Zak and Tash "rest" on the planet Dantooine, where their uncle Hoole takes notes on the natives that live there. Tash has a dream about the dark side of the Force and she begins to use the Force for evil. When Hoole, Zak, and Tash run into another adventure, Tash must choose between the light or the dark side. The outcome really surprised me!

Tash and zac are on a vaction to dantoonie. where a tribe of dantinara are looking for food. the garoo tells tash about a jedi temple . tash cheackes it out when a clone of her hits her in the head with a rock . will tash accape . buy this today

I enjoyed the book because I know the General personally.He is the most interesting and special military person I will ever have the pleasure to know.

Great insight into a no excuse for less than perfect officer. A hard task master who was greatly respected! I had the pleasure to know and work for this leader from 1993 until his retirement in 1994. Not only a 4-Star leader but a 5-star person who taught me to work harder and smarter to succeed. This book clearly shows how hard work, and intelligent approaches to Cold War Era problems, were handled. A must read!

I think that this book is the last book in the series, and I also get the feeling that John Whitman just hurriedly tried to finish it off. For instance, the introduction to the real story takes half of the book, and also, it is so predictable what the ending is going to be. But aside from that it is a really great book just like all the others in the series. I also really like the book because it takes place on the Dagobah system, and it includes a lot of stuff that was in the movies.

I think this is the finish of the series,and all in all this was just a great book.I'd lend it to my friend any day!

In spite of an ongoing interest in various aspects of psychotherapy and spiritual practice I am a novice with regard to the biology of consciousness and as such I found this book difficult to set down once I started reading.

I suspect that there is much to criticize in it. Many questions come up that need to be considered at length. Still, if you don't know much about the brain itelf and how it functions this book is an fascinating place to start learning about it.

The nature of human consciousness would have to be about the most interesting subject around, and that is what this book concerns itself with. It is objective, honest, unemotional and is written by an intelligent educated person expressly for intelligent educated people, without being ponderous. It is the most comprehensive, accessible and sensible account of the matter to date, and I recommended it without reserve.

But it has not been without critics, mostly coming from positions of vested interest and clever-than-thou qualifications. Well, I'm pretty well qualified to express opinions on neurobiology, psychiatry, psychology and anthropology which means I'm more qualified than most to comment.

So I will.

Essentially, there are three positions here, put with great persuasion.

#1. The Enlightenment model of human consciousness, particularly in view of recent findings, is the best one available, is probably pretty close to the mark, and has been left languishing disgracefully long. Consciousness is the mainly internal use of language - any language - to construct, mobilize and initiate: memories, hopes, fears, explanations, narratives, plans, and so forth. Humans without language never develop human consciousness, they are animals. And if you doubt that read the well-documented wolf children accounts.

#2. We are and do what we think, and our thinking is self-determined. We think a certain way because we choose to; we could easily think differently if we were aware that other choices existed. This is a profound point and it also introduces a very pragmatic element to the otherwise sterile and interminable free will debate.

#3. Our thought patterns have been influenced, very much for the worse, by about 300 years of romantic claptrap; and to this extent we are victims of our own social history. That influence must be faced up to, recognized for what it is, and assigned to the trashcan when appropriate. This is where McCrone really makes enemies. He cold-bloodedly rubbishes virtually all of contemporary psychology and absolutely all of the psychoanalytic movement. This is a man worthy of respect and support.

These are wretchedly muddled times screaming out for for rational thought and action. Don't wait for other people to set an example. If you want to purge your brain of all sorts of nonsense and start feeling and acting like a rational human being then put this book next to Dr D D Burns' "Feeling Good" and refer to both frequently. They share that tragically scarce commodity - common sense.

The Scepter and the Star by John Joseph Collins is an in-depth study of the complex problem of messianism and the varied messianic expectation(s) and speculation(s) during the time of Second Temple Judaism. The subtitle of the book, "The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature" is important because Collins does not restrict his study to the Dead Sea Scrolls. He goes through the Pseudepigrapha (a large, open-ended collection of biblically-related and biblically-dependant literature that is not a part of the Bible), the Apocrypha, the Hebrew Bible/Tanak/Old Testament and the messianic ideas contained within those works. Collins also deals with Jesus and the New Testament in this work, although it is on the side that these discussions take place.

