Book Description
Richard Alley, one of the world's leading climate researchers, tells the fascinating history of global climate changes as revealed by reading the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland. In the 1990s he and his colleagues made headlines with the discovery that the last ice age came to an abrupt end over a period of only three years. Here Alley offers the first popular account of the wildly fluctuating climate that characterized most of prehistory--long deep freezes alternating briefly with mild conditions--and explains that we humans have experienced an unusually temperate climate. But, he warns, our comfortable environment could come to an end in a matter of years.
The Two-Mile Time Machine begins with the story behind the extensive research in Greenland in the early 1990s, when scientists were beginning to discover ancient ice as an archive of critical information about the climate. Drilling down two miles into the ice, they found atmospheric chemicals and dust that enabled them to construct a record of such phenomena as wind patterns and precipitation over the past 110,000 years. The record suggests that "switches" as well as "dials" control the earth's climate, affecting, for example, hot ocean currents that today enable roses to grow in Europe farther north than polar bears grow in Canada. Throughout most of history, these currents switched on and off repeatedly (due partly to collapsing ice sheets), throwing much of the world from hot to icy and back again in as little as a few years.
Alley explains the discovery process in terms the general reader can understand, while laying out the issues that require further study: What are the mechanisms that turn these dials and flip these switches? Is the earth due for another drastic change, one that will reconfigure coastlines or send certain regions into severe drought? Will global warming combine with natural variations in Earth's orbit to flip the North Atlantic switch again? Predicting the long-term climate is one of the greatest challenges facing scientists in the twenty-first century, and Alley tells us what we need to know in order to understand and perhaps overcome climate changes in the future.
Customer Reviews:
The Two-Mile Time Machine.......2007-10-09
This is the book that every ill informed environmental and agenda driven policy wonk should read regarding climate. It is very readable; explains the science of weather and climate (They are two different things), and presents very thought provoking and serious issues. The point of millions of research dollars and tens of thousands of hours of research and study is that what we are experiencing today is not the norm. Humans, for the last ten thousand years, have had the luxury of an unusally stable and begnin climate with only minor weather disturbances as opposed to wildly changing climates of the past. The wild climate changes shift quickly rather than over thousands of years and very likely will do so again. Yes humans contribute some gases to the atmosphere (Carbon being the one most targeted), but water vaper is the biggest greenhouse gas with methane number three. Do we get rid of them too? The point is, that as the earth climate continues to warm (And it will do so without our help)there is only one climate response, and that is a quick return to deep cold (And cold lasts longer than warm), how do we prepare for wild climate swings? How many millions of people will be dislocated by continued warming and then sever cold? How much more energy will be needed to survive longer winters and cold that reaches further south than human history recalls? Where do we grow the food to feed the billions of us?
Excellent Book.......2007-01-10
Richard B. Alley can spin a good yarn. The book was very enlighting, I enjoyed the professional script. My hat's off to him & wish him luck in his future endeavors regarding the issues of past climates.
Time Traveler.......2006-09-12
Is global climate change a threat to humanity? Our best evidence comes from an uninterrupted 2-mile ice core taken from the Greenland ice pack. A pristine record of climate events over the last 110,000 years is displayed as delicate annual ice layers containing trapped atmospheric glasses, volcanic ash, pollen, lead levels, and isotope ratios. Dr. Alley's personal involvement in the project gives insight into the hardships and technical hurdles faced by scientists collecting this remarkable ice core. He does a good job of describing the intricate science that leads to a startling forecast -- our peaceful-appearing world is actually subject to wildly gyrating climate changes that can swing 40 degrees within a few years. During the last few millennia, have we have enjoyed a period of anomalous warm stability almost unprecedented in the 110,000 record of the ice core -- a happy condition that could suddenly end due to greenhouse warming from human industrialization. Within the space of a few years, high temperatures could melt the antarctic, flood our shorelines, and stall the gulf stream that brings warm tropical water to the British Isles. By the last half of the century, England might be buried under glaciers, and the distribution of our world's deserts and rain forests could be reshaped by chaotic, planet-wrecking storms. Science fiction? Not according to Dr. Alley -- whose ice cores show many similar events throughout history. The last half of Dr. Alley's book seems less interesting than the first -- perhaps because of his scientific hesitation at predicting what will really happen. The vast cost, the loss of biodiversity, and the potential threat to human lives -- or even our civilization -- is left mostly to the reader's imagination. Nevertheless one fact is clear -- we are riding a climate roller coaster that may soon start to take some sickening dips -- and the key to our survival may be locked within quiet, blue layers buried deep within the Greenland ice mass. -- Auralgo
Want to understand climate change?.......2006-04-12
In contrast to some other reviewers, I did NOT find this book a big yawn. I was fascinated by the exposition of how conclusions can be drawn about climate change. Alley briefly explains several different methods, but goes into detail on how ice cores can be used to make educated guesses about past climate. Very simply, every year there is a new layer on top of the Greenland glacier that can be analyzed chemically and differences in the chemical makeup of the layer reflect differences in the underlying climate (temperature).
