..."Time of Hope" has its Keating analogue do the narrating (it's in first person). Yes, we assume Dominique Francon considers herself superior to Keating, whereas Sheila waffles in this respect over Elliot, but here there is no Howard Roark to compare Elliot to. Yes, Keating is a plagiarist as well as a social climber, but he plagiarizes only Roark, and again here there is no Roark. Yes, Elliot calls Sheila "schizoid" and seeks to characterize her as a sort of Zelda Fitzgerald, but her actual behavior in the book has nothing whatsoever of the psychotic about it.

So what's the point? Beats me. This is a story of a man determined to rise from the lower class who does--to a point. He comes to decide that his rise is checked by the very thing that engendered it, his mother's ambition for him, but this is HIS reading; he may be wrong.

This is a well written book that just won't stop. You see the end from about page 20, but it keeps on with the story anyway. It's romance pure and simple. No complicated subplots. By about page 50, you feel like yelling "What are you, blind" to the two major characters. Alas they are. Read it if you like a good love affair. I don't.

It really is unfortunate that this book is out of print, because it is one of the better attempts to give the history of the 18th-19th Dynasty pharaohs in a readable, enjoyable narrative suitable for a beginner in his or her studies of the New Kingdom. The book would be better, however, if the quotations that he so artfully uses in his text were better documented (footnotes would be helpful). The illustrations and photographs are good but not spectacularly innovative. Overall, however, this is a decent book and would be a valuable addition to one's collection of works on Egypt in antiquity.

This book presents, rather than scientific evidence, scientific speculation. The author makes the claim that the apparent movement of the stars and planets can and does affect our lives by the force of magnetism. The problem here is that he provides very little empirical evidence. This book is cleverly disguised as scientific evidence by adding large amounts of astronomical explainations and definitions for celestial phenomena. (IE, he explains, rather well, what the precession of the zodiac is and what a retro-grade is.) If you are looking for a book to help understand astrological words, then this is a good book. If you are looking for empirical proof for the existance of astrology, then all you will find here is speculation and a few laws of physics that do not seem to apply.

Contrary to the previous unnecessarily harsh review, this book is an interested and informed view on contemporary neo-astrology. The author, a professional astronomer, takes as his starting point the statistical associations documented by the Gauquelin's showing the influences of the various planets on professional achievement. And Yes, the author is English, since no American astrologer has bothered to take Gauquelin seriously. Likewise, most scientists dismiss astrology on purely ideological grounds--without, that is, having studied it. That's Chapters 1-5, along with some history. The main thesis begins with Chapter 6. "Just at the tides of the Moon in the upper atmosphere of Earth cause the measured lunar daily magnetic variation, so the tides of the planets in the magnetosphere, amplified by magnetic bays and estuaries [of the Sun] cause some of the variations of the magnetic filed that have already been detected but not yet studied in any detail. I propose that these variations [are] linked to...particular lines of force of the geomagnetic field that are 'in tune' with a particular planet...acting on the nervous system of individuals with the inherited characteristics associated with that particular planet...This, then, explains the Gauquelin planetary heredity effects." [p. 147]. Thus the author offers us a falsifiable scientific theory of neo-Astrology. To help appreciate this feat, remember the electromagnetic basis of our nervous system and the statistical association of high-tension lines (or cell phones) with cancer incidence. In addition to giving one pause to think, this work is a relief from the vague generalizations of American astrology, the formalism of Jungian Astrology and the empirical emptiness of Psychological Astrology
Anyone who has read Gauquelin should enjoy this book--and will have their eyes opened a little bit further while doing so.

AGAIN, you really, really, do need to read more than the first few pages of this essay in order to evaluate it properly; its first few pages are there only to bait you.

Yes, it does seem that few of us understand how the machines to which we entrust ourselves daily work (or, very often, fail to work), and this is a matter of concern -- because to the extent we don't understand them, we don't control them, they control us. But THAT is NOT what this essay is about. This essay is about, this essay propagandizes on behalf of, the proliferation of industrialization.

Let's backtrack, however. It is NECESSARY to know how the machines work, but it not SUFFICIENT to know how they work. We must also consider their side effects and consequences, and here we come roundabout to the point: C. P. Snow attacks Thoreau and other classic writers for pondering the human consequences of rapid technological change, in other words, for doing precisely what it is their job -- and duty -- to do. On the other hand, Mr. Snow never ACKNOWLEDGES, even to scoff at, the physical and environmental consequences of industrial and military and technologies, and in the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this is quite a remarkable omission.

Note: C. P. Snow is remembered approximately as well as a politician as he is remembered as a novelist. (Most of his novels, all but one part of his "Brothers and Strangers" series, are out of print.)

Note also: Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World" is a fine book, but it has to do with superstition; it has nothing to do either with what this essay purports to be about or with what it really is about. On the other hand, various chapters of his "Pale Blue Dot" and his posthumous "Billions and Billions" do show how opposed Professor Sagan was to what Mr. Snow advocates here, and I recommend both.

