In his usual witty, blunt and almost arrogant style, Asimov ponders such things as math, physics and the stuff of life. This little book provides an interesting overview of several sciences while attempting to challenge your mind to think logically and clearly (a hallmark of much of Asimov's writing). I love my copy and have earmarked several pages for re-reading. Warning, if you don't love science as a process, this book may not be for you.

This is another small, thin volume in the "Ask Isaac Asimov" series for young children (six to eight years old or younger). Here we have a simple discussion for young children of melanin and skin pigmentation and why it may have arisen.

In this collection there are twenty-one short stories that run the gamut from humorous to profound. Included with the stories are small introductions by Isaac Asimov. Two of the stories, Belief and Ideas Die Hard, were written in the 1950's. The former is a charming story about a physicist who finds he can levitate. The latter is a good but self admitted out of date story about travel to the moon. The other nineteen stories were written in the late seventies and early eighties. They cover a variety of topics including alien traders, computer illiteracy, the creation of the universe, the last shuttle leaving earth, a clothes designer and much more. It's unreasonable to expect that you'll like every story in any collection of short stories. However, The Winds of Change has more hits than misses. I think fans of Asimov would enjoy this book.

In 'Words of Science' Isaac Asimov presents the etymology of some 1500 terms from physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, geology, biology and medicine. Asimov traces words like alcohol, isosceles, monosaccharide and yttrium to their Greek, Latin, Arabic and vernacular roots. Discoveries and inventions, both great and obscure, as well as the men and women behind them, are presented in 250 entries of about a page each. We read of the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen who, in 1895, applied the mathematical variable X to the mysterious rays whose properties he was exploring. Later, the rays were renamed 'Roentgen rays' in his honor, but because their discoverer's surname was so difficult to pronounce by English speaking scientists, the term 'X-rays' stuck. The superstitions and serendipity that comprise so much of scientific history are related with clarity and wit. For example, the Romans considered a freak birth or deformity to be an omen from the gods; hence, from the Latin word 'monere' (a warning) we get the word 'monster'. 'Words of Science' is a handy reference for any library and makes good bathroom reading.

"she said no more." "there was silence in the room." -"you must know everything"

the praiseworthiness of a collection of stories is contingent not upon the praiseworthiness of the writer but the collector(s). how and what to collect. who to have translate. the collection in these regards is a followable one. it offers a fair sampling of babel in different contexts in different pursuits in writing.

the praiseworthiness of the author cannot be to do with the praiseworthiness of a posthumous collection. the work is the work he filled his time with. and he was good at filling his time this way.

the collection is separated into sections specific to types of writings.

know this though simply: babel in "his notebook", "diary", "observations on war," "notes on the stories" is the same babel who by virtue of his stinging brevity (a slap without words glows redder) and perspicacity brought his reader to this page. if you know babel then further pleasingly with this book you shall. if you've yet to then from this begin to:

"'you never say anything, grishchuk,' i said frantically. 'how do you expect me to understand, you tiresome fellow?' he was silent and turned away."

I have to admit, what initially drew me to this, Isaac Adamson's first novel, was the title and the colorful cover. The novel turns out to be as playful as the jacket, with plenty of comic book color thrown in.

It's the adventure of Billy Chaka, an American journalist working for Cleveland's best-selling Asian American zine. Covering a handicapped Olympics in Tokyo he finds himself thrown into a wild adventure involving beloved geisha girls, the yakuza, and other characters culled from the Japanese underworld.

There's plenty of action, as Billy usually resorts to fits of martial arts in many situations. And there's a lot of humor derived from Chaka's observations on Japan and the Japanese and especially on geisha girls, with whom he is obsessed. Also a bit of un-PC humor which is refreshing.

This is something a little bit different and a very playful novel. I'd recommend it as a quick and fun read. I'm sure Adamson has more Chaka adventures in the works. His writing is, for the most part, smooth and confident.

