1 to 16 of 16
Review Date: 12/15/2011
A magical tale about a mysterious little circus that visits a dusty Arizona town and transforms the lives and perspectives of everyone who visits its strange and exotic exhibits, creatures and performances. The book was brought brilliantly to life in the film "7 Faces of Dr. Lao," thanks to Tony Randall, who played multiple parts in the film.
Look for versions of the book containing the original illustrations by the brilliant Boris Artzybasheff.
Look for versions of the book containing the original illustrations by the brilliant Boris Artzybasheff.
Review Date: 3/14/2012
Craptacular. This might have been regarded as edgy when it was published in 1969, but now it is dated and stupid. Little character development, adolescent plot that would probably thrill 13-year-old boys.
Review Date: 6/26/2011
A coming-of-age and coming-of-enlightenment story about a young man in a semi-medieval post-post-apocalyptic America where knowledge and those who seek it are held suspect. Pangborn creates a richly imagined de-industrialized civilization that has arisen out of the ashes of our own. Dangerous beasts again roam in the countryside of what once was the United States, and competing mini-nations vie for pre-eminence. Against this backdrop, Pangborn tells the story of Davy, an orphaned indentured servant who follows his own questioning mind to find adventure, freedom, love and learning in a time shrouded in superstition and ignorance.
Review Date: 5/26/2011
Good adventure.
Review Date: 8/28/2014
Helpful Score: 1
This book and "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by the late great Christopher Hitchens are the gospels of atheism.
Nobody else has made the case better for the toxic effects of belief in imaginary beings. I'd say Hitchens is better at highlighting the evil outcomes of belief in imaginary beings, while Dawkins does the better job of highlighting the logical, scientific and philosophical absurdity of belief in imaginary beings.
Read them both.
Nobody else has made the case better for the toxic effects of belief in imaginary beings. I'd say Hitchens is better at highlighting the evil outcomes of belief in imaginary beings, while Dawkins does the better job of highlighting the logical, scientific and philosophical absurdity of belief in imaginary beings.
Read them both.
Review Date: 12/24/2010
Slow, tedious and unaffecting. It takes 200 pages just to get to the global disaster, then another 400 pages to tell the story -- very slowly and boringly -- of 10 or 20 survivors. There must be at least 100 pages describing nothing but people driving on muddy roads and incessant rain trying to find sanctuary. The road was muddy, the rain was incessant. The road was muddy, the rain was incessant. The road was muddy, the rain was incessant. You get the picture.
The comet impact itself occurs mostly off-stage, as do many of its devastating effects. The characters are not terribly interesting and the main threat in the book -- an army of cannibalistic ex-soldiers and religious nuts -- just never really becomes believable. A supposed love quadrangle is equally unbelievable and emotionally flat and unconvincing. Pat Frank's "Alas Babylon" is far superior and a heck of a lot shorter than this weighty doorstop. "When Worlds Collide" does a far better job of communicating the dread of a planetary collision, and its love triangle is believable and affecting.
The comet impact itself occurs mostly off-stage, as do many of its devastating effects. The characters are not terribly interesting and the main threat in the book -- an army of cannibalistic ex-soldiers and religious nuts -- just never really becomes believable. A supposed love quadrangle is equally unbelievable and emotionally flat and unconvincing. Pat Frank's "Alas Babylon" is far superior and a heck of a lot shorter than this weighty doorstop. "When Worlds Collide" does a far better job of communicating the dread of a planetary collision, and its love triangle is believable and affecting.
Review Date: 8/12/2011
Another excellent post-apocalypse book. A small group of people survive a nuclear war and begin rebuilding civilization outside a ruined castle in France. A really thorough exploration of how human communities form,how humans band together for survival, then lash out at others for the same reason. What do you do about the starving refugees who threaten your fragile food supply? How do leaders emerge, how do conflicts arise and resolve? Plenty of action and adventure, especially when the Malevil community, which is fairly open and democratic, confronts the totalitarian system that arises in a neighboring town. These nascent communities of survivors are the seed from which Earth will be repopulated and human society will be reborn. Which will prosper?
Review Date: 8/5/2012
The Earth is blasted and burned by an unexplained force and a relative handful of people survive, subsisting on what little food remains and dodging some ravenous creatures created by a space-borne organism. The tale is one of unrelieved misery and loss. In fact, it is monotonously endlessly repetitive. I kept reading hoping that the plot would develop. It didnt.