I found the book fascinating, although it reads somewhat like a textbook rather than a story. However, my purpose in reading it was to try to understand for myself how conclusions on climate change are being reached, and the book fills that purpose admirably.
What happened?.......2005-05-21
Alley created an excellent Scientific American article ("Abrupt Climate Change", November 2004, available online) in terms of information and engaging writing style. His "Time Machine", though occasionally informative, reads like a slow elementary-school or sagacious politician's overview. "Many clever people are studying things in ice, and learning many things." Yawn. Maybe this was his intent, though nowhere are we forewarned. He's best when reporting his personal adventures in the ice core data recovery field he's part of. A crucial hinge in the unfolding "climate change" arena - what we used to call "global warning" until PR firms (minions of political parties and conglomerates, generously applying political correctness) changed the name to sound less ominous. This book is not about the most recent GRIP, Greenland Ice Core Project, cataloging 123,000 years of earth's atmospheric history in that region (and some 2 million year old plants to boot). It does reveal findings of a previous drilling - good for 110 millennia - and the Vostok ice core, extending back about 450,000 years. (Take that Creationists.)
These cores read like pages in a book, one year's ice layer piled atop another, trapping gases, dust and aerosols in each. According to Alley (repeated by Brian Fagan) the good news is, compared to previous interglacial warming periods, we humans have been remarkably lucky during the Holocene, the last 12,000 years (since the invention of agriculture), with relatively stable climate, except for a few major hiccups. The bad news is plural. Contrary to opinions, measurable, repeatable data shows we have among the highest concentrations of CO2 in these recorded histories; The thermohaline circulation (the ocean's equator-to-pole hot/cold exchange system) is a smoking gun in massive change (which according to NOAA data is shutting down via ice melt freshening); And the biggest news of all - ice cores show dramatic, even catastrophic climate shift, as Alley writes, "in less time than it takes it get a college degree". Oops. Apparently nature has a threshold. Once tripped, it's a long ride back - about a hundred thousand years. Such audacity nature has to act in a nonlinear fashion is inexcusable.
But nature and man are not without their ironies. While politicians, conglomerates and talk show hosts paint their rosy picture of longer summers on the beach (ignoring these beaches may be under water) or flourishing plant life in CO2-rich atmospheres (ignoring they may be fried in heat and dryness), as it turns out ice ages are triggered by warming. Standby. Exciting times coming, except nobody knows when. The Pentagon considers global warming a national security risk (at least enough to fund a study) - though to what generation? We'll keep rolling the dice, but at least Alley is trying to sound the alarm. Unfortunately, to the world's biggest offender, we heard all this in the Sixties, then tried to change the world by collecting litter on Earth Day - that's been a thousand fads ago. Nobody's listening.
Book Description
In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation--nearly three billion years ago--to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas.
Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. Frozen Earth also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.
Customer Reviews:
covering the science and scientists of ice ages.......2007-04-25
This book describes the history of scientific research into ice ages, and explains the science itself. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic regarding ice ages, and covers the big names who worked in this field. The book makes good connections between the science of ice ages and other topics in science, such as human evolution, global climate change, plate tectonics, and extinction of species. The book gives good descriptions of the science involved without getting bogged down in it, thereby allowing the reader to go through the book quite easily. The overall science level is appropriate for anyone who has gone to college, and the book is quite interesting to read.
a splendid piece of science writing.......2007-03-28
Simply put, Doug Macdougall's FROZEN EARTH is science writing at its best. Compressed within this book's crystalline prose is a plethora of remarkable insights and revelations which should shatter any notions that our planet is a peaceful and stable haven of life.
The author explains how ice cores taken from remote regions have unlocked several of the mysteries of past climatic epochs. Factors such as the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, continental drift, greenhouse gases, mountain building and other phenomena are also examined for their role in altering earth's climate.
Some history is thrown in too. Geniuses like Louis Agassiz, Milutin Milankovitch, Harlan Bretz, and the relatively unheralded James Croll receive significant attention for their monumental contributions to the study of ice ages.
The FROZEN EARTH includes an interesting discussion about the impact of solar activity and cosmic rays on cloud formation and climate. Macdougall doesn't raise the issue, but this theory has gained prominence lately as an alternative explanation to CO2 levels for changes in the earth's weather (see Nigel Calder's THE CHILLING STARS: THE NEW THEORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE).
In the final chapter the author speculates on the effect of rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Macdougall clearly believes that it's something to be concerned about. He points out, though, that we're still in the grip of an ice age. The record of the last million years or so indicates that warm interglacial periods like the one we're experiencing typically last 10 to 20 thousand years before the ice returns. He wonders if this time it'll be different. Maybe our abundant CO2 emissions will delay the advance of the glaciers, or even set the earth on a new, warmer course free from the peril of recurring ice ages.
The FROZEN EARTH closes with the tacit admission that our present state of knowledge is too limited to provide a clear picture of the earth's future climate. There is much yet to learn.
like trying to stop an avalanche.......2007-02-24
Hey, I've been reading this kind of material for forty years....ice ages, Milankovitch cycles, loess deposits you name it. This book is a nice synopsis. The truth is in the ice cores and seafloor sediment cores....the truth is that an ice is something that nearly destroyed the human race while it changed it. The truth is that another will happen , in geological terms, VERY soon. The truth is that human caused greenhouse gases may have forestalled the onset of the next ice age already.....
