This is the first sailing book that really beautifully combines adventure, travel-logue, family and humor all wrapped up in a simple, intelligent and creative narration. Dave Martin takes us truly on an epic journey, from Bermuda to Iceland, to Scotland and Norway, with countless stories of friendship and peril along the way. I laughed out loud probably 30 times reading this book, and felt tears welling up almost as many. I was a fan of Dave's ariticles in Cruising World while the Martins were circumnavigating, but this is much more mature. The book winds around and through your heart. I didn't want it to end. GREAT Book!!!!!

Five stars --all the reviews below say it all well!-- but was disappointed that the publishers included no photos of the Martin's amazing trip to the beautiful far north. And no technical specs on the boat or gear, that cruising sailors might want to know about. Great story full of life, adventure, fine people, and cruising.

A truly great cruising/life/adventure story, well reviewed by the folks below. The Martins have long been a source of inspiration, cruising/life information, and humor.

But too bad the publishers didn't think to put a few pages of photos in their unique book about their unique trip to the beautiful far north. And why no real specs on their boat/rig, cruising gear they used, etc.? Cruising sailor-readers would like to know about such things. Was a bit disappointed to find neither of these --especially photos!

A very well-designed presentation of this material, which includes The Wakeworld, a lovely qabalistic fairy tale. This edition is becoming harder to find.

A very well-designed edition of this lovely qabalistic fairy tale, now becoming harder to find.

oxygen senso

I have over 50 photo books in my collection, but this one gets the most attention. Everyone seems to linger over the many beautiful images in this book, even after quickly flipping through other photo books by great masters. Howard Schatz has taken some beautiful vibrantly colored (and some black and white) artistic photos underwater, even though most other photographers get ugly photos with a horrible blue cast when they take underwater shots. The monumental effort necessary to create these great images is documented in this book and is well worth the read too.

By the way, it is interesting to note that some people I know who are offended even by what many would consider artistic nudes are surprisingly not offended by the nudes in this book. So, if you tend to be offended by artistic nudes, perhaps you may find this book opens your eyes to the beauty of the nude as an art form. I suspect with this book that Howard Schatz may have made a significant contribution to the acceptance of nudes by the general public.

Improving on his '96 Waterdance, Schatz provides glorious images made magically possible in that altered dream-world where all things are possible and more beautiful. This book will undoubtably provide us with more Schatz images that continue to re-shape the related worlds of film and advertising.

A magic delight to any person with or even without sensibility.
A must see for photographers and artists. It is a source of inspiration for my paintings and sculptures.
The beauty of the human body as if we were still in Eden.
After this book I was hooked on all Schatz books.
Do not miss it.

Mark Twight has not written an instruction book filled with clear drawings about how to tie a clove hitch. Beginning climbers looking for basic technique info should buy "Mountaineering: the Freedom of the hills" and go on a course first, but this does not mean that Twight's book is for extreme climbers only.

Any climber that knows these basic techniques benefits from his thoughs and experience. The book is divided in 4 parts:

(1) Approach: about 12 pages about your mental state of mind, very useful for the climber and anyone who wants to achieve specific goals as his thoughts about self-knowledge, focus, confidence, suffering, failure and learning can be applied to a broader range of goals.

(2) Training: this is the first time I have seen a real mountaineering training program in a book like this. He covers a 20 week training cycle in detail, with chapters on mental training, strength, endurance and importantly, nutrition. This really helps set a goal and work towards it. It's impossible to climb any mountain unprepared and unfit and depending on your goal you can adjust his schedule.

(3) Equipment: Clothing, Gear and Potection.
Twight has become (in)famous for refusing the accepted 3 layering system as it's too bulky, warm and heavy. He stresses the lightweight system which was an eye opener for me. Although his thoughts are not applicable for every mountain area (if you wait in Scotland for the rain to stop before climbing, you might as well not come at all...), it helped me to better pack my stuff for my trips: lighter and more useful.
His thoughts about gear are just very useful, learn from the expert, not from someone who is trying to sell the stuff...

(4) Technique:
No it will not teach you to climb a 5.14 at -40 degrees, but it covers things mostly overlooked in other books:
- Staying Alive
- Partners
- Going up
- Bivouacs
- Going down
Especially the latter 2 are things mostly ignored in climbing books (and some courses!), but these are things that also come in handy when lost in a not so extreme environment.

Overall I could not put this book down until I finished it.
The book is filled with experiences, good as well as bad. No drawings, but quite a lot of pictures, some of them useful for understanding the text, some just funny or cool to look at and dream away...
If you own Mountaineering: the Freedom of the Hills and you are not a complete beginner, buy this before you go higher, even if it's not extreme.

