Ten years in the making, this engaging work reveals why "Lincoln's road to success was longer, more tortuous, and far less likely" than the other men, and why, when opportunity beckoned, Lincoln was "the best prepared to answer the call." This multiple biography further provides valuable background and insights into the contributions and talents of Seward, Chase, and Bates. Lincoln may have been "the indispensable ingredient of the Civil War," but these three men were invaluable to Lincoln and they played key roles in keeping the nation intact. --Shawn Carkonen
A stunning literary and historical achievement, the three volumes of Shelby Foote's THE CIVIL WAR vividly bring to life the four years of torment and strife that altered American life forever. Presented in a handsome boxed set, these three beautifully bound hardcovers are an essential addition to every American history collection.
Taking the reader from the drama of Jefferson Davis's resignation from the United States Senate and Abraham Lincoln's arrival in the nation's capital to Davis's final flight and capture and Lincoln's tragic death, Foote covers his subject with astonishing depth and scope. Every battle, every general, and every statesman has its place in this monumental narrative, told in lively prose that captures the sights, smells, and sounds of the conflict. Never before have the great battles and personalities of the Civil War been so excitingly presented, and never before has the story been told so completely.
With a novelist's gift for narrative and a historian's commitment to research, Shelby Foote's epic retelling is the definitive account of the Civil War, a trilogy that has earned a place of honor on the bookshelves of all Americans.
I just received the set and am very impressed with the quality of the hardbound set. It was a great buy through Amazon (around $41). I was a little startled when I saw the list price of over 100 dollars, but after seeing the set, I can understand the pricing.
Can't wait to sink my teeth into the series.
An amazing literary achievement.......2007-09-05
Shelby Foote has managed to do what most fail to do with a History Book. He brings the Civil War to life and gives the characters presence and energy. Superbly written and wonderful to read.
For me as an Englishman living in the Southern States, I am now beginning to have an understanding of the real politics and social background to the Civil War.
And What it felt like to be a Confederate!
A Civil War Narrative.......2007-08-29
I bought these books for my husband and he cannot put them down. He absolutely loves them.
Epic.......2007-08-29
Shelby Foote's three volume set is many things: grand, comprehensive, witty and sad. These books capture the civil war, the U.S. in the 1860's and the beauty and blemishes of humanity. After purchasing the complete set, I'm out of pocket $40, but my debt to Foote is far greater.
The Civil War: A Narrative.......2007-08-23
Shelby Foote has set the standard for all books on the Civil War. I believe that anyone who has an interest in the United States and who we are should read these volumes. The writing is very good and the characters so well drawn, from national figures to 'people on the street',
that my interest was peaked from the first paragraph. This edition is affordable which makes it even better. I would give 10 stars if possible.
Book Description
Twelve-thousand feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean . . .
scientists are excavating the most extraordinary undersea discovery ever made. But is it the greatest archaeological find in history—or the most terrifying?
Former naval doctor Peter Crane is urgently summoned to a remote oil platform in the North Atlantic to help diagnose a bizarre medical condition spreading through the rig. But when he arrives, Crane learns that the real trouble lies far below—on “Deep Storm,” a stunningly advanced science research facility built two miles beneath the surface on the ocean floor. The topsecret structure has been designed for one purpose: to excavate a recently discovered undersea site that may hold the answers to a mystery steeped in centuries of myth and speculation.
Sworn to secrecy, Dr. Crane descends to Deep Storm. A year earlier, he is told, routine drilling uncovered the remains of mankind’s most sophisticated ancient civilization: the legendary Atlantis. But now that the site is being excavated, a series of disturbing illnesses has begun to affect the operation. Scientists and technicians are experiencing a bizarre array of symptoms—from simple fatigue to violent psychotic episodes. As Crane is indoctrinated into the strange world of Deep Storm and commences his investigation, he begins to suspect that the covert facility conceals something more complicated than a medical mystery.The discovery of Atlantis might, in fact, be a cover for something far more sinister . . . and deadly.
Like Lincoln Child’s spectacular bestsellers coauthored with Douglas Preston (The Book of the Dead, Relic), Deep Storm melds scientific detail and gripping adventure in a superbly imagined, chillingly real journey into unknown territory. Child is a master of suspense, and Deep Storm is his most ambitious novel to date.
Customer Reviews:
Not a Deep Connection........2007-10-09
I just finished reading "Deep Storm". It was okay, but not great.
There was a very...clinical element in the way the story was told. We never really find out any personal details about the characters. As a result, the story ends without the reader forming a substantial emotional bond with any of the characters.
While this doesn't prevent the story from being told, it could definitely have been told better. Adding personal details about the characters is just one way this could have been accomplished. Another missed opportunity was adding more details to those characters who said they were hearing voices. It would've been interesting to eavesdrop on those [Spoiler Warning!] voices/alien transmissions.
The book was a quick read, but unfortunately nothing that I would be motivated to read a second time.
"It's all broken ..." (possible spoilers).......2007-10-04
One of the more idiotic characters of the book keeps uttering this, and boy how right he was. There were a number of just plain holes in the plot. Here's a little one. A character who's role was to just be murdered sets up a meet with a bad guy at a gas station. He has the air compressor tire pump with him. He invites the bad guy into his car. He gets into the car and shuts the door. He *still* has the compressor hose in his hand. Did he thread it through the open window before getting into the car? Who knows? Somehow it ends up being long enough for his killer to take from him, jam down his throat, and turn on.