This is a very good book and I recommend it for anyone with an open mind about global climate and the so called immenent dangers of global warming. However, being cynical, I'd say that people with minds open to this subject must account for less than one percent of the populace......so great is the global warming juggernaut.
Don't read the book if you want to actually KNOW something about ice ages that might shake your confidence in all the hype. Read it if you want to learn. But then, after you've learned, you'll have to keep your mouth shut on the subject since the present orthodoxy ( political correctness ) will brand you as either a fool or enemy of the planet or both if you so much as suggest that there may be more to the story than slick media propaganda teach.....
Yah, I know the sea level is going to rise and that the floods will be terrrible. How does a 400 foot drop in sea level for oh, about 100,000 years, sound as an alternative? Hummmmmm? Just how much has the sea level actually risen BTW? It's going to be time to see some real movement in that direction soon if the hypothesis is true that man caused CO2 is raising the global temp etc. My money is on the onset of a new ice age within several thousand years......but then, I don't have to compete for tenure or research grants as a climate 'scientist'.
A real scientist writes about climate changes on Earth.......2006-12-24
This is one of the best books i've read in a long time, and I read over 100 books each year. Macdougall covers a lot of territory in a rather small book, which could have been twice as long and probably been even more interesting.
Macdougall puts the long history of Earth's climate changes over billions of years into perspective. The earth had been nearly completely frozen, and nearly completely ice free several times in its history. Some of the more fascinating statistics deal with how glaciers have advanced and retreated over millions of years, how human evolution probably took a dramatic departure from our fellow apes due to glaciations, how the sea level has risen 400 feet since the last major glaciations just a few thousand years ago allowing mankind to walk the land bridges between Siberia and Alaska, and even from modern-day France to modern-day England.
This book has none of the hysterical "chicken-little" rantings of those who worry about global warming, and Macdougall shows us that there are far more plausible theories about climate change than the effect of CO2 and fossil fuel use, especially since the earth has had many more serious changes than even the un-educated Gores of the world have been predicting.
A great piece of writing by a real scientist.
Some perspective on the global climate.......2006-04-03
Doug Macdougall's "Frozen Earth" is clear, easy-to-read popular science for those interested in changes in global climate but without the scientific background to understand the often emotionally-charged discussion in the public media.
Macdougall's sub-title. "The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages", emphasizes the longer perspective he takes on how and why climate changes. He begins with the fact that we are likely living in an interglacial period of what has been a series of ice ages recurring at more or less regular intervals of several thousand years.
Macdougall gives his story a human aspect by describing how, over the last 300 years, a succession of scientists struggled to make sense of the physical evidence around them indicating that glaciers had once covered much more area than they do at present. The struggle leads to a still growing understanding of ice ages; the details of the story underline just how complex the workings of Planet Earth really are and how incomplete our understanding of these processes still is.
Macdougall loops back later in the book to relate how the ice ages interacted with human evolution; specifically, how the stress of environmental change forced both adaptation by early humans and selection of those best able to survive the changes. Macdougall's discussion of the "Little Ice Age" during the period 1600-1800 nicely links climate change to a human era we can still relate to.
Macdougall is properly cautious in weaving in the possible effects of mankind on climate change and global warming. The burning of carbon-based fuels clearly has some effect on climate, but Macdougall points out that this is only one of many factors that influence climate. At the same time, he makes clear that timing affects the impact of different factors, and lays out the possibility that the human impact may be altering the natural "schedule" of glacial and interglacial periods on earth.
This book is highly recommended to those readers interested in a longer perspective on climate change.
Book Description
This book is written out of Gretel Ehrlich’s love for winter—for remote and cold places, and the ways in which winter frees our imagination and invigorates our feet, mind, and soul—and out of the fear that our “democracy of gratification” has irreparably altered the climate. In The Future of Ice, Ehrlich travels to extreme points—from Tierra del Fuego in the south to Spitsbergen, east of Greenland, at the very top of the world—in her quest to understand the complex, primal nature of cold.
Over the course of a year, Ehrlich and her cold-loving canine companion experience firsthand the myriad expressions of cold, and she gives us marvelous histories of wind, water, snow, and ice, of ocean currents and weather cycles. Ehrlich explores how our very awareness, our consciousness, is animated and enlivened by the archaic rhythms and erupting oscillations of weather. As she writes, “Weather streamed into my nose, mouth, eyes, and ears and circulated inside my brain. . . . A gust can shove one impulse into another; a blizzard erases a line of action; a sandstorm permeates inspiration; rain is a form of sleep. Lightning makes scratch marks on brains; hail gouges out a nesting place, melts, and waters the seed of an idea that can germinate into idiocy, a joke, or genius.” We share Ehrlich’s experience of the thrills of cold and also her questions: What will happen to us if we are “deseasoned”? If winter ends, will we survive?
