Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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An amusing assault on Christian Science's more extravagant claims to cure illness and on founder Mary Baker Eddy's obfuscating writing style. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This Is How It's Done
Twain amusingly eviscerates Mary Baker Eddy and her religion in this still-amusing book.A century later, his deft skewering of religious foibles and fantasies still delights.Would that he could see the world of today: Christian Science still exists, though in a much shrunken form, and hundreds (thousands!) of equally improbable cults thrive alongside it.

Where's Twain now that we really need him?? ... Read more

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Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text, possible missing pages, missing text and other issues beyond our control. ... Read more

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During the Golden Age of Islam (seventh through seventeenth centuries A.D.), Muslim philosophers and poets, artists and scientists, princes and laborers created a unique culture that has influenced societies on every continent. This book offers a fully illustrated, highly accessible introduction to an important aspect of that culture--the scientific achievements of medieval Islam. Howard Turner opens with a historical overview of the spread of Islamic civilization from the Arabian peninsula eastward to India and westward across northern Africa into Spain. He describes how a passion for knowledge led the Muslims during their centuries of empire-building to assimilate and expand the scientific knowledge of older cultures, including those of Greece, India, and China. He explores medieval Islamic accomplishments in cosmology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, medicine, natural sciences, alchemy, and optics. He also indicates the ways in which Muslim scientific achievement influenced the advance of science in the Western world from the Renaissance to the modern era. This survey of historic Muslim scientific achievements offers students and general readers a window into one of the world's great cultures, one which is experiencing a remarkable resurgence as a religious, political, and social force in our own time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wonderful Introduction to Islamic Scientific Achievements
After having just taken a course on the history of the lands of Islam, I found this book to be extremely interesting.Howard Turner covers every area of science imaginable from astrology to medicine to alchemy.Each chapter gives a good introduction to the achievements that were made by the Islamic scientists.Each chapter also starts off by examining where this field of study originated and how the Muslim scientists expanded upon it or completely changed the field of study.The only thing that disappointed me about the chapters was that they were very short.Each chapter gave a brief overview of the major achievements and beliefs of the times but Turner did not go into great detail on any one area of study.Although the chapters were short, Turner provides excellent photos at the end of each section to show you what these scientists were working with and the diagrams that they created.It was absolutely fascinating to see just how advance science was seven hundred years ago and just how much our world of science is based on what was explored at this time.

But an exhibit of Islamic Science, a book does not make

"But an exhibit a book does not make, for an exhibit is one thing and a book is something slightly different, though both products can in principle convey very significant educational messages in their own different ways." George Saliba



Pre Islamic Science:
Alexandria had become the established center of Ancient world's science and philosophy, by the first century B.C., the towering Pharos of enlightenment with its libraries, and institutions. This meeting place of Hellenist and Oriental philosophies with advanced ancient Egyptian Astronomy, Medicine, Chemical technology, mathematics, and Hermeticism, out of which evolved Neoplatonism, became a crucible of sciences and civilized thought.
The Alexandrine heritage systematized and put into dialectical form by the peculiar discursive power of the Greeks, described by the uninformed as greek science, passed from Alexandria to Antioch, and from there to Edessa, by the Monophysite Christian and Syriac Nestorians, particularly instrumental in the evolution of learning in Syriac, as far east as Persia. In the third century A.D., King Shapur I of Persia, founded a school, set up on the model of those at Alexandria and Antioch, in a metropolis that became a center of ancient sciences, studied in Greek and Syriac; astronomy, medicine, mathematics, and logic were taught, mostly from Greek texts translated into Syriac. This school, lasted long after the rise of the Abbasid caliphate, and became an important source of ancient learning in the Islamic world.

Exhibition Catalogue:
I have to start with stating that I was fascinated with this superb collection that still exhibit the splendor of the civilization that produced those objects, and the undisclosed diversity of its inventors Copts, Syriacs, Persians and later Andalusians, majorly of Christian tradition. Since I am a trained engineer who reads in Arabic, I could decipher the writings enjoying more than most of the Western readers and could not agree more with eminent scholar G. Saliba that, "one can easily detect the skill with which this diplomatic curator operated, a skill that makes it very hard for this reviewer to speak critically of a book in which he is thanked for 'valuable guidance'."

