Book Description
Chaisson/McMillan's writing style and pedagogically driven art program are recognized as being scientifically accurate yet accessible to non-science majors. The integrated media program contains the market's only E-book. It provides readers with innovative and interactive tools to learn and test their understanding of astronomy concepts. Topics covered include Astronomy and the Universe, Our Planetay System, Stars and Stellar Evolution, Galaxies and Cosmology, and more. For one or two-semester introductory astronomy course.
Customer Reviews:
New Book that was NOT a new Book.......2007-06-08
Simply put - I purchased this Astronomy book through Amazon because the price was the same as elsewhere but I would save on shipping. I expected a NEW book but received a Used Book in good condition.
The Book itself so far seems well laid out and interesting but the course I am taking has just reached the 1/3 mark toward completion.
For the Non-Science Major.......2007-03-08
This book is designed to be the astronomy book that non-science majors would use to meet their one-year of science requirement as part of their undergraduate degree. As such it is written without the mathematics content that would be normal in a course aimed at astronoly or physics students. In addition, this particular book has several advantages. To identify just a few:
1. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on teaching the scientific method. This area has been strengthened in this edition because (I'm guessing) the current attempts by the un-intelligent design people to disparage scientific theories.
2. Revised to include the latest discoveries being made by the Mars rovers and the down grading of poor Pluto to a minor planet.
3. Updating the current theories regarding dark matter and dark energy.
In summary this is a well written, well illustrated text, ideally suited for the non-scientists.
Astronomy Today 5th edition.......2006-03-11
I have had a lifetime love of Astronomy but have lacked the mathmatical background for a thorough understanding. Most popular books on the subject rarely cover the field in the manner that I desire. Astronomy Today is a textbook for a beginning course in astronomy at the college level and does, in fact, cover a great deal of information without the need for mathmatical knowledge. The authors express their ideas and information in clear, concise language and clearly manifest an enthusiasm for their subject. I have enjoyed the book immensely.
A Paradox of Blind Astronomers!.......2005-06-23
This is an excellent textbook, but I deducted one star (from a possible five-star rating) because of the absurd comments made by the authors in the beginning of the book. In this fourth edition of Astronomy Today, a textbook published by Prentice Hall for college students, the authors open the very first chapter with the following statements:
"Of all the scientific insights attained to date, one stands out boldly: Earth is neither central nor special. We inhabit no unique place in the universe. Astronomical research, especially within the past few decades, strongly suggests that we live on what seems to be an ordinary rocky planet called Earth, one of the nine known planets orbiting an average star called the Sun, a star near the edge of a huge collection of stars called the Milky Way Galaxy, which is one galaxy among countless billions of others spread throughout the observable universe."
Huh!? Earth isn't special? Compare the other planets in our Solar System to Earth and tell us it isn't special. And Earth is "...an ordinary rocky planet..."? It's the only planet we know of with vast oceans of liquid water, a breathable atmosphere, lush vegetation, and a spectacular collection of life forms. The authors of this textbook must have been "out to lunch" when they wrote that trite introduction, or... this is just another deliberate attempt by "philosophers of gobbledygook" to strip the Earth of its special place in the universe and to squash any special characteristics that may differentiate it from everything else in the cosmos. I strongly suspect the latter viewpoint is the correct one.
The fact is the Earth is indeed a very special place, and the Sun is a very special star. In fact, the Sun-Earth relationship represents a very special arrangement that permits life to thrive upon our planet. Mercury, Venus and Mars may be nothing more than ordinary rocky planets, but Earth is truly unique from all the other planets in our Solar System, and may be truly unique in all the universe.
I stand by my initial rating of the textbook: 4 stars and an excellent read. I just have a wee bit of a problem with blind astronomers.
A joy to read!.......2005-02-18
This book is really outstanding! It contains 757 pages of text (not counting the preface and appendix), about 480 (mostly quite smallish) photos, some 400 drawings/figures/illustrations and almost 50 tables. The writing style is very clear, not at all dry or overtly technical. It is a joy to read this book. I know of no other book that clarifies all kind of astronomical subjects as thoroughly and understandably as this book (and I did read many books on astronomy.....). Highly recommended!
Book Description
A brief, introductory astronomy book designed for readers with little or no scientific background, A Beginner's Guide uses an exceptionally clear writing style. The authors present a broad view of astronomy without complex mathematics, yet the book discusses important concepts without simplification. The book's organization follows the popular and effective “Earth-Out” progression, starting with our planet and then moving through the solar system. A study of the Sun as a model star follows, then the book covers the Milky Way Galaxy, cosmology, and the universe as a whole. Because of its easy-to-read yet comprehensive coverage of astronomy, this book can serve as excellent reference material for those readers interested in learning about our universe.
