This collection of 11 short stories gather Clarke's best talents in story telling and originality, accompanied by a unrivaled poetry.
Most of the stories are very character oriented (which I particularly like) while science plays a very secondary role.

They are definitely dated though and you have to keep that in mind while reading them. It's obvious that many of these stories were sparked by the dropping of the atomic bomb and its ensuing consequences. Clarke explores the problems and consequences of a discovery that could mean the end of civilization, also showing sapient life's arrogance against nature.

A very enjoyable book, which includes The Sentinel (that's the basis of 2001 Space Odyssey).

This book shows why Arthur C. Clarke is a great writer. As the quotation on the front of the book so aptly puts it "In his fiction he thinks at once like a poet and like an engineer-and writes, at his best, like an angel". Indeed. Of the stories in this collection, several stand out. Superiority was issued as required reading at MIT's Engineering courses after publication. "If I Forget Thee On Earth..." is a nice short piece that is in Freshman Literature books. The Sentinel, was, of course, the "inspiration" for 2001. Second Dawn and Exile of the Eons are two other good stories in here. But my personal favorite from this collection is History Lesson, a seemingly very serious story with a last sentence that will have you howling with laughter. Typical Clarke wit. This is a nice book for the ACC fan.

There are 11 short stories in this collection and all of them are truly exceptional but 3 really stand out. The first of course is "Sentinel" which is the basis for the movie and eventually the book, "2001" "Breaking Strain" is a great book discussing the moral implications of two men trapped alone in a space ship when it is quite obvious that if there was only one of them they could survive. With interesting commentary on how people live under pressure and what actions they take, this is an exceptional piece of work. But my favorite is probably "Second Dawn" this story discusses what happens to a group of aliens without hands but with enormous mental powers when they encounter a group of aliens with hands. The interaction of the civilizations and cultures is well described, and though I think Clarke may be taking too friendly an approach to such a meeting it would be nice if all civilizational clashes resolved this way. Overall this book shows that once again Clarke has proven himself a master of the science fiction genre. Though it should be warned that Clarke's writing style is very "hard" in other words he definitely emphasizes technological capability over character development. That being said I think this collections contains some of his best character sketches yet.

This guide book was cheaper than the lonely planet book and contained a map, which was nice. However, the book itself is not that great. There isn't much information and lots of the smaller places to see aren't mentioned, or if they are it is just a very little bit. The major stuff to see is here, and the restaurant descriptions are good. But if your wanting to do something off the beaten path this book will not provide you with the information you need. Sometimes having more than one guide book can be helpful, this would make a good secondary guide book. It isn't all bad, but you'd be better off with the lonely planet book. The map was a nice feature and it did come in handy several times.

My entire family (ages 29-60) just returned from an 8-day vacation to Costa Rica planned on recommendations made by this book. I'm glad to say that every hotel and every restaurant met our expectations. This is a must read for those planning trips to Costa Rica!

We went to Costa Rica to get married in front of the Arenal Volcano and I have to say it was the best vacation of our lives. We lucked out and the volcano erupted just before we said our vows. IT was also one of the clearest days of the year. This book helped us immensely. The map was invaluable. The descriptions of each place were dead on. The writer clearly knows every town intimately and we couldn't believe the amount of detail. We're going back next Christmas and we'll be taking this book along!

This book would be fine if you didn't have a budget or don't want to be told much in the way of interesting stories in your guidebooks...I much preferred the Rick Steves Paris guidebook, which has better accomodations at better prices, while focusing on certain neighborhoods where you can mingle with the locals.
This is sort of a touristy guide that can complement the Rick Steves books in case his accomodations are booked or you want more comprehensive listings of the expensive restaurants in the city.
BTW, my wife and I left ours at home and went to Paris with the Rick Steves guidebook (which is slimmer) instead. We did rip out the useful maps, however.

