Other than the White Mountains trilogy, this is Christopher's best work. It is set in a future where all technology, science, and machines are outlawed, and the past has been wiped out by wars and natural disasters. The main character becomes the prince of a small city-state. The books are filled with exciting fight scenes, unusual concepts, and the struggle of a boy who is burdened with the duty to rule. I would highly recommend this book to any fan of science fiction, and in particular any fan of the White Mountains trilogy or John Christopher.

This is the most interesting and easily read book I have ever come across dealing with issues of economic and political development. Thai politics and economics are complex and confusing. This book makes sense of the conflicting strains in Thailand and will enable even a novice to makes sense of of information from Thai newspapers. Fascinating for anyone interested in global economics or Thai culture.

Thoroughly satisfying account of this famous ice-skating pair's beginnings and career, leading up to the 1994 Olympics and beyond. This book provides wonderfully intimate insights into how Chris and Jayne think and behave on and off the ice. Their fans will devour this long-overdue book, which answers many questions we have about Torvill and Dean: Were they ever romantically involved? What did they really think about winning the bronze medal at the 1994 Olympics? Will they retire in the near future? Newcomers to the iceskating world will learn the fascinating quirks and coincidences that paved the road to championship for this pair.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was one of the finest playwrights of the Elizabethan Age, and his life is probably the most interesting. While Shakespeare's biography consists mostly of land deeds and tax records, Marlowe's contains street brawls, murders, espionage, politics, scandal, and, of course, some of the finest poetry ever written.

John Bakeless's "Tragicall History of Christopher Marlowe" was published in 1942 in 2 volumes, and superseded Bakeless's earlier "Christopher Marlowe: The Man in His Time." Bakeless endeavored to write a complete --- and I mean complete --- biography of Marlowe, and he examines his work and life in all its details. The first 6 chapters documents Marlowe's life, from birth in Canterbury, education at Cambridge, playwriting in London, to his death in Deptford. Then in chapters 7-14 Bakeless discusses individually Marlowe's plays, his unfinished poem "Hero and Leander," and the shorter poems and translations. Bakeless dates them, discusses them from a literary p.o.v., documents their sources, and charts their influence to his present day. Next Bakeless gives a study of Marlowe's "mighty line," charts the artistic relationship between Marlowe and Shakespeare, and concludes his work by discussing the "Marlowe Apocrypha" - writings attributed to Marlowe through the ages, but which have not received general acceptance into the canon.

Now Bakeless wrote this in 1942, and of course some more information has been found since that time. Most important, documentation was found in 1975 that Marlowe was in the Netherlands in January 1592, arrested for coining with a goldsmith and Richard Baines (!), and deported back to England. Then the court records for an altercation Marlowe had with William Corkine in Canterbury in September 1592, also the the famous Marlowe portrait was discovered in Corpus Christi in 1953. It has also since been proven that a poem fragment Bakeless credits to Marlowe - the verses in England's Parnassus - was actually written by Jervis Markham. Despite these later additions to our knowledge of Marlowe, Bakeless's biography has never been superseded because so far no writer has yet attempted a fresh biography on the scope of Bakeless's.

To supplement Bakeless, I recommend William Urry's "Christopher Marlowe and Canterbury," Charles Nicholl's "The Reckoning," and Mark Eccles's "Christopher Marlowe in London." But Bakeless is still the bedrock of Marlowe biography.

This book, I read it when I was at school, for marathon of lecture, which I loved so much. The book is the best book I read that year, because has many things to teach us about life.

It talks about a sickness that came into our world, and how few people survived. Then, show us how they have to re-structure the world, after they seach for survivors, for food, home, etc. It also shows how people looked for many material things instead of food, and other things that we really need.

Collaboratively compiled and edited by John Agard & Grace Nichols, Under The Moon & Over The Sea: A Collection Of Caribbean Poems is an eclectic anthology for readers of all ages, brightly enhanced with full-color, stylized artwork from Cathie Felstead, Jane Ray, Christopher Corr Satoshi Kitamura, and Sara Fanelli in celebration of Caribbean life and culture. Poinciana Passion: Plant for me a tree./A tree whose flame-orange blooms/Make wilting spirits soar,/And lushly carpet summer morning walks./Just one magnificent tree,/Whose stubborn blooms/Ignite each winding street and yard/As far as eye can see./In rapturous abandon/Putting other trees to shame./Bold red blooms befitting lover's brow/Brazenly entice to rest beneath her leafy shade./Plant for me a tree./One solitary tree is all I ask for me--/My royal poinciana tree. Cheryl Albury

This story about Christopher Columbus is told through the eyes of a fictional cabin boy. The book also includes notes from the author and photographer who retraced Columbus' route, bringing the story to life.

I first learned of John Christopher's books in the early 1970's, when I was in 8th grade. I was so taken with his work that I convinced the school librarian to buy every Science Fiction book written by him. As I recall (somewhat foggily) this is a story of an older boy named "Wild Jack" and his relationship with another slightly younger boy - who seemed to be an unremarkable normal English boy of about my age. Together their initial relationship was marked by fear and distrust, only to change to great respect for one another as they face and overcome some major challenges. I hung on every word. This story, like all of John Christopher's novels, is very well written, and focuses as much on the emotions and thoughts of the characters as it does the action in the story. I recall feeling that the story ended in a way that convinced me there would be a sequel: I looked and waited for a long time to see if one became available - I'm not sure one ever did.

