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.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)

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Not Free SF Reader
An Almost Great Book
Great character development -- weak ending
A little confusing, but very entertaining
An entertaining read

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 076534341X

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Earth is an environmental disaster area when humanity gains new hope: a star gate is discovered in the solar system, built by a long-gone alien race. Earth establishes extrasolar colonies and discovers alien races--including the warlike Fallers, the only spacefaring race besides humans. Mysterious, uncommunicative, and relentlessly bent on humanity's extinction, the Fallers have mastered the star gates, and are closing in on earth.

Dr. Bazargan commands the scientific team sent to a newly discovered world to study its humanoid natives: beings who literally perceive only one reality. To lie is to be unreal--and condemned to death. The humans must flee for their lives across the unknown planet when they and the aliens learn the scientific mission is a lie. It's the cover for a secret military exploration of the moon Tas, which is another artifact of the gate-makers: a superweapon capable of annihilating all life in a star system, and already known to the Fallers.

Nancy Kress has won the Hugo, the Sturgeon, and three Nebula Awards. She is justly acclaimed as a literary SF writer, but receives little acknowledgement that her work is hard SF. Probability Moon should change this, winning her many new readers while pleasing her fans. It's a rare and desirable hybrid: a literary, military, hard-SF novel. Set in the same world as her Nebula- and Sturgeon-winning novelette, "Flowers of Aulit Prison," Probability Moon is the first book of a trilogy, but it has a self-contained story line. The sequel, Probability Sun, will appear in 2001, and the concluding book will be The Fabric of Space. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Humankind has expanded out into interstellar space using star gates-technological remnants left behind by an ancient, long-vanished race. But the technology comes with a price. Among the stars, humanity encountered the Fallers, a strange alien race bent on nothing short of genocide. It's all-out war, and humanity is losing.In this fragile situation, a new planet is discovered, inhabited by a pre-industrial race who experience "shared reality"-they're literally compelled to share the same worldview. A team of human scientists is dispatched-but what they don't know is that their mission of first contact is actually a covert military operation.For one of the planet's moons is really a huge mysterious artifact of the same origin as the star gates . . . and it just may be the key to winning the war.

Customer Reviews:

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

Humans have discovered ancient alien technology, and have also discovered current real live aliens that really don't like them at all.

In the middle of a war that isn't going too well an expedition discovers some possible useful technology.

However, the planet it is on has a strange society, their belief in their consensual reality is what drives them, and outsiders are ostracised and more.

An Almost Great Book.......2006-05-31

What I like best about Nancy Kress, as an author, is that she knows how to write a science fiction novel that has both good science and good fiction in it. Too often, writers are only good at one side of the equation or the other.

I thought this was a great book, except for one key element. The crisis scene in the middle of the book doesn't make sense and, since it is pivotal to the story as a whole, the second half of the book really suffers for it.

What do I mean by "crisis scene"? I mean the point in the novel where everything chnges for the main characters.

Human scientists have come to World to study the Worlders' society, most notably, their unique ability to exist in a shared reality that every individual participates in. Those few Worlders who cannot or will not share reality are declared "unreal" and are social outcasts. If the crime is considered serious enough, the individual is killed. So, the scientists in the field team have to gather information about this unknown culture without revealing that they themselves do not come from a culture of shared reality.

During the first half of the book, the Worlders treat the humans as honored guests. They are not convinced that the human are "real", but they are also not convinced that the humans are "unreal", so they give them the benefit of the doubt.

In the crisis scene, the rich trader who, until that point, has been playing host to the humans, decides that they must be unreal based on information they disclose to him. The news that the humans are now, officially, "unreal" travels all over the community and the scientists go from being honored guests to hunted fugitives. The second half of the book deals with the discoveries they make while hiding in the mountains, an area the Worlders will not trespass in for religious reasons.