Customer Reviews:
Solid Intro Astronomy Book.......2007-03-28
This textbook presents information about the Earth, solar system, and universe in a clear manner that avoids technical jargon while staying scientifically respectable. The author demonstrates the practical uses of mathematics throughout the book and the end of chapter questions challenge the reader's grasp of the material. It's a rarity for such a readable book to be written by a person with this author's impressive educational creditials. I would definitely recommend this text and any other written by Chaisson.
good condition and speedy delivery.......2005-09-19
item arrived in 2 days and was in perfect condition. completely satisfied. would recommend to others!
Way too expensive for a paperback.......2004-08-27
Attractive book but not a good value. All the information is available for free on the internet where it is periodically updated and can be referenced for free without wearing out.
Astronomy Text Book.......2004-01-06
Text book arrived in excellent condition (brand spankin' new) and in a timely manner (about 3 business days). I got a great deal too! No problems whatsoever. Thanks a bunch!
Great Textbook.......2001-03-01
For anyone who has a vague interest in astronomy, this would be the book to read. Albeit not entirely simple, this is a relatively straight forward book that uses excellent examples to explain difficult concepts. There are many charts and diagrams. How exactly does a black hole work? What's the difference between a nova and a supernova (not as simple as you might think)? Why do we get meteor showers? There is a bit of mathematics involved, but nothing too intimidating. This is an excellent textbook. Best of all, a CD-ROM is included with lots of multimedia content, study questions, and links to more sources. Avoid other dry textbooks and purchase this one.
Customer Reviews:
"Universe" Astronomy Textbook.......2007-09-30
It was very easy to order and the price was the same as my bookstore at school. The only thing that made it more expensive was the shipping and then it took about 5 days to get to me. When I received it it was in a very solidly sealed box that I couldn't open without a knife. When I finally opened it, the back cover of my "soft" textbook had poke holes all over it from where I tried to open the box on the back seam.
The book itself is well written with great pictures of the cosmos.
Great introduction to astronomy with well thought out steps.......2006-11-05
This textbook is well written with well thought out sequence of topics and its bundled softwares are superb. It expounds the items of astronomical subject in clear unambiguous words arranged in logical order requiring only a modest mathematical skill, well suited for a freshman student for science requirement as well as an intelligent and curious lay reader. The content is quite up-to-date; more remarkable for its online companion for prompt updating for currency. For instance, in barely 2 months after new definition excluded Pluto as a planet, the webpage supplement already informs its reader of it. Included exercises and problems are thorough and complete, and thus allowing students to critically refine their grasp of the preceding topics. There are a few minor errors which are easy to be discovered by a reader, and how to access additional websites and CDs are not clear enough in the preface to the student. I base my review only on the first 5 chapters that was covered in my first academic quarter of study. However. browsing the subsequent chapters to the end lend me confidence that the quality has been maintained.
Descriptive Astronomy for the Astronomy Student.......2006-06-11
Most introductory astronomy texts take the descriptive approach and subject the student to very little mathematics. Such tomes assume that the student is taking the course to fulfill a core science requirement or to satiate non-technical interest. This text is a rare exception to this rule.
Throughout the book simple explanations of the scientific phenomena discussed are detailed using algebra and trigonometry. Basic formulas are illustrated and ample problems are given to drive home the mathematical nature of astronomy. This text is perfect for the freshman or sophomore science major who requires a deeper knowledge of astronomy than a non-mathematical text could provide.
Make no mistake, the text can be used easily in a general astronomy class that requires no math prerequisites. However, for the physics or astronomy major who is just starting her study of the subject, this text is the perfect blend of description and mathematics. It would also make a fine introductory graduate text for elementary and high-school teachers who wish to pursue a master's degree.
The software on the enclosed CD-ROM disks makes visualizing the concepts presented within the text much easier. If one's physics department doesn't have access to a planetarium the software offered remedies the problem quite nicely.
Quality of the delivered product........2006-02-21
While the reason for buying the book was met (required text book for university study) the condition of the delivered item was very substandard. When the book arrived it was bent and creased and the front cover had been "pushed" in such a way that it was starting to come away from the spine. The book was not secure in its packaging and was able to slide around inside the box scuffing both front and back covers. I would not be happy if this happened to a $20 book let alone a book that cost me AUS $135.
