Having read most of Dan Simmons work (his SF being the best), I felt he was going the way of Stephen King and getting lazy in his writing, his last few books being less than stellar. So, I picked up Fires of Eden with a little trepidition. I was more than thrilled to find the book extremely engaging and actually educational! The characters are well developed and interesting, the story well structured and thought out (and engaging), and the atmosphere moody and interesting. Its a lot like Jurassic Park in that its about a large resort overcome with Hellish monsters, except that here they weren't meant to be the main attraction. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the horror genre who wants something more than simplistic monsters and a plot that will keep you reading well into the night.

With this book Simmons introduces some fantastic themes. He does this with such ease and familiarity with an alien culture, aided by Mark Twain, none the less, that despite the far fetched nature of the plot it is possible to believe in it. You are left with the impression that the book was a labour of love and according to Simmons own admission on writing, probably wrote itself through him. It is a book that will get overlooked, because it represents a highly esoteric viewpoint, and that is why I have accorded it only four stars. If, like me, you consider yourself within that viewpoint, if perhaps not on the exact same ground, then stars are an irrelevance as you already know.

Taken on a Mediocre level, some of the characters grate, but they are meant to. The parody is perhaps ironic in it's exaggeration, but maybe not to all. It works, but not if you haven't already got the joke before you read it.

Try it. It is different, if reminiscent of Koontz at his scariest or Herbert at his usual genuinely scary levels. That is not the point, this is not a horror novel, but the horror serves to highlight the real issues.

If Simmons wasn't such a darn good writer this probably could have been an absurdly silly book, all the warning signs are there. Giant talking god animals, people dropping like flies, nature rebelling against man's injustice to it, stuff like that. And yet Simmons pulls it all together and manages to make something good of it. The setting here is appropriately Hawaii at a hotel that billionaire Bryan Tumbo is trying to desperately sell to the Japanese, unfortunately for him, his few guests keep dying off, killed by some utterly sadistic and vaguely supernatural forces. Into this mess come our heroes and as things escalate (as you know they will) the puny humans trying to stay alive around the erupting volcanoes becomes a backdrop for the conflict of god versus god. And really it all works. Simmons has a knack for making even the patently silly (giant talking pigs with eight eyes) sincerely frightening and while the book probably isn't horror so much as old time adventure (it's pretty scary toward the beginning but once you know what's going on the fright factor goes away) with a bit of a feminist slant you're having too much of a grand old time to really care. Even better he intersperses the narrative with another narrative taken from someone's diary about similar events in 1866, featuring none other than Samuel Clemens (psst . . . Mark Twain) who Simmons writes so well that if he didn't talk like that, he should have. The diary also gives Simmons the opportunity to create twice the suspense by flashing back and forth between the two (though less so in the diary, she's obviously writing it after it's all over so you know she has to live to write it). Of course the story feels more suited for the old fashioned nineteenth century setting but Simmons' gift for description (especially of the contrast between the lush Hawaiian surroundings and the primal violence of the volcano) and his ability to immerse you in that setting. Events get so over the top after a while that you have no choice but to be swept away with it and his plotting is as deft as ever. And while I thought the climax lacked a bit in suspense it's still entertaining as all heck. Yeah it won't win him any awards but that's not the point here, he's just out to spin a good yarn and that's what we got...Track it down if you can to see an excellent author cutting loose and having some (admittedly well researched) fun with a story.

...but rather a review of Val Kilmer's book of poetry IN RELATION TO Charlie Sheen's book of poetry. IF this were a review of Kilmer's book on it's own (which I cannot stress enough that it is not), then it probably would have gotten five stars. But since the release of Mr. Sheen's first book of poems and aphorisms, it has become a virtual IMPOSSIBILITY to review any piece of literature w/out doing so (as I have mentioned) IN RELATION TO the poetry of Mr. Sheen. As for Mr. Kilmer, I could point out that his poetry pursues many dark, haunting, and intellectual themes... But I won't, because as I've mentioned (and again, I really can't make this clear enough), this is NOT a review of Mr. Kilmer's book, but a review of Mr. Kilmer's book IN RELATION TO Mr. Sheen's book. PLEASE, keep that in mind. Though Mr. Kilmer has lived amongst a tribe of witch-craft practicing africans, helped young and discriminated against native americans to go to college, and attended Juilliard as the youngest drama student admitted there, NONETHELESS I am NOT reveiwing his book ON ITS OWN TERMS, but rather, as it HAS TO BE, now that Sheen's "peace of my mind" is out, IN RELATION TO the book by Mr. Sheen. I hope this has been helpful to you, the potential reader... (though by "helpful", I should qualify that by noting that it should not be "helpful" in making one's decisions as to whether to by Kilmer's book or not, as this surely is not a pertinent review towards that end, but "helpful" in evaluating Mr. Kilmer's book as it stands IN RELATION TO Charlie Sheen's.