Customer Reviews:
Contemplative and erratic.......2007-06-05
I sought this book because I myself play in winter and around ice and love the cold as it defines seasons. I am an environmental advocate in my job and hobbies. I also am an admirer of the destinations and distances Ehrlich seems willing to travel.
While I appreciate the imagery and Ehrlich's personalized - yet detached - account of her experiences throughout this book, I didn't find myself empathizing with most of her ideas and principles. The strong impression this book left on me was of a bag of personal troubles couched as a concern for climate change. I don't know if she was numbed by her feeling of helplessness, against what she perceived in the world of ice (or if she was just cold) but her stream-of-consciousness verse-prose cascade toward no solutions was alienating and disheartening. I didn't want a feel good story from this book, but I think I had hoped for a sense of stepping toward reconciliation and trouble-shooting, however philosophical.
this is a wonderful book.......2006-12-14
This is a tightly wrought and beautiful work or life and art, poetical, arresting, trasportive. As a westerner, and lover of cold it really spoke to me. The brittle cold of the author's loneliness seduces your own heart to face itself. It is a beautiful book, but not an easy one. While the book is supposedly about global warming, it is truly about much much more. How anyone could give it a low rating due in part to a disagreement about climate prediction is beyond me. I highly recommend this book.
another great Ehrich book.......2006-06-09
Excellent book about cold places, global warming, life and solitude.
another great book for Gretel.
this is another keeper for my library.
I loved it.
The Future of Ice.......2006-04-26
A travel memoir, meditation on winter and nature, and jeremiad upon the imminent destruction of everything.
I found this book almost unreadable. I didn't care for the writing style, which I found overwrought (speculating about the emotions of glaciers, pushing every image past its logical limit), but the scientific inaccuracies were what really troubled me. This kind of hysterical account encourages people to disrespect the environmental movement, so I'm afraid Ehrlich may have done more harm than good. As a conservationist who does believe global warming is a problem that we need to address, I'm not at all convinced that all the ice will be gone in fifty years and "a million" species will consequently be extinct, or that all the fresh water will be gone (global warming seems to be bringing wetter weather to some parts of the world). Broad statements like that combined with a dearth of solid information on either the global warming issue or the ecosystems through which Ehrlich travels cause the book to lose credibility.
Writers like Peter Matthiessen and Craig Childs successfully combine poetic language with scientifically valid observation and powerful arguments for conservation. This book, for me, doesn't succeed.
A very refreshing read........2006-03-21
I recently completed reading this book while travelling in Iceland and the Faroes last week. And I picked up this book at a bookstore in Reykjavik. Clearly Gretel is a strongly worded and passionate writer. But while she was able to connect with me while talking about her hikes (and her dog, Sammy; I lost my own doggie about a month ago), she quite often seems to go on a rant. Sometimes I just skimmed over words without attempting to grasp what she was saying. She does not describe any flora and fauna in detail but I don't think that was the intention of this book (read Barry Lopez's "Arctic Dreams" for that). But all that sounds like nitpicking. It is not often you come across a book by someone who obviously has travelled so extensively or loves winter so much. Make this your next read while travelling across the northern Atlantic next time.
Book Description
A debate-and-respond format examining whether the Tribulation is past or still to come.
Customer Reviews:
Why Thomas Ice? Gentry superb! .......2007-07-07
Immediately when I glanced at the two interlocutors in this debate-book, I knew it would be one sided. Thomas Ice (with all due respect) is just not up to par with Gentry's scholarship. Ice's comparison to Zechariah 14, would have to be his strongest argument in this book. There really is not much else to Ice's contribution. For Matthew 24:34, Ice simply gives alternative ways this "unambiguous, non-apocalyptic, non-poetic didactic assertion" may be interpreted but does not deal with the obvious (Gentry's) interpretation. By circumventing the semantic feildery of the phrase "this generation shall not pass away..." Ice really believes he has accomplished something. In Ice's initial argument, Matthew 24 is not even dealt with (the topic of debate). Ice, jumps to the OT (which is not wrong as a backdrop, but when the subject is the "great tribulation" you should focus on the great tribulation). Thomas Ice is a bit better, in criticizing Gentry's exposition on "The Great Tribulation" in his rebuttal; however it is not nearly strong enough to over turn Kenneth Gentry's precision. The ridiculous gap that Thomas Ice argues for between Matthew/Mark and Luke is quite pathetic. He argues that Luke's account of the Olivet discourse was fulfilled in A.D. 70 while Matthew and Mark are still future. Ice does this by appealing at a couple of differences in word usages by the three gospel accounts. It is quite sad that Thomas Ice zeros in on trivialities and deems this scholarship, there is another name for it; pedantry. Just visit your local Christian bookstore and grab a copy of any harmonious gospels, and Ice's argument immediately becomes moot! So then, my question is why was Thomas Ice chosen to represent the futurist view? There are many other notable scholars that would have made an formidable debatee for Dr. Gentry: G.K. Beale, Robert Thomas, David Turner, Robert Saucy, Richard Gaffin, Robert Strimple, etc...
