This book is a great journey in time. Isaac Asimov teaches about the past of men and Universe naturally. Using all areas of knowledge and science he shows why things really are as we think they are. How did Mankind find out about this planet being round ? It's there. Name a scientist and look at the index, (s)he's there! It should be read by every high school student.

This is one of my favorite books for evenings when I feel like learning something in an entertaining way. Of course, if you're looking for an exhaustive treatment of any of the varied subjects covered, you'll have to turn to the many authoritative texts out there (for example, the part about vertebrate paleontology sparked my interest enough to read an old textbook that had been sitting on my shelf a long time called "Evolution of the Vertebrates" which turned out to be excellent!).

The main charm, and ultimately the main value, of this book is not however its depth but its impressive breadth. I love the sense of mystery it is infused with. Rather than take the typical approach of starting with the Big Bang and summarizing major events after that, he actually begins with a seemingly simple topic that most people feel they know enough about -- the history of human flight. This leads into another chapter about recorded history, which leads to the bigger mystery of prehistoric civilizations, then the origin of man himself... well, you get the picture!

For anyone with a fascination for science, love of a good mystery, and fondness for the Good Doctor's deceptively simple but always informative prose, look no further than this little gem. I picked it up as an afterthough because I loved Asimov's fiction, but I've now read it three times in as many years!

Azimov's Beginnings is a book every science teacher and student must read.I begin, finally, to understand all those boring highschool science classes. A masterpiece.

Having read all of Asimov's early works, it's fair to say that this is the best of the crop of the Empire novels, and is better than all the Robot novels as well. It's not quite up to the Foundation stories, hence the rating of 4 stars.

The plot is interesting, and has aged well. There is not very much that makes you snicker in the light of current scientific knowledge. He has a lot of characters for a 200 page book, but it is never confusing; they are individuals and it's easy to keep them separated in your mind. The story draws you in and keeps you interested from beginning to end.

Asimov had the tendency to throw too many cliffhangers/revelations that didn't go anywhere in his early novels (as compared to, say, Nightfall), and it feels like he's cheaply manipulating the reader. This book, while containing some of these events, are far more logical and less contrived than in the other Empire and Robot novels. This makes it a far more enjoyable read.

It is a shame that these books are out of print. I think the fact that 14 people have written reviews of this book points to the fact that there is still a following for Asimov out there, and maybe the publishers should print another edition of these early books, even in a single volume (as each Empire book is only 200 pages or so).

Of course this is science fiction and quite notable science fiction at that. But in the hands of Isaac Asimov, it's also a mystery although not in the style of the first three robot novels. Somebody used a psychic probe on an Earthman, wiping out his memory, and dumped him in a small village on the planet, Florina. The woman who takes charge of him and the village's townsman eventually team up as the man begins regaining memory, and all become embroiled in political machinations. We're introduced to the planet Trantor, the center of the Galactic Empire.

While this is the last of the Empire trilogy written by Asimov, it's the earliest in the fictional time sequence, occuring in an era much later than that era covered in the Robot novels.

This is an engaging, tightly written novel with twists which will keep the reader involved.

One day, on an agricultural colony planet run by a empire as harsh as the Roman Empire in biblical times, a local functionary finds a man whose mind has been destroyed in one of his town's fields. A peasant woman is tasked to re-raise this man from pretty much a second infancy. But now things are starting to come back, and the supervisor, although a native himself, sees the threat this poses to his masters' power. The principal crop on this world is a form of cotton that grows only this way on his planet--it's used in expensive clothing. But before his mind was "wiped", the victim was a scientist who had discovered a menace which threatened that planet. Although the story has Ludlumesque head games by people in power, its strong point is in the human factor in the form of the victim, his female protector, as well as his former boss who's concerned about what became of him. That's why I say Wouk. But this is a sci fi book, right? Well, don't let that scare you off. It's a hell of a story in a middlin' size book--you don't get the two in a single package all that often.

