This book brings together world history, anthropology, and storytelling into a compelling dialogue that explores a rich tapestry of human ingenuity, folly, and determination.
Diamond’s way of telling and presenting the history of mankind drew me into historical details and social concepts in such a way that I not only wanted to know more but absorbed the material freely, which is difficult considering how dense the material can be. I found the general plot line and thrust were kept clear and simple while navigating complex questions, resulting in a rewarding read!
Why did Eurasians conquer, displace, or decimate Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, instead of the reverse? In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, a classic of our time, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond dismantles racist theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for its broadest patterns.
The story begins 13,000 years ago, when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Around that time, the developmental paths of human societies on different continents began to diverge greatly. Early domestication of wild plants and animals in the Fertile Crescent, China,…
It brings forth a plot fueled by string theory and quantum space, which is so rarely touched on in modern literature, and it brings these highly complex topics to the reader in such a way as to make them understandable to the lay reader.
I found the author’s use of suspense and dialogue engaging. I was carried on wanting to know more at each juncture, following the small tidbits of plotline like breadcrumbs towards an eventual feast. Further, the book left me edgy to read book 2 to see how the series unfolds.
Space turned out to be deeper than anyone imagined.
High above the windswept plains of Kazakhstan, three astronauts on board a Russian Soyuz capsule begin their reentry. A strange shimmer in the atmosphere, a blinding flash of light, and the capsule vanishes in a blink as though it never existed.
On the ground, evidence points to a catastrophic failure, but a communications facility halfway around the world picks up a transmission that could be one of the astronauts. Tragedy averted, or merely delayed? A classified government project on the cutting edge of particle physics holds the clues, and with lives…
This book weaves a rich tale of backstory that explains much of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings lore the future books and movies simply cannot even begin to introduce. I found this text thick but compelling with legends and tales, the Silmarils, heroes, and wars that gave life to the LOTR trilogy.
There are names and events covered here that explain mysteries and give the LOTR events meaning, and the storytelling presents everything in a very real light, truly making this more history than fiction. I find The Silmarillion stands on its own as a well-woven, intricate tale of good versus evil and the costs of challenging one's fate.
The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion fills in the background which lies behind the more popular work, and gives the earlier history of Middle-earth, introducing some of the key characters.
The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.
Included on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of…
The Cane Stories follows Ha-Sean, a Tallikeesh. The peoples of his world have known periodic events, bright lines in the sky, that change people. The different races of his world evolve differently at these times, those who venture out under those lines. Ha-Sean remained out to see what would become of him, and now, he can’t go home.
Ha-Sean is locked on a journey of discovery to learn how his world works, who is really behind those bright lines, and who among the other races can be trusted to stop a war that is brewing, a war that, if unchecked, could mean the end of all races. He can’t go home again, but he won’t leave those he loves to a grisly fate either!
