Book Description
This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science.
In A Short History of Nearly Everything, beloved author Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it.
Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining.
Customer Reviews:
An Inspired Point of View.......2007-10-19
Bryson is a gifted writer and observer who focused on science for three years to get the perspective to write this. Where a younger student might miss the connections, where an older scientist may be too focused and where most lack the writing skills to connect with a broad audience, Bryson steps in. Whether you know nothing or everything it presents, you'll likely appreciate this point of view.
This and the God Delusion will be my 2007 stocking stuffers.
This should be in everybody's library.......2007-10-01
This is an outstanding book. I just wish I could remembe everything I've read in it. Make sure you get the special illustrated edition. A very high quality book, great paper, beutiful illustrations, and a great read.
The Perfect Gift for a Guy.......2007-09-15
This is a perfect book to give any guy in your life that likes the History or Discovery channel...fast paced, full of facts and details but never boring it is truly a short history of nearly everything. I couldn't put it down. Great book!
Not quite of everything but a decent read.......2007-08-22
I gifted this to someone and then went and read it at the library... and I kinda regreted gifting it... I think the author did his research well.. but I also think he focusses a lot more on certain areas while leaving out several others untouched.
What I liked most was his research and mention of people (inventors, discoverers, archaelogists) that had major contributions to what we know about the world today, but never actually hear about the names of those people... simply because they weren't popularized as much as the Einteins and the Newtons of the time.
Excellent Science .......2007-07-28
I have both audio, and text and I can't get enough of both. The illustrated version makes excellent gifts for those who appreciate in-depth science. Bryson has a sense of humer that I find myself laughing at times.
Amazon.com
From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson uses hundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews with luminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With his distinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. Though A Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and covers the same material as every science book before it, it reads something like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without a plot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself." Bryson chats with experts like Richard Fortey (author of Life and Trilobite) and these interviews are charming. But it's when Bryson dives into some of science's best and most embarrassing fights--Cope vs. Marsh, Conway Morris vs. Gould--that he finds literary gold. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.
In
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In
In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
Bill Bryson is one of the world's most beloved and bestselling writers. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, he takes his ultimate journey—into the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer. It's a dazzling quest, the intellectual odyssey of a lifetime, as this insatiably curious writer attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. Or, as the author puts it, "...how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since." This is, in short, a tall order.
To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people, like himself, made bored (or scared) stiff of science by school. His interest is not simply to discover what we know but to find out how we know it. How do we know what is in the center of the earth, thousands of miles beneath the surface? How can we know the extent and the composition of the universe, or what a black hole is? How can we know where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out?
On his travels through space and time, Bill Bryson encounters a splendid gallery of the most fascinating, eccentric, competitive, and foolish personalities ever to ask a hard question. In their company, he undertakes a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only this superb writer can render it. Science has never been more involving, and the world we inhabit has never been fuller of wonder and delight.
“Stylish [and] stunningly accurate prose. We learn what the material world is like from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy and at all the levels in between... brims with strange and amazing facts... destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and in many ways his latest is more of the same, except that this time Bryson hikes through the world of science.”
PEOPLE
“Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicely eloquent... a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world’s biggest story.”
SEATTLE TIMES
“Hefty, highly researched and eminently readable.”
SIMON WINCHESTER, THE GLOBE AND MAIL
“All non-scientists (and probably many specialized scientists, too) can learn a great deal from his lucid and amiable explanations.”
NATIONAL POST
"Bryson is a terrific stylist. You can’t help but enjoy his writing, for its cheer and buoyancy, and for the frequent demonstration of his peculiar, engaging turn of mind.”
OTTAWA CITIZEN
“Wonderfully readable. It is, in the best sense, learned.”
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Customer Reviews:
Phenomenal.......2007-10-23
This Audio CD, read by the author, blew my mind. First, Bryson's writing style is tight, even parsimonious. No long-winded digressions - a very clean writing style. Second, the content that is conveyed is breathtaking in its scope. How can someone cover so much ground, in so little time? While the book is perfectly satisfying in its scientific soundness (I am a geneticist and appreciate the details in the natural selection discussion), it is not drab or dry in the least. Quite the contrary. He preaches only once at the very end of the book - even that is appreciated in the spirit delivered. Very deserving of five stars.