I will seriously consider next time I need a book whether I will get it from Amazon.com . The amount of money I saved was not worth the damage that occured to the item.
Not Happy!!!!
Fabulous In-Depth Intro to Astronomy.......2005-10-12
I'm an amateur astronomy nut, and have read several dozen books on astronomy, cosmology, etc. This is probably the most clear, in-depth, understandable treatment of astronomical issues that I have ever read. Be it stellar evolution, stellar death, theory of relativity, black holes, galactic evolution -- you name it -- this book presents the research clearly, and explains tough to explain issues in terms I can understand. Bravo! My only complaint is that it's a bit heavy on Solar System research (first half of the book); I found the last half more to my interest.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome.......2007-05-25
The book was just as i expected!!! it was new, no marks, and no bent pages! it was a great price and it looks like i just bought it from a book store!! shipped really fast! THANKS
Publisher Fails!.......2006-04-19
This textbook is an adequate basic astronomy text that covers all of the bases and as might be expected has many updates reflecting recent research in the field. However, much of the really cool photography, demonstrations, animations, and illustrations are not in the book but are supposed to be on the web-site to which purchasers are given free access for more than an academic year. Although the book was released months ago, the web-site will not be available before the end of May 2006. The Prentice Hall Product Support people took over three weeks to find this out and were unable to offer any other solution to the problem which was shared by half of my class section. Do not purchase this book; it is a ripoff. If you must buy it, buy an older edition that comes with the CD (which the rest of my section purchased.) You won't have to deal with Prentice-Hall. Even better, try "Discovering the Universe" which is better written and comes with a CD.
Amazon.com
If Albert Einstein were alive, he would have a copy of The Road to Reality on his bookshelf. So would Isaac Newton. This may be the most complete mathematical explanation of the universe yet published, and Roger Penrose richly deserves the accolades he will receive for it. That said, let us be perfectly clear: this is not an easy book to read. The number of people in the world who can understand everything in it could probably take a taxi together to Penrose's next lecture. Still, math-friendly readers looking for a substantial and possibly even thrillingly difficult intellectual experience should pick up a copy (carefully--it's over a thousand pages long and weighs nearly 4 pounds) and start at the beginning, where Penrose sets out his purpose: to describe "the search for the underlying principles that govern the behavior of our universe." Beginning with the deceptively simple geometry of Pythagoras and the Greeks, Penrose guides readers through the fundamentals--the incontrovertible bricks that hold up the fanciful mathematical structures of later chapters. From such theoretical delights as complex-number calculus, Riemann surfaces, and Clifford bundles, the tour takes us quickly on to the nature of spacetime. The bulk of the book is then devoted to quantum physics, cosmological theories (including Penrose's favored ideas about string theory and universal inflation), and what we know about how the universe is held together. For physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students, The Road to Reality is an essential field guide to the universe. For enthusiastic amateurs, the book is a project to tackle a bit at a time, one with unimaginable intellectual rewards. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive and comprehensible account of the physics of the universe. From the very first attempts by the Greeks to grapple with the complexities of our known world to the latest application of infinity in physics, The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.
Customer Reviews:
Really good!.......2007-09-19
If you are mad about science that a book you MUST have. I am an electrical engineer and at least 60% of the book had new contents for me so.... READ IT!
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.......2007-09-04
This is a book over one 1000 pages! My daughter asked me: Is the road to reality indeed so long? We both laught...and after a while I braged about it: With Roger Penrose help, the 1000 pages road to reality may be the shortest! However, I found out later on, that it may indeed be the shortest, but only if you have your own five stars shining above you...
Great to read, recommended to re-read.......2007-08-26
This is an excellent book, if you take the time to understand the material. In my opinion it is well worth the time reading every page.
Sir Roger is as Confused as the Rest of Us.......2007-08-15
Roger Penrose feels comfortable in his Platonic mathematical world and he recognizes how useful complex analysis is to quantum theory. But, like everyone else, he is at a loss to explain things just when they become interesting.
He cannot explain to his own satisfaction how that the universe came to be so specially ordered at the moment of the big bang. He cannot explain in a mathematically elegant way how or why that the wave function collapses upon an observation being made, with a new wave function being thus created. He seems mystified by complex numbers in a way that is reminds one of Pythagoras. He speaks in a gushy way about how "magical" they are. Nevertheless, he cannot even be sure that perfect circles or pi or straight lines exist in reality. He is Platonic, despite modern philosophy's rejection of Plato's theory of forms. He gingerly avoids any metaphysics and/or religion. And, he feels that one can learn about our universe by studying pristine mathematical models, despite the fact that R. Feynman and others have said that the only road to truth (the real road to reality) is through experimentation. Feynman wisely stated that he could calculate things very precisely, but he could not explain things in common sense, everyday terms. Are we really going to do better than him?