Kenneth Gentry on the other hand is at his best... As usual Gentry is well presented and easily comprehended. Gentry, lays down some preliminary guidelines, before he tramples into Matthew 24. Really impressive is the historical context in which Gentry places the entire discourse. I will tell you, I have yet to see anyone as persuasive as this man in eschatology. Gentry is defiantly championed as the pinnacle of eschatological scholars. After reading this and the strength of Dr. Gentry's argument, you will be amazed and wish to further read the rest of Dr. Gentry's work. Unfortunately Dr. Gentry's rebuttal in this book is not too informative due to Thomas Ice's inadequacy to effectively present his case. Dr. Gentry is forced to way through much of the futurist jargon, that Ice disperses in his opening argument. Furthermore, Gentry is forced to begin analyzing childish objections like discontinuity between the 3 accounts of the Olivet discourse in the gospels (although Luke contains the same time delimiter "this generation" (v.32) Ice still presses this issue of a futuristic Matthew and past Luke). Gentry literally takes Thomas Ice to town on every aspect of the discourse, it was unfortunate to watch a fellow Christian take such a pounding. However Gentry does this respectfully and lovingly (see Gentry's conclusion at the end of the book). I would recommended this for every student who has developed a keen interest in eschatology; for the Futurist be upset with Thomas Ice, however listen to Kenneth Gentry.
One Sided, but for Unusual Reasons.......2007-05-07
My wife (a futurist) and I (a [partial] preterist) have been reading this book together, and have found it to be only effectively presented by Gentry. My wife's own observations have been that Ice's arguments are often obscure and without a logical thread (e.g. he often begs the question about whether certain passages ought to be read as he does when presenting them to support his position). It has been disappointing for both of us. We both found Gentry's arguments to be lucid, logical, and reasonable; and we both found Ice not to be up to the task. Perhaps someone other than Ice would have been a better choice.
The strength of this book is the two opposing views, but better commentary can be found elsewhere........2006-11-07
As a believer in Christ for nearly 30 years, I had read the Olivet Discourse countless times and through the guidance (or perhaps misguidance) of Hal Lindsey and several study bibles always believed that it was a future event. It wasn't until I recently read R.C. Sproul's "Last Days According to Jesus" that some scholars interpreted Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 as past, fullfilled events. Since then I read Gary DeMar's "Last Days Madness" and he too adds a lot of compelling evidence to the "partial preterist" position (meaning that much, but not all New Testament prophecy has been fullfilled).
But before solidifying my thinking as a partial preterist, I wanted to be sure I hadn't overlooked something since it is a minority position in Christian circles today and many believers are actually hostile towards this viewpoint.
In this book Dr. Kenneth Gentry takes the past position and does a great job putting the Olivet Discourse in its proper context, but his arguments regarding the tough passages (Matthew 24:29-34) are not as strong as Sproul's nor DeMar's in my opinion.
Dr. Thomas Ice, who is associated with best selling author Tim LaHaye and the Pre-Trib Research Center in Dallas presents the future position. Ice devotes quite a bit of material trying to use the Old Testament as a foundation for the future position. Finally he does address the Olivet Discourse itself and to my surprise states the following on page 96: "[The gospels of] Matthew and Mark focus exclusively upon future events of the Tribulation while Luke's version includes past and future elements". This to me was a bombshell because reading the three accounts side-by-side it's very hard to believe that these are separate accounts of different events since they do have alot more in common than not - which is also true for other accounts in the three synoptic gospels such as the cruxification and resurrection. Neither of those two events are word-for-word the same, but clearly the same event.
The coup de grace however for Ice is when he interprets the meaning of "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" on page 103. He writes, "Our position is that this generation is not the generation to whom Christ is speaking, but the generation to the signs will become evident". The huge problem here is that the Luke account uses the same exact statement about "this generation" as do Matthew and Mark (see Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30 and Luke 21:32). If the Luke account is past and future, it couldn't possibly fit Ice's definition of "this generation" unless these first century A.D. people were still alive today! I also wasn't sold on Ice's interpretation of Daniel's 70 weeks because of the major discontinuity in the time span.
Overall, I liked the book, but wasn't blown away by it. I would recommend R.C. Sproul's "Last Days According to Jesus" and Gary DeMar's "Last Days Madness" together since both complement each other's strengths and weakenesses. The two books combined will give the best insight on how to interpret the Olivet Discourse.
The Seas will turn to Blood in the last days, It is all in the Bible. .......2006-03-17
Right now is the future, in 2006. And if one reads the Bible, it talks about a world dictator, or president that will control all the planet in the last days. Yes, we are living in the pre tribulation period. People can laugh at this but the issue of verichip(the mark of the beast-the satanic mark) is gaining strength, the European union is gaining strength as well, homosexuality is on the rise, aids is too on the rise...the only thing that needs to occur is the rapture and then the 7 year tribulation will begin. Once the rapture happens then the antichrist will appear onto the world scene. It will be peaceful at first but then half way through the pact it will all crumble, and wars shall start (Holy Bible and TBN Evangelism). I don't know if it will be in the very last years of so, but the oceans will turn into blood. Now, everything is in the Bible. We have to believe In Jesus Christ, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Believe and follow the commandments of Christ and be immortal, forever. Be aware and stay awake, and follow Christ and you yourself who is reading this will be picked up in Rapture. Pray alot, and pray with heart in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you shall know the truth. There is no such thing as a debate because everything is in the Bible. I recommend to you the Holy Bible 2001 ESV By Crossway publishers, know the word and don't be controlled by anyone, including preachers. Just follow Christ. Jesus Christ is God. Regardless of image, social status, and race, but many will go to hell because they rejected Jesus Christ. *Check this out, kirk cameron, the actor, was a non believer-an atheist, now he is a christian. If this last sentence persuades you to become a christian do so, Christ does not want anyone to go to Hell, but it is yourself who decides that along with other factors(the world and satan). So follow the Christian light and obtain Eternal salvation.