ok like the first guy on the list of reveiws i havent read the book and i dont own it but i have heard a few of the poems and they were wonderful so if someone wants to sell it or just copy down some peoms 4 me i will so so thankful for them and there isn't any iilegal intentions in mind i just want them for my self and i have been looking every where for this book so thanks again my email is Springbaby3@aol.com

Hey, this isn't a review, I've never read the book, but if you have it, then I'd really like you to e-mail me. (discoislife@hotmail.com) My sister wants the book, but I can't find it anywherez, I think even if I couldn't get the book, it'd be dandy if someone who did own it could copy down the poems in it, or one or two of 'em so we could print 'em out. (no illeagle intent, we just want 'em for ourselves, not to sell or nothing) So if you got the book, or you know any of the poems in it, please drop me a line.

The other two "angels" on their mission of Great Ape rescue were of course Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey who studied respectively Chimpanzee's and Mountain Gorillas.(Fossey we know died for her cause). Birute Galdikas started later than the others (1971) and her Great Ape - Orangutans - were also less known and in some respects, less regarded than the others.

Does Galdikas' work in Borneo and her story in REFLECTIONS OF EDEN remedy this oversight? Only somewhat as this book is as much an autobiography as it is a natural history of the "men of the forest". Galdikas' affection for her mentor Louis Leakey is obvious as is her fondness for her fellow primatologists. "Dian, Jane Goodall, and I were family. Louis Leakey had recognized us as kindred souls and become our spiritual father." This connectedness she felt extended to the mystical. When Fossey was murdered in Rwanda in 1985 Galdikas tells us "even before I learned of her death, I knew Dian would be killed, I knew this was her destiny."

It should not be a surprise to read here that a scientist that feels this way will express a high degree of passion about her subjects. All three of these primatologists at different times have talked about "my apes" and this attachment is certainly reciprocated by the Orangutans. Galdikas tells about Sugito an orphaned young male "who selected me as his one and only, his mother". Orangs are the most arboreal and reclusive of the Great Apes and this naturally provides a challenge to studying them. Galdikas has nevertheless learned more about their social behavior than any other researcher. She mixes these insights in with her own life in the jungle at "Camp Leakey" and with life in Indonesia as a whole. In this context Galdikas even recognizes that for a Third World country like Indonesia, conserving and rehabilitating the Orangutans is yet just another priority that they must effectively juggle with. With this book she continues to encourage both them and us to care.

I bought this book on sale from Amazon online and enjoyed reading it. B. Galdikas provides powerful insight into the study of orangutans in the forests of Borneo. Although I felt that she over stressed the important metaphors she used to explain experienced conflicts and personal desires, I cherished the real life feel of this autobiography. Birute and her twin soulmates, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, have something I think truely important to say about primates, environmental activism and humankind.

Unlike the two other primate researchers Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey I had never heard of Galdikas when I found this book a few days ago in the bookshop. Galdikas describes in this book more than 20 years of her life with the Orang Oetans in a nature reserve in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The story is an very enyoable read and tells a lot about the way Orang Oetans live. Instead of viewing all Orang Oetans as similar she describes a lot of different individuals. She's not only studying the Orang Oetans but also tries to free captivated Orang Oetans and tries to relocate them in the reserve. The story is very well written and also very well translated in Dutch. I'm looking forward to read the books by Fossey and Goodall.

The first thing I read by Lem was _Solaris_, which is a unique book in his canon. It's a very serious, psychological novel in many respects. _Eden_, the second book I read by him, shares the sense of total alienness that seems to be one of Lem's main themes. The ship-wrecked space traveling scientists who function as the protagonists, basically try to figure out the world on to which they've crash landed. The exploration leads to all sorts of bizarre landscapes and situations that seem to have no logic. And, again, that's the author's point. This alien landscape is ALIEN. Saying more about the book's contents would be a cheat to the reader, and my slim description of the novel's main ideas certainly doesn't do _Eden_ justice. I wouldn't recommend this as a first book for someone who has never read Lem, but his writing is well worth sampling since he has used a number of different approaches (humorous, satirical, philisophical) and can't be appreciated from the reading of just one or two novels

Much of Stanislaw Lem's writings are hampered by a wide number of translations of varying quality. The inherent problem with the translation of Eden takes place in the first half of the novel where there is a stiffness to the wording used. In the beginning of Eden the translator seems to have chosen the most obscure word or phrase possible to substitute for original Polish. Thankfully as the novel progresses so does its readability as the translator hits his stride about 1/3 of the way through.