This book reveals a part of Isaac Asimov that I have never realized before: the Detective. His journey across the subatomic cosmos is that of a detective, whether he is analyzing electrons, light, neutrons, quasars, antimatter, neutrinos, interactions, or the universe. He presents a mystery, a problem, that stumps the experts in physics or chemistry or mathematics, and then begins eliminating the suspects one by one until the only possible solution is revealed. He has done the same thing in his science fiction, for example in his Foundation Series and Robot Series (see my Amazon.com reviews of various of his books) - in fact, the heroes of his robot series were a human detective and a robot or android detective. I grew up reading the science fiction of Asimov and/or his colleagues, and my wife Dr. Marleen Josie Doctorow used Asimov's book on psychological science fiction in her university psychology courses. Asimov, by a remarkable coincidence, was married to a psychiatrist, Dr. Janet Jeppson, and she continued his Foundation Series after his death via his Estate and the great writers Brin, Bear, and Benford. When I read the front page headlines recently in newspapers attacking psychiatrists and psychologists like Freud, I wonder whether the journalists realize that all of science and medicine and journalism involve detective stories. The greatest detectives also have something called intuition, which also goes by the name of ESP, and in theology is considered to be a quality of the Divine. Asimov had it, Saint Thomas Acquinas had it, the Old Testament Prophets and Mohammed had it, Buddha had it, Einstein had it, Field Marshall Montgomery had it. It leaves us humble and grateful for the miracles of our and their existence.

Most people probably know Isaac Asimov because of his fiction books. However, he is also a great writer of nonfiction works. "Atom" is a great example of his nonfiction work. It is also the best book on Atoms and subatomic particles I have ever read, and I have read several. Asimov takes an 'easy to understand' approach to the study of subatomic particles; starting from the beginning of the Atomic theory, all the way to quarks and neutrinos. The two best points about this book: (1) It is easy to understand (2) It is comprehensive and very detailed

i enjoyed the book. it is easy to read except for the chapter on quarks, which is difficult to comprehend. i will recommend this book to every one who wishes to learn about the subatomic world. there is only one drawback for this book. it was published in 1991 and there have been more additions to the subatomic world since then. the history of the search for atom and its constituents is splendid. I love mathematics but i am too lazy to do it. so for folks who don't like to dwell in mathematics to understand particle physics, this is the right book for you

We, the children of this new age, are deprived of major classics and beautiful mathematics because of the tediousness of the notation. Oh, do not be optimistic, this is not the only book with forbidding notation, see Artin's Galois theory, which is an excellent book if someone just tries to update its notation.

Aside from that the book was a merry one. It contains more books than the first one. It contains the books 3 up to 9 of Euclid's 13 books of the elements.

Book 3 is a delightful one. Its sole purpose is to characterize circles. It goes with the same style of the first two books given the first volume. Books 4 continues in the same fashion and studies circumscribing and inscribing figures by others.

Book 5 is the first attempt to bring geometry near to algebra. It deals with proportions. The notation started getting more and more cumbersome. He continues giving us things that we know already. And all through the volume until book 9 we see results commonly given in simple college algebra in the most tedious fashion.

I praise this volume only for the material on circles and I see that it is worth reading if you have a strong constitution. As for me I am not going to read the third one about the out of date commensurable numbers.

I am pretty much interested in geometry. I am, in fact, enthusiastic, and enthusiastic people usually do have strange habits regarding their subjects of enthusiasm. I, for one, like to buy all of the geometry books I can lay my hand on regardless of its relevance to my studies or usefulness for reading.

And this book, being a classic, was on top of my demanded books list until I bought it around 1998. As usual with these books, I postponed its reading until the new millennium. But when I read it I was very disappointed.

The material of this book is one of the most beautiful afforded by a mathematics book. It is very interesting, but, alas, it is written in a forbidding notation. I can understand high level math books in Algebra and Analysis, but this book confused me with words. Frankly, I do not see why a math book is supposed to explained in words after all this development of mathematics.

Unfortunately, most historian mathematicians disagree with my view. They see that writing the elements of Euclid (The first rigorous set of axioms and lemmas) in the modern notation is unfaithful to the original manuscript. Well, I have got no problem with that, but at least try to make it up to date so that people could go through it.

You see that I gave it 4 stars. Yes the material of the book was excellent, and it rather deserved 5 stars, but for this tedious presentation.

One other thing I hated a bout this volume was the introduction. It had taken about one third of the book, and after the definitions of the first book, there are notes on the definitions and postulates that take another third of the book. These notes are not all that easy and at a higher level than the postulates of Euclid, and I found them irrelevant. I do not understand here why did not the author, who made notes on the definitions, make a section explaining all the postulates in modern notation.