Science without the preaching.......2007-10-21
Bill Bryson returns with his wit and charm and total bafflement about the world at large and a wish to uncover those secrets and share them with us. Taking a methodical journey through physics, time, space, biology, and anything else that one might need to understand in order to put the world into focus from a scientific point of view, he leaves out the preaching, and asks you to draw your own conclusions about the formulation of DNA and life on the plant.
Using wit, humour, and personal stories he brings to life some of the more detailed and complex issues that come from the Big Bang theory and physics of the universe, to how the planet we live on came to have an atmosphere we can breath, and further.
There are times when even Bryson can't help us wrap our heads around a difficult concept, and he admits it and gives it his best shot anyway. If you have no background in any sciences or slept through high school you might not be able to fully appreciate all the care he takes or what he's talking about, but if you want to have a good jumping off point for further study or just a broader insight into the universe take some time to sit down with this book.
A Must Read.......2007-10-20
Mr. Bryson's diligent resarch has produced a book that is not only scientifically absorbing, but humorous, as well. A definite "must read" for middle and high schools!
Great stories, but not for those with a scientific background.......2007-10-18
I am about half way through the book, and thought about putting it aside a few times and moving on to another book because the scientific information presented stops short of being truly valuable, or precise. However, the stories around the scientists who brought these discoveries into being are very entertaining, which is the main reason I am still reading the book.
I am an electronics engineer, and have studied quantum mechanics and various other subjects of physics at a graduate level. Bill's book touches ever so lightly on the real science of the topics, turning the subject matter into the almost sensational by rattling off names of sub atomic particles as if we should all be in awe of the names alone.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy anecdotes from of our history of scientific discovery, or those who want to know some facts such as the age of the earth. But I do not recommend this book to those who wish to expand their understanding of science beyond 1st year college science.
Everything about everything and nothing.......2007-10-15
Bill Bryson takes us on a layman's journey through the great adventures, arguments, and in-fighting of the last 400 years of scientific discovery, learning, and development. He explains in a superficial way what is important in chemistry, physics, geology, biology, mathematics, and anthropology, but his real strength is telling us about the brilliant but bizarre characters who did the heavy lifting.
You wont learn anything here that they dont teach college freshmen about technology but you will meet completely wacky characters like Sir Isaac Newton. This 17th century genius was unimpressed with the state of mathematics, so he invented his own (the calculus) and then neglected to mention it to anyone else for 27 years. Then came Crick and Watson who discovered the helical pattern of DNA despite having not been biologists, in fact, Crick was an American prodigy best known for appearing on radio game shows as a youth. Bryson abounds with additional tales of the strange workings of Fahrenheit, Kelvin, Einstein, Planck, etc.
This book is great fun. I have read all of Bryson's other books on travel and language, many were best-selling, and this thing is near the top. I listened to the author's reading in the abridged audiocassette. One could almost see Bryson lighting up when he gets to the parts where we poor mortals have no clue. According to Bryson, no one knows why the earth's magnetic fields change every 600 million years (we are overdue for a reversal), or what really happened to the Neanderthals, or if global warming will cause the next ice age (we are also overdue here).
Book Description
For the increasing number of people looking for ways to make a difference while on vacation, this fully updated edition is filled with in-depth information, including contacts, locations, costs, dates, more project details, and profiles of 150 select organizations running thousands of programs in the United States and around the world. Including new details about long-term projects and organizations specifically tailored for seniors and the disabled, this definitive sourcebook provides a wealth of opportunities for travelers interested in making a difference and provides new anecdotes about all kinds of jobs and the meaning they brought to volunteers' lives.