Muslim Scientists:
Turner failed like Dr. Hamed Ead, Professor of Chemistry, Cairo U. and director of the Science Heritage Center, Cairo, both briefly quoting or editing G. Sarton's "Introduction to the History of Science," to identify a great many Christian Scientists as Thabit ibn Qurra, Hunain ibn Ishaq, and numerous others, between those who advanced the Islamic motivated empire. "It will suffice here to evoke a few glorious names without contemporary equivalents in the West: Jabir ibn Haiyan, al-Kindi, al-Khwarizmi, al-Fargani, al-Razi, Thabit ibn Qurra, al-Battani, Hunain ibn Ishaq, ... A magnificent array of names which it would not be difficult to extend. If anyone tells you that the Middle Ages were scientifically sterile, just quote these men to him, all of whom flourished within a short period, 750 to 1100 A.D." They did not spring out of obscurity, but pre-existed propagating Christian knowledge of Alexandrine Copts and Antiochian Syriacs.

Scientific Instruments in Islam:
The category of scientific instruments, dealing mainly with astronomy like quadrants, globes, astrolabes, and other directional instruments, which have dominated by their very precision and beauty in exhibitions of Islamic science, have become the icons of Islamic scientific culture, are overwhelmingly used to represent the spirit of 'Islamic Science'. Astrolabes, specifically, played a very important role in Islamic civilization, a role that has yet to be well assessed.
John Philoponus, a Christian philosopher, scientist, and theologian who lived approximately from 490 to 570, in Alexandria is also known as Yehya Al Nahawi( The Grammarian) His oeuvre comprises at least 40 items on diverse subjects such as ..., logic, mathematics, physics, psychology, cosmology, astronomy,... even medical treatises have been attributed to him. A substantial part of his work has come down to us, but some treatises are known only indirectly through quotations or translations into Syriac and Arabic, as quoted from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wrote on The Astrolabe; Treatise Concerning the use and arrangement of the ASTROLABE and the Engravings upon it; "The subject has already been treated sufficiently by my teacher the philosopher Ammonius, but still requires to be further elucidated so that it may be easily apprehended by those also who are not instructed in such matters."

Themes & Methods:
An introductory few pages on history of that branch of science, are followed by mesmerizing photographs of the precedent objects mentioned, exhibiting the splendor of the civilization that produced those objects. Those cursory introductions are outdated and wanting. Their related captions form unlinked fragmented narratives neither complementingnor coherent with the introductory note expected from a Catalogue, let alone a specialized book. 5 stars for the photos, 3 stars for the text!

A Compelling Review:
Dr. George Saliba, professor of Arabic and Islamic science, Columbia University, a Senior Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the Kluge Center, who rejects common explanations including the claim that scientific inquiry ran afoul with Islamic religious authorities, gave the utmost review. "This book would have been inconceivable without the traveling exhibition "The Heritage of Islam" that was mounted on the occasion of the onset of the Fourteenth Centennial of Islam ... The science curator for that exhibit who diligently collected or photographed the scientific objects exhibited, talked to people all over the world in academic circles, museums, ... Unfortunately, he decided to insinuate that his book was an illustrated introduction to science in medieval Islam."

Uncommonly Cool
This is an extremely terrific introduction to an unfortunately little-known topic.In fifteen chapters and an epilogue, we are treated here to articulate, carefully crafted commentary and overviews of a myriad of medieval Islamic scientific, pseudo-scientific, and philosophical milieus.Turner presents us with chapters upon astronomy, medicine, geography, alchemy, andmathematics, among many other topics, as well as the Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Babylonian, etc. roots of the traditions surveyed.Each chapter includes intelligently selected material, which is oftentimes broken down into various subsections, for increased clarity and focus.One thing that the new reader of this book might want to be aware of is that the body of text inmost chapters isliterally only five to ten pages long. A lot of information is conveyed in the sections at the end of each chapter, which consist of beautiful (black and white) photographs and illustrations of various medieval islamic scientific instruments, observatories, learning academies, etc.Below the photographs are pithy, well-written commentaries upon the objects in the photographs.Don't skip over these commentaries -- they contain some of the best material in the book.Also watch for the helpful timeline in an appendix at the end, the glossary of unfamiliar Arabic vocabulary, and the very useful bibliography.Definitely take the time to scan through the bibliography, if you have any interest in pursuing further work in this area.It contains most of the classic works on this topic, and many lesser-known articles, books, etc.