Here's another one. The bad guy later has to insert an encoded message into an image file. All he has to work with is a dumb terminal with no hard disk. So he writes a program and, uh, *compiles* it, then runs it. First, what dumb terminal is going to have a compiler? Second, if you compile a program you have to save it somewhere. Well where do you save it if you don't have a hard disk?
The book is full of little pieces of foolishness like this. For instance, 2 miles down in the ocean, there's a flash of light, and the ocean bottom is packed with all the funny looking denizens of the deep. If you're going to write a book you should know a little about the location of your main action. Like: the deep ocean isn't just packed full of funny looking fish.
Last one: all marines are violent robots who follow their evil overlord to death without individual thought ... especially the "special ops" ones.
Anyway I could go on, but you get the idea.
His Best Yet.......2007-09-13
This is Lincoln Child's best book yet! I have read every book by Child and his co-author Preston. Loved the imagination that went along with the story, you could almost feel yourself down at the ocean floor with all the characters. The ending, I hope, leaves room for a continuing novel.
Not nearly deep enough for me.......2007-09-12
An adventure unfolds in the deep sea several miles below an oilrig in the north Atlantic in Lincoln Child's Deep Storm, where a phalanx of scientists, doctors and marines in a massive seabed complex prepare to excavate a great discovery, perhaps the greatest discovery of all time, we are told.
And thus the adventure unfolds; it unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and yet, sadly, it never really arrives anywhere special; the author's attempts at any sort of real depth flounders despite his crisply written pages. Yes they are scribed with scalpel-sharp techno description, jam-packed with medical and science fact. But in all honestly, the wealth of research packed into the novel does nothing to develop the spirit of the main character, Peter Crane a navy doctor who's been dispatched to the undersea science complex to help solve the mystery of an outbreak of mysterious illnesses. In fact, none of the characters pop to life in Deep Storm.
The narrative leads Crane and the reader into first believing that Atlantis has been discovered, but that notion is soon dispelled when further investigation reveals that the top-secret mission is actually a dig for some alien technology buried some 600 years ago just inside the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, or "Moho" as it's called, the boundary between the earth's crust and mantle, which under the sea is not as deep as in other areas. It's still deep enough to be causing all sorts of problems and mishaps. For starters, the medical outbreak, (mental disorders mostly, which, for story purposes is quite lame) might be due to the depth or the alien technology or something else. Then there's a saboteur aboard (of course there is, it's one of the elements you need in every undersea tale). There's also a mystery involving some miniature alien technology that appears to be transmitting a binary code warning: do not dig here, danger to the solar system!
Throw into this mix a caricature naval commander hell bent on carrying out the mission at all costs even if it means losing every man and woman on board or, worse, blowing up the entire solar system. But in the end, Crane saves the moment. The earth and the solar system live to see another day. Although in the final page, Child's lays down yet one more spin on the tale: perhaps it isn't over after all. This is an okay read but it's clinical and dispassionate in style. If Crane's character had been built upon, if the author had tempered his urge to reveal all that he'd researched in favor of some heart and passion, if he'd penned it with his partner (Thunder Head, Preston and child, what a ride!) it could have been great. Into the Abyss
Incredible Ride! .......2007-08-11
Ok... so I started reading this and said "been there...done that" then suddenly the story started to morph and one of the wildest and most exciting rides I've been on for a quite a while unfolded! Great read! Well written! Lincoln's best since Utopia (which I also recommend!!)
Book Description
Turn Any Presentation into a Landmark Occasion
Ever wish you could captivate your boardroom with the opening line of your presentation, like Winston Churchill in his most memorable speeches? Or want to command attention by looming larger than life before your audience, much like Abraham Lincoln when, standing erect and wearing a top hat, he towered over seven feet? Now, you can master presentation skills, wow your audience, and shoot up the corporate ladder by unlocking the secrets of history's greatest speakers.
Author, historian, and world-renowned speaker James C. Humes—who wrote speeches for five American presidents—shows you how great leaders through the ages used simple yet incredibly effective tricks to speak, persuade, and win throngs of fans and followers. Inside, you'll discover how Napoleon Bonaparte mastered the use of the pregnant pause to grab attention, how Lady Margaret Thatcher punctuated her most serious speeches with the use of subtle props, how Ronald Reagan could win even the most hostile crowd with carefully timed wit, and much, much more.
Whether you're addressing a small nation or a large staff meeting, you'll want to master the tips and tricks in Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln.
"As a student of speech, I very much enjoyed this intriguing historic approach to public speaking. Humes creates a valuable and practical guide."
—
Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO, FOX News
"I love this book. I've followed Humes's lessons for years, and he combines them all into one compact, hard-hitting resource. Get this book on your desk now."
—
Chris Matthews, Hardball
Customer Reviews:
Quick read, excellent content.......2007-08-23
I would title this book, "The language of leadership". It's content is excellent and well organized. It teaches ways to speak and act like a leader and therefore command such authority through the power of the spoken word.
The chapter titles all begin with "Power", but the author practices what he preaches by getting across the information in a well organized and easy to get through manner. If you look at the highlights in each chapter and skim through, you get the jist of information, hence making it easy to comprehend in a day.
Every chapter has its content and then real life examples from the author's experience. The examples are both historic and contemporary, very useful, convincing & often interesting, although ocassionally unecessary to get the message accross.
The criticisms I've seen of this book are that it is patronizing or too long winded or redundant. I don't find any of these things to be true. I however admit, that instead of reading the book cover to cover and sentence by sentence, I read it as any executive would read a proposal or document - skim to get the highlights and then go back in for more detailed reference when needed. I got a great deal out of the book this way.