Perhaps things are as one physicist said " ..not only strange, but stranger than we can contemplate". We are physically not equipped to explain things.
A book with a message.......2007-07-11
Other reviews focus on whether the book is easy to understand or not, or wheter it is too big or not. And it would seem that
the only purpose of the book is to put all togheter the physical laws mankind knows.
But this is a book with a message. A message that takes very long to transmit and Penrose chose to start from the very begining.
A significant part of the physics as it is known today is exposed in a long (900 pages) preamble, but Penrose wants to tell
us that he believes that the road to the Theory of Everything that is standard in today's physics leads nowhere.
If you have read "The Emperor's new mind" you know that Penrose's ideas are not mainstream in today's physics. But if you are
interested in cutting edge physics you'll also know that there is a growing number of physicists that believe that the field is on crisis. Let me sumarize Penrose views:
- The standard interpretations of quantum mechanics are wrong. Even the decoherence approach.
- Infactionary cosmology cannot be right.
- Superstring theory is just a beautiful mathematical construction with no connection to the physical world. His point of view is similar to Smolin's ("The trouble with physics").
I'm not at all an expert on the field, although I studied quantum mechanics in the University, and I'd say that at least Penrose has a very strong point. He is not able to provide but hints of alternative theories but this does not lower the merit of the book.
He also explains standard areas of mathematics and physics such as complex number calculus, Maxwell fields or group theory in a non-conventional but brilliant way. For example, it includes a beautiful demonstration of Pythagoream theorem. The chapter about the standard model of particle physics is particularly helpful; nowhere else can be found a concise and understable explanation of it.
And yes, the book is difficult, but if you don't understand the mathematics, just keep reading.
Book Description
Some say the line between good and evil is narrower than we imagine -- a divide as subtle as a mirror, and perhaps just as deep. To peer into its black, reflective glass is to know the dark potential we each possess, and we cross that obsidian boundary at our peril . . . into a world where we no longer recognize who we are or what we believed ourselves capable of.
In the late twenty-fourth century, decades after the fall of the once-mighty Terran Empire, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance dominates the worlds that, in another reality, made up the United Federation of Planets. Humanity and its former subject races are now bound together by their shared oppression, slaves to their cruel and brutal conquerors. But a downtrodden few have found the courage and the strength of will to act. Inspired by visitors from another continuum to fight for their freedom, they have rekindled hope . . . and rediscovered an ancient truth: that every revolution begins with a vision.
Star Trek: VOYAGER ® A rebel ship commanded by a former slave named Chakotay attempts to evade pursuit in the Badlands . . . only to encounter a strange ship that was catapulted seventy thousand light-years across the galaxy. On board the craft are two aliens, one of whom has the potential to completely alter the balance of power within the Alliance. But as both sides of the struggle race to get to the stranger first, treachery throws all schemes into a tailspin.
Star Trek: NEW FRONTIER ® Following the Terran Empire's collapse, its longtime rival, the Romulan Star Empire, has absorbed many of the fringe civilizations spread across that part of the galaxy. One of the Romulans' slaves is M'k'nzy of Calhoun, a savage and unpredictable Xenexian who dreams of death . . . and who learns the value of freedom from the unlikeliest of teachers, a Romulan named Soleta.
Star Trek: DEEP SPACE NINE ® One fallen dictator's struggle to regain her power and her position leads to the discovery of a bold rebel plan for a decisive military strike against the Alliance. But while Kira Nerys navigates the dangerous road of politics, sex, and military intrigue that she believes will lead her back to reclaiming the Intendancy, cracks form in the rebel leadership, leading to a showdown that will change the course of the Mirror Universe.
Customer Reviews:
A trio of stories--two out of three are good. .......2007-08-31
This book contains three stories about the alternate universe first encountered in the original series and continued in Deep Space Nine. I enjoyed the first of these stories (dealing with characters from Star Trek: Voyager) and the third (dealing with characters from Deep Space Nine). The middle one was about the Romulans and I think all the characters in there were new, at least to me.
I was disappointed in that we didn't see a conclusion to the ending of empires towards which Spock was working in the first of the Mirro Universe books.