Many people reading this may be interested in the historical background of Islam, or in the medieval period in and of itself.For people who come to this book from curiosity about how ourclassical heritage was preserved during the centuries between Rome and the Renaissance, (i.e., while the Islamic world was keeping the scholarly and scientific traditions alive, and Europe generally went to pieces), I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend "Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Latin and Greek Literature," by L.D. Reynolds.The title tells you what that book is about, and it's very well done.

This book is very interesting, very well-researched, and beautifully presented.Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

The pictures alone can tell the story.
I was fortunate to read this in manuscript and knew that it was something most readers would like because of the wonderful illustrations. Readers cannot find a better place to begin to understand the fantastic developments in the Islamic world at a time when Europe had lost most ancient knowledge. It will probably become a required book for most courses dealing with the Islamic and Arabic civilizations. ... Read more

Product Description
PREFACE
BOOK I. of this volume occupies a quarter or
a third of the volume, and consists of matter
written about four years ago, but not hitherto
published in book form. It contained errors
of judgment and of fact. I have now corrected
these to the best of my ability and later
knowledge.
Book II. was written at the beginning of
1903, and has not until now appeared in any
form. In it my purpose has been to present a
character-portrait of Mrs. Eddy, drawn from.
her own acts and words solely, not from hearsay
and rumor; and to explain the nature and
scope of her Monarchy, as revealed in the Laws
by which she governs it, and which she wrote
herself.
MARK TWAIN.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at http://www.forgottenbooks.org ... Read more

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Discover the Light that Will Lead You Out of Your Most Shameful Sins

It's destroying the lives of an astounding number of Christian men - and women. Yet most of us are afraid to talk about it. It's pornography. And if it's invaded your life or the life of a loved one, you can't afford to put this book down.

Secret Sexual Sins tackles the problem of pornography addiction from a Christian perspective. Completely non-judgmental and biblically based, this accessible and comforting book breaks new ground in pornography addiction management by combining proven treatment techniques with scripture. And it does so with a personal standpoint that's instantly relatable. You'll learn:

• Why good men (and women) succumb to the allure of pornography - even when they know better

• What the Bible really says about self-pleasure - and its consequences

• The most important warning signs of a pornography addict

• How to draw upon the strength of the Lord to beat back the urge

• Recommendations for wives - what's a woman to do?

• The truth about homosexuality and lesbianism

Whether you're a man struggling with an Internet porn addiction, a woman who has fallen into pornography, Secret Sexual Sins has the answers from the highest authority - God Himself.

You can recover from this debilitating sin.

Let Pastor Fred C. Rochester show you how!



... Read more

Product Description
Microsoft Corporation creates the world's first truly intelligent life form in one of their computers.The life form takes over the World Wide Web and modifies the DNA of the human genome project.When the fault is discovered, it only makes things worse and soon we are in his complete control and the human animal is being husbanded by Ishmael, the artificial life form.Over the next one million years our evolution is altered to create a creature that escapes the bonds of this universe.Sound like Science Fiction to you?You would be right there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Last And First Men...
was a book written in 1930 and is the story of future humanity over the next two billion years.It is a epic story that has influenced such greats as C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke.THIS is not that book. This is a want to be, a failed fantasy of the future of some race over a million year period.It isn't mankind because they end up being so messed up and twisted that I would not call them even a relation.It is bland, many of the ideas are decades old or not very imaginative.A universe shaped by two human brains linked together?Did he pick that idea out of a hat?It is slow and boring and makes me feel like I am plowing through mud and getting nowhere.And what about the first contact with the Zedonia? There is so much filler and trash in this book, that it drags you down.
I can't suggest buying it.Even if you got it for free I would not suggest reading it.I feel like I have lost time and energy, wasted days, on this sad excuse for a fantasy book.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

confuzed young man
I think the author is a very confused young man.As a Christian Scientist, I am appaled at the misunderstanding of what Christian Science is by both the author and his mother. Given that the Christian Science practitioner called by the family failed so siginificantly to help either of them, she should have been fired for non-performance of her job. I applied Christian Science--CORRECTLY--to heal a painful heel that a doctor told me I'd have to live with for the rest of my life.(The heel pad was destroyed. I was carrying a 35 lb backpack.Every step was agony. I healed it in 15 minutes by focusing on the Lord's Prayer, and on God's presence and power. Next day I hiked 7 pain-free miles still carrying the pack.) Christian Science DOES work when correctly applied--which it is clearly obvious the author and his mother and their practitioner didn't do.