I purchased the book for a Dean of a Business school and a high power executive. While skimming through it, I found myself quite absorbed. Since then, I've found myself continually thinking back to what I read there and I ended up buying myself a copy for reference and one as a gift for the CEO of my company as well.
Makes a great gift for a Type A executive or anyone in a position of leadership of any kind. This isn't just a public speaking book, and it's not about overcoming shyness or a "Toastmasters" type thing. It's about how to make what you say be powerful and effective.
You should own it if you plan giving speeches.......2007-02-14
Well written with great examples. Not your typical textbook, which makes for a refreshing approach to leadership classes.
Delivers.......2006-07-13
Unbelievable that no one taught me these principles years ago. This guy has been around a long time! Excellent, easy to read and incorporate.
speaking like churchill.......2006-07-03
This is an excellent book for speakers os any level who wish to make small yet noticeable improvements to their speaking performance. Churchill and Lincoln both mastered the skills necessary to be great speakers. The greatest secret that I took from this book is the power of the ..... PAUSE. To stand in front of a group of people saying nothing , with poise and confidence , is a skill the truly seperates great speakers from the rest.
I would recommend this book without hesitation.
worthwhile reading.......2006-04-02
Good book. Nevertheless the author could make it better by cutting off some of the quotes that here and there become excessive in number and extension. This is particularly true for the chapters "power wit", "power poetry" and "power line". They are tiresome -- even boring -- when prolonged beyond the necessary. This only proves that you can have too much a good thing. When it happens good becomes less good and enticing becomes exhausting.
If you think your readers - and especially your audience - should be protected against fatuous speeches, empty words and their monotonous delivery, read this book and keep a copy at hand.
Amazon.com
The Greatest Manhunt in American History
For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of the desperate search.
| April 14, 1865 |
Around noon, Booth learns that Lincoln is coming to Ford's Theatre that night. He has eight hours to prepare his plan.
10:15 pm: Booth shoots the president, leaps to the stage, and escapes on a waiting horse.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders the manhunt to begin. |
| April 15 |
About 4:00 am: Booth seeks treatment for a broken leg at Dr. Samuel Mudd's farm near Beantown, Maryland. Cavalry patrol heads south toward Mudd farm.
Confederate operative Thomas Jones hides Booth in a remote pine thicket for five days, frustrating the manhunters. |
| April 19 |
Tens of thousands watch the procession to the U.S. Capitol, where President Lincoln lies in state. Wild rumors and stories of false sightings of Booth spread. | |
|
| April 20 |
Stanton offers a $100,000 reward for the assassins, and threatens death to any citizen who helps them.
After hiding Booth in Maryland, Jones puts him in a rowboat on the Potomac River, bound for Virginia. More than a thousand manhunters are still searching in Maryland. In the dark, Booth rows the wrong way and first ends up back in Maryland. |
| April 20-24 |
Booth lands in the northern neck of Virginia, and Confederate agents and sympathizers guide him to Port Conway, Virginia. |
| April 24 |
Booth befriends three Confederate soldiers who help him cross the Rappahannock River to Port Royal and then guide him further southwest to the Garrett farm.
Union troops in Washington receive a report of a Booth sighting. They board a U.S. Navy tug and steam south, right past Booth's hideout at the Garrett farm. |
| April 25 |
The 16th New York Calvary, realizing their error, turns around and surrounds the Garrett farm after midnight that night. | |
|
| April 26 |
When Booth refuses to surrender, troops set the barn on fire, and Boston Corbett shoots the assassin. Booth dies a few hours later, at sunrise. |
| April 26-27 |
Booth's body is brought back to Washington, where it is autopsied, photographed, and buried in a secret grave. | |
|
Book Description
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.
James L. Swanson's Manhunt is a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as you've never read it before.
Customer Reviews:
Fact or Fiction?.......2007-10-16
Based on the hundreds of glowing reviews on this website, I appear to be in a tiny minority regarding my opinion. Please read this review as a counterpoint to some of MANHUNT's praise.
MANHUNT has its merits. I'll point you to many other well-written reviews for evidence. Here's my beef: The author seems to mix fact with imaginative embellishment (read: fiction) for hightened drama. When setting most scenes, Mr. Swanson describes particular sensory conditions with great specificity like smells, lighting conditions, facial expressions, and most impresively, Booth's emotions.
My question is this: Where would he get this information from such a wide range of sources 140 years later? Eyewitness reports? I doubt it, especially when it comes to "enhancements" of Booth's motivations, emotions, and thought processes. (The man was killed before he had time to jot down a memoir...) Therefore, very large portions of this text must have come out of the author's imagination.
All this does "spice up" what's turned into a plausable historical tale. But what's real? What's not? It's impossible to know. Not that I would only endorse dry historic chronicles. This story would be intriguing and exciting enough without the author's efforts to "take it up a notch".
I couldn't take it seriously, and therefore couldn't finish it. Grade: D.
a great read... i was there!!.......2007-09-29
I have not read many books lately and have just started to get back to it. Manhunt was the latest book I read and it was AMAZING!! The vivid descriptions put you everywhere John W Booth and his cohorts are and makes for a fascinating depiction of history.
Brings history to life..........2007-09-14
I enjoy nonfiction books that read like novels, and James L. Swanson's Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer provides a dose of history in an enjoyable format.