Customer Reviews:
Volunteer book.......2007-09-12
Bought this for my husband who is deciding which v. v. he should go on!
thanks
Great Resource for Those Who Want A Different Type of Vacation.......2007-09-07
*****
I bought this book out of curiosity and was amazed at the variety of opportunities available to travel and contribute throughout the world. The book is a compendium of opportunities of every imaginable type, an incredible resource if you're even thinking about a taking a vacation in which you volunteer.
Each opportunity contains all contact information, include web site, the types of projects available, organization mission statements, the year founded, the number of volunteers last year (so that you can see the scope of the program), funding sources, what kind of work the organization does, project locations, time line (when and for how long commitments are made), cost (including arrangements that must be made like medical examinations), how to get started, needed skills, and the specific populations that could qualify.
The book is very friendly to those with limitations (for example, sight limitations, physical agility, etc.). There are also stories throughout the book from volunteers about their actual experiences while volunteering.
There is a section on long-term volunteering opportunities. There are four indexes: by project cost, project length, location, season, and type.
It is a wonderful book to use to explore what types of things you might like to do, as well as to use as a research base to search out specific opportunities. It is a great value, and an organized way to begin your volunteer journey!
Highly recommended.
*****
a pleasant and helpful read.......2007-08-24
I'm sure you can get most of the information in this book online but there's nothing like being able to curl up with this while dogearing pages and marking it up. It is extremely well organized and indexed in multiple ways so you're sure to find what you're looking for. Once something gets your interest you can contact the organization or look online for more info. One really nice feature is the occasional presence of first person narratives from people who've actually done the vacations.
Well organized wealth of info.......2007-07-29
This book was extremely well organized. I was able to quickly sort through for an organization that allowed teens and was for the duration of time we had available. From there, it was easy to go on the specific websites for the pretty pictures. We have just come back from our experience building homes in Costa Rica and can't wait to go again! You will never again feel the need for a beach vacation. It was much more invigorating to give something of yourself.
Excellent.......2007-03-28
This book is very informative and easy to navigate. I was able to ready it over a 2 day period on my spare time and breakdown the vacations that would best suit what I am looking to do.
Average customer rating:
- only a little bit of this book is worth reading
- Good, Not Great
- Homo Sapiens
- Great read, but a generous helping of deja vu
- Truly enjoyable
|
The Bill from My Father: A Memoir
Bernard Cooper
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0743249623 |
Book Description
Bernard Cooper's new memoir is searing, soulful, and filled with uncommon psychological nuance and laugh-out-loud humor. Like Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Cooper's account of growing up and coming to terms with a bewildering father is a triumph of contemporary autobiography.
Edward Cooper is a hard man to know.Dour and exuberant by turns, his moods dictate the always uncertain climate of the Cooper household. Balding, octogenarian, and partial to
a polyester jumpsuit, Edward Cooper makes an unlikely literary muse. But to his son he looms larger than life, an overwhelming and baffling presence.
As The Bill from My Father begins, Bernard and his father find themselves the last remaining members of the family that once included his mother, Lillian, and three older brothers. Now retired and living in a run-down trailer, Edward Cooper had once made a name for himself as a divorce attorney whose cases included "The Case of the Captive Bride" and "The Case of the Baking Newlywed," as they were dubbed by the Herald Examiner. An expert at "the dissolution of human relationships," the elder Cooper is slowly succumbing to dementia. As the author attempts, with his father's help, to forge a coherent picture of the Cooper family history, he discovers some peculiar documents involving lawsuits against other family members, and recalls a bill his father once sent him for the total cost of his upbringing, an itemized invoice adding up to 2 million dollars.
Edward's ambivalent regard for his son is the springboard from which this deeply intelligent memoir takes flight. By the time the author receives his inheritance (which includes a message his father taped to the underside of a safe deposit box), and sees the surprising epitaph inscribed on his father's headstone, The Bill from My Father has become a penetrating meditation on both monetary and emotional indebtedness, and on the mysterious nature of memory and love.