Collins' knowledge of the Hebrew Bible is extensive on both theological and historical levels. His knowledge is also useful because in the Hebrew Bible are the roots of the problems with messianic interpretation - the scriptures themselves. Once Collins places particular scriptures in their historical context, he then goes on to show their influence(s) and interpretation(s) in various post- and extra-biblical works of literature. We find a pre-existent, heavenly messiah, a priestly messiah, a kingly messiah, and a militant messiah in the works Collins analyzes. At least one messiah was expected and possibly and two, depending on who wrote the work. Collins also deals with the history of the word "messiah" and its various uses in the Hebrew Bible.

In reading the book, the reader will gain some insights as to how and why the writers of the New Testament understood Jesus the way that they did, but the goal of the book is not to connect these works to Jesus. The book is, in many ways, a survey of the messianic thought during and before Jesus' time.

This book is not an introduction by any means. It is an in-depth study; some previous knowledge of the Scrolls, the Pseudepigrapha, and Second Temple history will be useful to the reader. A glossary would have been nice and helpful and would have opened the doors for less knowledgeable readers to read and understand the book. Overall, this is an excellect read. However, previous knowledge will enable - and perhaps even be necessary - for reader to grasp the many insights in Collins' work.

The Scepter and the Star is an excellent and indepth study of the controversy between Judaism and Christianity. In this book we find substantial support for the reasons that many Jews did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. The Jews were looking for two Messiahs- not one. There is scriptural support, which is well documented by John Collins that points to two Messiah figures of the Apocalypse. Collins also references Dead Sea Scroll material that specifically points out two figures- a Davidic and a Priestly Messiah . This book explains how two diverse religions came and stayed- Judaism and Christianity- over these differences. It shows how the Bible was more than a religious book, but a history book as well. This is an excellent, well written book that should get people to look again at the Bible and perhaps read it with insight instead of letting others TELL you what it says!!

I thought this was a wonderfully written book. I thought that the author did a great job of keeping the tone and the wording of the book in harmony with that of the other two books. I have read other books that are about Star Wars, and it didn't feel like the story flowed the way it should in the hands of these new authors. This couldn't be said for Steve Perry. If I hadn't seen his name at the beginning, I would have thought that George Lucas himself had written it. If you are a lover of the Star Wars movies or books then you should read this book. It answers a lot of questions you might have about some of the things that take place in Return of the Jedi

All right, Star Wars fans! You waited for the story of what REALLY happened between the Movies (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi) and now you got it! Wondering "How did Luke all of a sudden become a Jedi Knight in Return of the Jedi?"? Or maybe "When did the second Death Star start?"? Well, here it is! And if you liked the game... You'll LOVE the book! Han Solo is frozen in Carbonite... Luke Skywalker is becoming a Jedi... And the Empire has the alliance in their grasp! What will happen? The suspense is endless. The battles in this book go into so much detail, you'd swear you were actually there! Pick it up... YOU WON'T PUT IT DOWN! The best Star Wars book to date! Experience Shadows of the Empire!

This book deals with all that happens between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." One of the main charactures is Prince Xixor. He seems to be another of the Emperor's cronies. Like Darth Vader. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. Leia and Luke are trying to find him and bring him back to "the land of the living." Anyone who enjoys watching the movies and reading the books should read this book without delay.

I've been catching up on Wells' work lately, and up to this point, I've been fairly impressed. His best work, written at the turn of the century, holds up fairly well: it's entertaining and thought-provoking (The Time Machine, War of the Worlds).

I wasn't very impressed with this book, however. It doesn't read like his other works. The story probably could have been told in 20 or so pages, definitely a short-story candidate. I was amazed that Wells stretched this out to its present length, as the middle 40-odd pages were quite dull and really didn't go anywhere.

The science behind the story (while iffy, of course), is fascinating. Griffin is a great character, but more could have been done with him, besides his spending so much time having to convince people that he IS, in fact, invisible ("I am invisible. I really am an invisible man", etc, etc). It gets mind-numbing after a while. I guess the biggest let-down of the book is the fact that the title gives everything away. Once you've seen the cover, you pretty much have it; no real surprises. Yep, he's invisible, and there ya go.

What a great idea to assemble scifi icons from Star Trek to perform various H.G. Wells's classics! Of the works they've performed are: The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The First Men in the Moon, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

This audio recording of The Invisible Man was easy listening, and fun too. It's definitely worth a listen. I'm going to have to check out the others!

