For me, the best thing about picking up almost any 'non-fiction' book by Isaac Asimov is the fore-knowledge that you aren't going to be affronted by a barrage of technical "facts and figures," simply thrown out of nowhere at the reader (like 'name-dropping'), for the purpose of advancing, in a self-serving way, the author's own 'pet theories' on a given subject. With Asimov, you KNOW he will walk you through everything, from start through finish, in chronological sequence and with historical context thrown in (free of charge, always), in order to build his case for something in a methodical, well-ordered, and logical manner. I've sometimes thought the 'Good Doctor' was himself surprised at some of the conclusions he 'found himself arriving at', on certain subjects, simply because the 'weight of the evidence' and his own 'chain of reasoning' from it, simply LED him there, compelling him to adopt that viewpoint, not unlike the outcome of a rigorous mathematical formula... Then again...I suppose that goes for everyone! But for rational reasons! (There IS a distinction!) 'Extraterrestrial Civilizations' is a brave and fascinating book. Brave, in its scope, for a book originally published 20 years ago, before we had our present-day scientific confirmation that other stars do, in fact, HAVE planets (which was assumed by the majority of the scientific community, but not known, 20 years ago - no 'Hubble Telescope' existed back then, when Asimov wrote this book). Our recent findings, however, both vindicate and bolster two (and ONLY two) of Isaac's most crucial case-assumptions in this book, along with other scientist's conjectures-, early on in his 'chain of reasoning'). The book is Fascinating, in that the theories Asimov both summarizes and expounds still represent the 'cutting edge' of the best scientific thought there is on this subject today. We have, as yet, progressed no further. Cover-to-cover, and detailed step-by-step, this book builds up an argument based upon the well-known and meticulous Asimovian 'chain of reasoning'. It incorporates (though significantly modifies it, since Asimov doesn't seem to accept the narrowed parameters) the 'Drake Equation', which is a 'sign of the times' (1979 times 'best science'). It's too bad the subsequent 'conclusion' is given away on the soft-cover jacket (at least on the Avon Books edition, which I have), because the book itself reads and unfolds like the best of detective stories, with the facts presented (which progressively fall into place), and, chapter by chapter, the 'clues' and suppositions mount, then pile up, one upon another...ultimately leading to... ? Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in 'exobiology'(You know...the 'science without a subject'...yet). Aspects of almost every related science discipline are considered here (or at least are mentioned in passing), along with inherent implications/applications. A 'complete' work ('in progress'), until someone else comes along and 'updates' us, or suggests something different or more 'progressive'. So far, everyone's still waiting....

This book was written about 20 years ago. Asimov's scientific rigour and marvelouly clear divulgative prose guides us to what we know of the possible existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. Had he written this book today, he would have been less optimistic, perhaps, but most of his reasoning wouldn't have changed. For an updated equivalent of this book,read
Stephen Webb's Fifty solutions to Fermi's Paradox.

This book is one of the earliest books to fully address this subject. Unfortunately, it so hard to get, I personally asked Dr. Asimov, (before he died) if even HE knew where I could get another copy of it and he did not. In fact he autographed my hard-cover copy. I'll sell my copy, but the price will be high.

The Clarks make no bones about it: Sir Issac Newton was one of the greatest scientific minds of the his time. Of all time, in fact. Newton was the symbol of the triumph of science over superstition.

But Newton had a darker side. Despite the fame and recognition he had received, Newton refused to let anyone threaten to overshadow him or stand in his way of greater achievements.

Reverend John Flamsteed was the first Astronomer Royal - a position he held for 44 years serving under 6 kings. He spent his night in the observatory of Greenwich gazing through telescopes, cataloguing the stars. Newton wanted this information to figure out a better way to navigate to oceans, a major problem in his day. He was convinced Flamsteed was holding back the critical information he needed. For that, Newton used all the considerable power at his disposal to end the career of Flamseed. He almost suceeded. It was only because of the dedication of Flamsteed's widow that his 3-volumn Historia Coelestis Britannica was published.

Today, because of Flamsteed's work, we measure longitude from the place he accomlished his work - Greenwich.