As for the material, the volume covers Books I and II of Euclid's 13 books of the elements. The first book introduces a set of definitions and goes on characterizing triangles. It, even, proves the Pythagorean theorem. This proof was a bit difficult, a simpler proof can be found else where, but, after all, it is amazing how mathematicians could have solved such a problem thousands of years ago.

He introduced the famous constructions of straight edge and a compass, he would construct an isosceles triangle starting from a given segment by merely using a straight edge and a compass. Later on, Galois studied this construction in his famous Galois theory (try Artin's Galois theory, although I do not guarantee it).

The second books deals with areas of triangles and rectangles, and Euclid's notation shows it incompetence when he uses the same name for two different things. For in the first book he used to say that two triangles are equal if all their angles and sides are equal, but in the second book he would define two triangles to be equal if they had the same area!

All in all, I enjoyed the book, and would have enjoyed it more if not for the drawbacks.

Heath does a better job than most in his notes-almost all commentary written in modern editions of great scientific works is hilarious-usually some half brite clown trys to find a million faults in the writing of someone who is obviously one hell of a lot more intelligent. Heath just gives the likely facts surrounding Euclid's life, works, and the evolution of the math contained in The Elements.
This is math that is accesible if you're willing to put in the time, because it starts with principles we're all familiar with and can agree on (such as the whole being greater than the part), and slowly and methodically works it's way to comparisons of the 5 Platonic solids. Along the way he covers number theory, plane and solid geometry, and provides an early basis for calculus and even certain branches of physics, although the terminology is obscure if you're familiar with more modern methods. Approach this work as a puzzle book, and try to solve the proofs yourself, or even try to disprove them; proceed slowly, it will take more than a year to work through all 13 books, but you will understand these things much better than the average math teacher when you're done. It's also more fun to try to understand the work of one of the greats than it is to study from one of those overpriced college calculus books-don't worry. The principles of Math and Physics don't change, this book is as valid now as ever!

Superficially, at least, Isaac Asimov's Caliban is like many of the Asimov robot novels: a human investigator working with a robot partner to solve a crime against a political background. The way the story is contructed is somewhat similar, as is the restrained use of language and the "feel". But I found this book far superior to any of Asimov's novels.
A crime is committed at Leving Laboratories on the planet of Inferno. The planet's best roboticist has been assaulted, and unbelievably, the attacker seems to have been - a robot. The Sheriff of Hades, Alvar Kresh, is called in to investigate with his robot assistant, Donald. Meanwhile, the presence of Settlers on the planet, called in to assist with Inferno's failing terraforming, complicates matters . . . and the robot Caliban is awake and on the loose, with only a limited understanding of what is around him.
Allen just writes so well, and so much better than Asimov ever did. His characters, both human and robot, leap out at you as real. Alvar Kresh and Fredda Leving, the roboticist, have genuine depth and engage our sympathies. The setting of Inferno is really brought to life, both its geography and people, and we are thus given something that Asimov never gave us: a solid picture of Spacer society. In Caliban, we have the naive observer, who both drives the action and provides a useful commentary on what he sees around him. That commentary links in to the central issues of the novel: why are things the way they are between humans and robots? Is the status quo harmful to both? Fredda's responses to these questions, the actions they lead her into, and what results from them, are really at the heart of this story.
I always really enjoyed Asimov's classic robot novels, but reading Allen's has shown me how limited they are. With his superior characterisation and writing abilities, and the way he takes fresh ideas about robots to their logical conclusion, Allen gives us a more enjoyable and thought-provoking read than Asimov ever did.

Let me start by saying that I have read all of Asimov's Robot series and enjoyed them tremendously. To me, this book represents a major achievement in the understanding of robots in Asimov's Universe. I completely enjoyed this book from cover to cover, reading it in one night. But the most important part (I think), was how Caliban developed. Never before have we had a look into a robots mind like this, regardless of the Three Laws. The way Allen described the development of the robot was amazing. I hope to see more of his development in Inferno, which I will definitely purchase. In addition, I thank Mr. Allen for leaving Asimov's Universe intact, not changing any of his fundamentals (Except for the Three Laws obviously), and for helping to fill a blank in Asimov's future history between the Spacer and Settler era, and Trantor's rise.