When did Star Trek become so raunchy?.......2007-08-13
After waiting for over a year for a new Deep Space Nine story, I was excited to see this book on the shelf (especially since it looks like Pocketbooks is never going to release "Fearful Symmetry"). I realize that in the "mirror universe" stories (which they've done to death, by the way) the characters are all very different from the characters we as fans know. But I found nothing respectable in the characters in this book, which has always been what drew me to Star Trek... I care about the characters. I read the stories because I want to know how things turn out for the characters. But I kept reading these stories waiting for them to get better... they didn't. These stories are weak, and that's being charitable.
And the language - I thought Star Trek was about ADVANCED people in Starfleet: healthier, better educated, less crime, etc. If these characters are so well-educated, then why can't they express themselves without such trashy language? I'm not talking about the typical four letter words that are used to express frustration or anger that one could reasonably expect, I'm talking about gutter language. And graphic depictions of extreme violence, torture, and sex that left me feeling like I'd just watched a couple of hours of FX on TV. I've never seen that in the Star Trek franchise before. I hope the editors at Simon and Schuster don't think they were updating Star Trek to make it more hip and modern, because this was just awful. And the worst part is that two of the three authors have written some very good Star Trek stories in the past. I don't know what happened, but this book was definitely a MISS! (That's a few hours of my life I wish I had back.)
Terran Rebellion.......2007-07-15
Barely compatible with the "Dark Passions" duo, Obsidian Alliances was nevertheless as well formulated as its Part 1, Glass Empires.
It would seem that the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and the Terran Rebellion are doomed to years of fighting, until one exterminates the other (or unless our heroic universe steps in). Mirror characters of DS9 and VOY are almost all as sharp as the ones we're used to except focussed on way different and desperate goals.
Never really connected with NF, but it did add to the completeness of the work.
Here's hoping that the violent Alliance also falls (their cooperation is tenuous at best anyway).
Not too keen on the larger font print. 3.5 stars.
FANTASTIC.......2007-05-16
This was better than the first in the Mirror Series.
Partially because I love the DS9 and New Frontiers Characters but doubly so as I do not care for the Voyager crew and loved that story as well!
Mirror Universe / Obsidian Alliances.......2007-05-14
Nice job on the alternate universe books. A fast-paced read and very well done.
Book Description
From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey. The ninth book in the epic series, and the third book in the third Foreigner trilogy, Deliverer is a worthy contribution to Cherryh's magnum opus that is destined to be a classic.
Customer Reviews:
Continueing the saga of Cajeiri..........2007-07-30
In Deliverer, Ms. Cherryh has picked up her Foreigner series and continued it forward. This time Bren is helping out the recently re-established aiji (I view this a shogun since I see lots of similarities between the Atevi and the Japanese, the Foreigner series I see as a more controlled Meiji government dealing with higher technology though) to recover his son who has gone missing. As is typical with many of CJ Cherryh's books in the Foreigner series, the opening is a little slow but important for setting the stage. In this case, the aiji's son (Cajeiri) establishes the tempo of the book (as a matter of fact, his point of view is used several times, something new to the Foreigner series) by acting much like a human teen would. These problems Cajeiri experiences cumulate in him being kidnapped by others seeking power.
As is typical in a book from Ms. Cherryh, the characters are strong and much is said indirectly. While I felt the opening was weak for Ms. Cherryh (the Foreigner series is strong in politics/relations between people, action is sometimes weak), the back half moves at a nice clip and delivers as one of the stronger conclusions in the Foreigner series. If there's one disappointment with them though, it's that this book is wide open for another trilogy for Foreigner (sorry, I prefer the Union/Alliance line). The bottom line, a solid 4 star book. Thank you very much for the tale Ms. Cherryh!
Can't wait for another one!.......2007-07-29
Other reviewers have covered the basic plot, so I won't re-hash that. C.J. Cherryh just does such wonderful aliens - not the physical form, but the thought processes that make them so different from humans. Many people have trouble just dealing with different human cultures. Cherryh takes you right out of the human realm, via language and cultural values, to let you really experience how different another intelligent race could really be. I've loved all her science fiction since reading Brothers of Earth and Hunter of Worlds many years ago. This latest in the Foreigner universe was well worth waiting for (and now I have to go back and re-read earlier ones!) in the action, the well-known (and dare I say loved) characters, but is still pushing the boundaries of human-Atevi relations by exploring further into the world of the Atevi heir after his exposure to human children at a formative time of his life. I sure hope there will be a follow-up to this latest book.