magnificent study of spiritual torture
I LOVE this book. Being a former Christian Scientist myself, I've suffered the tortures of the damned thanks to Mary Baker Eddy. The book Simmons writes should be required reading for all recovering ex-Christian Scientists.

The only thing I would like to have seen more of is a more detailed picture of Simmons' father. It would help the reader understand more clearly the whole family dynamics of such a religious saga.

I salute you, Thomas Simmons, for your courage and your willingness to share your journey!

Still too close ....
It is interesting to compare this book to Blue Windows, the
other member of the very small literature of memoirs by
people brought up in Christian Science.I did not like
the Unseen Shore as much for several reasons.

First, the author is still too close to his subject.His
anger is palpable throughout the book and gets tiresome by
the end.It is also a bit unfocused - much of what he blames
on Christian Science seems, from his story, more appropriately
assigned to his parents, who were unable to love him, at least
in a way he could appreciate, and unable to love each other.
His anger gets in the way of telling the story as well.He is
so mad at his parents and at Christian Science that the reader
simply can't understand why he stuck with it.When I got to
the section near the end where he indicates that he seriously
thought about becoming a Christian Science practitioner, I
found myself incredulous.It did not seem possible given
the story of his life related up to that point.Simmons
thinks he has attained prospective and peace, and perhaps
he now has 10 years after writing the book, but the text
belies his belief that he had it at the time he was writing.

Second, Simmons overgeneraliyes his own experience of growing
up in Christian Science.I did too, and although I am no longer
active in the Church, my own experience was completely different
from his.It is still the case that most of the loving, caring,
real people I have met in my life are Christian Scientists.
Yes, I met some people like his parents too, but they are
everywhere.Simmons seems to have an almost mystic view of the
well-being of persons who were not raised in Christian Science
(and, relatedly, of the healing powers of modern medicine).
I recognize both these views, but they are wrong and come from
being an outsider looking in.Simmons should go to Chicago
where the whole cultural atmosphere seems dominated by the, at
some point, very tiring whining of persons lamenting their
working class Catholic upbringings.The overall lesson is that
relying on one data point to make statements about a large
population is pretty much always a bad idea.

To conclude, a positive note.Even though it wasn't done when
he wrote the book, looking in on Simmon's spiritual journey,
even through the light fog of over-intellectualization that
likely comes from being a professor (another characteristic
this reviewer shares with the author), is a moving read, and one
that leads to useful thought for the reader.

A well-crafted, but modest memoir
This is a narrowly focused and very personal account of escaping the disembodied ideology/religion of Christian Science, to discover a kind of pesonal authenticity that seems to have left Simmons a sort of "pick and choose" delicatessan theist. So narrow and introsepctive is the approach that the reader is unaware that Simmons' struggle was going on during the denouement of the Vietman War, the turmoil of Watergate, the onset of postmodern culture in the 1970s and its reaction: the 8-year Reagan presidency.

The strengths of this book are his closely observed family dynamics - the parents, especially the mother, were committed Christian Sicentists, and they are revealed as sad and isolated figures in the end. Simmons also is very good at restrospective analysis of significant events in his adolesence and young adulthood. The reader feels compassion for his vulnerability in print and admires his dogged honesty to break out of a system that is neither Christian or scientific.

In addition, the book via its personal insights tracks the onset of serious decline of Christian Science in the 3rd quarter of the 20th century, a time when medical science was making enormous strides in eliminating disease and alleviating human suffering. It seems the only Christian Scientists I meet today are at least over 50 years old. If you want to see a fading American version of the ancient Gnostic heresy, you need look no further than Christian Science.