It's nice to see Mr. Twight, who has borrowed from the luck pool more times than anyone can count on his numerous solo ascents in the Alps and elsewhere, write a thoughtful book on how to stay alive and get the most out of alpine climbing. This book has it all -- I have incorporated many suggestions into my own climbing and found them incredibly useful.

This is THE best book I have ever read regardging climbing, period! It not only gives practical insights in to climbing but the nuts and bolts on training, gear selection and route selection for you ability. I especially found the sections on training to be extremely insightful. This is a topic never discussed in detail by any of the worlds top climbers. This book, the text and the pictures has done more to motivate me than all books combined. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am ready and capable to move my climbing to a new level!

This beautifully crafted novel tells an amazing story about two people who are opposites in so many ways but who nonetheless fall deeply in love with each other. The fact that they are opposites -- she is a yuppy/socialite from Washington, D.C. and he is an eccentric farmer from Appalachia -- is exactly what allows their crazy (and perfect) love to develop. When she is terribly traumatized and reacts in an uncontrolled manner that would drive any normal man away, he is there for her . . . as solid and constant as a rock. And she returns the favor by having the intelligence and sensitivity to see his eccentricities (perceived by most others as the actions of a retarded madman) as interesting character traits that make him a unique individual.

These are all great concepts, of course, and "Crazy Love" is not the first novel to explore them. What sets this novel apart from others is the way David Martin describes the characters and tells the story . . . by the end, you will feel as though you know these people closely and have experienced life with them for a snapshot of time. And that is why this novel will break your heart, mend it, and send you off filled with hope.

This book was one of the most touching sweet stories I've ever read. It's not many books that make me cry, but the last chapter had me sobbing. It was a wonderful story!! It totally beats The Corrections which is on the best seller list and which I could not even get into. READ CRAZY LOVE - ITS THE BEST BOOK!

I am a voracious reader, and love all different kinds of fiction.
This is one of the best books I have EVER read. I will count Mr. Martin as a new favorite author. I can't wait to read his work again!
I cannot remember the last time I read a book that made me cry - not just mist up - but actually boo hoo, sniffle and get all red-nosed!
I just finished this book over the weekend and I am going to get it for my sisters.
What an amazing gift David Martin has.

This is a beautifully written book. One of my favorite lines is, "You give me mornings-after filled with the love you promised the night before." The description of each character unfolds along with the story, you feel the action and drama as it is happening. It is a story the reader feels and experiences with the characters instead of watching them play out each scene.

I really liked the action throughout, the characters are very active and show- up in many different locations. I especially enjoyed the way Ms. Martin crafted the attack chapter by keeping the reader moving back and forth from one charcater to the other. It kept me on edge.

After reading her other books, I am convinced that Marianne Martin is easily at the top of her genre. She writes exciting not sappy love stories that are filled with memorable characters, important lesbian issues, and delicious love scenes.

I highly recommend this book as well as Martin's trilogy, which includes Legacy of Love, Love in the Balance, and Never Ending. Martin is a "don't miss" author.

If you are a reader who wants to be drawn into a contemporary story of empowering, visceral love between two emotionally mature and complicated women,...You will not be disapointed but rather enraptured in the slow fall and the sustained dramatic rush between teacher and student, entrapped in a university setting in the midwest.
As always, Marianne K. Martin weaves within the love story, contemporary issues and obstacles that lesbian women face when their love in this scenario is threatened by the archaic, oppressive, hierarchy of some of today's institutions of so called higher education.

Marianne K. Martin with Dawn of the Dance, Legacy of Love, Love in the Balance, and her latest, Mirrors, proves to be one of America's most talented of new emerging writers of Romance novels for women. We look forward to a long and prolific career!

MARIANNE MARTIN THIS IS HER THRID BOOK AND SHE GETS BETTER WITH EACH BOOK SHE WRITES. THE STORY OF "DAWN OF THE DANCE" WILL MAKE YOU THINK AND ASK YOURSELF WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR LOVE? AND WHAT WOULD YOU LET SOMEONE DO FOR LOVE? I LOVE THIS BOOK IT WAS HER BEST ONE YET.

The book was well written and midly interesting, great for young readers interested in historical fiction, but I demand more from my reading and found the story was sadly out of whack.

Young Amelia Martin lives with her miserable parents on a miserable island during the middle of a miserable war. You don't actually get to find out much about the young "heroine", since she never talks about herself or her feelings in any great depth. The other characters, especially her parents, seem oddly aloof and distant. In the end, even after reading the epilogue, all you take away from the book is - misery. Nobody's happy, everyone is grumpy and discontent, and the war is providing only a small distraction from the weird self-involved lives of the characters.

In the end, I wasn't really sure whether or not I actually liked this book. Check it out of your library, maybe, and decide for yourself, but don't buy it because it's part of the Dear America series. It simply doesn't measure up to all the other great books in Dear America.