Very disappointing.......2007-06-26
This was just a tag-on to complete 9 books. Very weak and predictable in plot. First books written from view of main character. This book switched back and forth with another character with very indifferent results. This book takes the series nowhere and leaves the reader in the same place. It doesn't "complete" the series, nor does it set up for the obvious follow-on visit of more aliens. It's just an unrelated tale that isn't very good. Very disappointing to get drivel from such an excellant author.
Love this series. Can't get enough........2007-05-24
If you have followed this series you will enjoy this book.
Yeah, I know - not much detail in this review. I figure there is plenty of that in the editorial review, etc... and I hate to give away the plot of a book to folks who haven't read it yet!
I will say I have read just about everything this author has written and I find this series to be the most enjoyable. If you truely enjoy sci-fi and/or fantasy writing, then start at the beginning of this series and read the whole thing. It will be worth the $$$.
R Walker
An Avid Reader
A Timely Rescue.......2007-04-06
Deliverer (2007) is the ninth SF novel in the Foreigner series, following Pretender. In the previous volume, the return of the Phoenix after a two year absence greatly shocked the aishidi'tat of the Western Association. Many had thought that the aiji-dowager Ilisidi and the aiji-heir Cajeiri would never be seen again. Then the reappearance of Tabini-aiji caused the usurping government of Murini-aiji to collapse and his supporters to run for their lives.
In this novel, Tabini-aiji and his supporters are reoccupying the Bu-javid. Yet the damage done by the usurpers was never repaired. The bodies have been removed, but the bullet holes and blood are still there. Tabini-aiji's apartment even has a room with a gaping hole for a floor.
The apartment of the paidhi has been claimed by an atevi clan and Bren Cameron is currently living with the aiji-dowager. Then he is informed that Lord Tatiseigi, Cajeiri's great-uncle, is returning to his estate and Ilisidi is accompanying him. So Bren will now be moving into Tatiseigi's apartment, where he resided once before. Meanwhile, Tabini-aiji and his consort Daimiri, together with Cajeiri, are moving into Ilisidi's apartment while their rooms are being repaired.
The confusion in the bureaucracy is even more acute. Fortunately, most of the paidhi's records had been removed by his staff and hidden from the usurpers. Now Bren is trying to trace his staff and reassemble them in a nearby hotel. Such confusion is also evident in the Messenger, Transportation and other Guilds.
The Assassins' Guild is even more upset. Some southern assassins had changed man'chi to Murini. Maybe even the Guildmaster did so as well, but the Guild is not telling. Bren does know that the Guild is presently readjusting itself, but Banichi, Tano and Algini are spending too much time on Guild business while Jago alone tends to his security.
In this story, Cajeiri and his young bodyguards Jegari and Antaro are being neglected by everybody. Cajeiri is strongly feeling the absence of his human friends and the conveniences of their environment. So Cajeiri has a plan. Of course, it gets him into trouble, even with the paidhi, and Cajeiri is relegated to his parent's apartment for an indefinite time.
Then Cajeiri disappears. Antaro is found unconscious on a lower floor of the building. Later Jegari turns up, bloody but safe, to relate his experiences during the kidnapping of Cajeiri. Unfortunately, he did not recognize his captors, but does know that they took Cajeiri to a cargo airplane. Given the information available, Tabini decides that one specific plane must be carrying his son and sends Ilisidi, Bren and their security after it.
This story introduces a new factor in the Western Association political environment. It also allows Cajeiri to use some of his newly acquired expertise to frustrate his captors. And Bren learns what the station has landed on the planet during his absence.
One of the author's strong points is also a weakness. She throws the reader into an alien situation and lets the reader gradually learn about the milieu during the course of the book. Readers without much SF experience tend to get lost in the weirdness. In this series, however, the atevi and their planet are starting to become familiar. Naturally, the author has already introduced a new alien culture to further confuse the reader. Enjoy!
Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic cultures, wild adventures and an underinformed paidhi.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Book Description
This important textbook is based on, though independent of, an educational TV series to be broadcast on public television in the United States. Its aim is to guide students and general readers to an understanding of how the physical world works; physics is presented as a human endeavour, with historical development forming a thread throughout the text. The prerequisites are minimal, only basic algebra and trigonometry since the necessary calculus is developed in the text, with physics providing the motivation. New concepts are introduced at the natural, logical point with many historical references to place physics in a social perspective. Many topics from twentieth-century physics are included, for example energy, low temperature physics, relativity and black holes. The book is attractively and profusely illustrated and will be welcomed by students and also by general readers for whom this will be a stimulating alternative to other, less-thorough treatments.
Book Description
There are moments glimpsed only in shadow, where darkness rules and evil incarnate thrives. You hope against hope that in your lifetime, evil is relegated to the shadows. But what if it wasn't?