This guide covers all the basic information needed for a trip to Paris, but is not as complete as the Michelin Green guide as an information resource, and not as helpful in organizing and planning your trip as Rick Steve's Paris guide. It does, however, have more hotel and restaurant information than either of the two other guides I mentioned.

I returned yesterday from a week-long trip to Paris, with Frommer's as my only guidebook. Overall, I found it very helpful. The listings of the important sites to see are very complete, and they give interesting histories of each of the important sites. Also useful is the section in the beginning which lists which sites to hit if you're on a tight schedule.

Two things, however, frustrated me deeply. The listing for each attraction listed the metro stop, but didn't tell you what metro line that stop was on. This lead to me standing in metro stations staring at my English guidebook, trying to find one stop among 100 without any information as to where it might be. AARRGH! Also, the book recommends booking hotels through the frommers.com web site; but most of the hotels in the book are not on the web site and vice-versa. This makes it difficult to make a booking when you aren't sure what you're looking for.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to a traveller, but perhaps not as a sole resource.

I loved the RAMA books, but I felt totally burned by this Clarke outing.

Through the whole volume Clarke used the device of a mystery--raising motivational questions about the many underdeveloped characters (including the protagonist)--but then the book ended without resolving a single loose thread.

If he was making some point about race (a theme so undeveloped that it baffled me every time a character's race was mentioned), I didn't get it.

I didn't find the futurism especially novel, either (at least not as a reader in 2001--perhaps it was more exciting in 1976).

The ending (and I use the term only because I ran out of pages) left me asking "What the &%? Am I missing some pages?"--reminiscent of the film ending of "2001 A Space Odyssey".

Unlike that film (or the Philip K. Dick stories I've read), the interest of the ride didn't make up for the unresolved storyline. It's easily the poorest of the 7 or 8 Clarke novels I've read.

I don't think this is Arthur C. Clarke's best work. I like to see more of a grandiose, "future of civilization in thousands of years"--type story. This one is about a man named Duncan Makenzie who, in the year 2276, is on his first trip to Earth from the Saturnian moon of Titan. He discovers many things about Earth, himself, and humanity. Basically, it's a fun, quick read, but not as magnificent as 2001 or The City and the Stars.

After the incredible back-to-back success of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous With Rama, Clarke returned in 1976 with Imperial Earth, a novel less about science than the human spirit. The story revolves around a Titanite making a trip to Earth, and seeing the vast differences between the two places ("For a horrifying second, Duncan thought he was going to have to eat real meat"), but also touches on the elements of the human spirit and mind that will always be with us. Along the way, many predictions about the future are made, and a generally exciting (though not exactly fast-paced) story is told throughout. A rather touching story quite different from most of Clarke's other works, this is a story that will stay with you long after you have read the last page.

Fortune's Children was a good read for anyone interested in how the rich lived in the late 1800's. The author detailed the main characters very well as well as the over the top, outlandish homes that these characters resided in. It is truly a nice look into that era and what it all meant to be a Vanderbilt. Reading this book has piqued my interest in other books about the first rich family of America. Once I began reading this book I had trouble putting it down.

"Fortune's Children" is an enormously fun read. Arthur Vanderbilt relates how his ancestors accumulated and then depleted an almost unimaginable fortune. In the process they created a lot of majestic homes and even more miserable people.

It all starts with the Commodore, a poorly-educated miser with a mean-streak and a wild side. It ends with the battle over baby Gloria, whose genes prepared her for the jeans that brought the family a fresh infusion of cash. In between, a variety of Vanderbilt spendthrifts and misanthropes. There's George, who built the largest private home ever constructed in the US -- Biltmore Estate. By the time he was done, he was out of money, and his heirs couldn't afford to live there. There's Consuelo, bullied into marrying a Duke by a mother with royal-mania. And there's Reggie, a gin-soaked playboy whose greatest accomplishment was looking good in a tux. Oh, the humanity.

The author spends a little too much time on the supporting cast, including Ward McAllister and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. They're interesting but take the focus away from the main characters. He also fails to flesh-out a number of family members, including Alfred, who inherited the bulk of the fortune but had the misfortune of booking passage on the Lusitania.