Asimov's robot novels are my favorite novels by any author. Therefore Allen had a tough road ahead of him in my mind when writing additional material for that universe and he succeed completely. I very much enjoyed Caliban. It faithfully followed the "historical" course started in Asimov's books. Something I consider essential when writing in another author's universe. It provided a wonderful example of the Spacer/Settler struggle and how it may have played out through the centuries until the complete decline of the Spacer worlds. It was very interesting to witness a Spacer world in decline, not just culturally but also in the enviromental sense given that the idea of the Spacer worlds degenerating enviromentally was a theme touched on by Asimov in Foundation and Earth. Also, the idea that at least some of the Spacer worlds may have been adbandonned due to enviromental neglect as opposed to the neglect setting in after they had left is thought provoking. The spirit of cooperation represented by the Spacer/Settler union was also a nice theme. It could have only been better if Gladia Delmarre had made an appearance as liaison between Inferno and the Settlers but you can't have everything now that the Master himself has gone. I highly recommend this book.

I'm only partway through this book, but I have to say that it's one of the best and most informative on the subject that I've come across. I found it basically by accident while browsing this site, recognized Bonewits' name from another site I'd visited, and decided to try out his book.

He doesn't use a particularly religious context in his approach, and in a way I think this is a good thing. As a solitary Wiccan I'm always looking for good printed source material, and there just isn't much out there that doesn't devolve into happy fuzzies at some point. Bonewits' book is a breath of fresh air that I'm sure I'll be referring to time and time again.

It's a little involved for beginners, but once you've got at least a passing familiarity with some of the topics he discusses (such as sympathetic magic, which I was doing for years before properly understanding what it was or even what it was called), you'll be well on your way.

Not stage magic, but REAL MAGIC. Isaac Bonewitz graduated from Cal Berkeley in 1970 with a BA in magic and thaumaturgy. This book is not a grimoire of arcane spells and occult symbols. No recipes calling for "eye of Newt" will be found within. This is a systematic attempt to study, categorize, and perhaps even explain the phenomena of magic, from ESP to Eastern ritual.

Bonewitz does not write a superstitious text. He claims "I am not anti-scientific... What I have objected to is the modern worship of science as an infallible source of truth, endowed with 'supernatural' powers over mortal men."

Early on, Bonewitz describes laws of magic, gleaned from multiple cultures and magical system. These include relatively obvious ideas, such as the Law of Knowledge (Knowledge is power & Know thyself) and esoteric ones, like the Law of True Falsehoods (If it's a paradox, it's probably true).

He considers parapsychology, doing a useful job of considering some phenomena, and a more dubious job of trying to explain them. Nevertheless, this chapter does a coherent job of postulating why "mainstream" science does not verify parapsychological claims.

One of the most important chapters considers the difference between "Black" and "White" magic. "The whole idea of White as Good and Black as Evil is purely the result of cultural bigotries." (p. 95) While magic, as any other tool, can be ethical or unethical, ethics are not a matter of "light" or "dark."

His most practical chapter is the one entitled Fundamental Patterns of Ritual. "The best spells and rituals are modern ones, written by yourself and designed to affect you personally, with your twentieth-century mind." (p. 162)

The book has a good, but dated bibliography.

What use is it? It's a good introduction to contemporary magical practice, as opposed to the "Do this spell this way because the ancients (or some other authority) did it this way." Bonewitz explains why things might work and what type of an approach might be useful to adopt. It's good reading for the magic practitioner. It complements the various magical system books available (How to be a Witch in 13 Easy Lessons) as well as the more scholarly anthropological texts (such as Eliade's The Sacred and the Profane, which I have also reviewed). It's a laudatory attempt to move beyond the works of Aleister Crowley, Scott Cunningham, and Janet & Stewart Farrar.

(If you've enjoyed this review, consider reading my other reviews here on Amazon. Thanks, Elderbear)

Real Magic is the first book on magick and the occult that I ever read that was the product of careful though and experience, rather than someone's imagination. In a world filled with junk books on witchcraft and magick, Mr. Bomewits has offered up an excellent book for those interested in the subject matter. It's through, yet very easy to read. I'm glad I bought it some years ago, and I highly recommend it.

