"Metzger has written a novel that is first of all entertaining, a large achievement. It is also filled with insights into our tangled world--the meaning of fame, the pretensions with which we surround ourselves, the chancy business of marriage.... Not since the last time I read early Evelyn Waugh, have I encountered such delicious social satire. Bob Metzger knows our hot hot buttons and punches them with verve and imagination.... Most of all, there is Metzger's talent with words,...the product of a brilliant, electic mind."

I love hard science fiction. But Mr. Metzger's sense of timing, mystery, and constant changes in point of view is completely off in my opinion.

Just as I get comfortable with a really good piece of the story and enter that warm "movie in the mind" state I enjoy so much, Metzger rudely slaps me back to reality with an ill-timed change in scene or character narration. When the main characters learn (WAY to early in the story I might add) that "aliens" from another universe have been living and working among them for millions of years, there is absolutely no believable response. After all, the scientific community of this story's universe has spent Billions attempting to decode SETI signals. I would have thought that discovering the existence of an advanced alien culture would have had more of an impact on the characters. Instead Katie is more worried about what Jack is thinking. By the way, isn't that "aliens among us" line a bit overused?

Which leads me to the author's sense of character dialog and development. It's really bad. For example, Mr. Metzger immediately starts the "sweaty palms" routine after Katie and Jack meet. Before the close of the story's first act, Katie starts spouting such internal dialog as, "She would tell Jack about this. In fact, she was sure that very soon there would be nothing she wouldn't tell Jack". God-Awful! What a stinker! Pulp romance material! And right in the middle of a good piece of writing at that. This pattern of good hard science fiction writing, interrupted with predictable plot devices and dialog that is just unbelievable is my biggest complaint with the story.

Katie is constantly jacking around with some piece of technology on her face called a "Virtual" to the point that it becomes a serious distraction to the reader. How many times do we have to read "Katie with her Virtuals". This just kills me! This story element was completely worn out in the first 30 pages. How many times do we have to be reminded that Alexandra is "highly advanced" and Quinn is "slimy"? Does Alexandra, with her millions of years of experience, have to constantly remind us that humans are "animals" even though they continuously surprise her with their ingenuity? I don't believe it! Couldn't Metzinger have come up with a better term for the creators of the universe than "The Makers"? Please help me! Aliens that shoot "knowledge crystals" into the foreheads of their "victims". Now you have gone too far! Although that part almost made me giggle.

But I really hate plot twists being used to cover for weak storyline. Sort of a "see.. the beginning wasn't as wonky as you thought because this plot twist explains why everything was screwed up in the beginning". I hate being lectured to outside of the story. Surely Mr. Metzger can do better than that!

Good (fictional) hard science, completely ruined by weak storytelling.

Hard-SF can at times be a tough grind to work through - very serious stuff where the characters and plot plod along as every bolt is fully tightened and the electron's mass is figured correctly to the tenth decimal place. While Picoverse is hard-SF it suffers from none of this. Packed with a wide range of science, it is obvious that Metzger intended this to also be a FUN ADVENTURE - probably over the top for those hard-SF readers worried about that tenth decimal place. In a story where you've got new universes being spewed out, Neanderthals in asteroids, planets bouncing around like ricochetting marbles, and Joseph Stalin in nothing but a pair of shorts, you should not expect standard hard-SF. And thankfully you don't get it here. Instead you find an adventure, an incredibly fast story where the plot whips you from one reality to the next, with entire universes threatening to roll up over the characters, and all of this adventure driven by some really interesting fictional physics (though a lot of it seems like it could be real). It's hard-SF, it's adventure, it's mighty fun to read, and the twisty plot takes you places you would have never expected to go.