Manhunt didn't include much information about the assassination that I didn't already know. But I did learn quite a bit about the 12-day pursuit of John Wilkes Booth and the hunt for his conspirators, as well as some other assassination trivia. It was especially interesting in that my husband and I often travel this same path through Maryland and Virginia when driving south. We pass right by the historic marker near the Garrett house barn (where Booth was captured and killed), although we've never stopped to see the actual location.
Swanson does a commendable job of bringing the complex Booth to life. The author describes him as "impossibly vain, preening, emotionally flamboyant, possessed of raw talent and splendid elan." Yet, this handsome and charismatic actor was willing to sacrifice everything for "his cause." After the assassination, he was stunned and enraged to discover that his acts not only met with outrage, but also, made Lincoln a martyr. I was surprised to learn that on April 16, 1865, CSA Lt. General R. S. Ewell sent Secretary of War Stanton a letter that was cosigned by 16 other Confederate generals. In the letter, Ewell wrote of their "unqualified abhorrence and indignation" at Lincoln's killing. He claimed that they were shocked by this appalling crime and that Southern men "are not assassins" nor their "allies."
Manhunt has a good number of pictures, drawings, maps and photographs related to the assassination. He also includes an excellent Epilogue where he tells the "story after the story." Swanson also provides a poignant description of the events of that time. When Lincoln died at the Peterson house, a "crude, improvised coffin" was brought to transport his body back to the White House. The people in the street were upset. "The box looked like a shipping crate, not a proper coffin for a head of state. Lincoln would not have minded. He was always a man of simple tastes. This was the plain, roughly hewn coffin of a rail-splitter."
After reading Manhunt, I intend on reading an earlier work that Swanson co-wrote called Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trail and Execution.
What a book..........2007-09-04
I bought this book for a teachers gift, he loves Lincoln and that whole period of our country's life. He said the book is one of the best he's ever read on the subject.
Well written, a quick read........2007-09-03
As a person who's read quite a bit on Lincoln and his assination, I figured I should finally get around to this text. I've been telling people for years that Dr. Samuel Mudd's family lobbied for years to get Mudd's name cleared--that he was simply a physician treating a patient with a broken leg. A colleague of mine suggested that this book denies that. It does, indeed.
I read a lot but am a slower reader than I'd like. So I like a book (1) that doesn't have microscopic print and (2) keeps me interested. This qualified on both counts. I don't mean it was large print, like a children's book. But it didn't have so much detail that I could maybe win a trivia contest but be none the wiser.
In fact, one item that I liked most was that Thomas Jones apparently kept Booth and his accomplice, Davey Herold, in a pine thicket for something like four days and five nights. Jones was freed of any responsibility for harboring perhaps the most wanted man in the US for those 12 days, but told the truth some years later. (When he was selling a book admitting to that, he was apparently attacked by some Union veterans!)
Among the things I liked too about the book was the admission by the author that Lincoln was not particularly popular at the time of his assination. Indeed, Booth was discouraged after the assasination that he'd created a martyr there there might not have been one.
Another thing I liked about the structure of the book is that the author ended with a kind of "where are they now," or what happened to the actors in the "drama." That's where I learned of the Jones story, for example.
What I didn't like about the book was the speculation the author did on what was going on in Booth's mind while he was in the Garret barn where he was eventually shot. I'm conscious of that ever since a good friend and former boss and I talked about a book years ago in which he accused I think it was Halberstram of doing that. "How could he know was was going on in [so-and-so]'s mind?" he asked. Of course he can guess, but then such speculation needed to be stated as such.
I must confess too that I almost downgraded the review by one star too because of what I saw in the book's acknowledgements. You see, Swanson thanked is friends "at the Heritage Foundation." What's the matter with that? Well, Heritage is extremely ideological. (I know, for, among other reasons, I have a distant cousin who works there.) How would one have felt after reading such a book if the author had said, "Many thanks to all my buddies at the Communist Party." It might make you want to find another more credible book because that party tends to be ideological. Heritage may be the other side of the political spectrum but is no less ideological, so it made me wonder about the author's motives and objectivity. But, despite Heritage, I found the book worth reading and, yes, difficult to put down. So, over and above the Booth speculation, I recommend it.
Book Description
FBI Special Agent Pendergast is taking a break from work to take Constance on a whirlwind Grand Tour, hoping to give her closure and a sense of the world that she's missed.They head to Tibet, where Pendergast intensively trained in martial arts and spiritual studies. At a remote monastery, they learn that a rare and dangerous artifact the monks have been guarding for generations has been mysteriously stolen.As a favor, Pendergast agrees to track and recover the relic.A twisting trail of bloodshed leads Pendergast and Constance to the maiden voyage of the Britannia, the world's largest and most luxurious ocean liner---and to an Atlantic crossing fraught with terror.
Customer Reviews:
The dynamic duo has done it again.......2007-10-16
The dynamic duo has done it again.
In THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS, their eighth supernatural thriller, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child give us another fast-paced, riveting mystery featuring the seemingly unflappable Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his young ward Constance Greene, and the elements of the unknown.
The book picks up in the aftermath of THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, with Constance recovering, we suspect, from an aborted pregnancy (the father: Pendergast's villainous younger brother). Constance and the good agent seek solace and solitude through escape. They are drawn to Gsalrig Chongg, a monastery in Tibet, where women historically have not been accepted as students. Recognizing something special about Constance, she becomes the exception to the rule and is welcome by the brotherhood. (Her name, it turns out, translates to "Green Tara," the moniker of the mother of all Buddhas. This revelation forecasts something big to come.)