The main character, Amelia, is nicknamed 'Wickie" because of her work in the lighthouse and dealing with the wicks. Her gender role is very uncommon for the time period as is her political interests. Wickie's family lives at a lighthouse where her father is the assistant light keeper. Wickie takes equal shifts with her father and the head light keeper and truly enjoys her position. Her mother is very unhappy on the island away from her mother and has several physical ailments which leave her cross and quarrelsome throughout the book. Amelia is also a helper at the local school on the mainland. She is certainly a character of many strengths. She works hard, helps her family, and cares about those around her. She is a great role model for today's readers. The journal style format of the Dear America series makes it easy to read and is great for introducing this type of writing to any young student. The pictures and documents at the end of the book are helpful and lend to the information provided on that time period in America's history. Amelia's story revolves around working at the lighthouse and on the mainland, becoming active in the political views of the Civil war, and falling in love with a fellow neighbor. It is a very enjoyable book to read and I recommend it for any student studying the Civil War or that time period in America's history.

Part of the "Dear America" series, this is the diary of Amelia Martin, a sixteen-year-old lighthouse keeper living with her parents in Delaware during 1860. I found it was one of the better ones of the series. (Since there are many authors, the quality of Dear America books tends to vary.)

Delaware was a border state, and consequently there was a lot of arguing over slavery and cecession and the Civil War. Amelia's father sided with the North. He had used to be a ship captain but was fired when he was caught transporting escaped slaves up north, so now he works at the lighthouse with Amelia's help. Amelia's mother sided with the South. Her parents' political differences, as well as Amelia's mother's hatred of living so close to the sea, tore their marriage apart. They actually got divorced, which was quite a rarity back then.

There are many reasons why I liked this book so much. Amelia's descriptions of lighthouse work were very detailed. I could clearly see how difficult a job it was: standing in the lighthouse on eight-hour shifts keeping the flame lit and staring out at the sea, and having to row out and save lives whenever a ship foundered on the rocks. I see how much Amelia loved her job, and how much her mother hated it, and why.

Amelia's confusion and worry over the war was quite understandable. At the beginning of the story she thought slaves were simpleminded creatures who needed to be enslaved cause they couldn't look after themselves. But as the book progressed her opinion turned until she sided with her father. Amelia's boyfriend was off fighting for the Union and she missed him a lot.

There were only two problems I had with the book. One was the divorce. There were, like, six million married couples back then and only six thousand divorces. While I saw that Mr. and Mrs. Martin couldn't live together, I don't think they would have actually filed. I think it would have been more realistic if they just went their separate ways. Also, in the epilogue it says Amelia married her boyfriend but they split up a short time later and never lived together again. That didn't ring true with what I knew about their characters. I wish that had been more adequately explained. But other than that I really enjoyed this diary.

"Dying of the Light" was George R.R. Martin's first novel, and it certainly shows. He is very ambitious in this initial attempt and the results are mixed. The book is usually catalogued as Science Fiction, but it hardly feels like it. Sure, there is a glimpse of a history of human expansion into other galaxies and even 'Old Terra' is mentioned, but it is a mere background to set the story, not a relevant ingredient. Even when Martin uses scientific aspects ( technological applications ) throughout the book it is in a rather superficial and somehow 'pulp' way; Martin is more interested in the landscapes and in his characters.

As I said, the book feels over ambitious, the length being to short to be able to develop in a proper way the complex cornucopia of names, places, languages and customs that Martin set to create. The drive of the plot depends entirely in the amusing planet Worlorn, a once bright world where for a decade a 'Festival Of the Worlds' was held, but which now is turning dark, little by little leaving the sun than once brightened it. Worlorn is now almost unpopulated but the past glory of its cities still remains and is the stage for a story which moves around a past romance and the traditions of war-like people called Kavalar.

Martin tries hard to make his characters be as 'flesh and bone' as possible but in my opinion he only partially achieves it: At the end of book the Kavalar characters seem much more interesting than the main ones, Dirk and Gwen (although probably that was all along Martin's final intention).

Don't expect a fast paced adventure; Sometimes the story drags with seemingly no apparent direction but Martin is building tension towards a quite philosophical finale when the experiences on this planet have transformed the main character's views on life

It is in the impressive set of vistas from Worlorn that we get the best parts of the novel. The exquisite description of each abandoned city and its secrets already shows the magnificent talent that Martin will develop fully in his most successful saga: 'The Song of Ice and Fire'.

I became a fan of George Martin when I read "The Hedge Knight" in Legends and from there I went straight to a "Game of Thrones." Eager for more of his work, I was browsing in my university's library and came across "Dying of the Light".