One side note, obviously the original work was abridged and adapted for audio drama. You'll still want to read the classic.

Okay, so Wells didn't load the book with the violence seen in the recent movie Hollow Man. Consider when the book was written, and what was comparable at the time. I, for one, was engrossed in the book and read it in about three sittings.

Wells excellently portrayed Griffin (Invisible Man) as a man crossing back and forth from sanity to madness. You may catch yourself considering how you would overcome his difficulties, or how you might abuse his power.

What really stood out for me was the tongue-in-cheek undertones Wells incorporated into the story, such as the cockney dialect and rustic behavior of the people of Iping. Also, consider Wells' narration during intense moments, such as the fight between Griffin and the people of Iping...
"...[Huxter's] shin was caught in some mysterious fashion, and he was no longer running, but flying with inconceivable rapidity through the air. He saw the ground suddenly close to his face. The world seemed to splash into a million whirling specks of light, and subsequent proceedings interested him no more."
Later elaboration of the events included the terrifying realization that Griffin was "smiting and overthrowing, for the mere satisfaction of hurting."

If you find the book difficult to follow, try the version adapted by Malvina Vogel, complete with illustrations by Pablo Marcos. It's not as powerful, but easier to understand.

I read this book mainly to see the Enterprise crew get involved in the grand Dominion War plot line from Deep Space 9 (My favorite Trek show). I was hoping for large scale starship combat and front line hand-to-hand duels, and phaser battles with Jem Hadar. I got very little of that. True there were some nice action scenes of what I wanted, but they were very brief and did not come that often. I wanted to see the Enterprise in combat, which it is in the beginning but it spend the latter half of the book at a starbase getting repairs. Also there is some action with Data, but come the latter half of the book he to is left to sit on the side lines The scenes the author chooses to concentrate on are interesting at times, but they also tend to drag. The espionage mission with Ro, Picard, and Geordi could have been speeded up a bit. The scenes focusing on the minor characters are probably the weakest and unfourtunately they are the majority of the book. The author really doesn't make us care enough about the crew of prisoners assinged to the anti-matter tanker. I think they were not strong enough characters to be focused on that much. So there is enough action in Behind Enemy Lines to keep me interested in the rest of the books in The Dominion War series. but I hope they are better than the first book in the series.

I strongly agree that DW Books 1 and 3 are much better than the other two. I prefer TNG above DS9 any day, and John Vornholt did an excellent job on these orinigal novels. The plot is set in Book 1, and is continued through to Book 3. And what a plot it is! Instead of the many battles in Book 2 (don't get me wrong-- I still love battles!), Books 1 and 3 actually have a good storyline! In Book 2, Sisko got from the Defiant to a Jem'Hadar ship and into a dark matter nebula. In Book 1 and 3, they got from the Enterprise to the Orb of Peace, persuaded Jem'Hadar not to attack them, invaded a Cardassian outpost, slipped into the Badlands, where confronted by pirates-- need I say more? What Books 1 and 3 lack in battles, they make up for in a good story. If you haven't read this book, you may not have understood the last paragraph. But believe me, John Vornholt authors an excellent start to a new series.

Since I began reading a variety of Star Trek Books it became clear that The Dominion War was a central event. Virtually all of the books I had read referred to the war with The Dominion, so it was clear this 4 part series was important to putting many other books in their proper perspective,

The second in the series is going to switch to the setting of Deep Space 9 but this first book spends its time initially with The Enterprise TNG crew and then introduces many characters from episodes of The Next Generation television series. Many of these players have become slaves constructing a weapon that is arguably the most lethal of any man-made object imaginable when used by a species like the Jem-Hadar. The device can also be harmless and productive, think of an airport or interstate highway, hard to do without but when turned in to transport for weapons and destruction their function can be even more powerful for evil than good.

Ro Laren was always one of my favorite characters that disappeared from the television series never to return. She is back in this book, and judging from the storyline she will play a prominent role in his story arc. She has also appeared in the Deep Space 9 series Avatar, so I hope she has made a more or less permanent return.

The Federation is in the midst of a war and a pretty severe beating when Ro Laren once again finds herself face to face with the captain she once betrayed. Captain Picard makes decisions that are would be unique if made by other captains, but he tends to make decisions despite, in this case, his second officer Riker all but physically restraining him. And thus begins one of the most motley crews ever to man any transport and to take it to the most forbidding areas of a war, and then to an area behind enemy lines.