It is, of course, no coincidence that the stoic agent and his frail ward end up amongst the monks. Instead of moving past the tragedy they had just survived, they find themselves drawn into yet another puzzling and harrowing mystery.
The monks' sacred trust for generations --- the Agozyen --- has been discovered missing during an annual ritual. Guarded daily and accessible by only a single key, its disappearance is mind-boggling. And terrifying. The treasure holds a deadly secret akin to Pandora's box being opened.
The trail of minimal clues leads to Jordan Ambrose, an American rescued and nursed back to health at the monastery when he appeared, half-dead, on the Nepalese border mountain range. Unable to describe the never-seen icon, the monks dispatch Pendergast to bring it back, warning that it is powerful if released and not to be reckoned with.
What ensues is pure Preston-Child magic. The maiden voyage of a transatlantic cruise ship is the terrifying setting of the search for the relic. And what could be more frightening than a claustrophobic ship, with its over-arching sense of being trapped in the middle of the ocean with an unknown, undefinable force preying on and menacing the entire crew and guests? Bodies are reduced to mush, others disappear whole-cloth. Panic sets in, mutiny is threatened and control of the ship is lost, all while Pendergast sets about his methodical unraveling of the mystery of the Agozyen and its all-encompassing powers.
THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS has the classic clash of good versus evil, the inescapable comparison of East versus West, and the unanswerable questions of coincidence versus fate. A surprise at the end will surely delight all fans of Pendergast and Greene, Preston and Child, and will leave us asking ourselves "What's next?" Surely, there has to be more from these two master storytellers!
--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
darkness could have been darker................................2007-10-16
Love Preston & Child. Have read all thier books and have to say that they never disapoint.Cabinet of curiosity is their all time best book.
I love the mystical/spiritual aspect of this new book. I do think that the book could have been a little longer, around 430 pages.
Pandergast was lacking a little action in this book. Still I highly disapprove the one star rating few readers have given to this book. This book was a page turner like their other books. C'mon! these writers are better than koontz, Stephen King etc.I dont know why they don't have more name recognition and movie deals. They are deserving by all means.
Diogenes ! we are waiting for your entry in the next book.
Love the series..........2007-10-15
Thank goodness for Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Their characters are completely unrealistic, the plots are fantasy and, let me just say, BRAVO!! I couldn't be more in love with the Pendergast character and every book where he and his cohorts appear. Easy to read, easy to enjoy and an easy escape from the stress of everyday life. Thanks, guys, for pulling me out of my life for a few hours every day to enjoy another one of Pendergast's adventures. Can't wait for the next one!!
Reluctantly hooked by series.......2007-10-12
At first, although these authors are masterful storytellers, I had a hard time with suspension of disbelief.
Namely, Pendergast as an obvious homage to Sherlock Holmes but supposedly an FBI agent who's independently wealthly and never actually does anything for the FBI, nor is he ever caught up in the bureaucratic red tape that is inherent in working for the Bureau. Come on, even Jack Bower gets fed to the lions by his back-stabbing superiors and co-workers on 24.
That being said, the intricate plotting makes for great reading. I was hooked with Relic and love it when these two authors put their heads together. I wish they would do an outright period mystery featuring Holmes and Watson, though. Something like the Mark Frost series featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Bossley role of Watson.
The strongest point of this series is that the authors haven't hit the usual brick wall of running out of interesting plots.
For a more visceral and realistic portrayal of sleuths unraveling a deep enigma I suggest Solomon's Key: the CODIS Project. SOLOMON'S KEY THE CODIS PROJECT: A CONSPIRACY THRILLER (Solomon's Key) It features a character named Professor Giovanni who, like Pendergast, is a Thinking Machine detective but comes off as an eccentric and likeable academic type. It features the same exotic locales, cliff hangers, and plot twists that keep you turning the page.
Disappointing.......2007-10-11
I've been an Preston/Child fan for many years, ever since I picked a copy of "The Relic" up off my mom's coffee table and started thumbing through it.
Since that time, the books have gotten better and better, and I was both thrilled and saddened when the series seemingly came to a resounding and satisfying ending in "The Book of the Dead".
Imagine my joy when I came across "The Wheel of Darkness" while on vacation. I can't say it's a terrible book, it's not. It's just not as good as any of it's predecessors.
The plot feels rushed with minimal setup and little follow-through, and while there is a suspension of disbelief required in any work of fiction (especially fiction dealing with themes of the occult)"Wheel" asks too much of the reader.
While the majority of the Pendergast series deals with events and murders that seem supernatural but are ultimately revealed to be merely bizarre, "Wheel" asks us to believe in malevolent "thought forms" that can physically manifest and go out to do evil deeds. Scrolls that imbue those
who view them with inhuman abilities and avarice that drives them mad.
The story suffers from an anemic cast of characters, I miss police detective D'Agosta and many of the others I've come to know. Constance has always been, in my opinion, a relatively weak character, the authors don't seem to know what to do with her. Pendergast and Constance as a duo are less interesting than Pendergast by himself.
In the final analysis "Wheel" seems like weak tea, watered down and lacking the qualities that made previous books a bracing, refreshing read.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Read!
- Great action book!
- Well paced pageturner, but disappointing overall.
- Earthcore is Earthcrack for the mind!
