope he does better than attempting to write SciFi!

Get a grip folks. There are reviewers that will aclaim ANYTHING!

Amazon.com

Most of the stars of this real-life Titanic story are stalwart British women who survived the disaster on that fateful night in the North Atlantic. The eyewitness accounts, eerily brought to life by survivors' own voices, include tales of astonishing bravery, selflessness, terror, and even the supernatural. The recollections of the lucid and matter-of-fact Eva Hart, who was only seven years old at the time, are particularly moving. She recalls the dreadful screaming she heard and her anguish as she watched the Titanic split in two and plunge into the sea.

Perhaps just as riveting as the memories of the sinking, and completely absent from the megahit motion picture, are the descriptions of the rescue by the Carpathia. The lengthy interview with the eloquent Sir Arthur Rostrun, captain of the Carpathia, is especially enlightening from a historical and nautical standpoint. He downplays the huge risks his own ship took in coming to the aid of the Titanic and is obviously still deeply troubled when he remembers learning that the "colossal nightmare of a fish" had sunk with so many passengers and crew unrescued.

The informative narration linking the interviews is read by Geoffrey Guiliano. His delivery occasionally veers into the realm of melodrama, which is somewhat incongruous given that the actual survivors speak with a great deal of restraint and a very British sense of self-control. Nevertheless, That Fateful Night is a valuable piece of oral history chock full of fascinating stories, each colored by the unique perspective of those who lived to tell their tales. (Running time: 144 minutes, two cassettes) --Elizabeth Laskey

Book Description

Titanic.  The name invokes startling images of man's ill-conceived notion of invincibility and the consequences which occur when these ideas are proven mortally wrong.  It was the Edwardian Era, a time buzzing with the excitement and innocence of the new century. Titanic, the luxurious miracle of technology, set sail from Southampton, England with 2,207 passengers and crew on board.  They could never have envisioned the disaster which lay ahead.  On the starry night of April 14, 1912, when the great ship rushed almost headlong into an iceberg, the powerful behemoth was brought down and one of history's most tragic tales was born.

That Fateful Night tells the story of what happened in the words of those who lived it.  It is a collection of first person accounts, many exclusive, from the survivors of the legendary disaster who would never forget the events of those brief hours, their own experiences and the many hundreds who perished. Recorded over the course of the last two decades, many of these personal stories would be lost to time had these recordings not been made. These personal accounts recreate with unparalled immediacy and poignancy man at his best and worst.

Listeners will be moved by the words of  passengers and crew members, including Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, Lady Duff Gordon, Eva Hart, Millvina Dean, Fourth Officer Boxhall, Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller, and others.  Also included are interviews with Sir Arthur H. Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia, scientist and author Dr. Robert Ballard, and Oscar-winning director of the film Titanic, James Cameron. That Fateful Night adds a unique and compelling dimension to the astounding body of work documenting this historic tragedy.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting...........2000-02-09

This CD, although excellent in recording Titanic survivors eyewitness accounts, just doesn't live up to my expectations. The abridged version, I feel, cuts out some interesting information and leaves standard information surviving. Interesting accounts on Captain Smith from Eva Heart and a well prepared "speech" from Captain Rostron add intrest to this CD. Good to have but could have been jucier.

DK Readers: Survivors -- The Night the Titanic Sank (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone)

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Showing children the good side of a bad situation....

DK Readers: Survivors -- The Night the Titanic Sank (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone)

Manufacturer: DK CHILDREN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0789473739

Book Description

Will Tate and his family set sail for America. But they are on board the Titanic, the "unsinkable" ship, which is heading for disaster! Longer sentences and an expanded vocabulary make this series of 48-page books slightly more challenging: Level 2 is appropriate for children who have started to read but still need help. Information boxes full of background information will stimulate inquisitive minds. These books contain between 700 and 850 words, and they are approximately 70 percent pictures and 30 percent text. The Dorling Kindersley Readers combine an enticing visual layout with high-interest, easy-to-read stories to captivate and delight young bookworms who are just getting started. Written by leading children's authors and compiled in consultation with literacy experts, these engaging books build reader confidence along with a lifelong appreciation for nonfiction, classic stories, and biographies. There is a DK Reader to interest every child at every level, from preschool to grade 4.

Customer Reviews:

Showing children the good side of a bad situation...........2001-02-20

In the Dorling Kindersley "level two" readers, the sentences are longer and the vocabulary is more challenging. The information boxes are full of extra fun facts and there is a simple index in each book.

The beautiful illustrations and full-color photographs make this story come to life. This story focuses on one family who sets sail for America aboard the Titanic. The story starts as an adventure and ends in tragedy, yet the father is united with this family. I think that was a wise choice and the author was very aware of the fear children have of loosing a parent.

Customer Reviews:

Brings Australia's Great Barrier Reef to life for young readers ages 6 to 11.......2005-07-06

Superbly pictured in marvelous and colorful detail by Robin Brickman's cut-paper illustrations, One Night In The Coral Sea by science writer Sneed B. Collard III brings Australia's Great Barrier Reef to life for young readers ages 6 to 11. It is a night in the late spring just after the full moon and something is occurring that only happens once a year. Dozens of coral species simultaneously release thousands, millions, trillions of eggs and sperm into the sea. These then form new coral polyps that will settle onto the coral reef and form new colonies, extending the reach of the reef along the Australian coast. Enthusiastically recommended for both school and community library collections, One Night In The Coral Sea is an entertaining as it is informative.