Photos and a family-tree help you keep straight who's who, and all in all, this portrait of the people who personified the best and worst of "The Gilded Age" is most worthwhile. And, more proof that money can buy comfort, but not happiness.

What can I say? This book is truly fabulous. Even if you are not interested in the Vanderbilt family, you must read this book! It just shows how truth is stranger than fiction. The cast of characters in this book includes: Cornelius Vanderbilt, his son William Henry, the famous Alva Vanderbilt (who practically sells her daughter to an broke English lord for marriage) to Gloria Vanderbilt as a little child getting fought over. These are just some of the interesting people you will meeet in this book. I would give it ten stars, if I could!

I rate the first book in the Guenevere series 3 1/2 stars. This second one leans towards 3 3/4 stars. It's not quite a 4, but it's a bit better than GUENEVERE Queen of the Summer Country, because it's more suspenseful somehow. It was rather good. The only thing that I felt bogged this book down was the repetition. In the early chapters especially, we read about a lot of things that we already know from Book One.

In fairness though, I really liked the way author Rosalind Miles handled the story so that I anticipated what was going to happen next, even though King Arthur's tale is already widely known. As the reader, you find yourself excited at the unfolding of little events, like how Guenevere gets out of her trial, etc. It's not the "if" really, because those familiar with this same story as told in other books already know the answer to that. Reading Miles' take on the legend makes us want to know the details of her version of the story.

If you were enthralled by the first book in this series, read this second one. I myself am almost halfway through the third!

I was terribly impressed by the first in the Guenevere series, "Guenevere: Queen of the Summer Country." I can't say that I was disappointed with the second installment, but it did not quite live up to the magic of the first.

As often happens with the middle book in a trilogy, there seems to be a moderate amount of filler material and repetition in the action. Having said that, I most definitely still enjoy some of the liberties and twists that Miles has taken with traditional Arthurian legend. Hearing the story from Guenevere's perspective is a wonderful way to go. At times I wanted to shake the characters and tell them to stop their whining, but despite some of their bad choices, they were well-rounded and believable.

Even though I enjoyed this book less than the first, I will continue to follow the series, and anxiously anticipate reading the third book. I am curious to see how Miles will wrap up her story and how it will mirror traditional Arthurian legend. Miles has a delightfully rich writing style that serves to greatly enhance her stories.

Having loved the first of the series, I dove into Knight of the Sacred Lake with high expectations. I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED!
Miles continued the saga of the Arthurian legend without missing a beat. She offered just enough information from the first book to remind the reader of the situations at hand without boring me by recapping too much or insulting my memory of the first book. I was swept away with this book - especially the heart-wrenching love between Guenevere and Lancelot. It takes the story of their relationship to a new level by showing the true devotion of the lovers through years together. It also introduces Mordred in greater detail and details the systematic brainwashing of the monks over Arthur. Guenevere struggles with her desire to love her husband and fulfill her position as Queen; while Arthur grows more and more distant breaking his vows to his wife and her faith...who, afterall, made him High King. Ever faithful and loving is Lancelot. I hung on every word and it left me hungry for book #3.

This book is LARGE! Very large. It is approximately 12" square, like a vinyl LP record, and comes in a tough card outer sleeve or box, thus keeping the actual book itself free from damage. I don't know exactly how much it weighs, but I suspect that it must be 3-4 Kg, so if you order it warn your postman! The images are all B&W.

It is also large in terms of content, there being some 600-odd images presented. There is an intoxicating range of photographs spreading over many years of Mapplethorpe's work and many genres. I have always found his flower portraits the most inspiring and they are here in plenty although regrettably none in colour. Obviously there also the formal portraits, the pictures of large male genitalia, pictures of Patti Smith (who is she, anyway?), a large number of self portraits, and many others.