- whats wrong with everyone?
|
Earthcore
Scott Sigler
Manufacturer: Dragon Moon Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1896944329
Release Date: 2005-11-15 |
Product Description
Deep below a desolate Utah mountain lies the largest platinum deposit ever discovered. A billion-dollar find, it waits for any company that can drill a world's record, three-mile-deep mine shaft. EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company's driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure. But at three miles below the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting ...and guarding. Kirkland and EarthCore are about to find out first-hand why this treasure has never been unearthed.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Read!.......2007-09-19
Very nice book. The author did everything correct for my reading style. Packed with action and techno details. I am currently reading another Sigler book and it appears to be just as good.
Great action book!.......2007-08-10
If you want to read a great action & adventure, this is it. Scott Sigler writes a great story like James Rollins.
Well paced pageturner, but disappointing overall........2007-08-06
I picked the book up based on the reviews I read here, hoping to find a nice exciting SF read with an interesting story, some inventiveness and good technology. Instead, I found a fast paced but clumsy and unsatisfying monster story with an ever-diminishing level of attention paid to believability and an ultimately disappointing ending.
In short, the story is about the discovery of a huge and impossibly pure lode of platinum, buried very deep inside a non-descript mountain range in the Utah desert, and the efforts by a team assembled by a major mining corporation to reach and mine the platinum. Along the way, we meet the driven corporate guy, haunted by the death of his wife, the honorable mercenaries, the desert rat, the world-renowned archaeologist and her mentor, the impossibly gorgeous sociopathic ex-spy, the socially stunted super-genius that can repair the Space Shuttle with chewing gum and a toothpick, and other cookie-cutter characters. They discover "evil" deep inside the mountain, and I won't continue beyond that to avoid writing spoilers.
I found the book to move well and read easily, but can't say much beyond that. The characters felt like they were dreamed up in the adventure fantasies of teenage boys - everyone's "the best in the world" at what they do, one-dimensional except for a couple clumsy attempts at back stories - their interactions play out poorly - all in all, rather ham-fisted.
The technology at first was moderately interesting and inventive, but as the book progressed, the believability was disposed of in favor of writing long action sequences. The author also didn't seem to know how to finish the story, and I found the ending very unsatisfying. The pacing of the plot is good enough to keep me involved to the end, rather than just shutting it down and moving on, but I wouldn't recommend it overall.
Earthcore is Earthcrack for the mind!.......2007-07-18
Having been drawn in by the Podcast, I knew that I had to own the book.
Even though I had already heard the story, reading this was like reading a brand new book for the first time. Scott Sigler is the master of suspense and the world for that matter! He leaves you pining for more. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
whats wrong with everyone?.......2007-07-14
I read the reviews about this and got very excited. I got the book in the mail and dove into it. 95% of the reviews I read gave it a 5 out of 5. Theres no way it could be bad right?? WRONG!
I understand creating character development, I would rather have it than not. But for one thing if your gonna write a book about monsters don't wait 150 pages before you bring them into the picture. Second, when the monsters showed up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? They were so laughably stupid had I not paid 10 bucks to read this book and went through 150 pages I would have laughed hysterically. Their medicine balls with tenticles and they cary knives! WHAT!?!?!!?!?! I stopped after that. No reason to go any further. This book was horrible.
Customer Reviews:
Lincoln is still a leader........2007-10-01
I selected "Lincoln on Leadership" as a biography to use in a graduate educational administration course and I couldn't have chosen a better book. The organization of the book highlighted leadership qualities that Lincoln exemplified and each chapter had a succinct summary of those leadership skills. Lincoln's leadership is applicable to all types of leadership including education.
Leadership During ALL Times.......2007-04-28
Donald T. Phillips used our sixteenth president's wisdom under fire to provide an excellent primer for leadership focused on tough times, but it is as important during good times. When sales are at record levels, employees are happily working long hours, and new prospects are pounding on the doors because of customers' recommendations, is when one needs to be preparing for potential tough times.
Few will go through the meat-grinder which faced President Lincoln, but able leadership during good times will give an organization a firm footing for the mishaps and misfortunes which will affect us all at some point. Focusing on the 'Endeavor' section of the book, Phillips illustrates examples of Lincoln's will, ability, and lack of hesitation in making tough, necessary decisions. Losing a war, being sniped at by those who should be supporters, and struggling with difficult family matters can be paralyzing, but ignoring a personnel issue so as to not rock the boat during a smooth voyage can also be destructive. Phillips points out how "Lincoln often accepted the aggravation and exasperation caused by subordinates if they did their jobs competently", but he also shows how Lincoln could be decisive and tough when his hand was forced. This includes disciplining and firing upper level staff such as cabinet secretaries and commanding generals.
Any review of Lincoln's life would be incomplete without mentioning his use of humor and a unique storytelling ability to make his point. Phillips recounts Lincoln's reason for doing so, which includes these lines: "I often avoid a long and useless discussion by others or a laborious explanation on my own part by a short story that illustrates my point of view." "No, I am not simply a story-teller, but story-telling as an emollient saves me much friction and distress." Oh, if only more of our business and government leaders would use short stories, saving us all some "friction and distress".
The chapter titled "Persuade Rather Than Coerce" explains that Lincoln was smart enough to know that he couldn't do it all by himself, but needed capable leaders who were authorized to make decisions and act on them. His largest problem with military leadership was a gauntlet of generals who were not willing to assume that responsibility. Understanding that influence is a more effective tool of leadership than coercion or orders, he "...preferred to let his generals make their own decisions and hoped that, through his suggestions, they would do the right thing."
That chapter begins with a quote from the first Lincoln Douglas debate: With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. Looking back at the presidents of my lifetime, it is easy to see which have taken this advice to heart, and have shown success because of it. Likewise, those who have ignored it, and a recent president comes to mind, have had their leadership suffer.