Review Date: 8/12/2011
For lovers of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, this is a must. A young man is cast out of his clan's exclusive explorer/warrior caste. Accompanied by his highly intelligent telepathic cougar-like companion, he goes on a trek through the nuke-shattered remains of North America to redeem his honor and his place. Many adventures follow, including facing a rat-like mutant race that poses an existential threat to what remains of the human race.
Steamboats on the Mississippi (American Heritage Junior Library)
Author:
Book Type: School & Library Binding
1
Author:
Book Type: School & Library Binding
1
Review Date: 5/16/2017
Beautifully illustrated, packed with facts and river anecdotes, this is an wonderfully readable account of one of the most flamboyant eras in our nation's history. Today, steampunk is cosplay. Back then, people lived it.
Review Date: 4/24/2024
Helpful Score: 1
Much as I like Philip Wylie's books-- particularly "When Worlds Collide" and "After Worlds Collide," there is a reason he never won the Nobel Prize for Literature. His aim is not to create art, but to express his views on the social, sexual, and political issues of his time. The narrative is simply a framework on which to hang his ideas. Not a lot of narrative craftsmanship is devoted to that framework, with results that are often clunky and creaky. In this book, written in the midst of 1950s angst about the Communist menace and atomic weapons, his aim is to argue that nuclear war is survivable, but only if proper civil defense measures are put in place. The story takes place in two Midwestern cities located in two states sitting across a river from each other. One city takes civil defense seriously, the other considers it a waste of time, believing that nuclear war is not survivable. Then both cities suffer a nuclear attack, allowing Wylie to show how each fares. What is strange is that the first four-fifths of the novel is a soap opera about the lives of several families in each of the towns, including Wylie's usual fascination with sexual, emotional and psychological tension that results from a love triangle. Only in the final section of the novel does the nuclear attack occur. This buildup up is long and often boring, making the apocalyptic conclusion seem rushed and perfunctory. Overall, the book is a long, boring slog. Wylie has done better, including "Triumph" the post-nuclear-apocalypse novel he published nine years later.
Review Date: 5/26/2011
This hardly qualifies as a book. It's a pamphlet. And pretty old and beat up, too.
Review Date: 12/8/2010
Helpful Score: 1
A strong premise and good development all comes to nought with an ending that turns to mush. The ending reminds me of the conclusion of the movie "2001," a long hallucinogenic pastiche that can mean anything, and therefore means nothing.
Review Date: 7/27/2012
Post-apocalyptic novel about a guy trying to reach the sanctuary of his brother's ranch in Montana in a world where the reduced human population consists of small hostile enclaves fending off roving packs of raiders. Along the way, he picks up a wolf companion. Slow and dull. Interminable descriptions of the most mundane matters. Virtually nothing happens, and the most dramatic development -- the attack on the armored trade wagon -- occurs off-stage, so to speak, merely being recounted in abbreviated form later by a survivor.
Review Date: 12/23/2014
A straightforward tale of how a small group of decent people band together to help and protect each other after an apocalyptic event destroys the nation. It's a very practical, nuts-and-bolts kind of story that quietly illuminates the virtues and survival value of caring, compassion, community and hard work.
The only false note is that the evil-doers, a gang of good-for-nothing raiders and murderers, are all women. This seems very unlikely. But it doesn't detract significantly from the story.
While I wouldn't call this a guide to prepping and survivalism, I think it captures an authentic sense of what it would be like to have to cope in a world where the cornucopia of consumerist society suddenly vanishes, forcing people to master the skills necessary to supply all their needs themselves.
The only false note is that the evil-doers, a gang of good-for-nothing raiders and murderers, are all women. This seems very unlikely. But it doesn't detract significantly from the story.
While I wouldn't call this a guide to prepping and survivalism, I think it captures an authentic sense of what it would be like to have to cope in a world where the cornucopia of consumerist society suddenly vanishes, forcing people to master the skills necessary to supply all their needs themselves.
Review Date: 11/24/2020
This out of the way corner of New York seems to have been spared the worst of the apocalypse that played out in distant population centers devastated by nuclear terrorism and disease. At least in this town, it is a gentler post-apocalyptic world than most. For one thing, everyone seems to be extremely well-fed. And there are signs of enterprise and economic revival. But there are also hints of the kind of darkness that might arise, as various groups coalesce around ambitious leaders who seek to impose their will on the community. A thoughtful story that combines philosophical reflection with action.
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