The work of Stephen Gray is less known. A commoner trained as a dyer, he was a most unlikely member of the Royal Society.

Gray was a long time friend of Flamsteed. He carried on a regular coorespondence with the elder scientist, sharing with him his own celestial observations.

But it was Gray's pioneering work in using electricity for communications that earned him immortality. Work, that if not for Newton, may have been accomplished 20 years sooner.

Humans need heroes, and those prominent in any field are often portrayed as ideals no matter how flawed they may be in real life. The Clarks, scientists from the UK, have written a fascinating historical study of Isaac Newton, Astronomer Royal Flamsteed, and amateur scientist Gray with the intention of demythologizing Newton and giving Flamsteed and Gray what the authors consider to be their proper place in the development of 17th- and 18th-century science. Gray's contributions to the field of electricity and electrical communications and evidence for Newton's suppression of Gray's work are discussed in some detail together with Flamsteed's work in astronomy; the relationships between Flamsteed, Newton, and Gray; and the political and social climates of the times. The book was not written to demean Newton's accomplishments; the authors devote a fair amount of space to a discussion of Flamsteed's personal foibles that made the feud (concerning Flamsteed's astronomical data supplied t o Newton) between him and Newton difficult to avoid. In the words of the authors, "His [Newton's] genius would survive any detailed scrutiny, but the failure to recognize his aggressive character and his tyrannical behavior meant that the genius of others, including Flamsteed and Gray, was not recognized." All levels.

This is a quick read that is both well-written and well-organized. The authors take few diversions - historical, rhetorical, or empirical - from describing the relations among the characters in the title: the credentialed Newton, the laborious Gray, and the intermediary Flamsteed. The result is a concise and enjoyable report on what is known and what can be reasonably surmised about the relative contributions of these men. There is sufficient detail (and sufficient lack of colouring) to make the book of interest to scientists, and to historians and sociologists of science. But there the book is sufficiently accessibile, and the subject matter sufficiently finite to make it equally appealing to anyone with interest in such topics as politics, organizations, and astronomy, not to mention Newton and his era.

'The Orphans of Carmarthen is a fictional account of an orphaned boy and his ever faithful dog as they attempt to survive the poverty of Wales after the demise of the Roman invasion. Their struggles become all the more arduous when confronted by English invaders and the unearthing of dragons beneath the rolling countryside.'

The author triumphs in creating a work of fiction entirely appropriate to the historical environment, while embracing the superstitions and legends of a long-forgotten age. Set against the underlying, growing animosity of the Welsh and British, the druidic priesthood and the rapidly developing Christian brotherhood, the insightful revelations of a child are pitted against the situational ethics of his community. This young boy's struggles haunt the dreams of those whose existence remains snared within the twenty-first century; struggles which continue to echo through the consciousness of all humankind.

I recieved this book as a gift and had a hard time putting it down. Mr. Baker takes you into a world of the past filled with mystery, misgivings and mistrust. From the beginning you find yourself living each day with the boy and his dog, learning and growing in a world filled with magic and questions. Lessons learned from both animals and dragons, as well as humans keep these two in and out of mischief. I found it sad and uplifting at the same time. Imagine my surprise at the end when the boy hears the name the dog has givin him.

This novel is quite accurate, within the mythological framework. I particularly enjoyed the adventures of the young boy within the cave of the dragons. Full of myths and great descriptive language. Would recommend highly.

This is a very short novel about a holocaust survivor who later moves to America and becomes a successful businessman. Eventually he becomes disgusted with his immoral lifestyle. He decides to get away from immoral influences by moving to Israel. Once he is there, he finds that there are immoral people everywhere, even in the Holy Land. Throughout the book he struggles with a little voice that tells him not to worry about morals and to just have fun no matter what. When he finally does meet some moral people in Israel he decides to stay there and commit his life to being a good person. This is a book that most people can relate to. We struggle to be good and often blame our immoral actions on the bad influences of others. There is probably not one person in the world who is not in need of some improvement, so I recommend this book to everyone.