Download Description
"Bernard Cooper's new memoir is searing, soulful, and filled with uncommon psychological nuance and laugh-out-loud humor. Like Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Cooper's account of growing up and coming to terms with a bewildering father is a triumph of contemporary autobiography. Edward Cooper is a hard man to know.Dour and exuberant by turns, his moods dictate the always uncertain climate of the Cooper household. Balding, octogenarian, and partial to a polyester jumpsuit, Edward Cooper makes an unlikely literary muse. But to his son he looms larger than life, an overwhelming and baffling presence. As The Bill from My Father begins, Bernard and his father find themselves the last remaining members of the family that once included his mother, Lillian, and three older brothers. Now retired and living in a run-down trailer, Edward Cooper had once made a name for himself as a divorce attorney whose cases included "The Case of the Captive Bride" and "The Case of the Baking Newlywed," as they were dubbed by the Herald Examiner. An expert at "the dissolution of human relationships," the elder Cooper is slowly succumbing to dementia. As the author attempts, with his father's help, to forge a coherent picture of the Cooper family history, he discovers some peculiar documents involving lawsuits against other family members, and recalls a bill his father once sent him for the total cost of his upbringing, an itemized invoice adding up to 2 million dollars. Edward's ambivalent regard for his son is the springboard from which this deeply intelligent memoir takes flight. By the time the author receives his inheritance (which includes a message his father taped to the underside of a safe deposit box), and sees the surprising epitaph inscribed on his father's headstone, The Bill from My Father has become a penetrating meditation on both monetary and emotional indebtedness, and on the mysterious nature of memory and love. "
Customer Reviews:
only a little bit of this book is worth reading.......2007-08-30
I read the whole thing--but only little bits of the book were worth the time it to read it.
Good, Not Great.......2007-04-20
Although it's beautifully written , I didn't enjoy this ode to his father near as much as 'Truth Serum'. There are some lovely keen observations about life and parents in general, yet not enough that made me feel it was truly special.
Homo Sapiens.......2007-03-10
Why is it incumbent on this gay author to insert his love affair into a memoir about his father? Why does he need to tell us how he wants to have sex with Brian into old age and pepper the book with their amorous advances to each other? Is it a homage to his lover? Did he promise to include him in his book? How does this not distract from the story he is telling us about his grizzled old dad?
It is no surprise that his father would not object too terribly to the author's decision not to have an XY relationship, to have children, considering the genetic wreckage he has innocently passed down with three sons dying young, and relatively young of colon cancer, heart disease, etc. and the remaining one genetically mutated to not reproduce. The tragedy of this quadruple assault in providing heirs and heiresses must have been far more devastating to his mother and father than he seems capable of understanding. The author seems cold and callous to this thunderbolt from Zeus that has struck his parents and one wonders if that did not have a fatal influence on his mother. Would have liked to see him exercise a more empathetic approach to this life- changing travesty.
Great read, but a generous helping of deja vu.......2006-07-28
Too bad Walter Matthau is dead. Otherwise, he would be a natural to play Bernard Cooper's father in the movie version of this bittersweet memoir.
In fact, didn't I see the tall, loud-mouthed actor playing a variant of this very part in "Hanging Up" and, of course, "The Sunshine Boys" ??
Also, I know that I read the section about Cooper pere's ill-fated marriage before. Either Bernard Cooper had published it as a short memoir elsewhere (the New Yorker?) or the situation was reported by some other hapless son about his brain-addled father.
Even though so much of the book seemed familiar, I enjoyed the storytelling and the insights into the relationship between Bernard Cooper and his much put-upon therapist companion. And I really ached for him when I read about the horrible deaths of his three older brothers.
Perhaps the reason the situation with his father seem so familiar is that Cooper is telling the truth. And sometimes the truth isn't so unique.
He is a REALLY GOOD writer. I hope next time he will write something starring another actor.
Truly enjoyable.......2006-07-12
I loved the entire book...My favorite story is when Bernard's father goes through a "fictitious phase" of marriage.
Average customer rating:
- GREAT Book!
- Both sides of a comic genius.