This is NOT a book of sex images although there are few that are 'close to the mark', rather a collection of more of Mapplethorpe's more artistic ventures. Of all, I was much struck by the simple (polaroid) image of a young man on page 25, simple called "Untitled, 1974".

There is a superb essay by Arthur C. Danto explaining much of the controversy surrounding this photographer, along with a very full catalogue of Mapplethorpe's work, his books, exhibitions, and a bibliography of those who have written about or included his works.

Very good value for money if you are a fan.

While this handsome, exceptionally made collection of Mapplethorpe photography is certainly worth its cost, the editors have done a disservice to the artist by eliminating the framing effects Mapplethorpe created to off-set his own work, and thus sometimes robbing individual images of their ultimately intended impact. Worse still, these particular reproductions generally eliminate the sepia, blue-ish, or silvery tones of the original works and consequently misrepresent the artist's intent. Those who are established admires of Mapplethorpe will be impressed by this book; those who have not previously seen his work, however, will probably wonder what all the artistic fuss was about.

Admitting that I've never seen any of Mapplethorpe's work up close and personal I'll none the less say that the prints are beautiful. The huge format gives the photos plenty of room to breathe, as is sometimes a problem in art books. I spent a good while seeking a collection that included all of his favorite subject matter, both the pretty and the disturbing, and this one didn't disappoint. If you are too weak of stomach for some of the admittedly harsh erotic stuff (which includes mostly that of the "homo-" variety) then buy a collection of his flowers and women, but all of his work makes much more sense in context.

David Walsh's AFTER IDEOLOGY is a fantastic piece of work. It comes closer to being the book I have been looking for than anything I have yet read. It almost overwhelms me. Unfortunately, he attempts to do the impossible: Present the Answers about man which are available in theology and imperative for true human fulfillment and happiness - in the language of philosophy.
I understand his reasoning - most people have been led by the prevailing mentality or paradigm to think that theology is claptrap. But, there is no way the creature will ever be able to see and understand himself without submitting to the will of his Creator, without at least approximating that old "God's Eye View", which also goes by the name of "objectivity". Self-centeredness (anthropocentrism) looks good, but it goes nowhere. Without theology - the Queen of The Sciences - all we can do is stumble in the dark. Without theology we are "blind".
This will remain true no matter how brilliant the philosophers become. Walsh's book contains just about all the correct theological insights needed to achieve the freedom from ignorance we need, the "truth that makes one free". But, without the hard core theology, especially concerning The Problem - Original Sin - we will continue to spin our wheels. Of course I have not read anything he has written since 1990. I had better get busy.

This is truly among the ten best books I have ever read ... Walsh is lucid, insightful, and truly prophetic ... incredible.

David Walsh's book is far more than a Christian critique of modernity. Through his profound readings of Solzhenitsyn, Camus, Dostoevsky, and Voegelin, he makes a compelling--even thrilling--case that the real "solution" to modernity's systematic impoverishment of our souls' longing for transcendence must come not from the facile rejection of modernity's values but from an immersion and understanding of these values so complete that it bottoms out in despair. Only a purgative suffering of the human and spiritual emptiness of the various ideological solutions can allow us to open our souls to a fresh experience of grace--we must pass through the fire of modern atheism and secular humanism in order to burn free of the unrealities inherent in these systematic rejections of divine order. If the book has a fault, it may be that it is too optimistic about the inevitability of this process unfolding on a large scale; but hope is a forgivable virtue. This is a beautifully written, closely reasoned book capable of changing lives.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

Yea, The book could definently use some improvements, but overall the pictures did depict the birds pretty well. The only species illustrated {in color} are those endemic ONLY to the Carib islands. Any birds that are seen in the continental US are only given black and white drawings, and small descriptions. So a field guide and familiarity to eastern migratory birds are a plus! I am VERY dissapointed with the quality of the pages in the book. After a week in the Islands, mine looks worse than any of my regular guides! Bring a water-proof sleeve or something, because it's going to get wet! Not a bad book though, I had a lot of fun, and pretty much every bird you see tends to be a new species! Have fun!