Okay - not a mystery in the traditional sense that the butler did it, but a mystery in the sense that characters and situations are not what they seem. And the true nature of the characters get revealed when something really tough comes along. A few reviewers have complained about this. I don't understand why. That's how mysteries work - it's even how real life works. If a character is hiding something, chances are it will only be revealed when circumstances demand it - and that's just what happens in Picoverse. It's hard sci-fi, but not the typical stuff. There is layer after layer in this book. And I think that is Metzger's design. The science idea in this book is the creation of what are called picoverses - smaller universes nestled within larger universes - layers within layers. This sets up a THEME for this book. There are things within things, layers beneath layers. This goes for the physical structure of the universe in this story, but also applies to the characters - they are creatures with many different skins, each one being peeled away to get closer and closer to what they really are. And this can even be taken a step further. The nature of the characters (good/bad, human/alien) not only change in the course of the book as demanded by the plot, but change depending on the perspective of the viewpoint examining them - one person's alien is another person's human, and one person's villian is another person's hero. In fact, a few of the characters - in particular Jack, peels himself back as the story evolves and is as surprised by what he finds as is the reader. So while this is a sci-fi story, it also has many of the basic elements of a mystery - there are surprises, things happening that were not expected. I consider this a good thing when reading a book, not wanting to know where it will end until I get to the end. I for one am looking forward to Metzger's next book. And besides all this, the science ideas just fly in this book - a really intense imagaination fills these pages

I would say it is a good book... entire collection of Van Gogh, quite informative and good image quality. Yes, the color is not accurate, but it is almost impossible to print the paintings having exactly the same color as the original. I have the Van Gogh Highlights Screensaver produced by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and I don't think the coloring in the book is that terrible as some ppl say(assuming that the color of the electronic copies from the Museum in Amsterdam is close to the original). What I really don't like about this book is.. some paintings were printed across 2 pages. I perfer images are printed in a redused size rather than spanning across pages.
All in all, would I recommand this book? YES i would.

Two vastly different volumes exist entitled Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings by Walther/Metzger and Taschen publishing. The 1997 volume - recommended by L.A. County Museum of Art - is a remarkable book with an expertly written bio, thoughtful layout and perfect color reproductions. The 1993 volume exhibits awful, colorless prints and should be recalled as it serves only to confuse the buyer and discourage the purchase of the 1997 volume, a work of art in itself.

This is the Van Gogh book. If there is a van gogh lover in your life there would be no better gift than this set. nearly all the painting are in color, one will pop up in black and white but there is usally a "distoyed in WW2" next to the title. No complaints here though. Just watching Van gogh make the transition from the dark early paintings to the Paris Impressionism to the turblant final years. Not a better collection on earth!

I have read sf for almost 40 years, and I must say that this is one of the worse books I ever read. It is nonsensical, inconclusive, gratuitous, and, above all, boring. Don't waste your money on this book.

I was lucky enough to read Bob Metger's first novel, Quad World, in manuscript form -- and I can tell you you're really in for a treat if you only know him from his short work! He really lets his imagination go here, creating a world where anything and anyone can appear. Telling too much will ruin the surprises. But rest assured, if you like humorous "gonzo" science fiction, this book will be right up your alley.

This book is a wonderful mix of suspense, humor, and action. I can not put it down!

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of pages without a reference to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, this high profile firm and that high profile firm, etc. It becomes VERY annoying and unfortunately takes away from the message of the book.

It is also severly out of date, but that is to be expected from a 1983 book.

Before buying this book, I would seriously consider getting something more recent and less inclined to "name-dropping".

The overall book is not that ground breaking and a lot of other books, I am sure, have the same information (i.e. ISBN 2760616789 it's in French though).

Not the best reading...

This is an excellent guide for the novice or expereinced consultant. It is also very useful to anyone functioning in an internal consulting capacity. The book is easy to read and is laid out in a very orderly manner.

Considering that this book is almost 20 years out of date (all the report examples were done on typewriters!) it is still a meaty assessment of what management consulting is about from some senior people who have a lot of experience under their belts. I appreciated the blend of conceptual discussions, detail (without being overwhelming), savvy insights on office politics and concrete examples that brought issues to life. If nothing else, it gives a good picture of where consultants are coming from for those who hire them. Unlike other reviewer, I was not put off by "big league" name dropping. Many Fortune 500 firms will would only consider hiring these type of consultants, and if you work in such a place, it is a fact of life.