- rekindled my love for Sam
- More Than Comedy
- Biography of a Prophet
|
Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison
Bill Kinison , and
Steve Delsohn
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0688126340 |
Customer Reviews:
GREAT Book!.......2007-02-20
I remember the national climb of Kinison in the early to mid 80's and saw his breakthrough showing on the Rodney Dangerfield young comic show and also Kinison's own HBO special that shot him to national prominence. This guy was a comic GENIUS of his time.
This book by his older brother and manager Bill Kinison is a very good insight to the man behind the comedy, shortcomings and all....
Both sides of a comic genius........2006-04-01
As I write this review, I'm sitting here listening to an old tape of Sam Kinison appearing on Howard Stern's radio show with Malika and Amy Lynn in 1991.
It's hard to believe that the upcoming April 10, 2006 will mark 14 years since the world lost its last true comic genius. In BROTHER SAM, penned by his brother and fellow preacher Bill Kinison, Sam's life from the humble beginning to the tragic end is recalled in full detail by a man who was by his side for the vast majority of it. While many books about standup comics turn into a simple recount of every but they'd ever performed by the halfway point, BROTHER SAM is different. All of the familiar names from Kinison folklore are here: Seka, Malika and Sabrina, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Rodney Dangerfield, Howard Stern, Jessica Hahn... the list goes on.
While the public perception of Sam is that of a screaming renegade former preacher that ridicules Jesus and runs around high and/or liquored up 24/7, Bill tells a vastly different story. Sam is presented as a man who is not perfect but loved those around him. He loves God just as he did while in the ministry but hates the hypocrisy of the Jim Bakker's and Jimmy Swaggert's of the world of money-hungry religion. He did drugs, drank like a fish, and had more women in his bed than most men could ever imagine, and yet after a couple of health scares in 1990 and 1991 he made the effort to slow down, reinvent himself, and turn his life around.
As a Kinison fan who has several of the classic bits virtually memorized, reading the final chapter entitled "Sounds of Silence" was incredibly difficult. It's in those final pages that Bill recounts his eyewitness account of Sam's final hours of life, including the head-on collision that took his life. The ironic twist is that the driver who struck Sam's car was, in fact, a teenaged drunk driver... and it's that fact that resonates with every Kinison fan to this day.
Sam's impact remains with everyone who ever enjoyed his work. When we see the commercials for hunger organizations, we all think (or say), "There wouldn't be world hunger if you people lived where the FOOD IS! YOU LIVE IN A DESERT! NOTHING GROWS OUT HERE!". We still fire off an occasional "Oh OOHHHHHHHHHHHH!" for no good reason when we see something that provides us with proper motivation. He was one of a kind. He was a legend. He is truly missed.
Thanks Sam.
rekindled my love for Sam.......2006-03-12
I happened to pass by this book at a book store a few years ago. I started to peruse the pages, and before I knew it, I was absolutely hooked. If you're into celebrity biographies, you will definitely love this one. You'll learn about Sam's experiences with various other celebrities and rockstars: his on-and-off again friendship with Howard Stern, his fascination and tumultuous affairs with porn stars and strippers (e.g., Seka and Jessica Hahn), his love for rock and roll, and best of all, his childhood and family and how he developed his trademarked primal scream.
Shortly after I read this, I happened to see the E! TV True Hollywood Story, which felt did not do the man justice, and didn't even touch on his last great love affair.
Not only this, but the book has transcripts of some of Sam's most popular comedy routines. If you loved Sam before, you'll love him even more with this book.