Let me be the first reviewer since 9/11 to weigh in on this valuable book. Every American reacted to the horrors of that day in their own personal way and many reflected on the secular foundations of our constitution but few people know the details of the struggle that went into the conception, the codification and the defense of our first amendment. The separation of church and state is the greatest source of our strength as a country; every American should know the struggle of Roger Williams, the history of the Southern Baptists, and the strong belief of our founding fathers in the freedom of choice regarding personal beliefs. All explained in this simple and scholarly book.

Currently, we don't have an informed discussion of the wall of separation between religion and politics, between faith and law, in the media. Instead, we have shouting matches free of information that might help end some of the disputes.

Karmnick and Moore set out to provide a brief, readable primer on (1) what the Framers had in mind when they separated Church and State, (2) what thinkers or events informed their conclusions, and (3) what relevance all of this has to the current debates on school prayer, tax-exempt status for churches, and other issues.

Their argument is hard to argue with. The "no religious test for public office" clause (and the debate it generated) in the Constitution is their starting point for understanding what Madison, Jefferson, and others had on their minds when they wrote the core documents of American politics, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And there's a lot more critical background they discuss, such the Lockean view of the secular social contract between citizens and the government they create, and the religious arguments by people like Roger Williams and others in the 17th and 18th centuries against intermingling politics and religion. It's pretty clear what the Framers had in mind, and it was to keep religion and politics separate to the advantage of both.

By the way, Steven Tooley's rebuttals here on Amazon are completely disingenuous and hit not the core of the book's arguments, but peripheral matters. He misunderstands Locke, a man of profound faith who also felt that government was not sanctioned by God, but created by human beings to serve very specific purposes. And for a guy who complains about "ad homein" [sic] attacks, Tooley doesn't hesitate to make comments like, "Are these two professors trying to pull the wool over everyone eyes for a reason, or have they themselves been brainwashed?" Read the book (which contains a lot of quotes from primary sources, by the way) and decide for yourself.

This book is both a polemical argument in favor of church-state separation and a valuable history lesson.As an evangelical who happens to believe in the classic Jeffersonian doctrine as well,it never ceases to amaze me how politically-charged TV preachers argue out of both sides of their mouths.On the one hand,America is a Christian nation.But on the other,we have fallen away from God! So which is it?If America were truly a Christian nation,Las Vegas and Atlantic City would close because no one would go. [Adult] magazines,adult videos, and strip clubs would cease to exist because there would be no market.There would be no need for "blue laws" because almost everyone would be in church all day on Sunday anyway,and no one would shop.However,the authors point out successfully that America was as heathen a nation as one could get in 1787.There is far more interest in Christianity,religion,and general spirituality today than there was in the Founders' America or at any time during the 19th century.The authors do a wonderful job of explaining the pro-Jeffersonian views of many religious people during the election season of 1800.American Baptists were at one time some of the most able defenders of the concept of a religiously neutral state.Kramnick and Moore also explain the importance of separationism to religion as a theological concern.Two of the towering figures in the history of this debate:Roger Williams and John Locke,were profoundly committed Christians.In fact,Williams believed that the notion of separationism flowed quite naturally from a consistent predestinarian Calvinism.I'll end here by saying that this book is a gem,a must-read.It is worth reading over and over.

At last a role playing game which gives you the feeling of Star Trek episode or movie. It's simple, accurate and "fascinating". Either expert role players or beginners can try and enjoy this game. So far so good; now I wait for sourcebooks and, most of all, adventure modules. I expect the same quality of the core game book and I hope the plot will be worthy of Star Trek. For now, live and prosper to you all from Italia

Long in waiting has been the resource tool for Role Players both on the Internet and in Real Life, to be able to play Star Trek RPG's with accurate rules. This book finally allows Role Players the world over to benefit from ACCURATE rules and information, When as before we had to rely on our own sagacity. SIMMING an Internet role Playing game genre is also benefited greatly by this utility. And simmers Everywhere will be appreciative of their new found knowledge. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I have been waiting the arrivial of a Star Trek TNG rpg for a long time. This game was worth the wait! The core rule book is very complete and is really all a trekkie needs to get started roleplaying in the star trek universe. The character generation system allows for easily to make yet highly detailed characters. The game mechanics are decent and easy to learn. The systems for hand to hand combat is excellant and phaser combat is as lethal as it should be. Solid rules for starship combat are contained within the core rule book as well. The only real flaw with the product is the lack of statistics for the Borg.