Using the theme of alien contact, Lem's Eden is superficially similar to his classic Solaris. Scientists and crew from a ship crash land and are stranded. They survive in the midst of a strange world upon which is an even stranger civilization. The crew sets out to explore and decipher the culture of the planet and like Solaris it's not a question of misunderstanding but a more basic question of determining what it is they are observing.

Eden doesn't reach the heights of personal philosophical musings that Solaris does. And while the characters are one-dimensional they work well within the framework of a story whose central theme is less what makes us human than how that humanity shapes our perceptions. If you like Stanilslaw Lem or a fan of SF you'll find Eden a rewarding novel and worth your time.

I've only read three books by Lem counting this one and while nothing so far has bypassed Solaris as his absolute masterpiece, for me it's a step up from the strangely dense Fiasco. As in those two books the theme here is the one that Lem seems to count as his favorite, that we should not assume that because we are smart and can get into space and across stars, that we can automatically "understand" any alien life that we come across, or even start to fit what we see into established human preconceptions. Fortunately this is an excellent theme to explore and one rarely dealt with in SF, so Lem easily finds new wrinkles to explore every time he writes about it, even if the conclusions wind up being nearly the same every time. In this novel, six explorers crashland on the planet Eden and while trying to fix their spaceship and get off they find that the planet is home to a civilization that seems to make absolutely no sense. They keep coming across odd artifacts, a strange factory, a graveyard, weird villages, all of which they try to quantify through human theories that they wind up discarding anyway because they can't hope to explain what they're seeing. Most of the book is just strange, unexplainable event piled on strange unexplainable event . . . perhaps because I read it in spurts this approach never becomes wearying, or maybe it's the constant combinations of interactions between the six characters, three of which comes across as fully rounded human beings (The Captain, the Doctor and the Engineer, the only one who seems to have a proper name, oddly enough) while the Chemist, the Physicist and the Cyberneticist mostly just take up space and are there for the main three to argue with, that keeps the plot moving along and engaging. In the end there are explanations of a sort, but they seem anticlimatic and feel a bit like a cop out, a concession to readers not really prepared for the honest answer that maybe there really is no way to understand something utterly alien. All told, Lem's imagination and presentation of his argument is impressive and mostly entertaining, even if you have to read Solaris to get a better idea of what he's trying to say.

This book has several original designs, but some are just overly complicated and time consuming to build. You should try building a simple design : the Trefoil Delta kite! I credit Maxwell Eden particularly for including many useful tips on construction (seams, connectors, knots etc). Together with the book by Pelham you could not go wrong, anytime!

The Magnificent Book of Kites had a lot of worthwhile information. Unfortunately, it may have spent too little time at the editor. Many illustrations referred to on the text are no where to be found. There are an excessive amount of typo's. Many of them are significant, like switching inches with feet. There are some interesting designs for kites to be built, but with incomplete and innacurate information, they may be hard to build, especially the more complex kites. There is some history of kiting. I found it somewhat interesting. Good explaination of different kite materials. The whole thing just seemed very haphazard and incomplete

This book has an array of kites from easy to make to complicated ones. It has step by step instructions and are easy to follow. I bought it to teach students and they had a ball. Is good for elementary to high school students and also for parents to teach their children the fun of kite creation.

As a former Napa vinter, I eagerly looked forward to reading Conway's excursion into my home county. While there are interesting ideas in the book, they lurk beneath the soil like potatoes, never springing forth to see the light of day. Many of my neighbors (and, I should add, close friends) are presented in this book as gross parodies; this, I suppose, might be expected from an outsider to the region, but I had a difficult time getting past these rough characterizations.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot, even though I felt Conaway was clearly biased in favor of the most extreme environmentalists there, Malan/Mennen as he called them, or in other words the Sierra Club. He also managed to make everyone look bad, and I don't think people there are not as bad as they look in this book. For example, the long term residents love the valley and get along famously for the most part.

Having said that, it does make for entertaining reading, and if you have any interest in the Napa Valley at all it will enlighten you to the local culture and to the issues that are in the forefront of people's minds there as far as land use goes. Although a true story it reads like a page turner novel, there are a lot of colorful characters.