I am a college student and was forced to read this book by my literature professor, who for some reason adores writers who seem to use big words and horribly complicated sentences to explain the simplest ideas.
The Two Cultures is hard to focus on, but the idea is simple. We in fact are, at the very simplest degree, divided into 2 cultures. One made up of the traditional or humanistic culture, which includes politics, arts, etc. , and also into the scientific culture. Snow basically states throughout his lecture that these 2 cultures do not communicate with one another well if much at all, and that this poses a serious problem to society.
Snow's opinion in his lecture is that instead of educating as England does, with a small elitist system being educated highly in one broad area of study, that all should be educated in both the arts and sciences in order for our society to be able to function to its fullest.
Another of Snow's beliefs is that technology is a must for all people, and perhaps the countries who have not been able to become as advanced as America and England for example, should be given aid by other countries to come into the modern age. Not necessarily should we give them weapons and things such as this, but the ability to communicate, grow better crops through our knowledge of farming methods, and teaching them perhaps how to become a democracy.
In Snow's response to criticisms of his lecture, he further explains his opinions and what he wanted people to get from his lecture, and responds to critics and their opinions of his lecture.
This book/lecture, is not really a thrill to read, but it does make sense and is slightly interesting if you like that sort of thing. Good luck.

C.P. Snow was primarily known as a novelist, but his training was in science. In his now-famous (in the intellectual community, at least) Rede Lecture, Snow examined first the seeming unbridgable gap between the literary intellectuals and the scientific intellectuals. The literary intellectuals, Snow says, do not understand even the basics of science, which is particularly dangerous in a postindustrial society; and conversely, that the scientific community does not appreciate the insights of literature, philosophy, and the like. This was written in 1959, yet it is more or less still true today. Snow addresses a very real concern about the future of a society where 99% of the people are dependent on technologies that only a bare fraction of the people - four or five percent at best - understand even the basic mechanisms behind. This is the same problem Sagan addressed nearly 40 years later in _The Demon-Haunted World_. Sagan, however, did a much better job of arguing this, providing evidence and statistics where Snow provides merely rhetoric. Read this book, and then read Sagan's, and you'll see exactly what I mean.

The depth of research that went into this alleged book is best exemplified by a sidebar on page 256 that chides the US for not launching communications Satellites until 1972(!).Perhaps they were busy deveoping their PSI abilities when Telstar was placed into orbit in 1962 and beamed television pictures live from the US to the UK and vice versa. They probably never thought about the true meaning of the title to the Tornados and Ventures hit recordings of "Telstar" which also came out in 1962. I would challenge them to apply the same criteria they applied to the moon photos to some of Ansel Adams landscape photographs. ("Note the deep shadows in the foreground while the mountain is brilliantly lit. Adams obviously used a big honking flash blulb") Save your money and pray thatMary Bennet et al are abducted by aliens. As previously stated, the real conspiracy they expose is their intent to foist this trash on the public.

Mary Bennet and David Percy have put together a classic in the genre of silly books about the Space Age. They flit from one thing to the next, ranging far beyond the scope implied by the title. Although their argument is impressively silly, in part because neither of the authors seems to have passed General Science 101 and so are fundamentally ignorant of basic physics, there is much fun to be derived from picking apart their flawed analyses.

Their blurb says that they are "professional researchers", which is a fairly meaningless credential, and also that "they keep a low profile in London, their home" - if I'd written this book I'd do the same!

dmh

It's interesting seeing the "True Belivers" on both side of the question. So much of all of this "Hoax" business must contain the "dark forces" of our friendly neighborhood dissinformation police.

Simply stated.. there are very good reasons for our Apollo Astronauts to act the way that they do. This also goes for all the folks connected to the Apollo moon project. They found some very fundamental "National Security" secrets up there. These secrets probably have nothing to do with UFOs! (Seesh! you know something is up when every pin head stands up and yells U.F.O! The real question is how many of these idiots are really paid by uncle sam?)

Dark Moon is written in a text book format. It has many neat pictures and some compelling questions. The problem with this book (and others like it) is they base their argument on "if this fact has been faked.. it is obvious that THIS happened." They dance around the real reason every now and then but eventually fall flat on their face. The way they use the "Whistle Blowers" concept is very silly indeed.

Another book (and web site) BadAstromony is the other end of the spectrum. This guy is another true believer but completely refuses to admit the obvious evidence. "Apollo was faked? How stupid!" I'd like to see this guys W2.

A book that really asks the RIGHT questions is: Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy by Ingo Swann ASIN: 0966767403 Of course it is out of print. I'm sure you can probably find it on the Twiggs web site.

One thing that nobody talks about is the FACT that the moon has an atmosphere. They (NASA and others) finally and quietly admitted that fact a few years ago. So that answers many of the questions raised in the Dark Moon book.

It is Amazing (or maybe not) that neither side of the Hoax question brings up the fact that the moon does not exist in a Vacuum.

GENE

I NEED TO READ ITS TABLE OF CONTENTS TO BUY THIS BOOK OR NOT

Percy Blanford is a wonderful mechanic, and I do not blame him for the lack of mechanics in the publishing of this book. Definitely not intended for the beginning tin bender.

I ate Thomas the Tank ngine, but any junior fans will like this pop-up book.

The morality is Victorian - the censorious and vindictive Fat Controller is an example of middle-class Victorian values. The engines (who do all the work) have to obediently kowtow to this toff. The worst of English class values. Outdated. I used to change the stories when I read these aloud. Thank goodness by the time most kids are independent readers they have grown out of Thomas!