Paraphrasing John C. Maxwell, there is no such thing as `leadership during tough times'; there is only `leadership'. Those fond of history and anyone interested in leadership should read this book.
Great viewpoint on focusing on people.......2007-04-23
This book is one of the best management/leadership books I have ever read. It was giving to me by one of my business school professors who I respect and admire greatly. The book will not disappoint you if you decide to buy it. Worth the time and money!
Lessons on Leadership.......2007-03-31
This is a great book for individuals entering the business world to read how leadership and ethics can and should lead to excellent decision-making skills.
Excellent and well-worth reading........2007-03-31
This book is well written and will appeal to a very wide range of readers, including but not limited to Lincoln scholars and those interested in leadership. Readers who are interested in history, business, politics and those who just like well-written prose should enjoy this book. As the title states, this book is about Lincoln's leadership style. He is portrayed as a paradigm of an effective leader. The book covers topics such as: his interactions with people, his character, his decisiveness, and his immense skills as a communicator. Each chapter covers a different facet of leadership and how Lincoln typified this feature. At the end of each chapter there is brief discussion of how this applies to current day business and politics. There is also a brief summary list of Lincoln's principles discussed in that chapter. The book itself is brief and you can learn a lot from the way that Lincoln interacted with and led people during the most trying time in America's history.
While the focus of the book is on Lincoln's leadership, I learned quite a bit about the man and the challenges that he faced and how he shaped the subsequent government of the US. This was done in a very interesting manner, which was devoid of the dense details of a history book. I got more from this brief book than from some much more detailed books on the Civil War. The book is replete with Lincoln anecdotes, jokes and parables, all of which enrich the text and get the points across in much the same way Lincoln initially used them to get his points across. The best accolade that I can give this book as that it is making me read more about Lincoln and about leadership.
Average customer rating:
- Unlistenable
- So Good I Had To Wait to Read It!
- More than a museum thriller!
- Starts out strong, fizzles at the end
- Best thriller / Detective novels in the past 20 years
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The Book of the Dead
Douglas Preston , and
Lincoln Child
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Child, Lincoln
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Preston, Douglas
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ASIN: 0446576980
Release Date: 2006-05-30 |
Book Description
A brilliant FBI agent, rotting away in a high security prison for a murder he did not commit.His brilliant, psychotic brother, about to perpetrate a horrific crime.A young woman with an extraordinary past, on the edge of a violent breakdown.An ancient Egyptian tomb about to be unveiled at a celebrity-studded New York gala, an enigmatic curse released.Memento Mori
Customer Reviews:
Unlistenable.......2007-10-12
I got the 12-CD edition from my library, and found the reading by Scott Brick so awful I quit before the end of the first disk. From what I heard of it, the story is good and deserves better treatment than it get.
So Good I Had To Wait to Read It!.......2007-10-06
I Love the AgentPendergast Stories So much that after "Brimstone" I couldn't bear to read the "Diogenes Trilogy" until it was completed!
WOW!!! These guys NEVER MISS!!
Now I just have to read the Lincoln Child spook stories!
Bliss!
More than a museum thriller!.......2007-10-03
Another action filled adventure with the strange but compelling Agent Pendergast at the center of it all. The authors keep your attention rivited as the characters weave in and out of the main story line. The descriptive narrative keeps you looking over the shoulder of each person while you hold your breath at the suspense when the evil Diogenes is at his worst and you are waiting for the brilliant Aloysius to save Constance. Loved having D'Agosta back in the middle of it all!
Starts out strong, fizzles at the end.......2007-09-27
As David Spade would say, I like this book better the first time I read it, when it was called "Relic." Preston and Child can turn out potboilers, guilty pleasures that aren't literary masterpieces but make with the page-turning fun, but they also aren't without their flaws. Too often, they drop arcana into a situation that doesn't call for it (anybody can Google up a ton of trivia on any subject, and besides, you shouldn't try to impress your reader by your mastery of obscure facts). Agent Pendergast is again perfect in every way. Need a safe cracked? He knows the metallurgy necessary to pick the weak point in the lock. Not to give away a plot point, but in this book he McGuyvers up one particularly necessary element in a manner that's just too convenient.
And convenience is the downfall of this book, and of most P&C books. What could be a situation fraught with drama is instead defused by Pendergast's godlike abilities, including the ludicrous "memory crossing" technique that is P&C's way of conveniently explaining away anything they don't know how to write into their books.
Chop off a few chapters, give Pendergast at least one or two flaws, and drop the attempts to dazzle the reader with trivia, and this would be a five-star summer read. As it is, it's just laughable and tedious.
Best thriller / Detective novels in the past 20 years.......2007-09-26
New to the Preston/Child series of novels, I started with Brimstone, then Dance of Death and then the finale, Book of the Dead. The "Diogenes" trilogy.
Extremely well written, and eloquently poised, the imagery and characterizations blend to create the perfect thriller. Preston and Child contribute the perfect combination of talent, to be indistinguishable as more than one author.
Agent Pendergast and the collaborating cast of characters are so real, so carefully created, that they bring to life the story, and draw you into the reality of the novels. The obviously well documented, and researched background information gives a vivid backdrop to the plot and your imagination builds the elaborate scenes for every location.
I will be buying more of the authors' past books and will be eagerly anticipating more of the Pendergast saga as it unfolds.
HIGHLY recommended reading, you won't be disappointed. A thinking man's thriller.