Hard core 007 afficianados will notice a pile of 007 in-jokes that are scattered throught the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day". Among them: While in a Cuban office, Pierce Brosnan casually picks up a first edition of this book, which, as others have noted, is where Ian Fleming came up with 007's name. Better than available alternatives I suppose ("My name is Audobon - - John James Audobon..."

Clarke is a visionary, and he has prophesized some incredible ideas long before they were mainstream. He continues to explore fascinating scientific thoughts and insights in this book about the raising of the Titanic. However, I find that the book has no central focus. Attempting to use the Titanic as a focal point, Clarke jumps from story to story -- about the Mandelbrot Set (a fractal pattern that is self-replicating), an invention in the field of windshield wipers, automated undersea exploration, and the lives of several diverse characters -- while never focusing the story on any overlapping theme or circumstance. In fact, the story of the Titanic is written off early on and given very little play. It seems Clarke would have been better off simply writing an essay about new technologies instead of wasting the readers time with simple plot twists, one dimensional dialogue, and emotionless characters.

Mr. Clarke is still, in my eyes, a great visionary thinker. He also writes a good sci-fi story. However, this one certainly isn't it. Read it for the ideas, read it for the insights, but please don't read it for the plot.

I read this book for the first time about 10 years ago. Before Y2K and before the 1997 film Titanic tweeked everyones interest in the Titanic. The main story deals with the attempt to raise the Titanic from the ocean floor and transport it to a location where it can be maintained and saved from further decay.

Aside from the plot there were some very good subplots. One dealt with the YTK problem. This book was published a decade before YTK and way before most people, like me, were even aware that there was a YTK computer problem. The solution offered in the book obviously was not one that came to pass but it was still interesting to read about the nature of the problem and the difficulties that could arise if left unchecked.

The technology used to raise the Titanic was well described. I am not that scientific or math savvy and so I cannot say if the technology described is currently possible but it seemed possible the way Clarke described it.

The story is set around the year 2012, the 100 year anniversary of the sinkning of the Titanic. I'm quite sure some of the technology mentioned in the novel does not exist. One invention involving the future of windshield blades and keeping rain off of an automobile windshield was interesting. On the other hand I found the whole "M-set" thing to be beyond me. I'm not sure what role it actually played in the overall plot. I gather that the "M-set" is used in other novels and may make more sense to those that have read more of Clarke's novels.

Lastly, this book is a quick read. It is not to deep or to shallow. An excellent book to read during breaks on the job or to read during an evening when you have time to kill.

Everyone knows this author; Arthur C. Clarke is a genius of his time and ours.
I myself think anything dealing with Titanic is going to be a boring attempt at a topic that has been very over done, but I actually enjoyed this book. This was a story I felt I had to concentrate on; I was trying to figure out the math questions on my own without much success but a headache, but don't let that put you off, if I concentrate to much on anything my head begins to throb, anyways:
The story line is fairly, well to be attempted. To bring Titanic up and of course it's going to take a few pretty pennies to do so. So why not make a big deal about it and have a race, two sides battle a way to the prize and to the success of having to bring up a snapped in half, ocean liner that sunk a hundred years ago? The interesting part is the year this book was written in and the year the characters are placed in, and of course what year you read the book. I was shocked at the way this author thought of the future, and it was so scary a mind could think that up.
I can't remember but years ago, people wanted to bring up the Titanic; they should of read this book and just left their grubby hands off it. (I think they did)
There is robots, huge squid, big high on their horse characters and over the top genius on this case and I even liked them.
The characters are well, not really that important, it's the idea and plot in the book. Sometimes I lost myself in all the gumbo jumbo about how, when, where, and exactly the way your going to do it, but still it was a good book. The idea of M-set interested me much and I even read the little, explanation of it at the end of the book. WoW!
I'd say if you like Clarke and his books, read it. If you like the idea of Titanic, read it, if you like sci-fi, Read it. I think it's a good thinking book and worth the time.