Well done.......2005-07-29
Most of what can be said, has been said. A good book for those interested in actually learning about differing views, and not simply clutching tightly to a familar system.
That said, I find it terribly interesting that when looking at the list of "People who have purchased this book, have also purchased:" of all the books listed only one is a Futurist book, while all the rest are of the preterist or partial pret persuasion. : )
One final note: It is also interesting that the poorest review so far (3/5 stars) does not actually mention anything really about the book but simply attempts to defend futurism. Besides offering a defense that is of no worth whatsoever, the people reading reviews, attempting to make a decision are given nothing. I submit that the author of that review may not have read the most engaging works of preterists, and others who are not persuaded of the Futurist view.
Average customer rating:
- An excellent compilation of Miyazawa'a works
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Future of Ice: Poems and Stories of a Japanese Buddhist
Miyazawa Kenji
Manufacturer: North Point Press
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Customer Reviews:
An excellent compilation of Miyazawa'a works.......2003-04-08
I bought this book on a whim after seeing the movie "Kenji no Haru" or "Spring and Chaos" (US title) thich is based on the life story of Kenji Miyazawa. I think this book is the most inexepensive (and authentic) way to get his poems in English today. The poems were originally published in several, small, volumes years ago and are now out of print. This book is 255 pages including the following: about 120 poems and tanka, and 3 stories. The poems from the volumes: Spring and Asura volumes 1-4, and "Winter Sketches".
This is an excellent book. It really is. Poetry has never been one of my things, but now, I'v gotten an interest in it. My thesis paper this year is on Miyazawa, so reading and analyzing these poems are a delight. Most of them are about nature, and the way the he viewed the world around him. it is very personal, b/c you get the sense that this is what he actually saw. Also, in poems like "Koiwai Farm", the descriptive language is beautiful! I still do not understand why such and excellent poet has never been taught in western classrooms.
So, in short, this book is a must read for poetry enthusiasts, or people even midly interested in Miyazawa. I also recommend the movie "Spring and Chaos" (produced in the US under Tokyopop Producitons) for a very artistic approach to Kenji's life and art.
Book Description
(Revised edition) Simple, direct answers to nagging questions about the reality and purpose of heaven and our eternal existence. Designed and priced for mass distribution.
Customer Reviews:
What the Bible Says About Heaven and Eternity.......2007-05-13
This was a fabulous little booklet packed with valued information, about the concepts of heaven and the eternal realm, that I had never pondered or considered before reading it. It wasn't a very big book, but it was a fantastic book that gave me new insight into the sacred scriptures and the works of our Heavenly Father and Creator.
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Mass Balance of the Cryosphere: Observations and Modelling of Contemporary and Future Changes
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521808952 |
Book Description
Providing a comprehensive overview of the significance of the glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, this study reviews the theory behind climatological observations. It describes present modelling studies and predicted future changes in the mass balances of these key indicators of global climate change. The volume is an important reference for scientists working in climate change, environmental sciences and glaciology.
Average customer rating:
- Generally Fine
- Excellent selection of 1980s SF
- Great addition to your sci-fi anthology collection
- Super cool anthology
- An anthology of surprisingly good short stories
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Future on Ice
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ASIN: 0312866941 |
Amazon.com
The much-delayed follow-up to Future on Fire, another anthology of the best short SF from the 1980s, Future on Ice delivers a tight, choice collection from some of the genre's top names--Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, Greg Bear, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Kress, and others. SF anthologies live or die by the quality of their ideas, and Future on Ice doesn't disappoint: editor Orson Scott Card (a genre powerhouse himself) has put together an eclectic and thought-provoking set of 18 stories, from Butler's disturbing but imaginative vision of a burned-out future without language to Martin's Twilight Zone-esque retrospective on the life of an arrogant author, in which paintings of his characters come to life to haunt him. Other standouts include a classic dreaming android story from Asimov and Bear's galaxy-in-a-grain-of-sand tale, in which a person inadvertently becomes the living host to an entire universe. Card ably bookends the set with a story of his own and a compelling introductory essay on the Force and how sci-fi is really religious literature. (Other authors in the anthology include John Kessel, Gregory Benford, Andrew Weiner, David Zindell, C.J. Cherryh, Lewis Shiner, John Crowley, John Varley, S.C. Sykes, Karen Joy Fowler, and Walter Jon Williams.) --Paul Hughes
Book Description
In the early part of this decade, Orson Scott Card edited Future on Fire, a compendium of exciting stories by the hottest writers of the 1980s. Now, finally, he brings us Future on Ice: a companion anthology of stories that will freeze you in your tracks; and change the way you think. Here are early stories from widely varied and immensely talented authors who have since shattered the face of science fiction, including work by Nancy Kress, Gregory Benford, Octavia E. Butler, Lewis Shiner, Karen Joy Fowler, Greg Bear, David Zindell, John Crowley, and George R.R. Martin.