Good Night Officially: The Pacific War Letters of a Destroyer Sailor (Reville Book)

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This was the real destroyer war in the Pacific
Real life on a tin can (destroyer) in the South Pacific.

Good Night Officially: The Pacific War Letters of a Destroyer Sailor (Reville Book)
James Orvill Raines
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Naval | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1585441066

Customer Reviews:

This was the real destroyer war in the Pacific.......2000-09-16

Although some of the love letters become repetitive, this book captures better than anything the true nature of the destroyer war in the Pacific against Japan. The commentary gets to the point of the hard work and anonymous sacrifice of the common enlisted man in the desperate fight against Japan. The final letter written by Yeoman Raines, and delivered to his wife after his death, is one of the most wrenching and moving literary expressions to come from this war.

Real life on a tin can (destroyer) in the South Pacific........1997-09-23

Orvill Raines was my friend. We were together from the time the ship was commissioned 4/3/44 until he died on April 6, 1945 at Okinawa. Ray Ellen (his wife) kept these letters and when I first contacted her in 1990 she mentioned them to me and offered them to the HOWORTH VETS. We published them at our own expense. Williams McBride took the War Diary AND Letters/Memories and completed the manuscript that became Good Night Officially. After our Memorial Service aboard the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge, I escorted her around the ship and was able to answer all the questions that she had, had down thru the years. It made it possible. It made it worth while

Day Ocean State of Stars' Night: Poems & Writings 1989 & 1999-2006 (Elephant Books)

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Day Ocean State of Stars' Night: Poems & Writings 1989 & 1999-2006 (Elephant Books)
Leslie Scalapino
Manufacturer: Green Integer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 193338283X

Book Description

Recognized internationally as one of the most original poets writing today, Leslie Scalapino has developed a devoted following. This massive collection explores her continued fascination with time and being, collecting various works from the past several years.

Average customer rating:

An old favorite
Plagiarism?
predictable but accurate and enjoyable Titanic fiction
A Daring Love Story
So good I read it in 1 day!

Titanic: The Long Night
Diane Hoh
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 059033123X

Customer Reviews:

An old favorite.......2007-09-23

I picked this novel up way back in elementary school at a book fair. I'm in college now, and it's still on my desk shelf back home (I'm a little sad that I keep forgetting to bring it with me!). The Long Night is one of those books that you can read over and over again because, in my opinion, you get so attached to these characters that you don't want to let them go.

Even if the relationship between Elizabeth and Max and seems slightly reminiscent of Jack and Rose, the story of Katie, Paddy and those in both first class and steerage give a good parallel for comparison. In fact, one could even sat that it is the side characters that help make the story good and believable be it the vanity of Nola Farr, selfishness of Eileen, the tragic bravery of both Martin Farr and Brian, or the innocence of Kevin and Bridley amidst the horror.

All in all I recommend this book to younger readers (or those young at heart) who want a book that stays with them long after the last page is finished.

Plagiarism?.......2007-06-17

I wanted to like this novel, but I couldn't get past what seemed like plagiarism of James Cameron's screenplay for the movie Titanic. There are some differences between the book and the movie, but a few snippets of dialogue seem as if they were taken straight from the movie. The heroine's dilemma and her artist lover will also seem oddly familiar, as well as the relationship between her and her parents. There are also a few scenes that moviegoers might find quite similar. By the way, this book came out one year after the movie. Coincidence?

predictable but accurate and enjoyable Titanic fiction.......2007-03-21

Two young women, an American daughter of wealth (Elizabeth) and an Irish immigrant (Katie), travel on the doom-fated Titanic. On board, they sort out tangled love affairs with a roguish playboy in steerage (for Katie) and a painter who plans to refuse his parents' wishes in first class (for Elizabeth). Elizabeth fights with her parents about her future, while Katie is already a strong willed feminist. While the plot isn't spectacular, the prose is decent, and--best of all--it isn't overly preachy (about the culture of the time or the mistakes of the ship) or contrived, but very historically accurate. Some parts of the whining teenager and description get overly long, but the characters and their human dramas are moving enough to be engaging. In my opinion, the best part is that the author conveyed the feelings on board as the ship sinks with accuracy rarely seen in Titanic fiction. The emotion is restrained, but nether-the-less there, as would be accurate for Edwardian society. The infamous lines, like "you've lost your beautiful jewelry" are more appropriately credited to psychological shock. The logical hope of another ship coming to rescue them and the deep fear of being in a lonely, cold lifeboat on the open sea is so perfectly portrayed (and oddly rarely in other works), one can't help but understand what went through the minds of those passengers. Grade: A-

A Daring Love Story.......2007-03-03

I liked the conflict and tension between Elizabeth and her parents. She wants to go to collage and her parents have planned a big debut and marriage to an older man named Alan. On the voyage from England to New York (the Titanic's maiden voyage), Elizabeth falls in love with Max - a wealthy artist who has studied in Paris against his parent's wishes. Broke and hungry, he asks his grandmother for money to go back home. Elizabeth wants to be like Max, but living without money is not exactly the way she wants to live.

However, as the ship is going down, she declares her love for Max and he for her, but is it too late? Kate and her mother wind up on a lifeboat and now she has to wonder if she'll ever see Max again? I wondered too, so will you. This is a terrific story, made all the better by the stories of the other characters involved as well.

So good I read it in 1 day!.......2006-12-13

I could not put this book down. I read it in 1 day. I became so attached to each of the characters. I cried as well. Great writing!

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