"The Penitent," a novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, tells the story of a Jewish man named Joseph Shapiro. Joseph flees Poland during the era of Nazi aggression. He comes to America but eventually embarks on a spiritual journey that brings him to Israel. This is a relatively short book (117 pages in a paperback edition).

"The Penitent" is masterfully written by Singer. The book actually consists of one story "nested" within another; the "frame" story is told by a first-person narrator, a writer who meets Joseph in Israel at the Wailing Wall. This brief frame story leads into the main part of the book: Joseph's first-person narration as told to this frame narrator. Thus the book could be read as an extended character study.

Joseph turns from worldliness to orthodox Judaism, and "The Penitent" is essentially the story of this spiritual journey. Joseph's story is fascinating. He is a very opinionated narrator, and although you may disagree with many of his declarations, I found his voice to be consistently compelling. In his story he touches on many significant issues: sexual and ideological temptation, the complex linguistic world of the Jewish people, the relationship of the Jewish Bible to rabbinical writings, vegetarianism, etc. The shadow of the Holocaust is a key theme in Joseph's story.

Throughout the book Joseph is a harsh critic of the modern world, especially of its literature and sexual values. Joseph has constant arguments with "the Evil One" throughout the book. Are these actual conversations with a demonic being, or just representations of Joseph's inner psychological state? Whichever they are, this device is used brilliantly by Singer. "The Penitent" is a richly peopled, remarkable work of fiction.

Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Penitent is a captivating novel of lust, luxury and eventually Jewish orthodoxy. It begins with a pious man by the name of Joseph Shapiro meeting up with his long time favorite author Isaac. After meeting, the two begin talking and Joseph goes into detail about his metamorphosis from an immoral sinner to a pious Jew. Singer's writing style is one of elaborate detail and heartfelt emotion. Some of his major themes in the novel are suicide, the purpose of life, sexism (specifically the role of women) and mainly Jewishness. Being a Jewish man, Singer's knowledge of the religion is greatly reflected in this novel surrounded by debauchery and sinicism. Anyone questioning his faith or in need of entertainment should read this book.

Asimov goes thru a sequential (historical) development of the field, explaining how biologists arrived at each new discovery. What were they looking for, and (more important), why? How did this field look in the first century? In the fifteenth? In the nineteenth? In this context, I think it's easier to understand the crucial experiments, why they were done, and their effect on the field. For someone who has had a basic (high school) biology course, this allows the reader to fit his or her understanding into a logical framework, and often makes it easier to understand what the discovery actually meant. Even for someone with no background in biology at all, this book provides a synopsis that's relatively painless to read and digest (up to the 1960s). But its real value lies in making the development of the field much clearer, explaining what we knew and when (and most importantly, how, with attendant ambiguities) we knew it. As good as his Short History of Chemistry.

Most introductory biology books throw a large collection of facts in your face without really giving you any explanation of how they came to be. What makes this so hard is that the heart of biology is about details. One way of putting this is -- nomenclature (taxonomies) is to biology, as mathematics is to physics. Unfortunately, for the a "non-specialist", getting a quick introduction to the different fields of biology is difficult. Asimov slowly introduces the concepts of biology by explaining the development of this science through history. He subtly introduces the different fields of biology along with some of the famous discoveries and experiments. The difference is that he doesn't get bogged down in the details. A biologist would probably find this disappointing. However, for someone who wants to sort through the massive amounts of information on biology, this book is great. This book requires almost no prerequisite knowledge. If you read this book along with an introductory book on Biology, it will give an excellent view of some of the fundamental concepts of Biology. I don't know if a biologist would like this book, but I did. I think this book is perfect for a freshman biology (or pre-med) student or prehaps an intelligent reader (like a computer scientist who is interested in neural computation, but wants to get past the algorithms) who would like a gentle introduction into this field.