I am also dubious about the claim that this may be a precursor for other land use battles across the country. I sure hope not, I don't think most other places are so willing to listen to extremism as they are in California, and will work out their issues with more comity and more reliance on actual and not junk, politically based science.

I loved "The Far Side of Eden." Conaway vividly captured the personalities in Napa Valley, and the absurdities, carried out by all sides and told in rich and wonderful detail, make this book both hilarious and disturbingly sad. It was a book that needed to be written, and Conaway does a great job of reporting all sides of this important land-use issue. The unfolding drama - and humor - carried me forward effortlessly.

The plot of this book is weak and very slow to develop. There was very little development of the characters thus they lacked depth. I stopped reading half way, which is further than I got with Hagberg's "Joshua's Hammer". I would not recommend this book.

"Eden's Gate", David Hagberg's newest novel featuring his recurring character Bill Lane, is an average read and definitely not up to the standards set by some of his earlier novels. It is a quick read, but there are a number of problems. The main problem is the abrupt ending. It seemed like momentum was being built for a big finale, but it ended up being a one-sided shootout.

The novel centers around a German madman, Helmut Speyer, who has discovered a mysterious box located in a submerged area/bunker called Reichsamt Seventeen. Bill Lane goes undercover as a South African agent named John Browne (with an "e" as reiterated way too many times in the novel). In order to join forces with Speyer, he saves him from assassination. While he seems to have Speyer's trust, Speyer's number one man Baumann has his doubts.

The action starts when Lane tries to retrieve the mysterious box. Russian agents become involved and not only does Lane have to keep his cover, he must also protect himself and the Germans from the Russians. Lane survives many close calls, but that's to be expected in this type of novel.

Lane's wife seems out of place and doesn't have a big, or seemingly important, role. The enemies are all cookie-cutter types and don't seem to have their own personalities. They all seem to be based on a generic pre-Cold War Russian and WW2 German. These faults in addition to the rushed ending makes this one an average novel. However, many of Hagberg's/Sean Flannery's novels are better. Don't judge the quality of this author's works on only one novel.

This was another Hagberg action book. After being contacted by the German law enforcement officials,Bill Lane infiltrates a gang of German bad guys who are hiding out in Montana.They are
led by Helmut speyer,an ex-Statsi head.Lane dives into an underground Nazi bunker that has been flooded and destroyed.He
brings up a case that containds a devastating weapon that Speyer intends to use.It then becomes a race against time for Lane to stop him.This book has plenty of action and the usual cast of

villains and heroes. This is a good read. You will not be dissapointed.

Shay is a bit spoiled and not against using her body to get what she wants, only when she meets Ian her attempts at seduction seem to get her nowhere. Ian, a minister, is bothered more than he can admit of the seductive nude model - only he knows this woman could never fit into his conservative lifestyle. When these two people fall in love, you expect a lot of problems and even humorous encounters. Sandra Brown is a very good author, but I always believe she doesn't develop her stories to their full potential. It seems obvious that this book could have been much longer than the 229 pages, and filled with more conflicts due to the very unusual pair. If you are looking for a light simple romance, than this is it. It is a very simple romance story.

I did enjoy the book but there wasn't much too it. Usually there are so many misunderstandings or one or the other of the main characters does not want to admit their feelings for the other but nothing like that happened here. Yes it's a true romance but that's it. Shay was very bold at the cabin and Ian was too proper. I'm glad they loved each other from the beginning but there were no surprises. I've read better books by Sandra Brown.

TEMPEST IN EDEN is the love story of Shay Morrison, a nude model and Ian Douglas, a minister. They meet one weekend at the request of their newlywed parents(Shay's mother and Ian's father). What a weekend! The sexual tension was sky high and the verbal drawls were hilarious. No matter how different their careers and views are, nothing could stop their attraction from excalating into a full blown love of a lifetime. I deeply respected Ian's religious beliefs because even though he desperately wanted Shay, he did not succumb to temptation. I admired Shay for being so comfortable with her sexuality and proud of her career. It was wonderful to see these two unique people become two halves of a whole. Their characters grew throughout the book and learned to fully accept each other and compromise when it was needed. This is a wonderful read worth your time and money. You'll love it. Trust me!