An interesting side story is the mission that Data takes on his own, a task that no conventional life form could ever fulfill. Data has plenty of work but he also finds he has plenty of time to reflect and philosophize on how he deals with war versus his human counterparts. His emotion chip is at his control, and he constantly makes evaluations as to whether or not it should be on or off. One of the questions he arrives at is how do his friends remain sane during war? Again an interesting time for Data and while not a major portion of the book, a storyline that is sure to be continued.

Overall, this book seems a rather disappointing start to the promising Double Helix series (any series that features novels by Diane Carey and Peter David has to be a good thing in my mind). Part of it may be that it tries too hard to capture the feel of the first season of the show and it doesn't. Having people feel awkward and maybe not get along doesn't seem to really work here. Also, the characters are given each a little chapter or so of development and it never seems to come together as a cohesive novel. Yes, there's a virus plotline in there somewhere, but there are several plotthreads that come into it an a rather unsatisfying finish.

I'm willing to give this one a bit more credit that I normally would as it may be constrained as being set-up for the entire Double Helix saga. Hopefully when I finish the last book I'll look back and realize what the author was trying to do here and my evaluation will change.

As for now, it's middle of the road for Trek fiction...

This is the first book in a six-part "Star Trek: Double Helix" series about a mysterious villain, known as The General, who is testing his biological agents throughout the Alpha Quadrant.

Set at the very beginning of TNG's first season, a relatively green Enterprise crew investigates the mysterious outbreak of a devastating plague on a backwater Federation colony world long troubled with racial tensions.

Highlights are: 1) Dr. Beverly Crusher taking her first stab as an amateur detective. 2) Worf and Geordi in some of their first positions of authority. 3) a funny explanation as to why Troi kept calling Riker, Bill, early on in the series. 4) Tasha Yar, god bless her.

Nitpicks are: 1) a casual mention of Ferengi merchants, even though at this point in time the Ferengi were still a mysterious and threatening menace on TNG. 2) a Worf adventure with Klingons that felt out of place and unneeded. 3) Troi made a lousy plague victim. 4) the entire racist back story of the planet was also wasted, as characters got preachy and local bad guys acted like dumb country bumpkins.

Some people may not like the whole bio-thriller aspect of the plot, but I didn't think it was all that bad. The ending was also a bit rushed, but all in all, the book was a fairly fun read. And if you don't have the omnibus or other books in the series, don't worry. This can still be enjoyed all by itself.

This book was a good start to the Double Helix series. Setting it in the early part of the Next Generation series was good, and seeing Tasha Yar again was certainly a highlight of the book. It was simple enough plot, diesease strikes planet and so forth, but it had a limited degree of mystery in it. Some of the character portrayal wasn't that good though, for example Dr. Crusher thinking Chief O'Brien wasn't sane, the two starship captains greeting each other as 'spacedog'. That's really my only complaint, other than that it was good. The science of the disease is easy to understand, and it actually makes a lot of sense. I recommend this book to average ST fans and up, I enjoyed it, I hope you will too.

So far I'd loved the Double Helix series, but this book was soooo boring. I didn't seem to be able to finish it. The plot meandered, move forward, then backwards. The characters we're not credible at all (Tom Riker deciding to switch over to medical! ). Not at all what we're accostumed with John Vornholt.

I have yet to read a bomb in the Double Helix series. Red Sector was lacking in some parts, but it was still good. Like books 1 and 2, book 4 did great. It presented Tom Riker in a very cool way, in which he joins the Maquis. The planet they visit is very interesting.

A very good story. My only problem with it was that a cure wasn't really found. They got rid of the infectors, but not the real diseis. Still, it did justic to the rest of the series. Now... all they need to make the whole series a hit is for the next two books to be good.

Another great Star Trek novel by John Vornholt. Quarantine gives us a good idea of how "Tom Riker" ends up joining the Maquis. As is par for the course with John Vornholt, he goes into great detail describing a beautiful planet and all of it's surroundings. Not a lot of Trek authors do that. I thought Torres seemed a little soft, considering her personality, but that can be explained away. Hopefully not too much of a spoiler. Another great installment in the "Double Helix" series and thank you to the author for another good read.