Well, you want to see a review, let`s find out. First. As always, the author is strongly informed about the subject. Second. U want to learn, or just to have a good time, so if u don't, ... Here I am; trying to give u positive vibes about this; PLEASE read this book if you're interesed in the origin of terms, technics, and human desire to know more about this fabulous science.....BIOLOGY. Enjoy

I found this at a thrift store in an old ratty paperback edition and, as an Asimov lover, I had to have it. The 25 cents I paid were well worth it. A detalied but not lengthy murder mystery that Asimov approaches like no other. It doesn't have anything to do with robots, which is ok. Asimov's whistful sense of the future and knowledge of science, the cliffhanger, and suspense show true in this find. An excellent read and magnified by the fact by the unique view of Asimov as the diverse writer he was. By far not his best work, but in his 'experiment' into the murder mystery genre, Asimov hits a home run.

While dated with only hints of sex and no violence, this book is still a good read forty years after it was written. It begins with a graduate student possessing a nasty personality being killed by the inadvertent sniffing of cyanide during a research experiment. Given that the student was meticulous in his work and showed no suicidal tendencies, murder is immediately suspected. As a former and currently part-time academic, I found the description of academic politics and the push for rank advancement to be the most interesting part of the book. It seems clear that Asimov is describing some of his experiences in the academic world.
The main character is a competent instructor of chemistry whose only goal is to rise to the rank of associate professor, an aspiration that he has held for eleven years. It was his doctoral student who died and in an attempt to salvage his career, he embarks on a quest to determine what happened. Most of his actions are those that would normally happen during the course of his professional activity. The only difference is that now he is the logical suspect in what was obviously a murder.
Included in the story is a dictatorial professor nicknamed Cap who is retired, but is legendary as a dictator who demanded that students work long hours, even during holidays. One wonders if this is also a description of someone Asimov encountered as a student.
I lent my copy of this book to a chemistry professor friend of mine and he enjoyed it as well. His comment is an excellent way to end this review. “It was nice to read a story that combines a well-designed mystery with the nastiness and pettiness of academic politics. I t brought back memories of my time as a graduate student.”

A young student has died of inhaling lethal chemicals in his lab. When the police come they are faced with a question: was it an accident or was it cold-blooded murder. The possibility of an accident by such a meticulous young man seems highly unlikely to all questioned. The detective is then led into an intricate net possibilities, logical conclusions and most importantly - human emotions. You'll never be able to put this book down!

I remember reading this anthology as a child, and I remember wishing that i was different like one of the children in the book... it's a great escape for kids, i suggest it to anyone with a young reader

I read this book as a child, and it occured to me recently what an intriguing book it is. I spent a long time trying to track it down, and finally found it! It is a marvellous, eclectic collection of stories, including an excellent offering from Ray Bradbury.

mutants are "freaks of nature" that have special and unique characteristics or powers that "normal" people don't. As you read, you ask yourself if its a gift or some kinda punishment. There is one story about a boy who is born with wings, I would say is one of the best short story I have ever read. Buy this book!

Autenrieth's major problem is that the entries are incomplete and lack morphological information; gender, for example, is not given for nouns. Definitions are often superficial and incomplete, and odd forms are words are often not glossed or cross-referenced.

This is useful if you already know Homeric greek, and need only occasional promptings. If you're still a student (undergraduate or graduate), spend the extra cash and get Cunliffe. You really won't regret it.

This is okay for speed/incomplete reading, as the other reviewers suggest, but it is not in any way an authoritative text.

It's handy, easy to use and authoritative enough to be recommended by professors for the purpose of rapid reading. For in-depth study or a more authoritative translation, use Cunliffe.

Having been a student of Greek for five years, and having used other dictionaries, I find that this one is the best and easiest for Homer. It suits the needs of both the beginner and the more advanced. I must also praise the illuminating pictures. Well worth the money!

Although I haven't read this book since 1977, I remember it well. Its exciting, informative, and gets you thinking.

What a great book! I failed organic chemistry because I was told to memorize things rather than understand them, and I couldn't do it. This book explains organic molecules in both an interesting and informative way. Everyday chemicals, from coal to caffeine, are described. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to organic chemistry, but especially anyone who NEEDS to understand the fundamentals of both organic- and biochemistry.

This book brings the world of organic chemistry alive. The study of SN2 reactions can sometimes get a little stale. This book gives your education a direction. Even though it is out of print this book is worth searching to find a copy. It should be required reading for anyone taking college level chemistry courses.