DISTANT ENCOUNTERS is a fascinating, very readable account of the unfolding drama of the Voyager spacecraft travels to Jupiter and Saturn in the late 1970's. Some coverage of the preceding Pioneer flybys is also provided. You can almost feel the emotions of the JPL engineers as they simultaneously battle frustrating technical problems with the spacecraft and experience the triumphs of some of the greatest scientific returns in the history of planetary exploration. Nontechnical, sometimes humorous, and quite informative regarding the status of space exploration during this time in history, this book proves that an engaging account of unmanned space technology and exploration can be written for the general reader.

THE AUTHOR OBVIOUSLY IS A DIVING ENTHUSIAST AND HISTORY BUFF. CLEARLY, EXHAUSTIVELY RESEARCHED IN IT'S DETAIL AND INTEREST. FACTS HAVE BEEN CHECKED AND DOUBLE-CHECKED FOR ACCURACY. THE AUTHOR TRULY WAS A PERFECTIONIST. THANKS MARK.

If one is interested in similar research this book is invaluable

This is one of those books that will haunt you forever. It's not exactly a laugh a minute - if you like your fiction up-beat and your endings joyful this is not the book for you. It makes you think, it makes me cry every time I read it. Being by Jan Mark it is, of course, exceptionally well-written - her (pre-industrial) world is totally believable as are the characters. The story concerns Hanno, a thoughtful, gentle, honest and amiable young man of 18 who is an outsider in his town because he doesn't believe in "the god" and choses to ignore the social norms for his class (becoming a boatman rather than taking up a more respectable trade like his brother Ivo). To his shock he is chosen to serve as "The Shepherd" for a year at the temple, acting as the powerless figurehead of the religious rites. However, the devotion of the townspeople is dwindling rapidly and the power-hungry "Dwellers" in the temple decide something must be done... Over the course of the book Hanno becomes more and more the helpless pawn of the temple system and, as the year wears on, he is gradually stripped of everything - right down to his identity. It's a chilling and appalling story and the end left me shaking the first time I read it, but it's also one of the most rewarding books you'll ever come across.

This translation of Inferno, one of the three pieces of the epic ensemble The Divine Comedy, is perhaps the best yet. Mark Musa does a truly amazing job, and the narrative is very easy to follow along. As an addition, Musa also has "translated" each line of each canto, just so readers can get a better understanding of the constant metaphors and allegories that Dante places within his tale. This book is recommened to anybody who craves a great imaginative tale, along with anyone interested in epics.

«Divisible by four» is created from an alloy of spiritual mysticism and "street's - newspaper's" realism. It just one of those «delicacy», which become a holiday for the soul of the reader. The main hero's adventures keep the reader in a constant voltage! The novel is very allied, (though and divided by centuries!)with «Flavors» by Francisco Azziz or «Faust» By Guette. «Divisible by four» is close, by its philosophy, to Tomas Mann's «Elect» on the one hand, and to the criations by Francoias Moriak, Garcia Markes, Boris Vian, from another hand. By its artistical and poetical sides of the images, as well as force of the influence on the readers, the novel «Divisible by four» competes to the best samples of the world modern cinema.

I think, that everyone, who is interested in the Russian- language literature of the XXI Century, should read this book.

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Larry Lavin is a brilliant, complex person, who, despite his enormous crime, emerges as likeable. One cannot help but think, "what a waste!" This is the story of a man who truly had everything: brains, looks, loyal wife, money career, and beautiful children. Yet, he threw it all away. Fascinating account of Lavin's ascent from poor working-class Massachusetts kid with disillusioned father to dental student to coke lord to inmate.

DOCTOR GYPSEE GUNN / De-Motivational Seminar

An exercise in justification, Doctor Gypsee Gunn's De-Motivational Seminar is a strong testament to the Homer Simpson-esque adage that "trying is the first step to failure." Banking on the assumption that the lazy slobs who litter the human gene pool are intelligent enough to understand words like "synthesis and antithesis", Doctor Gypsee Gunn breaks down the "crap of life" in scientific terms for everyone wondering why life has left them behind to sit at home alone and suck down Welfare Malt Liquor.

Set up like a mock seminar, Doctor Gypsee Gunn's tirade on the futility of optimism and the superiority of failure does have a "repulsive charm," but if you can keep up with the Doctor's impressive mile-a-minute vocabulary and scientifically-based line of thought, you have every reason to feel good about yourself. If your cup is never more than half empty, Doctor Gunn's De-Motivational Seminar can teach you the scientific (experimental as they are) reasons and purposes for this negativity. Either as a prophet for a doomed society or a product of it, Doctor Gunn does manage to make some poignant and funny statements about the way humans try to live. The problem with Gunn's seminar could be in finding an audience that will genuinely benefit from it. Those who are capable of understanding Gunn's rapid-fire shifts in logic or his 50 cent words may not need to be reminded that life is full of injustice, irony, inconsistency, and misplaced priorities. On the other hand, Doctor Gypsee Gunn operates on a level far over the heads of the mentally enfeebled and pre-demotivated who gum up the system for the rest of us.

Doctor Gypsy Gunn, or an alternate persona of the same man, will most likely be a force in comedy within the next few years. He's got the brains and he's got the bite, he just needs the balls to bite hard enough in the right places. He's like a cross between a really proper Dennis Leary and a stuffy chemistry prof with oratory skill to spare. Whoever he is, whatever he is, Doctor Gypsee Gunn is dangerously smart, sarcastic, ill-willed, and well enunciated. Be sure to check out the Doctor's "hit" single "I See You In The I.C.U." and keep his "Cycle Of Depravity" spinning.

NOTE: Doctor Gypsy Gunn is the creation of Mark Bornstein who was also the creator of Brick Mallery.

Tom Baker, for being the most popular actor ever to portray Dr. Who, has also stayed out of the sportlight. This book combines episode guides with collected interviews to form a facinating look at Baker's era as the Doctor. Really THE essential book on Tom's era as the Doctor