The crisis takes place because the human scientists discover that their anthropological expedition was only a cover for a larger military mission taking place in orbit around World. When they learn of the military mission and learn that the experiments taking place on the ship above might threaten the safety of the Worlders, the team decides that they are morally bound to warn the Worlders of the possible danger, regardless of the personal consequences to them. They disclose the threat to their host, Pek Voratur. They know that, as a powerful businessman, he will be able to mobilize the leaders of World to take precautionary measures. Unfortunately for the field team, Voratur believes, after the disclosure, that all humans are unreal because they didn't know from the start about the military mission. In other words, "real" people wouldn't keep secrets from each other. He concludes that the humans obviously don't share reality the way Worlders do and starts screaming that they are unreal.

Well, no. The problem is that he wouldn't act like that. Shared reality means that the Worlders all have the same outlook on life, the same worldview. It does not mean that they all know the same facts. This is demonstarted many times in the first half of the book. A carpenter doesn't know anything about the job of a cook, or vice versa. More importantly, it is shown that in World culture, the government often acts without the knowledge of the rest of the citizenry.

Only a few pages before his confrontation with the humans, Pek Voratur discovers that the government priests have a certain medication that he had no idea even existed. The priests did not share this information with the general public of World. Voratur is astonished to learn of the medication, but never once thinks the priests are suddenly "unreal" for keeping the information to themselves. So, for that reason, I don't think that the fact that the human "priests" in space kept certain facts back from the field team would be enough to send Voratur's opinion over the edge and declare all humans unreal. He had just experienced the same thing in his own culture. The Worlders are not egalitarian in their social structure. They have leaders and followers, and it is the nature of any hierarchy that the leaders know more than the followers.

I think that Nancy Kress violated her own rules of shared reality for the sake of dramatic effect and plot advancement and, since it occurs at such a pivotal place in the novel, the violation is really glaring and diminishes the whole book. The humans were making so many cultural mistakes, she could easily found a valid way for the Worlders to declare them unreal.

Great character development -- weak ending.......2006-03-10

Nancy Kress' "Probability Moon" takes a little getting used to at the very beginning. Humans are traversing the stars through space tunnels they discovered, and they're finding humans scattered throughout the universe, apparently seeded by some unknown alien for an unknown purpose. They also found the Fallers, an alien race that wipes out human colonies anywhere they're found. All of this information is a little overwhelming at first and actually only background to the story at the heart of this book.

A team of scientists land on the planet World to study the people on the planet while a military team studies a manufactured moon orbiting World.

The overall plot was intriguing, but I was much more impressed by Kress' character development. She did an outstanding job creating the alien society on World and the science behind their evolution. The main characters are also interesting, well rounded people that I found fascinating to follow.

However, the science gets really deep toward the end of the book, and I found myself skipping sections that just didn't make sense to me. (Which is a little frustrating, because I wanted to know if it was true science or if she made it up for the book.) Plus, the ending (which I will not reveal) is less than satisfying. Oh, it makes sense with the way the book had gone up to that point, but I wanted more resolution. This ending just left the door wide open for the sequel.

A little confusing, but very entertaining.......2005-08-12

Humanity has lucked out and discovered a series of space "tunnels" left by an earlier, more advanced civilization, allowing us to jump right into interstellar travel and exploration without going through all the tedious process of solving our problems here on Earth first. The result is a space program that is highly advanced, far reaching, and not all that concerned with ethics.

Unfortunately, despite our shortcomings, we are still the second-most advanced civilization in the known galaxy, and we're at war with the other one. So when an unknown artifact that might have been created by the same aliens that gave us the space tunnels is found orbiting a nondescript, inhabited planet, humans immediately jump at the opportunity to gain what they hope will be a weapon to use in the war against the Fallers. As a cover to their expedition to study the artifact, a team of scientists is dispatched to the planet, known only as World. The expedition is ostensibly to study a unique society among the Worlders, shaped by what is known as "shared reality" - every Worlder must agree on everything, or they suffer blinding headaches.