So why only 3 stars, a "gentleman's grade," for this little well-crafted book? In the end Simmons has written a respectable memoir of his spiritual journey, but within a bit too narrow of a framework. For a real 5-star account where the reader gets the "big picture" of a fully-realized and complex spiritual journey within the protagonist's times, I encourage you to delve into Thomas Merton's masterpiece, THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN.

In closing, now that THE UNSEEN SHORE is freely found in second-hand book stores, you can also save some $ on his little jewel. It will be a worthwhile read if the subject has piqued your interest.

A beautiful and touching memoir
I thought this book was wonderful -- beautifully written, very personal, revealing and deep.Due to its subject matter (the book is critical of the Christian Science church), I could see how it might not be palatable to many "true believers" of this religion.But those with no religious axes to grind will undoubtedly find this book a wonderful read and an eye-opener about the experience of growing up in a Christian Science household.Readers who are able to appreciate the book on more than the theological level will find it a lyrical, poetic, and deeply personal discussion about many things -- growing up, having a family, coming to terms with life and with the past.Give it an open-minded read.You'll be glad you did. ... Read more

Product Description
The first full-color volume in the Graphic Classics® series features an all-new comics adaptation of H.G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds'' by Rich Rainey and Micah Farritor. Also E.M. Forster's dark vision of the future ''The Machine Stops'', illustrated by Ellen Lindner. Plus stories by Jules Verne, Stanley Weinbaum, Lord Dunsany and Arthur Conan Doyle, with art by Brad Teare, George Sellas, Roger Langridge, Johnny Ryan and Hunt Emerson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Very nice
I bought this one for the short story "The machine Stops" This is a very good commic with a lots of different artists. All in color.

Great collection of science fiction classics
If you've ever wanted to read some of the classics in science fiction, but just can't seem to find the time, Graphic Classics has the solution for you. In these graphic novels, the classics come alive, and each story can be read in a relatively short time.

Stories included:
In a Thousand Years by Hans Christian Andersen
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne
A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum
The Disintegration Machine by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Bureau d'Echange de Maux by Lord Dunsany
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

I had never read any of these classics, and I enjoyed these tales told through pictures and dialogue between the major characters. Of course some of the original story is lost in these abbreviated versions, but the main point is retained in an easy to read format.

If you're a die-hard literary type, by all means read the originals. But if you enjoy action, good illustrations, and a quick read, these science fiction classics are just what you need to converse intelligently about stories you may never have had the chance to read otherwise.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Volume 17 showcases science fiction stories by Jules Verne, Stanley G. Weinbaum, E. M. Forster, and H. G. Wells
Science fiction has long been a staple of American popular culture from the days of pulp magazine, through motion pictures and television, and most pervasively, through books and comics. The newest addition to the impressive Eureka Production series of graphic novel adaptations of the world's great literature, Volume 17 showcases science fiction stories by Jules Verne, Stanley G. Weinbaum, E. M. Forster, and H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Dunsany, and Hans Christian Anderson. Each featured story is uniquely illustrated by a different artist. The result is a compendium of great graphic novel style adaptions that do full justice to the original authors and their seminal works. Graphic novel enthusiasts, as well as school and community librarians, would be well advised to visit the Eureka Productions website for a complete listing of their Graphic Classics series.

Six excellent classic science fiction stories in graphic form.
Posted 6/27/2009: This is a comic book rendering of six classic stories by top notch authors, including H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. The stories are told with good graphic illustrations by six different artists. It can be read by pre-teens, or anyone older than that, even older adults like me. I was particularly impressed by the art work of Micah Farritor in his rendition of The War of the Worlds. A good stocking stuffer.

My first graphic novel ... and I can't wait for more!
What a treat - six classic sci-fi adventures presented in a graphic novel format:

The War of the Worlds - HG Wells
A Martian Odyssey - Stanley G Weinbaum
The Disintegration Machine - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In the Year 2889 - Jules Verne
The Bureau d'Echange de Maux - Lord Dunsany
The Machine Stops - EM Forster

The "editor" of the collection, Tom Pomplun, has very cleverly collected six stories, dramatically different in their natures one from the other, and arranged for them to be illustrated in equally contrasting artistic styles.

