Joseph

this is one of those books that you either love this book and agree with its view of life or hate it and disagree with it and think the author is nuts. Its a preach to the choir style blog. And I love it. But I do see where people will be upset by it. If you believe in global warming or think that the government can solve everything (or anything) you'll hate this book.
The book as written blog style and tends to get sidetracked every couple of seconds. The background story is almost a side note of the hero's ranting on subjects that tick him off. I have no Idea if the science is factually correct or just made up for the story. although it holds together well and at least to me seems ok. But its a very politically one sided.
If you enjoy Fox News or some of the more bombastic politically right wing commentators like Ann Culture or Glenn Beck you'll like this one... if you don't then you won't.

Ok this is an odd book. Its one of the odd books about odd subjects that if you tried to just go out and tell others about they would give you a blank look and then slowly back away while checking your hat for tinfoil linings. That or they might think your incredibly dull and say 'that's nice dear' and ignore you.

The author brings up good points and states odd mysteries about the world we don't have good answers for.The problem comes in when he gives tentative answers for those problems we have no good answers for. He has a very well worked out chain of logic for his views but it seems a bit mythical.

I love the facts he digs up. He even is pretty good at telling you when he runs off on speculation and when he has a chain of proof but the entire book and a lot of the books the author writes are about the slightly strange areas of science.

This book specifically is about civilizations that didn't leave any useful written language carved into stone blocks buried in the desert. So the only traces we have of them are some really big rock formations, stories about how or what they were like from the civilizations that came after them, and religious texts that maybe up for interpretation.

This books tells how there are still things that are out there about our history that we don't know or may never know.

This is one is that the books that you are a probably guess what's inside of it before you buy, but if the titles not quite clear enough. This isn't whether God created the world or anything. This is a bout the actual scientific pictures and icons that are taught in school about evolution are factually incorrect. It doesn't give you an alternative, well if they're wrong then it clearly means the other side's right. It's just saying what's wrong. It tries to remain as objective as it can on such a charge subject as evolution. So even if you're for evolution and against creationism or whatever. I suggest at least looking at this one because the facts in it are pretty sound well-documented and verifiable. It doesn't say one view is right over the other. It just says the straight facts.
Be warned, however it is slightly politically charged as the subject naturally will be and the author has had some bad experiences and has stories about other people's bad experiences when they were ostracized because of it.

This is an objective view on a political theory. This is why people rule or how to rule. This isn't whether a specific government is good or a specific government is bad. This is how all government generally works. And it doesn't matter whether it's a monarchy a democracy or theocracy or anything. It's a very comprehensive political theory and he gives exact examples of this is how it works. Ranging from small town mayor ships or small groups of people up into large countries both capitalist or communist.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. I probably shouldn't comment on this book, but on the other hand, it's a free country. My initial reason for buying this book was morbid curiosity I originally had thought this book was going to be about politics. However, for the most part it's actually an overlook of the church itself. It does delve into a little bit of here's why the church is good. Here's why church the church is bad, etc. but it takes a pretty objective view and it brings up points I had never thought of. Or even heard of before. I highly recommend this book for anybody who just wants to know about the church without being preached to about the church. Kind of like a text book overview of the entire church that you'd find for a religious college course. On the technical note the author is incredibly engaging and it's fairly easy to just listen to it from start to finish in one go it is pretty entertaining honestly, even when it's brutal.

Here is the obvious two cents for anybody. This book is incredibly conservative or politically to the right. I've always enjoyed the author and have always enjoyed the subject matter. He covers quite a bit of politics but some fun science stuff towards the end. If you don't like Glenn Beck and if you're not politically conservative or libertarian then you probably won't like this book very much. However I suggest you read it anyway because he does make some really good points and the authors for the most part is very entertaining.

This book. When you read it will leave you with chills it's one of the few stories that I'm never totally certain whether or not the author wrote it as fiction because he couldn't get it published as nonfiction, i.e. he actually had the stuff happened to him and he just couldn't publish it in the newspaper without people calling him a liar, or he's excellent author with a really good idea on how to draw people in.
It's quite frankly one of those odd stories that I suggest you reading it with an Internet browser open so you can Google whether or not the facts are correct and most the time, they are , which is incredibly creepy.
On a technical note, the narrator does an excellent job and the book is very well read. I had no problems listening to it straight through in one go.

This book is a good discussion on background clichés that form most of our life and culture. However I must warn you it is pretty politically conservative or American right. It tends to toward a preach to the choir style of book.
is a good, clean romp through what we take for granted. It discusses the background ideas that build everything that "we know" or talk about or all the small details that make up arguments that nobody actually makes.
The author is an excellent reader and makes the book a lot more interesting. It is however one of those books that you already know whether you like it or not. If you enjoy political conversations or talk radio or anything like that then you probably will like it. If you don't then you probably won't however it is good data that anybody can use. So I recommend it.

Ok this is not a new book. However this book is still about both this time period and the near future. I was drawn to this book becuse of a friend showing me first telling me that the predictions made in this book (roughly 240 or so) that were made about this day and age are thus far about 80% correct or roughly correct
He draws how how he formulated the pridictions and what they mean for our day and age. Its partly technical but its important and is still mostly understandable by a lay person (like me).
Only small note is the person reading it grates on my nerves but you get used to him and the data is intresting enough that I tend to forget about it.
(Update) the author has created a free PDF avabile on his website (just google the author) showing what pridictions were right, and why they were right or wrong. I recommand looking it up it make predictions made in this book mean alot more.

I love the subject matter. Its a view of Old School Idealism that are in some ways noble (for there time) and complete tripe. But just remember while reading it, that the hero and heroins do "grow up" eventually in the series. But in this story they're very cookie cutter. The men are "MEN" heroic, smart, stoic, etc,,,, and the women are "women" Submissive and emotional, despite how much I like the series and its kinda blunt that the author thinks that men should be dominate and the women submissive. It gets kind of rubbed in your face a lot. I would note that the series is a long one that follows Rod Gallowglass and family for at least the next 2 generations and all the characters grow and flesh out into believable and likeable people and with a lot less male chauvinism.

But as for comparing it to say The Game of Thrones or the like... Its about a fifth of the length. Of course the characters are shallow in comparison. Its more or less a romance novel for young adults with odd bits of political activism thrown in. (Or more accurately a young adult political novel with bits of romance thrown in)

But in the end if your looking for a good swashbuckling hero with snarky wit who is chivalrous and 'manly'. Where the good guy wins and the bad guy loses. The damsel may not be in distress but shes worth rescuing anyway. The goals are noble. The villains are evil . The futuristic Science is some times old school. The philosophizing is thick. The inside jokes are in Iambic Pentameter, and you don't mind that this was written as in the mindset of typical non-hippie male in the late 1960's. This Is a good book for you.

And if you don't like this book don't give up on the author altogether he has a couple of other series that are all really good and less confusing. And to top it off you can normally find a used amazon copy for most of them for less then a dollar.
They are quite frankly Dime store paperbacks.

I would recommend this book to everyone! Its a great book! I've seen it a couple of time in book stores but never read it thinking it might be boring but I was dead wrong Its really well done and entertaining. The action is excellent and the autor highlights nicely how many of the things we take for granted up to our very safty and indivuality were completely radical ideas in those dark times.

I like Jeff. He's a D&D player and tabletop gamer that has a ferm idea of tatics (at least as far as such games teach) and a is a nice guy but for all that not a pushover. And shows that the being a good guy dosn't make you and idiot or being a geek dosen't make you weak.

I love the action sceens and the parts where the author shows just how good a life we have compared to what the world used to be like.