Richard Boleslavsi, a key member of the Moscow Art Theatre and practioner of the Stanislvaskian "system" wrote this, a key volume that serves as the greatest starting point for any serious actor.

Writing his text in the form of a play script, Boleslavski lays out a series of easily definable and highly applicable excersises that aid tremendously towards developing the acting instrument.

Although it is impossible to learn acting from simply reading a book, if used as a complimentary text in a hands on acting class, Boleslavski's book will help one build a solid foundation upon which one can begin legitimate work in the Theatre.

However, on a strongly personally biased note, skip the second chapter, entitled "Memory of Emotion". If done improperly, this second chapter can lead to incredibly self conscious acting posing as psuedo-therepy.

The chapters of Rythym, Concentration, Dramatic Action, Characterization and Observation however prove helpful, practical and definable. Please begin with this tome.

Basic acting ideas and questions are explained very simply in this remarkable book. Although the technique he uses may be odd, (refering to a fictional dialogue between himself and The Creature), it enhances the reading into an art form, not just a textbook or book full of "improv" excercises. If you are a true student of the art, I think you will enjoy this book, if not at least appreciate it's value. Otherwise go back to Uta's Object Excercises!

Boleslavsky was one of Konstantin Stanislavski's foremost disciples and, through the founding of the American Lab Theatre, as responsible as anyone for bringing Stanislavski to the attention of American theatre people. This book is remarkable both for its cogent commentary on the acting process and for being even more readable than Stanislavski's own books. The chapters on observation and rhythm are especially valuable.

The one downside is that some readers might find the "I" character overbearing (calling the student "The Creature" is rather arrogant, after all), and some readers may not be able to get past the sexism of the time at which the book was written.

For all this, however, this is to my mind the best single introductory book on acting anywhere.

A solid tale of the sea awash with heroics, sinking frigates, splintered mizzenmasts and spars and shredded mainsails. The second book is better than the first. He captures the feel of the locations and the dire straits the colonies were in against the British. The sea battles are first rate, the characters seem a bit flat, but none the less, a good, brisk adventure tale with plenty of gunfire, dangerous intrigue, romance and humor. A great support character, Major Fitzgerald is a bonus as he stalks a dangerous traitor in the American government. I look forward to the third novel, "The Continental Risque". I would like to see Mr. Nelson tackle the War of 1812 with Biddlecomb at the helm of a regular naval vessel. If we're lucky, maybe Biddlecomb will sail against the pirates of Tripoli.

A slow start, with Isaac beating himself up mentally after the horrendous pounding and loss of life on the 'Icarus' in 'By Force of Arms'; his agonising about his responsibility to the crew seems to take up the first quarter of the book, with consequent lack of action.

However, once convinced that he was powerless to prevent or avoid the carnage, he takes on a new lease of life and embarks on 'the Maddest Idea' - to lay the foundations of a Colonial Navy and rid the American People of the taxes and oppression of King George's dominion, in the shape of HMRN.

Factual and believably written, this grips you as soon as Isaac shakes off his depression and throws himself and his tactical ingenuity into harrying the enemy and assisting the nascent war on land - I read this in one sitting.

Again, maps and a postscript by the author outline the historical facts behind his fiction, and his first-hand knowledge of square-rig sailing makes this all the more enjoyable. ****

Nelson has brought nautical fiction to the other side of the Atlantic in his second book set in the American revolution. His stories are well written around strong characters and unique facets of the time. Virtually all American commerce was borne by water, including the materials of war. Those of us who enjoy this genre all know that water was a medium the British were particularly well represented in (as they are in nautical fiction). Nelson writings have a pace that reflect the desperate situation of American revolutionaries. The reader is constantly wondering how Captain Biddlecomb will survive the actions of an overpowering enemy and the environmental challenges faced by those who go to sea. It is a rare writer who can create an exciting story line around history and adventure. Enjoy Nelson, because he is definitely one of them.