What if you lived in a universe where your life was measured only by what you could do for the Empire? What would you do to survive? Would you sell your soul to free yourself? If you were offered the chance to rule, would you seize it? If you could free your universe from the darkness but only at the cost of your life, would you pay that price?
Star Trek: Enterprise® She seized power in a heartbeat, daring to place herself against all the overlords of the Empire. Empress Hoshi Sato knows the future that could be; now all she has to do is make sure it never happens. For her to rule, she must hold sway not only over the starship from the future but also over her warlords, the resistance, and her Andorian husband. As quickly and brutally as Hoshi seized power, imperial rule is taken from her. Her only chance to rule again is to ally herself with a lifelong foe, and an alien.
Star Trek® One man can change the future, but does he dare? Spock, intrigued by the vision of another universe's Federation, does what no Vulcan, no emperor, has ever done: seize power in one blinding stroke of mass murder. And at the same instant he gains imperial power, Spock sows the seeds for the Empire's downfall. Is this a form of Vulcan madness, or is it the coolly logical plan of a man who knows the price his universe must pay for its freedom?
Star Trek: The Next Generation® Humanity is a pitiful collection of enslaved, indentured, and abused peoples. No one dares to question the order, except at peril of their lives. One man survives by blinding himself to the misery around him. However, Jean-Luc Picard resists, just once. And in that one instant he unlocks a horror beyond the tyranny of the Alliance. Can a man so beaten down by a lifetime of oppression stop the destruction?
Customer Reviews:
The Mirror Universe is one of the best Star Trek concepts..........2007-09-16
If you like Star Trek buy this book. But first watch the Mirror Universe episodes so you're not lost. :)
Mirror Universe Part 1: Glass Empires (Star Trek Mirror Universe).......2007-09-14
First story line was good, the second one with Spock was excellent. I really enjoyed reading that one. I really enjoyed reading these books.
The only thing I wish for is that the authors of Star Trek keep track of each other's works so they don't contradict each other. I have noticed, between this one and Book II, especially Book II, there are contradictions between these books and "Star Trek Dark Passions Books one and two".
For example, how the Terran empire fell, who was in charge. In these books Spock was the Emporer. In Dark Passions, Spock was merely a Captain, yet both deal with the Mirror Images. Kira Nerys position is different in both, and their situations are far different. Though their personalities are similar.
I would recommend to read one or the other but not both. Though I enjoyed these two books, I preferred Dark Passions series.
Fall of the Terran Empire.......2007-07-15
There are Trek timeline inconsistencies, for example, the length of time that Terrans et al became subject to the lethal Alliance wouldn't be as long as "generations" as quoted in the book. The episodes seem to suggest less than a hundred years, probably even less than half a century (given that the average human lifespan is about 75 years).
Also, it would seem that the author did not take into consideration "Dark Mirror" (Diane Duane), in which a lethal version of Picard captained a dreadnought Enterprise-D. However, I was able to mentally set aside the Duane work to realise that the canon episodes never included their own Mirror Universe TNG.
The book itself was clearly well thought out, a feasible route to destruction of the tyrannical Terran Empire...unfortunately to be surmounted by the even more tyrannical Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
Enjoyable read, even if it does place our favourite characters in an unpleasant "what-if" situation.
Not too keen on the larger font print. 3.5 stars.
2 out of 3 are great stories.......2007-05-26
I say that two out of three stories are great because the Enterprise era story and the TOS era story were both spectacular. The TNG era story wasn't that great but the author of that one isn't one of my favorites either so I may be biased.
More adventures in the Mirror Universe!.......2007-05-10
Three stories that flow together to form a great picture of the Mirror Universe. Exciting, logical (sorry, couldn't resist) and a joy to read! Highly recommended.
Amazon.com
As a boy, Brian Greene read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and was transformed. Camus, in Greene's paraphrase, insisted that the hero triumphs "by relinquishing everything beyond immediate experience." After wrestling with this idea, however, Greene rejected Camus and realized that his true idols were physicists; scientists who struggled "to assess life and to experience the universe at all possible levels, not just those that happened to be accessible to our frail human senses." His driving question in The Fabric of the Cosmos, then, is fundamental: "What is reality?" Over sixteen chapters, he traces the evolving human understanding of the substrate of the universe, from classical physics to ten-dimensional M-Theory.