I bought this version of the popular fairy tale as a gift for my niece. After I received it, I was horrified to read in detail about how the huntsman cut open the wolf's stomach to look for the grandmother. It then goes on to read, ". . . after a few more slashes a little girl jumped out.." This was not at all what I had envisioned as a gift for a young girl. I wish I had been warned to buy the story from a different author.

this book was very scary and ummmm... i-i didn't like it, it scared me!

The illustrations in this book are very similar to those of Jan Brett but darker tones used. There is always something hidden w/in the pictures for children to look for and the illustrations help enhance the tale.

I also recommend Lon Po Po.

I found this book to be highly original and very informative. In this book, Lee M. Silver recounts the history (both scientific and social) of reproductive technologies, relating specific cases, speculations, and ramifications. He goes beyond to explain possible technologies that are not yet available, and why these might be important. Such real and imagined technologies include having more than two parents, cloning, and genetic engineering. He goes on to show how a child might have three mothers (genetic, birth, and social) and two fathers (genetic and social), how a child could have more than one genetic mother, how and why someone might want to clone themselves, how genetic engineering might impact future generations or our species as a whole, and other possibilities.

My only qualm with the book was that it seemed somewhat biased in certain respects. He goes on giving scenarios that might occur in which a certain reproductive technology is of some aid. However, I do not think he goes in as much depth when it comes to scenarios in which these technologies will be of great harm.

Overall, I would recommend this book. The author has a lot of interesting and innovating things to say, and one does not need more previous knowledge of biology than is offered in a high school bio course.

With the announcement today of the completion of mapping of the human genome, this book takes on particular importance. The book was published in 1997, and as further evidence of the technological hyperdrive of the 21st century and the incredible advances in sequencing technology since 1997, the author predicts on page 244 that the Human Genome Project would take 23 more years, and be completed by 2020!

The book is excellent, for the author gives brilliant arguments both supporting genetic technologies and countering many that don't. In addition, the author discusses possibilities in reproductive technologies that may be unknown to a reader, like myself, who is not an expert in embryology. For example, he discusses the occurrence (although rare) of natural-born chimeric human beings, who arose from the fusion of two embryos that resulted from the fertilization of two eggs that had been ovulated simultaneously by their mother. Another example discussed is the possibility of a fertilized egg winding up in the peritoneal cavity (in the abdomen essentially). This example was discussed in the context of whether indeed a man could carry a pregnancy.

Some of the other interesting arguments and discussions in the book include: 1. When addressing the assertion that it is unfair for only the wealthy to take advantage of genetic technologies for enhancing their progeny, the author agrees that it is, but he then states correctly that a society that accepts the right of wealthy parents to provide their children with a top-notch private education cannot use "unfairness" as a reason for denying the use of genetic technologies. 2. His discussion of the status of the embryo as human life, which he argues, brilliantly, is not. "If a human life can begin in the absence of conception" he says, "then it is scientifically invalid to say that conception must mark the beginning of each human life. It is as simple as that". 3. The discussion of the history of in vitro fertilization, the ethical issues surrounding it, and the technologies needed to bring it about. The author regards IVF as a pivotal point in history, in which humans took charge of their reproductive destiny. 4. The discussion of cloning, elaborating naturally on the cloning of Dolly the sheep. He states that the cloning of Dolly "broke the technological barrier" and that there is "no reason to expect that the technology couldn't be transferred to human cells." Recent experiments in the last few months however have cast doubt on the ability to do cloning of primates, and so human cloning could therefore be problematic. The author though counters very successfully the arguments against the practice of human cloning.

The author has a refreshing optimism throughout the book, and he remains confident in the human ability to both understand the world and change it with proven and safe technologies. In light of the completion of the mapping of the human genome, his optimism is certainly justified. The technologies discussed in this book, coupled with the information obtained from the complete human genome, promise an incredibly interesting future for biology. Both the author and the individuals behind the human genome project are excellent examples of the ingenuity and mental discipline of the human species.

I purchased this book expecting an opinionated book on biotechnology, not sure what stance the author took. Quickly I realized he took the stance of a respectable scientist.What truly made this book great was that he educated people. Usually education will take away the majority of controversy on any subject. Silver clearly demystifies genetic engineering and shows how future situations will become an everyday part of our lives. Topics ranging from how the controversy of abortion is affected by the fact that 75 percent of all fertilized eggs will never be born, to how sensations of pain and thought don't occur because formation on the majority of synapses don't occur until the 25th week. His thorough explanations of how even a clone will be no different then any other person with its own thoughts and opinions, raised in a kind and loving family. Silver clears up misconceptions in science and society. His hypothetical situations gives this science book more pizazz and an insight into the future.