More Than Comedy.......2005-04-15
Sam Kinison was more than comedy, he was always a very loud voice of reason during bad times. He was also the Rock N' Roll comedian. I first bought his Louder Than Hell tape 16 years ago. I thought it was a rock tape, much in the vain of Guns N Roses or Motley Crue with interesting songs, because that's how he looked. If you would have told me it was stand up comedy I never would have bought it. I listened to it, and I laughed and laughed. I bought everything else Sam I could get my hands on. With the exception of Brother Sam, only because I could never find it. Thanks to Amazon I now own it. The book is great. Although there are no surprises. I always understood Sam, and in my view he lived his life in the open, for better or worse. I admire the fact that Bill didn't try to make Sam's life seem rosy, as is the case with many celebrities after they die. Bill did what Sam would have wanted, just laid his life on the line as it really was. It also has a lot of Rock N' Roll references so it is a trip back in time in that regard as well. Sam took no prisoners. He held no cow sacred. He offended every side equally. All while being a former minister. Most importantly he laughed in the face of tragedy. The best comedy always comes from pain, and Sam made that pain not only bearable but fun. I just wish Sam was alive today. There would be laughter in things we have forgotten how to laugh at. Sam touched it all. So while it is considered un American to laugh at the hypocritical self righteousness of our leaders today, I can always read this book, and listen to the voice of Sam (alot of his material is printed in here.) laugh, and remember the guy who gave comedy and the world a shot in the arm.
Biography of a Prophet.......1999-10-01
Sam Kinison's comedy was hard to understand -- if life had never kicked you in the crotch. I couldn't stand the guy, and I didn't think he was funny, until I myself hit some of the same lows he described in his over-the-top routines. This book evenhandedly describes the often sad, heartbreaking life of a very funny man. We miss ya, Sam.
Average customer rating:
- Rumors of The Spider's demise are greatly overrated!
- The Spider Returns
- the pulps are back!!!
|
The Spider Chronicles
John Jakes ,
Mort Castle ,
Bill Crider ,
Shannon Denton ,
Chuck Dixon ,
Steve Englehart ,
Ron Fortier ,
Joe Gentile ,
Rich Harvey ,
John Helfers ,
C. J. Henderson ,
Howard Hopkins ,
Anthony Kuhoric ,
Elizabeth Massie ,
Christopher Mills , and
Tom Floyd
Manufacturer: Moonstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Shadow: "The Chinese Disks" and "Malmordo" (The Shadow)
ASIN: 1933076186 |
Book Description
Moonstone is proud to present 20 new short stories of searing white hot prose starring pulpdom's most violent and ruthless crime fighter ever: The Spider! Here you will find relentless, hard-fisted action that remains true in tone to his mythic-proportioned adventures. If you crave against-all-odds breathless thrill rides, seeing great evils smashed beyond recognition, and dangers met by true heroes at break-neck speed, then this book is the must by event of your entire freaking life!
Customer Reviews:
Rumors of The Spider's demise are greatly overrated!.......2007-06-01
As long as there are those who still recall and love the glory days of the hero Pulp Magazine, the heroes will never die! Reprints were our only contact with the Master of Men, the Violent Avenger, until the release of this action-packed trade paperback! Pulp authorities such as Will Murry, Joe Gentile, and C.J. Henderson have cooked up a brand new batch of two-fisted tales that will make the true pulp fan slaver and drool. The earth-shaking artwork is a more realistic version of the Spider as described in the old magazines, but as he seldom appeared on the covers. This collection is a Royal Flush. You can't beat it. It leaves the true pulp fan longing for other hero collections: Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, G-8, The Green Lama, etc. Quote the Raven...
The Spider Returns.......2007-05-12
A great collection of stories of the old pulp character, Anyone with an interest in the old pulps of the thirties and forties will enjoy this book. I'm glad to see a resurgeance of interest in these characters, A new series of reprints of the Spider is also on the way. Well worth the price. Buy it!
the pulps are back!!!.......2007-04-10
I have not gotten my copy yet, but feel I should make some comments on this book. It is great to see a resurgence in interest in the pulps. I hope we see new stories with The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Phantom Detective, G8 and His Battle Aces. These were great action packed series. Great escapism. Love it!!!
Book Description
A NEW ERLE STANLEY GARDNER BOOK!