Book Description
Abraham Lincoln now occupies an unparalleled place in American history, but when he was first elected president, a skeptical writer asked, “Who will write this ignorant man’s state papers?” Literary ability was, indeed, the last thing the public expected from the folksy, self-educated “rail-splitter,” but the forceful qualities of Lincoln’s writing eventually surprised his supporters and confounded his many critics. Since his assassination in 1865, no American’s words have become more familiar or more admired, and their enduring power has established him as one of our greatest writers. Now, in a groundbreaking study, the distinguished Lincoln scholar Douglas L. Wilson demonstrates that exploring Lincoln’s presidential writing provides a window onto his presidency and a key to his accomplishments.
Lincoln’s Sword tells the story of how Lincoln developed his writing skills, how they served him for a time as a hidden presidential asset, how it gradually became clear that he possessed a formidable literary talent, and it reveals how writing came to play an increasingly important role in his presidency. “By the time he came to write the Gettysburg Address,” Wilson says, “Lincoln was attempting to help put the horrific carnage of the Civil War in a positive light, and at the same time to do it in a way that would have constructive implications for the future. By the time he came to write the Second Inaugural Address, fifteen months later, he was quite consciously in the business of interpreting the war and its deeper meaning, not just for his contemporaries but for what he elsewhere called the ‘vast future.’ ”
Illustrated with reproductions of Lincoln’s original manuscripts, Lincoln’s Sword affords an unprecedented look at a distinctively American writer.
Customer Reviews:
Words that moved a nation.......2007-08-05
Author Douglas L. Wilson once again hits the bull's-eye, this time with a painstaking study of Lincoln's rhetoric (the President's personal "sword"). This book should appeal not only to persons interested in the Great Emancipator, but to those interested in the craft of writing. Wilson takes us step-by-step through the process Lincoln used to hone some of his most famous statements, a journey revealing principles of clear writing. Wilson shows that Lincoln's clarity of expression wasn't effortless, but resulted from hard work.
First-rate work.......2007-06-02
Bold in concept and careful in execution, this work is a gem. Lincoln's constant revising, his sense of what was appropriate in given situations, and his surging command of the language over decades impress the reader. Wilson's understanding of the context of Lincoln's deployment of language is impressive. Cautiously revisionist.
A Scholarly Analysis readable by Anyone.......2007-05-30
Lincoln's Sword illuminates the power and clarity of Lincoln's words. Even if the reader is not a Lincoln devotee or scholar, this book's treatment of Lincoln's speeches are clear, concise and pleasureable. This is a book that anyone would enjoy reading.
insightful.......2007-05-07
well worth the read to gain insight into an often little understood man. the depth of the writing gives testimony to the depth of the man. read it and learn - not just about lincoln - but also how to use communications to move people towards your goals.
A wonderful read, and contains important material on what Lincoln actually wrote and said and why........2007-02-09
Lincoln has become one of those tests where someone can tell you their thoughts about him and you can often tell where they are on any number of issues. The problem is that much of what people think they know about Lincoln is only a bumper sticker or sound byte version of what went on. We try to judge Lincoln (and most of our great historical figures) by our lights rather than seeing him in the context of his own time. Of course, it takes some work to learn what happened and why rather than wringing our hands over, say, the suspension of habeas corpus.
This excellent book can be a great contribution to your education about the real Abraham Lincoln and how he conducted himself as President. He came into office with the elite dismissing him as crude and hopelessly unsophisticated. This book shows us how carefully he worked on his public speeches and the letters and articles that were published during his time in office.
Sometimes we forget that by the time Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861 that the movement for secession was well underway and the firing on Fort Sumter was on April 12, 1861, just a few weeks later. His second inaugural address was given on March 4, 1865, Lee's Surrender at Appomattox was on April 9th, and Lincoln was shot by Booth on April 14th. He died the next day. So, his entire service as President was bounded by that terrible war.
Douglas Wilson takes several of the addresses and letters central to Lincoln's Presidency and shows us what the extant drafts reveal to us about Lincoln's purposes, approach, and the political realities he faced. He also brings in testimony by those who were involved with those documents, worked with Lincoln, and contemporaries who wrote about them. It is all quite fascinating, especially because it is focused on what was happening and what was thought at the time rather than imposing anachronistic views from our day on those events. However, Wilson does spend some time examining what some contemporary critics have said about these documents and events. For example, he uses a few apt quotes from Garry Wills' wonderful book (one you may want to read) on the Gettysburg address because they are among the best things said about it in our time.
While other documents are considered in passing, the central documents examined in this book are: Lincoln's farewell from Springfield for Washington, his First Inaugural, the July 4, 1861 address, the Emancipation Proclamation (and its antecedents), a letter to Greeley, the Corning letter, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural.
I would suggest that you get a copy of Lincoln's addresses or get them from the Web and read the documents along with the book (most are not provided in the book because of their length and their wide availability). I recommend the two volume set of Lincoln's "Speeches and Writings" from the Library of America (only the second volume is needed for this book). Reading what Lincoln actually wrote and said is quite edifying because one learns first hand what he said and did rather than being the prisoner of what others selectively provide you to promote their own agenda.
This is a great read, is very informative, and I strongly recommend it to you as part of your self education on what American History really is.
Books:
- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books)
- The Evolution of Cooperation
- The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics)
- The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them
- The Last American Man
- The Life of Elizabeth I
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
- The Nature of Consciousness : The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is
- The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook for Reawakening the Voice of Your Soul
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