Customer Reviews:
Generally Fine.......2001-11-08
This book is good. The intorduction written by OSC itself is wonderful enough. His comments for each stories are also good and helpful. Stories are well-chosen, and altogether they indicate something OSC wanted to show. I rated it with 4 stars not because it's bad or not enough, but because it was not my taste. And it can be to many other people, I'm rather sure. Before ordering this book please read the introdcution pages in the bookstores or somewhere you can. If you like what OSC says and want to see stories of that, buy it then. Otherwise you won't feel 'happy'.
Excellent selection of 1980s SF.......2001-04-18
This anthology was planned as a companion to Card's Future on Fire, and together the two were meant to showcase the best short science fiction of the 1980's. For the most part his choices stand up brilliantly. This is quite legitimately an anthology which can stand on its own or with its companion as a "Best of the '80s": no doubt these aren't the very best 18 stories from that decade, but on any given day, they'll do.
My favorite story here, and in my opinion one of the best SF stories of all time, is Nancy Kress' "Out of All Them Bright Stars" (winner of the 1985 Nebula for Best Short Story). This quiet, quiet, story, about a waitress in a diner and her encounter with an alien, illustrates as clearly as I can imagine the use of SF to examine human nature. It's a story that simply wouldn't work without being SF, without aliens and the implication of star travel, but its theme is all about what's within us. Lovely writing, perfect characters: one of those stories that just stop me dead and makes me think for some time after I finish it.
Several other stories included won major SF awards. Among them, I think Greg Bear's "Blood Music" (winner of both Hugo and Nebula for Best Novelet), a truly terrifying story about the consequences of engineering bacteria-sized microchips, and using them to maintain the body's health, holds up best. In this story Bear took his idea and ran with it to the fullest extent, facing every implication. A story that is similarly chilling in implication, John Varley's novella "Press Enter []" (also winner of both the Hugo and Nebula), doesn't seem to hold up quite as well. His central notion of computers linking up and taking over really isn't very new (cf. Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" for just one example), and his mechanism, while well-depicted and creepy, doesn't convince. Nor does the (well-depicted and engaging) love story quite convince. But the story is still a great read.
Also among my personal favorite '80s stories are "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler, "Snow" by John Crowley, and "The Pure Product" by John Kessel. The first is a moving story of life in near-future Los Angeles, after a plague has destroyed the speech centers of everyone. The horror of the loss of communication with other people is very well portrayed. "Snow" is a beautiful fable about memory and love. A woman of the jet set records incidents from her life over many years, and her one-time gigolo/lover/husband plays them back after her death. But the technology only allows random access to these "memories", and the memories degrade over time. The effect is quiet and profound. "The Pure Product" is quite another thing. A man (apparently from the future) goes on a rampage through '80s North America. The story is fast moving and scary. At one level it's a harder-edged take on the same theme as C. L. Moore's classic "Vintage Season", but at another level we worry that the empathy-deficient people from the future are us.
Any anthology which aims to be "definitive" will surely include prominent stories, like those mentioned above, and like George R. R. Martin's Nebula winner "Portraits of His Children" and Isaac Asimov's well-known late story "Robot Dreams". But I like an anthology to include some surprises, as well. Two good, less familiar, choices are S. C. Sykes' "Rockabye Baby", and Andrew Weiner's intriguing "Klein's Machine". Card also chooses stories by Lisa Goldstein, Gregory Benford, David Zindell, C. J. Cherryh, Walter Jon Williams, Karen Joy Fowler, Lewis Shiner, and himself. Probably the only story in the book which doesn't quite seem to me to belong is Asimov's slight, gimmicky, "Robot Dreams". This anthology eminently succeeds in presenting a selection which represents the short SF of the 1980s at its best, and at its widest variety.
Great addition to your sci-fi anthology collection.......2000-08-01
I am a high-volume consumer of science fiction anthologies, and over the past 10 years have probably read more than 500 short story collections, mostly in sci-fi. I easily rank "Future on Ice" in the top 10% of those readings.
There are several reasons why I enjoyed the book so much. First, the roster of authors is impressive, with Nancy Kress, Octavia Butler, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford and Card himself, just to name a few. With these authors, the quality and entertainment value of the stories has to be high.
Second, it seemed almost each story had great depth, plot and sci-fi content. This is a rarity in anthologies; I have a personal ranking system for anthologies, and if I can legitimately say that 50% or more of the short stories held my interest and were of high-quality, then I can consider the anthology itself a success and my time was not wasted. I would say that "Future," to the best of my recollection, has a perfect batting average in this regard (again, a huge rarity that I enjoyed every story).
Third, most of the stories had some great catch; either it was an unexpected ending, a plot twist or a profound message. After my fourth or fifth story, I had become hooked and read each story awaiting the surprise.
