h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I would say - I'd definately recommend it.
The fourth has a surprising ending, and the fifth - well, it was the only book so far that I refused literally to put down, and read it non-stop overnight without sleep. It is definately worth reading them all.

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1. Anything by Enid Blyton I adored as a child but when I tried re reading them Gah! Dreadful stuff!
2. Clichely (I made up that word) it's the Hitchikers series - I first read them when I was about 11 and have re read them almost every year since then, with increasing enjoyment and I loved them the first time round.

I still say Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged', but what about Clive Barker's 'Books of Blood' series? Definitely my favorite collection of short stories.

okay .... so I've tried to read 'Atlas Shrugged' twice and for some reason, I really can't remember why .... I haven't finished it.

I would like to finish it, what makes it a great book to you?

Also, I just got back from Alaska, where I actually finished the first volume of Delcine and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Courtesy

What a great place to be on holiday (you were on hols?).
And so did the Romans all die of some awful sexually transmitted disease like I have been told?

Also - I finished reading earlier a fantastic book - The Year of Wonders. It's set in the year of the Plague in Derbyshire and is based on a true story - this village sealed themselves off from the rest of the world so they didn't spread the plague, about 2 thirds of them perished. Utterly fascinating and beautifully written.

Fate -

Sounds like a great book, I will definitely put that in my *ever increasing* to read pile.

Regarding Rome, the first volume deals with the time frame of approx. AD 96 to AD 300, basically the beginning of the consolidation of the Ceaser's power through the fragmentation of the empire, to the consolidation of the empire under one Ceaser again.

Also, there is a GREAT chapter which deals with a historical approach to the beginning years of Christianity in the Roman empire and how the Christian church grew from a sect to the dominant religion of the empire. The greatest part is that it is an historical approach so all the faith assumptions are stripped.

The book was a fantastic read, and I will be doing a POST review of it.

Courtesy

The last Roman-related book I read was, erm, "I Am A Barbarian" by Edgar Rice Burroughs - a surprisinly enjoyable read.
Having said that, I have recently bought several books about Hadrian's Wall, as I was planning to walk all along that from coast-to-coast this year. Sadly, being made unemployed has meant that I'll be postponing that until next year...

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When I lived up in that part of the country friends and I went to seek Hadrians Wall, it took a disturbing length of time to find it. I don't know how you would walk along it - a lot of it has vanished as far as I know? I could be wrong, but I thought that there were just bits of it preserved across the country? Not a trail of it so to speak?

Courtesy - You say that the faith element was taken out of Rise and Fall... How? When was this book written? Based on what research? Being objective about History is terribly hard to do so I am curious.

Fate -

The book was written in 1776. The way Edward Gibbon took the faith element out (imo) is that he only addresses the facts of origin of the church based on independant accounts of the church and religion from christian, roman, and jewish accounts.

Gibbon follows the Christian church from when it was a sect of Judaism (sp?) to why it split from Judaism (an extremely interesting story), and then identifies the aspects of the religion that appear to have made it interesting to a polytheistic society.

An example would be that the Chritians stated there was a life after death and that that life was based on the deeds in this life. He does not say that there is an afterlife, and he doesn't state that the Christians are correct, he just states their belief, and then shows how that would affect potential converts as well as practicing individuals.

Courtesy

You're right, a lot of Hadrian's Wall can't be seen very easily - only as faint lines in a dry field after 5 weeks without rain from an aeroplane, that sort of thing. But because Hadrian's Wall was a popular route for people to walk, a new highly signposted walking trail, the "Hadrian's Wall Path National Trail" (silly name...) was begun, with new footbridges etc. was due to open in 2002. It was that trail that I hoped to follow. The main problems are:
1.) As it is a new footpath trail, it isn't on any OS Maps yet, (but should be by next summer.)
2.) Last summer when much of this half of the mainland was suffering from the Foot And Mouth epidemic, not only were footpaths closed, but all work on building them stopped. That path is now not going to be completed until 2003.

See: http://www.hadrians-wall.org

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Currently trying to read The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

I bought the book earlier this year because:
A: I was mystified by the title (for once, it was exactly the same in Swedish)
B: The beautiful cover - a picture of home-made paper, with flowers in it
C: it was on sale - for something like 3 GBP

What I think of it? Half way through - no idea - it confuses me...

Has anyone here read 'The Importance of Being Idle' by Stephen Robins? Obviously full of quotes that make good excuses for being lazy...

One by Agatha Christie:

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.

Just got back from holiday. Whilst on holiday went to Goonhilly and the son (age 8) bought a book about UFO's. He asked us if UFO's were true. I said I remained agnostic my partner says no their not. 'Ah' the son says ' But there's a picture of one here so it MUST be true!'. He believes. The power of books eh?

Fate, when I worked in a library I made a display of unexplained phenomina. I used UFO's and Nessie as my main pieces. After reading many of the books I put out on display I began to have my own doubts. I am a sceptic at heart, so it was entertaining to se me questions my beliefes.

Fate -

I subscribe to Arthur C. Clarke's statement "I see many UFO's everyday, most just end up being aircraft", of course following the definition that any spec in the sky is an Unidentified Flying Object until identified

I do think that extraterrestrials exist (it would be the height of arrogance to assume we are the only intelligent life in the entire universe) however I doubt if they do anything close to what most UFO believers believe they do.

All - just FYI the Post used my Ender's Game review, I would be curious of your thoughts on it.

Courtesy

Yeah - Partner did try and explain his theory to Son (but Son gave up listening once the words went a bit technical) that goes along the lines of Aliens more than likely exist (Patrick Moore is convinced and so am I ) But Physics Laws mean that they'd never be able to travel here. It's the latter point that I remain agnostic on, much to Partner's irritation I believe Science to be a theory not a fact and that we still don't know the half of it.

Agreed .....

"There are more things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosphies" - Bill

I also ask the question, will we be able to recognize a different intelligence. How do we know that we haven't met them already? We tend to think of aliens as 2 arms, 2 legs and a head, what about silicon based entities, what about virus', what about Aspen trees?

I agree that science is theory, that's what makes Science Fiction so much fun to read.

Courtesy

You may be very right about things lik virii and silicon based life. Both are possible, and we may 'pass in the night' without ever realizing any commonality. Star Trek and Star Wars have biased our judgement towards bipedal aliens, and this is simply unlikely. There are many millions of life forms on earth alone, what would a world with a different atmosphere bring. what about planets of water? Ice planets? It is too hard to even imagine the form that aliens may take.

I agree that the movies have tainted our ideas, however, we are inherintly (sp?) a self-centered race and the idea of another lifefrom not akin to our own, is anathema to most people.

I also think that it's inherintely impossible to image something completely outside of our mental framework, even Sci-Fi books, when dealing with alien races, deal with forms we are familiar with.

I was most impressed by DNA when in Zaphod's speech before he steals the Heart of Gold, there is a reference to the alien whose makeup is a shade of blue (now that's thinking outside the box)

In an unrelated place, please look for my review of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the new Post. As always, comments are welcomed.

Courtesy