Assuming an audience of non-specialists, Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. For the most part, he succeeds. His language reflects a deep passion for science and a gift for translating concepts into poetic images. When explaining, for example, the inability to see the higher dimensions inherent in string theory, Greene writes: "We don't see them because of the way we see…like an ant walking along a lily pad…we could be floating within a grand, expansive, higher-dimensional space."
For Greene, Rhodes Scholar and professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, speculative science is not always as thorough and successful. His discussion of teleportation, for example, introduces and then quickly tables a valuable philosophical probing of identity. The paradoxes of time travel, however, are treated with greater depth, and his vision of life in a three-brane universe is compelling and--to use his description for quantum reality--"weird."
In the final pages Greene turns from science fiction back to the fringes of science fact, and he returns with rigor to frame discoveries likely to be made in the coming decades. "We are, most definitely, still wandering in the jungle," he concludes. Thanks to Greene, though, some of the underbrush has been cleared. --Patrick O'Kelley
Book Description
From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists and author the Pulitzer Prize finalist
The Elegant Universe, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.
Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.
Customer Reviews:
Enough with the stupid pop-culture references.......2007-10-01
As other reviewers have pointed out, the book tends to unnecessarily incorporate stupid pop-culture references to make the material seem more accessible to the layperson. Instead of making the material more accessible it seems extremely contrived and insults the intelligence of the reader. References to the Kwik-E-Mart, Mulder and Scully, and all of the other hoohah this book contains obscure the reader from what is essentially a fine work. Brian Greene's writing and explanatory power is unbelievable and it is a shame that the publisher probably insisted on the pop-culture references.
The book was definitely worth the purchase for its clear explanations of extra dimensions and the arrow of time. However, I did feel the portions dealing with time travel and black holes to be of lesser quality than writings by other authors like Michio Kaku. I recently read Kaku's "Parallel Worlds," and this book back to back and would say that if you're purchasing one book I would side with Kaku. This book contains much more on time than "Parallel Worlds" but the other topics covered are pretty much identical.
Excellent book!! not written like an encyclopedia.......2007-08-16
I found this book to be excellent. The author really understands how to take a complex subject like this and not make it read like a tedious textbook, also without dumbing it down to the point you feel like a 2 year old.. excellent read. Fascinating. Highly reccomend
This book is great.......2007-08-11
This book is great but I do not know if audio version is the best choice.
I would like to re-read some parts and see the releated illustrations. I believe it makes it easier to understand.
einstein for dummies.......2007-07-12
makes a very complicated subject readable for the layman.
it seemsthat the more science advances the more mysterious the
world becomes.
for me it reveals Gods creation as even more amazing as time
goes by
h.g.
Marvelous (if occasionally uneven) presentation of marvelous physics.......2007-07-11
I read the first half of _The Elegant Universe_, but I didn't finish it. I think it was because I felt that Greene was giving too much string theory without enough justification for giving me so much string theory. This may sound like an odd complaint, but it makes sense if you compare the earlier book with The Fabric of the Cosmos. Greene spends more time walking through..well..the fabric of the cosmos, and when he does get to string theory, it makes more sense why.
I actually found the string theory portion of the book (section 4 out of 5) less interesting than the first sections, which give a lot of experimentally based information about really, really crazy things in general relativity and quantum mechanics (inflation, entanglement, the time "loaf," quantum uncertainty, multiple pasts, entropy, symmetry, etc.). Greene is very good at explaining what these experiments & theories mean on an intuitive level. Sometimes too good. (Some of the examples using Bart Simpson, etc. are a little slower than necessary, but never egregiously so.) There are plenty of moments in the text that hurt your brain, however, so if the material is new to you, the presentation will not detract.
One of the best features of the book is the leitmotiv of time's arrow. Greene keeps returning to the problem of time: why does it only flow in one direction, when physical law seems to suggest that it could just as well flow in both directions? The answer (as far as we know) is entropy, and he uses time and entropy to tie his narrative together.
The last section of the book (section 5) is a pastiche, and some of it seemed disjointed. But the book ends on a fascinating reflection on the composite, non-fundamental nature of spacetime, and he does encourage his reader to check out Lee Smolin's theory of quantum loop gravity, which is a counter to string theory.
Having recently read Dawkin's _God Delusion_, I took note of the fact that Greene also declares himself (toward the end of the book) as a determinist-materialist-monist. I was struck by how infinitely less aggressive Greene's representation of this position is.
A great read!
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Books Index
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Astronomy
| Astronomy
| Science
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National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky (Audubon Society Field Guide Series)
Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Educational Innovation)
Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe, Fourth Edition
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Astronomy Hacks: Tips and Tools for Observing the Night Sky (Hacks)