Last, this anthology is somewhat historical in nature, in that the reader is given a glimpse of some of these now-great authors when they were not-so-great (the 1980's). Oftentimes, this kind of early work is refreshing and different than the work a recognized author may produce.
I hate to use a cliche, but this would be one of my "must have's" for the serious collector of sci-fi anthologies.
Super cool anthology.......2000-07-28
OK, this is a pretty obvious anthology. It has LOTS of awards winners, lots of famos stories by famos names, etc, etc, etc.
But it's a really great anthology, one that you can't miss.
As for Orson Scott Card's introductions, they're nice, not all too informative, and well written (of course). The degree to which you'll enjoy them depends on how much you're willing to tolerate Card's well intentioned conservatism.
But it's the stories, not those who tell them. Other than Lewis Shiner's story, I liked all of them, but I'm gonna talk about the ones that made the most impression on me: Isaac Asimov's Robot Dreams, John Varley's Press Enter, Walter Jon William's Dinosaurs, and George R. R. Martin's Portraits of His Children.
I could probably write an essey that would be longer than the story about Asimov's Robot Dream. It is a dlightful return of Susan Calvin, one I wasn't aware of. It also continues the theme Asimov has had in his last decades, of the thinning difference between the human and the Robot. It isn't as full as 'That Thou Art Mindful of Him' or 'The Bicential Man', and Susan Calvin lacks her passion for Robots, but it is fascinating anyway.
I've read John Varley's story about 5 years ago, and I thought it was one of the best short fiction pieces I've ever read. It is every bit as good in the second reading. Varley writes a tale that is even more chilling today, in the days of internet, than it was in the 80s. He proves he understands History, Computers, Medicin - but most importantly, character.
Walter Jon William's Dinosaurs was an incredible surprise. I've read some of Williams's Wild Cards stories, and I've liked them well enough, but Dinosaurs is one a whole new class. It is a story as powerful as any SF short fiction, a real classic of the field, imaginative and page turning. Williams has immidiately become and author to watch out for.
And than we come to George R. R. Martin. I've left his story for the last, and so I'll also talk about it at the end. Martin is my favorite living author (Asimov is probably my favorite all time author, though it's a close call), but every time I get to read one of his stories, I think " It can't probably be THAT good", and yet, it allways is.
Portraits of His Children isn't a Science Fiction story - it is a Dark Fantasy/Horror story, but it is no less powerful for that. It is clever, unique, and most of all, touching. It has won its Nebula deservedly.
Those were my favorites, but they don't have to be yours. Greg Bear wrote a kick ess story about micro-aliens. Octavia Butler wrote a Hugo award winning tale about a post-apocaliptical world that is a place familiar in tone to all Butler fans, myself included. C.J Cherry(sp?) wrote POTS, a unique Space Opera tale that was the first of her works I've read, but surely not the last. And Orson Scott Card finishes the book with a story about the future of Civilazation - where the world might be different, but people aren't.
This is a unique anthology. I read all of it in record tim, and enjoyed it tremendously. It truly has some of the best SF stories out there - Viva the Eighties.
An anthology of surprisingly good short stories.......1999-05-28
Let me preface this review by pointing out that I am a very unlikely owner of this type of book, mainly because I don't read much science fiction. In fact I can count the number of science fiction authors I've read in the past ten years on one hand. I went through a period in high school when I read a lot of Isaac Asimov, and I read a few Larry Niven novels. But other than that, the only science fiction I've been exposed to has come from Orson Scott Card, who has become one of my favorite authors in many genres.
This is a collection of 18 stories by prominent science fiction authors in the 1980's. Before reading this book, I hadn't even heard of most of them. Honestly, I expected it to be similar to some of Isaac Asimov's anthologies, where there is usually one or two good stories and a whole lot of mediocre ones. But Card really surprised me.
Out of 18 stories, two of them rank up there with some of my favorite short stories of all time (S.C. Syke's "Rockabye Baby" and Orson Scott Card's "The Fringe" -- both of which, ironically, dealt with severely handicapped characters).
Almost all the others were also much better than I expected, especially George Martin's "Portraits of His Children", Octavia Butler's "Speech Sounds", and John Crowley's "Snow".
Unfortunately, as is the case in most anthologies, there were also two real stinkers in the book: Asimov's uninspired "Robot Dreams" and Lisa Goldstein's "Tourists".
One the whole, however, I'd heartily recommend this book one to any fan of science fiction, but also to any open-minded reader who enjoys character-driven fiction with a twist of the imaginative.
Orson Scott Card has also edited other anthologies, including FUTURE ON FIRE (1980 - a companion volume), TURNING HEARTS (1994), DRAGONS OF LIGHT (1980), and DRAGONS OF DARKNESS (1981). He also had a small role in co-editing BLACK MIST AND OTHER JAPANESE FUTURES with two other authors.
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- Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life
- Things Fall Apart: A Novel
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- Without a Doubt Audio
- Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin (Ologies)
- Zero Hour (Resident Evil)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Hunger Like No Other (The Immortals After Dark Series, Book 1)
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