This stands alongide the same author's "The Death of Grass" among the finest examples of post-apocalyptic fiction. For anyone familiar with the John Wyndham's "cosy catastrophes" this dark depiction of Britain consumed by glacial ice will some as some surprise.

Perhaps not as bleak as "The Death of Grass", it still manages to unsettle the reader, with every human frailty exposed. Unlike the Wyndham school, there is no comfortable solution, no return to normality. What has changed is irrevocable.

I would recommend this book to anyone who knows Chrsitopher only from the "Tripods" novels, for an insight into why he was once considered the shining hope of British SF.

For those of you who adore the great narrative of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, or the charm and vigor of THE HOBBIT, you owe it to yourself to at least attempt to read THE SILMARILLION. Tolkien spent most of his life writing and rewriting the tales that comprise the full story of the First Age of Middle-Earth. Although he sadly died before completing the work, enough remained for his son to edit THE SILMARILLION into publishable form. Although it shot to the top of the bestseller lists when it was first published in the 1970s, it is certainly the least read of all Tolkien's works. The book - which is nothing less than an entire cosmology and myth cycle covering the creation of the world, the religion of Middle-Earth (oh yes, there is one), and its history during the thousands of years which elapsed before (and led up to) the War of the Rings - was perhaps not meant to be popular. As so many other reviewers have noted, the language of THE SILMARILLION is quite archaic (deliberately so) and hard to grasp. Recall that Tolkien spent decades creating the languages of Middle-Earth long before the LORD OF THE RINGS took shape in his mind, and you will understand what this book is and how it is supposed to be read. Like the Greek world's ILLIAD and ODYSSEY, (or even the Bible) THE SILMARILLION is meant to read like a collection of myths so ancient that centuries elapsed before they were written down, not like a novel in which we travel as narrators. Indeed, THE SILMARILLION sounds much better read aloud or even chanted, than consulted in silence. The subject of the book is the War between the great leaders of the Elves - assisted by some of the first men - against the Great Dark Lord, Morgoth (Sauron's "boss") for possession of the Jewels made by the Elves in their pride and stolen by Morgoth from the land of the gods. Although the haughty language of the book may discourage the casual reader, once you allow yourself to get caught up in the story, you will be riveted. THE SILMARILLION is ultimately concerned with the same theme as RINGS - the corruption that inevitably comes from power and the inability of thinking beings to let go of pride and materialism. From the earliest portion of the book, it is obvious that Morgoth cannot be defeated, and that the Elves allowed their immortality and their long residence in the land of the gods - Valinor - to lead them into temptation. For those of you who wondered why the Elves - who seem so powerful in Tolkien's other works - were so reluctant to involve themselves directly in the War of the Ring, the litany of their mistakes and miscalculations contained in THE SILMARILLION will answer your questions. The book is not a hopeful one - although it contains much beauty among its tales of grief. Time and time again, the lust for power and rigid adherence to ill-chosen oaths destroys one mighty lord (and a few ladies) after another. The individual tales are all tragic, and only grow more so as the reader comes to realize that the bulk of the miserable events that take place could have been avoided. The Elves, who to the human reader seem to have so many advantages (like eternal life and youth), are fatally flawed by their own hubris, which leads them to think that they can defeat the Dark Lord. Although much good comes from their attempt to do so, much of the evil that winds up besetting Middle-Earth in Tolkien's other works can be laid at the door of the Elves. The fact that none of the characters in the book intend to do evil makes the story all the more heartbreaking. If you can handle the language, THE SILMARILLION is a profound tale of struggle and a great series of adventures that will break your heart, for even as you hope that good will triumph, it is not to be.

If you have read Lord of the Rings and still want more adventures by J. R. R. Tolkien, you have to read this book! This book explains everything about the history of Tollkien's world, starting with the making of the earth, and finally leading to the events in the Lord of the Rings. It also answered many of my questions, including who Sauron and Balrogs are, and how Elves and Men were made.
The Silmarillion is mostly about the First Age, when elves were the most important beings in Middle Earth. Elves familiar in Lord of the Rings, such as Elrond, Galadriel, and Celeborn take part in it. The ending of the Silmarillion is sad and tragic, and yet beautiful. Because the entire book is history, it covers many years and generations, and very many characters appear.
Though I had a hard time memorizing the names of so many characters, I was helped by the Index of Names at the end of the book. I'm sure you will find it necessary when you read the story. There also are family trees of Elves and Men which I could use to locate ancestors of some important characters in Lord of the Rings. Like I said, this book is a must read to all true Tolkien lovers!

The Silmarillion is not the easiest book to read, but it contains a wealth of information about Middle Earth and the ancestors of those characters we have grown to love in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. One gets a sense of reading an actual history and not a work of fiction. The scope of this book is astonishing. Anyone who loves The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, will appreciate the depth that Tolkien has gone to in writing The Silmarillion.

My approach to reading this book was to treat it as an actual history, rather than a work of fiction; in doing so I found it totally believable and enlightening. I feel I know so much more about the world that Tolkien created, and the wonderful (and sometimes terrible) beings that enhabited it.