Crippen & Landru is proud to publish a collection of never previously reprinted stories from pulps, slicks and digests by Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) the great creator of Perry Mason. Here we meet such Gardner characters as Snowy Shane, an unorthodox P.I.; Slicker Williams, an ex-convict who uses the tricks of crookery to rescue a damsel in distress; Major Copely Brane, a freelance diplomat; George Brokay, wealthy man-about-town, who becomes a gentleman burglar - with unanticipated results; and others who show Gardner's mastery of unusual situations, lighting-paced prose, and ingenious gimmicks and plot twists.
The Danger Zone is the 13th in the Crippen & Landru "Lost Classics" series. The collection is edited by the modern master of the private-eye story, Bill Pronzini. The cover illustration is by Juha Lindroos, and the Lost Classics design is by Deborah Miller.
Average customer rating:
- When your under fire the only way to survive is to hit back.
- passes the time
- One Of the Best Military Fiction Books Ever
- Military Science Fiction at its' Best!!
- A well done work
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The Butcher's Bill
David Drake
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Drake, David
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Caught In The Crossfire
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The Sharp End
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The Tank Lords (Hammer's Slammer's)
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Paying the Piper (Drake, David.)
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Cross The Stars (Special Limited Edition)
ASIN: 0671577735 |
Customer Reviews:
When your under fire the only way to survive is to hit back........2003-01-18
This is the third book in the series. An introduction by David Drake is followed by: But Loyal to His Own, At Any Price, The Butcher's Bill, Hangman, The Irresistible Force, Cultural Conflict, Liberty Port and Standing Down. Many of the stories are important to the Hammer's Slammers' universe. But Loyal to His Own and Standing Down are about Hammer himself, as a man and a commander. The Butcher's Bill is the first story written about the Slammers. The new story is Irresistible Force which continues the story of Lamartiere, who we met in The Immovable Object - which makes TWO stories set in the Hammer's Slammers universe about a character who was never trained to drive or fire or do anything with a tank!
This book is a must because many of the repeat stories are in books that have been out of print a very long time.
passes the time.......2002-03-13
This was the first David Drake book I read and I may give one of his complete novels a look. This book was ok. It didn't capture me with either the military fiction or the character development. It seemed like a passable way to spend some time when there was nothing more pressing to read. Of course, I am judging novel type character development on a collection of short stories...but it seemed flat. It certainly didn't compare to Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" (The book, not that wretched movie), or to Card's "Ender's Game".
I've heard that Drake's books are pretty good, it maybe that this compilation of short stories doesn't do his work justice. If you're interested in this genre, I'd start somewhere else to get something really captivating.
One Of the Best Military Fiction Books Ever.......2000-05-08
One of the best of David Drake's works. Definatly recomeded for Slamars lovers or if you are interested in military/science fiction.
Military Science Fiction at its' Best!!.......1999-02-12
David Drake does it again. This book is must reading for the military science fiction enthusiast and should be read by every combat officer in the US Army as a primer for what to do and what not to do as a leader. "Every leader thinks he can lead his men into heaven" but not all do. Read this book and understand why.
A well done work.......1999-01-03
Drake has done it again. In this work he captures the feeling of the front line troops and the human effect of war. As always, a well done work.
Product Description
History, General, Science
Customer Reviews:
Not quite everything, but enough..........2006-02-22
I was first acquainted with Bill Bryson through his works on the English language and various travelogue types of books. In these books he proved to be an entertaining writer, witty and interesting, with just the right amount of I'm-not-taking-myself-too-seriously attitude to make for genuinely pleasurable reading. Other books of his, 'Notes from a Small Island' and 'The Mother Tongue', are ones I return to again and again. His latest book, one of the longer ones (I was surprised, as most Bryson books rarely exceed 300 pages, and this one weighs in well past 500), is one likely to join those ranks.
Of course, a history of everything, even a SHORT history of NEARLY everything, has got to be fairly long. Bryson begins, logically enough, at the beginning, or at least the beginning as best science can determine. Bryson weaves the story of science together with a gentle description of the science involved - he looks not only at the earliest constructs of the universe (such as the background radiation) but also at those who discover the constructs (such as Penzias and Wilson).