FUN - that's the operative word when it comes to Isaac Adamson's new novel Tokyo Suckerpunch. The lead character, Billy Chaka, is vaguely reminiscent of heroes like James Bond, Philip Marlowe, and Jackie Chan, that is - if you can imagine any of these three working for an Asian Tiger Beat-esque magazine based in Cleveland. The world that Adamson creates in this novel is, to say the least, unique. With all the exotic and sometimes just plain weird things going on in this book, you can never quite tell whether Adamson's being serious or just pulling your leg. The story is told with such straight-faced authority that things like a handicapped martial arts tournament or a talking whiskey dispenser seem almost plausible. As with most debuts, the novel has a certain rawness to it, which can have both good and bad points. The plot, much like a Raymond Chandler mystery, sometimes gets a bit convoluted, but - also like a Chandler novel - it's the protagonist that keeps you interested. Because of Billy Chaka himself, I had a tough time putting this book down.All in all, Tokyo Suckerpunch is a fun read. I can't wait for the sequel.

It isn't easy being the top reporter for Cleveland's number-one Asian teen magazine. Billy Chaka travels the world in search of the hip, the hot, the happening, and somehow always manages to find a little trouble along the way. This trip is nothing different. In Japan to cover the Handicapped Martial Arts Championship, Billy finds himself embroiled in a mystery that involves the yakuza, youth gangs, a religious cult, and a geisha with a hazy background. And that's before you count the murder, the arson, and the movie that's (apparently) being made of his life.

Such is the life of the jet-set reporter.

Tokyo Suckerpunch is a simply stunning tour of Japanese pop culture, told with a combination of cynicism and awe that seems highly appropriate for the amalgamation of weird that is modern-day Japan. Isaac Adamson appears to have done his research, a problem with many of the tales of Japan told by westerners. This book will have you laughing - and gaping - at the antics of both the hero and of those he encounters. A fast read well worth the time you put into it.

I have met Hanson and alot of the stuff about their personalities were incorrect! Maybe that was just your perspective on them! Alot of the info. was old or totally untrue. If you're going to write a book on Hanson please do better, more accurate research.

The book was not one of the best. I have read 32 Hanson biography books and this one just didn't cut the trade that it needed to, to be atleast useful. I understand alot of things go around about them that aren't true, and when books write about them, it is just stupid. The book needed to get more of the right Information.

I loved this book. Although it did have a lot of false info on the 3 hansom bros. But I love reading anything about them weather it's true or false, because I and any real hanson fan would know weather it's real or NOT! Isn't that right GUYS! yeah it sure is. Thanks for your great inspiration, music, and talent Hanson. Ilove you your #1 fan Leslie Micek :) :) :) :) :) :)

In the past year I have read all 11 of the novels from the Foundation and Robot series and have enjoyed all of them immensely (4 to 5 star range). I was eagerly anticipating Nemesis, as another book written later in Mr. Asimov's career, and a book extolled by one of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card, as "...almost certainly one of the finest novels in science fiction." Notice the hedge in the word 'almost'. In my view, it is almost certainly one of the weakest sci-fi books in Mr. Asimov's extraordinary collection. The story follows the initial explorations out of the solar system after the development of hyperspatial technology. There is an interesting teenage girl, Marlene, with an unusually astute capacity to read people's true motivations through perception of non-verbal cues. Unfortunately, she is kind of a brat. The rest of the characters are almost entirely enslaved by their narcissistic drives for power, control, and place in the history books. There are excruciatingly long and repetitious harangues between Marlene and her mother, Eugenia. The female adult leads, Eugenia and Tessa, have relationship issues that drag the story to the level of a soap opera. The men are either pathologically power hungry and sociopathic (e.g.,Janus) or confused (e.g., Crile) or naive (Siever). mild spoiler alert: The alien intelligence, which you suspect early, does not emerge until near the end of the book, and then it is sadly under-developed. And after such a tedious build-up, the book ends rather too quickly. If you're an Asimov fan like I am, I suppose you will have to read it; just make sure you have one of his other novels cued up right behind so you can rid yourself of the sour taste (I've got Currents of Space going, it's great!)