"The War of the Worlds", for example, is portrayed in a beautifully painted subdued collection of browns, blacks, greys and ambers with more realistically drawn characters similar to many of the old stories seen in "Creepy" and "Eerie" collections. "The Bureau d'Echange de Maux" is drawn in a style that, to my mind, seems almost impressionist and, in complete contrast, "In the Year 2889", is illustrated in pure cartoon style with characters that most closely resemble the children's television series, "The Jetsons".

Of the six in the collection, I had actually read the full length novel for the first three listed above. I was pleased to discover that the story line contained in this collection didn't suffer in the least as a result of the severe abridgement that this format, of necessity, demands.

In fact, I was so pleased that I'm now in a serious hunt to find used copies of the full length versions of the other three which were new to me.

Not only that ... I found this particular volume of "Graphic Classics" so diverting and so entertaining that I also intend to hunt down the previous sixteen versions and begin a little collection. Who knows ... they may appreciate in value as collectibles as some point in the future! And, in the meantime, some great reading pleasure awaits the child in me that I have discovered still enjoys reading a comic book (oops ... I mean a "graphic novel"!)

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Science Curriculum
This is a great curriculum from Institute of Creation Research to teach preschool to 3rd grade solid scientific observation skills. They will be doing alot of classification ,as well as, you laying a foundation for "true" science. It's the same foundation that every major science pioneer founded their fields of study in.They knew there was a Creator and that He made set established laws andfunctions through which they could test and observe. Likewise this sets a beginning for the child to observe, study, and examine to determine. Ive got my older children in Apologia but for the younger child this will set up processing skills so when they get to the Apologia level they will be prepared. I like the hands on focus that he gives for the younger children. Instructions are easy to understand and experiment with and he clearly lays out the goals you want to get across. Since most of the ideas at this are are laying the foundation, you do have alot of experiments in classifying and observing and little experiments in lifesavers and some fun experiments that kids get a kick out of. Because of this, I would pick up a Backyard Scientist book or two and intersperse those w/ this curriculum ..using the ideas you learn from Gish...that way your kids wont get too burnt out on the classifying but will get the benefit of "testing" all things especially in the scientific realm ... Read more

Product Description
Eli and his friends have never seen a werewolf, or a troll, much less thought of them as being the good guys. But when a maniacal Dr. Moreau wanna-be takes their mountain valley home hostage just such a troll presents Eli with a mysterious living sword, an estranged Biblical artifact that cannot aid Eli until he unlocks its divine secret. It's time to choose sides as the powers of Heaven, science, and magic face off, with a young boy's faith, and the fate of two worlds, hanging in the balance! Faith... It isn't just BELIEVING anymore! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book
I am very happy with this purchase. It was a birthday gift for my daughter and she loves it.

An awesome read
What a stunning book - it's full of great ideas and some very fun characters. The book combines mountain folklore, monsters, science, and faith with all the mystery, excitement, and landscape that make a great sci-fi fantasy. This book is the flip side of the coin to Harry Potter and the Golden Compass in that the main character Eli learns to use his faith in God, instead of magic, to fight evil. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I thorougly enjoyed it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ignobel prize unlikely...
One would tend to think that, by now, every subject of intellectual or cultural appeal would have already been fully deconstructed (or otherwise posmodernized) given the academic supranimerary of English Studies faculty with nothing better to do.If I had to pick a subject obscure enough to have escaped the onslaught up till the end of last century I might have ventured: 'Pataphysics, an intellectual peral whose creation we owe to the unique and tragic genius of Alfred Jarry.But even this unlikely target seems to have now fallen under the pomo scalpel if one is to blame Christian Bok's recent "'Pataphysics: the poetics of an imaginary science".

Finding himself a letter short of a book, Bok opted to write an"obfuscule", i.e., a statement to his own misaprehension andmisappropriation of his subject. These start appropriately with the title. Presumably because it concerns itself with the search for imaginary solutions, 'pataphysics becomes "an imaginary science"! By the same token the Chemistry of aqueous solutions would surely become an "underwater science" or the Psychology of Serial Killers a ... "a murderous science"! In fact, 'Pataphysics is not A science, real, symbolic or imaginary much less the pseudo-science that Bok keeps harping but, as Jarry forcefully underscored, 'Pataphysics IS Science!