A great example of the way Bryson weaves the history of science into the description of science, in a sense showing the way the world changes as our perceptions of how it exists change, is his description of the formulation, rejection, and final acceptance of the Pangaea theory. He looks at figures such as Wegener (the German meteorologist - 'weatherman', as Bryson describes him) who pushed forward the theory in the face of daunting scientific rejection that the continents did indeed move, and that similarities in flora and fauna, as well as rock formations and other geological and geographical aspects, can be traced back to a unified continent. Bryson with gentle humour discusses the attitudes of scientists, as they shifted not quite as slowly as the continents, towards accepting this theory, making gentle jabs along the way (Einstein even wrote a foreword to a book that was rather scathing toward the idea of plate tectonics - brilliance is no guarantee against being absolutely wrong).
Bryson traces the development of the universe and the world from the earliest universe to the formation of the planet, to the growing diversity of life forms to development of human beings and human society. Inspired by Natural History (the short history refers more to natural history than anything else), this traces the path to us and possible futures. Bryson juxtaposes the creation of the Principia by Isaac Newton with the extinction of the dodo bird - stating that the word contained divinity and felony in the nature of humanity, the same species that can rise to the heights of understanding in the universe can also, for no apparent reason, cause the extinction of hapless and harmless fellow creatures on earth. Are humans, in Bryson's words, 'inherently bad news for other living things'? He recounts many of the truly staggering follies of species-hunting, particularly in the nineteenth century, calling upon people to take far more care of the planet with which we have been entrusted, either through design or fate.
Bryson's take on things is innovative and his narrative is interesting, but there is a point to it, just as there is with most of his writing. He writes not merely to entertain, or to inform, but to persuade. Bryson is intrigued by science, having a joy that comes across the page of someone who essentially did not know or understand a lot of the background of science and how it worked in the world until recently, and now wants to share that joy with everyone! He definitely has points to argue - for starters, the need for open-mindedness, even among (perhaps particularly among) those who are supposed to have the open and searching intellects, the scientists themselves. He also wishes others to know more about science, professionals and laypersons, and more about our own origins as a people, both in terms of where we've come from, and how we've come to know about it.
Unique among Bryson's writing in many ways, this is in some ways a travelogue through geology, paleontology, cosmology and evolution. A fun and fascinating read!
Book Description
"[Henderson] has made it his mission over the last thirty-odd years to defy the dumbing down of literature and the culture at large."—Kirkus Reviews
This edition of the long-honored anthology of small-press fiction, essays, and poetry marks its third decade, an amazing feat of survival and excellence.
Like previous editions, The Pushcart Prize XXX presents over sixty selections picked from hundreds of little magazines and presses with the help of over 200 distinguished contributing editors. In the Pushcart tradition, this fascinating collection combines the work of today's luminaries with a host of new talents, creating an exciting assembly of diverse voices.
Since 1976, The Pushcart Prize has been "the single best measure of the state of affairs in American literature today," according to the New York Times Book Review. Many of today's celebrated writers received their first recognition in The Pushcart Prize, which over the years has tracked small-press enthusiasms from traditional to experimental in an unsurpassed eclectic gathering.
Books:
- A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope
- A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days
- About a Boy
- Adobe Camera Raw for Digital Photographers Only (For Only)
- Al Capone Does My Shirts
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
- At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace
- At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt
- Beyond Boundaries: Reflections of Indian and U.S. Scholars
- Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance
- Your Healthy Garden Pond
- Sex and Sexuality in China
- The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing
- The Handbook of Group Play Therapy: How to Do It, How It Works, Whom It's Best For
- Yellow Eyes
- The Wide World of Suzie Mallard
- Massage Basics: Guide to Swedish, Shiatsu, and Reflexology Techniques
- Planning for PKI: Best Practices Guide for Deploying Public Key Infrastructure
- The Infinite Plan: A Novel
A Briefer History of Time
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Mother Tongue
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)