What is shared reality? What causes it? Are humans "real"? Are the Worlders - peaceful, agreeable, homogenous, and thus backward and unambitious - better than humans? Just what is the artifact, which the Worlders have always assumed to be a moon? These are some of the questions Kress poses, and on the whole she does a good job answering them. I would have liked more focus spent on just how shared reality shapes Worlder society, but Kress does address this much better in Book 2, so I can't really complain. 90% of the science was completely lost on me - I could still follow what was going on, but considering that the title of the book references the probability physics that Kress spends a lot of time setting up, I wish I had a better grasp on just what the heck that means.

Kress does a great job with her characters; they are each well defined and characterized. (I hate it when you're 2/3 of the way through a book and can't remember whether Smith was the gruff biologist or the spunky physicist.) Her aliens are just foreign enough, while remaining sympathetic. Very different from her "Beggars" series, although very similar to a much earlier book of hers, "An Alien Light." A fun read.

An entertaining read.......2003-09-24

Although the plot of Probability Moon had elements in it that have been done before in science fiction, they were brought together in a way that I found to be fresh and engaging through the different points of view of the various characters --- including the alien characters. Kress' writing style is clear and her prose does not get in the way of the story and the characters, though not all totally three dimensional, were, for the most part, fleshed out nicely. I especially enjoyed the character of Enli, the Worlder who has to spy on the humans in order to atone for her crime and become "real" again so she can again truly be an insider in her culture. I also liked the fact that the plot was driven by a combination of physics and anthropology, a usually uneasy marriage of disciplines. Many previous reviewers obviously did not care for the book, but I liked it and will read more of her work, including the sequel Probability Sun. So there.

An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)

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An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)
George H. (Henry) Dunteman , and Moon-Ho R. Ho
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0761920846

Book Description

Do you have data that is not normally distributed and don't know how to analyze it using generalized linear models (GLM)? Beginning with a discussion of fundamental statistical modeling concepts in a multiple regression framework, the authors extend these concepts to GLM (including Poisson regression. logistic regression, and proportional hazards models) and demonstrate the similarity of various regression models to GLM. Each procedure is illustrated using real life data sets, and the computer instructions and results will be presented for each example. Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on link functions and error distribution and how the model specifications translate into likelihood functions that can, through maximum likelihood estimation be used to estimate the regression parameters and their associated standard errors. This book provides readers with basic modeling principles that are applicable to a wide variety of situations.

Key Features:

- Provides an accessible but thorough introduction to GLM, exponential family distribution, and maximum likelihood estimation

- Includes discussion on checking model adequacy and description on how to use SAS to fit GLM

- Describes the connection between survival analysis and GLM

This book is an ideal text for social science researchers who do not have a strong statistical background, but would like to learn more advanced techniques having taken an introductory course covering regression analysis.

Ninety five per cent perfect: Nantucket's changing prosperity, future probabilities. The spoon primer. Silversmiths of old-time Nantucket. Nantucket's underground moon

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Ninety five per cent perfect: Nantucket's changing prosperity, future probabilities. The spoon primer. Silversmiths of old-time Nantucket. Nantucket's underground moon
Everett Uberto Crosby
Manufacturer: Tetaukimmo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Introduction to Probability and Statistics

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Introduction to Probability and Statistics
Joshua Young Moon , and Allen L. Webster
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Introduction to Probability and Statistics: Mathematics 201

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Introduction to Probability and Statistics: Mathematics 201
Joshua Young (comp.) Moon
Manufacturer: McGraw Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0072939796

The moon and the weather: The probability of lunar influence reconsidered. And containing predictions of storms for April, May, and June, 1885

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The moon and the weather: The probability of lunar influence reconsidered. And containing predictions of storms for April, May, and June, 1885
Walter L Browne
Manufacturer: BaillieÌre, Tindall, and Cox
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008CTUTC

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy Ser.)

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Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy Ser.)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTQL28

Probability Trilogy Comprising: Probability Moon; Probability Sun; Probability Space. Three Volume Set.

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Probability Trilogy Comprising: Probability Moon; Probability Sun; Probability Space. Three Volume Set.
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ND5LAS

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