The remainder of the book belabours the presumption that 'Pataphysics represents a stage in some secular clash between Poetry and Science (read Good vs Evil) without offering any kind of evidence for the existence of such confrontation, not to speak of why 'Pataphysics would be called into the fray! Bok regards this downturn as a remedy to the avowed disengagement of 'Pataphysics which does not apparently square with his own militant anti-science agenda. Thus he vows to outjarry Jarry by making him a born-again Nietzschiean and liberating the little Derrida inside him (as if Ubu was not enoUgh)! Though he calls his work "a survey" he is quick to veer of his purpose under the ridiculous pretext of "avoiding the normalization(?) of patahphysics" ... "by alluding intermittently to 'pataphysical enterprises' that do not refer to the tradition of Jarry but nevertheless represent some of the exceptions to the genealogy that this survey posits."And, immediately following, he takes exception to his own anti-normalizing scruple by offering a classification of the exceptions found in the lore of pataphysics --- not questioning, of course, whether once classified under his rule these remain exceptions!But even his translation of the pataphysical bon-mots betrays Bok's distorting agenda: sizygy becomes 'alliance' as opposed to the confluence it has expressed since the greeks, clinamen is 'deviance' rather than the simply 'deviation' to better echo the 'transgressive' postures that the post-modernist must fashion him self to assume. Soon enough the Deleuzian deleuzions, the Althusserian trussles, and the Baudrillardian inbroglios raise their wrongheadeness overshadowing any other pretense to "survey" Jarry or his 'pataphysical descendance. Bok gives hardly more than a page to the College de 'Pataphysique (most of it invoking Samuel Butler!), which he calls and 'absurd school' and equally short shrifts Queneau, Torma, Daumal, Arnaud, Duchamp and Shattuck (all very interesting individuals on their own.). who animated it before its self-occultation in 1972 He never mentions Vian, Satie, Salvador, Miro, Dubuffet, Ionesco, Marx (Groucho, of course), Clair or Prevert: all Satrapes of Highest Munificense in the 'Pataphysical Pantheon. He ignores the contributions of such classical american 'pataphysicians asGelett Burgess, Walter Arenberg, Tex Avery or Frank Zappaor current ones like Bill Griffith, Peter Shickele, Mark Leyner or Karen Mantler.Instead he picks three 'case studies' of 'pataphysical influence which he insists in parochializing as Italian Futurism, French Oulipism and Canadian Jarryism.Needless to say these excursions are hampered by Bok's peculiar myopia andthus remain perfunctory and unfair to the movements and individuals he sets to describe in all respects, including their different 'pataphysical inspirations. Aware of Bok's credentials as an expert in recent Canadian literature I was hopeful of gaining someenlightenment about the late "Four Horsemen" and their intensive experiments in sound poetry, in comics and VoIdeo or the unique work of the intriguing Christopher Dewdney, to which Bok dedicated a number of articles. What Bok delivers is some unsufferably pedantic description of anecdotical exploits wrapped in some diatribe against the poetic promoters of canadian nationalism, a subject which only becomes 'pataphysical malgre' soi, much as Bok's own language does at its worst. Here is a typical gem [p.15]: "Science graphs a rhizomatic flowchart, an agonistic force field of diversified catastrophies, some which collide with each other, some which collude with each other, all of which operate together simultaneously in fits and starts as asynchronous rates of incommensurate change". The only thing conveyed by such bouts of verborrhea is that Bok takes 'pataphysics to be something like and extension of his poetic license to sokalize his mixed metaphores well beyond the merely silly into the much netherer reaches of the truly idiotic (or "ideotimistic" as he no doubt would call it)! All he manages, finally, is to become the joke he does not get.Ah Ha!

For all the talk of parody and irony, the single remarkable thing about Bok's prose is how entirely destitute it remains of humour, wit and charm --- the recognizable signposts of the 'pataphysical, as of the scientific and the poetic at their very best!If is is any indication of what his poetry may be like, I am sure to never find out and that may be the one devisable merit of this essay. For anyone truly interested in 'Pataphysics I urge the Fayard 2000 edition of "Les Tres Riches Heures du College de Pataphysique" which you can get from Amazon France or, in the english speaking world, the Atlas Press publications of the Institutum PataphysicumLondoniense. ... Read more