Out of all the works of Isaac Asimov that I have read, my favorites are undoubtedly The Foundation Trilogy, and Nemesis. Nemesis is an interesting book. Its not really an adventure like so much science-fiction writte today. No, it's more of a social commentary on the types of changes we could likely expect when humanity reaches out for unknown territory. And it's also the story of a girl who is blessed with an uncanny ability to read people like an open book. Needless to say, it's quite interesting to observe what happens when a person simply cannot be lied to in any way, shape or form. And it's also about her mother and father and how they adapt to and deal with their environment.

But the real meat of this book is three-fold. First, it's about a planet in peril. The earth is going to be wiped out when the Sun's closest star approaches it, and no seems to belive the girl who knows. Second, this book is about the alien intelligence living on an inhospitable planet and it's desire to communicate with humans. And thirdly, this book is about the development of super-luminal (faster than light-speed) travel. Asimov explains the science of this like it's an actual phenomena that's really possible (which of course it is not as far as we know). I really enjoyed the science part of this novel. And I found the characters and their actions interesting too...

But the real kicker comes at the end of the book, when the man who's dreams of isolation and subsequent experimentation on a small group of humans are destroyed. To say much more would spoil it. But let's just say that the word Nemesis has several meanings, and the plot twist on the last page (as we realize what's REALLY going to happen in the years to come) is awesome. Perhaps the greatest ending plot twist I have ever seen (and a darn cool tie-in to the Foundation Series to boot).

If you love Asimov's sci-fi writing, definitely check this one out. Especially if you love the Foundation Trilogy. Highly recommended.

Nemesis is a fascinating piece of work in which Isaac Asimov shows true talent through science fiction. Asimov is able to show the great struggle of many people to save the human race from total destruction through many scientific advances. Each character having very different views and personalities allows situations in the book to create great conflict and the need for critical decisions. For example, Eugenia Insigna, the discoverer of the star Nemesis posing the threat to Earth, wanted to warn the people on Earth and to inform them of new travel techniques in order to understand how to travel elsewhere. The commissioner of her satellite was selfish and would not allow her to reveal this discovery to anyone and wanted to leave the solar system behind. This is just one of the many conflicts that cause the reader to wonder what lies ahead. This suspense is what makes the story interesting. It was very intriguing to see the many different scientific issues Asimov brought up as his characters dealt with everyday survival in new places. Even though much of it was fictional and strange, he made it seem very possible which shows his great ability to manipulate one's mind. The ending to the novel was well done due to the fact that it steers the reader toward a solution, yet it is not definitive. It allows for some imagination and the ability to create an ending that best suites the desires of the individual.

This biography of the discoverer of gravity and inventor of calculus by the co-author of a similar work on Einstein misses the mark. Michael White concentrates on filling the gaps in Newton's personal life - mainly focusing on all his feuds but also offering unprovable speculation about a relationship with another man and with a widow - but offers little insight into the science. It's as if White assumes everyone understands how gravity works and what calculus is. There's little here that shows me how great a scientist Newton was, but too much to tell me that he was not much of a human.

There is also the author's contention that Newton's extensive dabblings in alchemy directly influenced his success as a thinker. Little evidence offered by White backs this up. White also undermines himself by connecting Newton's alchemy and Newton's unorthodox but deeply-felt Christian beliefs, thereby joining the far-too-long list of science writers who denigrate religion along the way to worshipping at the feet of Science.

Beyond all that, this book is competently written if wordy. White clearly needs Gribbin's help to succeed as a biographer.

This is an easy to read introduction to Isaac Newton as a person with some approach to showing us the magnitude of his intellectual achievements without burdening the non-specialist with the heavy load of having to understand Newton's actual work.

This biography doesn't shy away from that portion of Newton's thought that our thinking about science would find embarrassing today. There are many topics of investigation that Newton took seriously that anyone trained in science would find embarrassing today. However, this is one of the facts of intellectual investigation over time.

The living generation always views itself as modern and the sum of all human thought. It is hard to visualize how foolish we will seem to our descendents nor can we know for sure what aspects of our science or which of our "truths" will be overthrown by our children or their grandchildren. But we can rest assured the learning and forgetting will continue in the future as it has throughout all time.

What is stunning is how much of Newton is still absolutely relevant today. Of all the books in print today most will crumble to dust and be forgotten. In three hundred years Newton's "Principia" will still be in print and revered. Few minds can that kind of priority.