I was amazed at the beauty of the writing, the vividness of the imagery, and the originality of the story. I would like to see more stories about the "manrealm" and especially the Kavalaar people (how about some "teyn" poetry?)

I would give this book five stars except the ending was too sad. Actually, it was so sad I've been up late every night for the past week thinking about it. Also, no one I know has ever even heard of George Martin, let alone this book, so I have no one to talk to. "Dying of the Light" is full of dark and lonely imagery, and even though it has made me feel depressed, it is a wonderful story.

(I would have liked to see Garse and Dirk become teyns!)

4 me, the best science fiction novel EVER. DYING OF THE LIGHT (originally called AFTER THE FESTIVAL in its 1st appearance in 1977 in Analog magazine) echoes many of George R.R. Martin's early themes -- lost love, devotion, romantic fantasy vs. grim reality, dark & moody settings, finding heroism within yrself, etc. DOTL also shares the same setting & background of many of Martin's early short stories, which will add 2 Njoyment of the novel 4 his fans. Wonderful setting, marvelous characters, great hand-to-hand combat & fierce emotions among believable characters, & a gorgeous heroic ending. George shoulda kept writing like this. Other great early stuff by Martin: WINDHAVEN (with Lisa Tuttle), the short-story collections SANDKINGS, A SONG FOR LYA, SONGS OF STARS AND SHADOWS and NIGHTFLYERS, and parts of THE ARMAGGEDDON RAG. I wish he'd written a couple more SF novels B4 moving 2 TV & what he calls "the big fat fantasy novels" he's writing now. I've bn a Martin fan since '74 -- glad some other folks finally caught on. But I find his early stuff has a romantic sense of mood, vision & soul that his newer work lacks....

After finishing all 5 books in the series, I came away satisfied, but not completely full (much like eating sushi). The backdrop to the series is fantastic (who is not intrigued by ancient Egypt) and the characters were generally interesting, but unfortunately, there was MUCH too little development, both in terms of characters and plots. The author has an annoying habit of solving/explaining away too many (as in all) of the major conflicts to Ramses, being a living god and thus calling on super-natural abilities to solve the problem / slay the enemy. Each book could have easily been the length of the entire series, example: the entire battle of Kadesh (Ramses most notable victory) was glossed over in about 15-pages! I realize this is a novel, but let's get real...unfortunately, this is the case with most of the interesting items in this series from relationships, to motives, to plots. BUT with that said, it was an enjoyable read AND I found that a good bit of the series was historically accurate, of course with some liberties taken. I would recommend this book and each one in the series to other readers (provided they have an interest in Ancient Egypt), but just don't expect too much and you might not be let down.

I read this book with an open mind, knowing that the mystery that was Egypt is far from being solved.

I believe that one day we will find, under the sands of time, artifacts that will totally revise our vision of past civilizations in that region.

For now, this book's plot has elements which are intiguing and which challenge the 'truths' we were taught in school about this amazing culture.

My main complaint is that I do not believe the book is well translated. Perhaps I am wrong, but my feeling is that the translator intentionally simplified the novel, as if American readers were somehow less knowledgeable than their French counterparts.

My suspicions on the subject of the translation are based on my first hand knowledge of the French. Their sophistication level is such that I do not believe the Ramses quintet would have been so successful, if it read as it does in the English version.

I LOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

Okay, let's go. First things first. I read this book in Icelandic. Yes, yes, I KNOW what you're saying: 'Liar, you're kidding, etc.' But I did, so I DO HAVE AN EXCUSE if I get the names a LITTLE jumbled (I don't know what the original names of some characters are)

I have always been interested in ancient Egypt. Face it, they are sooo neat. This book is interesting because you are seeing what it was like to be a young man from a royal family at this particular time period. Ramses is 14 at the beginning of the book, the younger of pharoh Seti's two sons. He wants nothing more than to be chosen to rule after his father's death, but his older brother Shaanar (It's Sénar in Icelandic) has already been picked as crown prince.

One thing that Christian Jacq does is to "assume" that Moses was alive around this time (more precisely only a year or two older than Ramses). I've seen this done before, such as in the cartoon The Prince of Egypt, and it adds a nice depth to the plot, as we know he will one day rebel against Egypt and leave it out of religious objection to Egyptian beliefs.

I've seen some people talk about "cartoonic" language and childishness, and I can tell you immediately that the translator must have messed it up. It's beautifully done in the Icelandic version.

I only wish that I could either get a hold of books 4 and 5 in english here in Iceland or that this blasted translator could hurry up and finish translating them!

Anybody interested in ancient Egypt, or just likes well written historical fiction should read it. I got it on a saturday morning, finished it sunday afternoon, lent it to a classmate last monday and got it back friday. Too bad they don't teach egyptology in the 8th grade.