This book is a nice introduction and would be especially nice for students and anyone who would like to know the basics about Newton's life and work. It is a good launching pad for a more serious investigation in the work of one of the intellectual titans of human history.

True, Newton was a "man of science" and certainly among the
greatest. But "science" was not in the 17th Century what it
is to us today and like many of his contemporaries, Newton
inherited a scientific legacy which was steeped in alchemistic
mysticism dating back to the Ancients.

White cites the undeniable alchemistic, mystical influences in
Newton's thinking not to stir up controversy or serve up "gossip"
as some would superficially contend.

Rather he intends to point out the quasi-magical, occult leanings
in Newton's thought which enabled him to dream of or "conjure"
such unseen forces as gravity while other minds remained trapped
in commonplace and hence unfruitful modes of thinking.

Basically, Newton's ability to shift his view of physical reality
to a new paradigm, White's book seems to be saying, was as much
a product of his sub-conscious imaginings as well as his
conscious, rational thought.

Einstein purportedly said [and I paraphrase] that imagination
was more important than knowledge because new knowledge comes
to us nascently through sheer imagination.

If this book seems to delve too much into Newton's mystical
beliefs then it is simply to compensate for the two-dimensional
and in some cases, untruthful "rational" biographical depictions
that have coloured our view of the man and ignored the role of
non-rational philosophies in driving modern science to where it
is today.

The interesting question is: we speak of modern science as a
rational endeavor today but in another hundred years, how
superstitious and primitive will we appear to posterity?

This ebook demolishes all the fake history that Christians and Wiccans have both built up around witchcraft. Yes he got a few dates wrong, but the typo list on his website says a new edition will be out in August without the mistakes. I think the sarcasm this ebook is getting has more to do with exploded myths and lies that some famous Pagan authors and founders of Wiccan trads have built careers on than anything else.

The book is fun to read but gives readers solid historical information and a great book list to let them go further. He seems to know that the Goddess is Eternal even if Wicca is young, that the only Devil worshipping witches were invented by the Christians, and that *honest* scholarship can mix with *honest* faith. He also includes an explanation of *why* Wiccan rituals are they way they are and how to make them better!

I recommend this to everyone who wants a concentrated blast of reality about old and new Witchcraft.

Dear Readers,

It has been many years since a concise understanding of the history and psychology of witchcraft was understood. In fact, I don't think we've ever seen one that actually permeates the membrane, even within the Neo-Pagan community, of what this is all about, until now. Bonewits has portrayed very vividly the evolution and the idea of the "witch".

Isaac Bonewits is a true Iconoclast, and a Heretic of Heretics. This is a Good Thing.

He challenges the New-Age Witch and the Satanist and the Shamanist, which is good when one gets down to what we really are. When one is in the "community" it is often hard to get a hard grasp on the concept, but Isaac Bonewits, from his knowledge and fortunately through a good sense of humour, clarifies a lot of things about witchcraft that many wouldn't understand unless they read his book. His book is not only important to the casual explorer in spirituality but is also important for those who think they understand NeoPaganism, and still have many questions about the origins and the meanings of what a "witch" or a "neoPagan" is all about. I highly recommend this book not only to the Pagan Clergy but to any Clergy who wish to have a good source as to what Paganism is all about, as well as to anyone who wishes to have a source in their spiritual repertoire about the nature of (Neo)Paganism.

This ebook demolishes all the fake history that Christians and Wiccans have both built up around witchcraft. Yes he got a few dates wrong, but the typo list on his website says a new edition will be out in August without the mistakes. I think the sarcasm this ebook is getting has more to do with exploded myths and lies that some famous Pagan authors and founders of Wiccan trads have built careers on than anything else.

The book is fun to read but gives readers solid historical information and a great book list to let them go further. He seems to know that the Goddess is Eternal even if Wicca is young, that the only Devil worshipping witches were invented by the Christians, and that *honest* scholarship can mix with *honest* faith. He also includes an explanation of *why* Wiccan rituals are they way they are and how to make them better!

I recommend this to everyone who wants a concentrated blast of reality about old and new Witchcraft.