90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
Average customer rating:

90 Minutes in Heaven

Gives hope but something is missing

Not What It Seems

Heaven would surely be more pleasant than this book

90 Minutes in Heaven

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
Don Piper , and Cecil Murphey
Manufacturer: Revell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Near-Death Experiences | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Heaven Heaven

ASIN: 0800759494
Release Date: 2004-09-01

Book Description

As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace. Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery. For years Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story.

Customer Reviews:

90 Minutes in Heaven.......2007-10-17

This is a truly amazing book. I had trouble putting it down before I finished it. Very inspiring and encouraging. What a story!! I'd highly recommend to all. I've shared it with many people.

Gives hope but something is missing.......2007-10-16

As a Christian, I read this book more as a source of comfort and inspiration than as a way to convince myself that heaven is real.

I found Piper's style easy to read, and his overall story to be inspirational, but I felt like something was missing. Maybe because Piper worked with a co-author, but the whole experience seemed watered down. For something so life-changing and miraculous, it read in places as a mere recitation of the facts, rather than a deeply felt and tumultuous event that had far-reaching effects on numerous lives.

I also found the timeline to be choppy -- it was hard to follow in places as it jumped forward and then back again, covering the same ground several times.

I would have preferred a deeper exploration of how his accident and subsequent journey to heaven impacted his life and that of those around him - what changes did he make as a result of his experiences? How can he inspire readers to make changes in their own lives as a result of what he has gone through? Instead, a potentially powerful story is diluted and its impact lost.

Not What It Seems.......2007-10-16

I bought this book because I was curious to see what Don Piper had to say about the afterlife. As one who has had a near death experience, I am always interested in reading other people's experiences. I've learned much about the NDE over the last ten years from the people who have actually researched them, some of whom I've met personally. I've also read quite a few near death accounts.

Given what I have learned over the years, I wanted to read 90 Minutes In Heaven to see if it measured up to the research that has been done on the topic, as well as see if I could determine why this particular book is so popular.

I was looking for the basic components researchers like Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. PMH Atwater and Dr. Bruce Greyson have identified over the years. I saw a few, but some major ones were missing, like the Life Review. There was no tunnel experience. There was no supernatural rescue and no realm of bewildered spirits.

Toward the end of the book Don takes a swipe at other people's experiences, he says: "Descriptions of their ordeals often seem too rehearsed and disturbingly similar, as if one person copied the story of the last." It looks like Don doesn't believe the experiences that back up the conclusions of the research that has been established. It may well be the experiences are similar because they are indeed near death experiences, which makes me wonder about credibility issues this book has.

Actually, Don never did get past the "pearly gates" he reported seeing and he never got to walk the streets "paved with gold." His description of heaven (albeit short) is what I'd expect to come from a clergyman. Almost all of what Don saw and experienced consisted of meeting others who were outside of the gates of heaven. Basically, his description of heaven comes from the outside of heaven, not from the inside. This is likely the reason many other reviewers think the title of the book is very misleading. I tend to agree with them.

Researchers might class this experience as a "Pleasant or heaven-like experience." I'm not saying that I don't believe Don saw what he saw, but I am saying that his NDE isn't as descriptive as many others are. There is very little information about the afterlife in this book.

The lion's share of 90 Minutes In Heaven is focused on Don's recovery which I feel could have been written better. It isn't in chronological order, which made it extremely hard for me to follow. There is a lot of repetition throughout the book, especially about the "Ilizarov leg fixator" device. The "poor me" and "it's all about me" attitude throughout the book got old really fast.

I'm sorry I can't recommend this book. There are other books with quite a bit more information about the afterlife in them. I'd pass on this one.

David L. Oakford, author of Journey Through The World of Spirit: God, Gaia, and Guardian Angels

Heaven would surely be more pleasant than this book.......2007-10-13

I was truly excited to receive this book in the mail. Couldn't wait to read it. Sadly, once I did start to read it I was very disappointed in the book. The author continually says the same thing; I cannot find the human words to express what I felt. Well if you have no words to describe it and words cannot express it, you should not be writing a book. Did not even finish the book, I was so disappointed. Maybe one day I will try again.

90 Minutes in Heaven.......2007-10-11

Whine, whine, whine! This book was very boring and spent 90% of the time whining about his accident and "poor me". OK.....I understand a serious acciednt and can sympathize with the person. BUT this was way overdone! The title is very misleading. Mabey 5 minutes was dedicated to being in heaven for a couple minutes. I think this author used the title to sell his book. SORRY I bought it and would not recommend it to anyone.

Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future (9th Edition)

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Workbook - Environmental Science
Highly disappointing
Interestign articles with a thick political spin
One of the Best
Making environmental science relevant

Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future (9th Edition)
Richard T. Wright
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131442007

Book Description

This classic book explores the interactions of humans within the natural environment and probes issues thoroughly, examining their scientific basis, history, and society's response. Strong science, sustainability, and stewardship of Earth remain the underlying themes. Accompanies each copy of the book with the new Global City CD, built around the concepts of a large city that shows many of the environmental problems presented in the book. Includes an extensively revised layout and design. Keeps readers abreast of the latest developments or most pressing issues in the field, such as Global Climate Change. Offers "Environment on the Web" exercises that help readers access additional information on the Internet; important Web references are keyed to each chapter. An interesting reference for anyone interested in learning more about today's crucial environmental issues.

Customer Reviews:

Workbook - Environmental Science.......2007-08-21

It is a workbook and not what I was attempting to order. I expected a reading/learning media. This is only for use in classroom setting.

Highly disappointing.......2006-08-05

While the class I took that used this textbook was informative, this book was full of what seemed to be the authors' personal opinons. Like another person said here in the reviews about blame on the Bush administration, and lack of references aside from photo credits, this book seemed to be geared more towards giving you the biased outlook of the author than an unbiased view of environmental science.

I agree that this book is not fit for a college textbook, or any other type of education.

Interestign articles with a thick political spin.......2006-04-27

This revision must have been specially produced just to include all the anti-Bush rhetoric. In nearly every chapter, responsibility for the current state of the environment is laid squarly on President Bush's administration.

In addition, there are no references given for any of the information presented in the book. As a student, we are expected to take this author's word for it that everything he has presented is true and accurate, and that he is simply a repository for all of this accurate information. In fact, the lack of references is absolutely striking when you consider this is a textbook that is supposedly presenting facts. The only references given are those for photo credits.

Unfit as a college textbook.

One of the Best.......2005-08-16

This is one of the most readable environmental texts I've seen.
It is very comprehnsive and the coverage of the newest scientific results in the science of resource conservation is simply excellent. The content is oriented around a group of themes and applied to the concept of ecosystems and their management. Is almost as if the author has takrn the first halting steps toward a unified environmental theory.

Two negative points though. Coverage of forest resources is a little thin, and like most textbooks, the price is way too high.

Making environmental science relevant.......2004-11-28

Professor Richard Wright has succeeded where so many others have failed, by creating a textbook that makes the subject of environmental science relevant. After all, most students taking a course that uses this book are doing so because it's required, rather than as an elective.
As an adjunct professor of environmental science at Endicott College, I have reviewed many textbooks for possible use in introductory courses. This one is a standout, and based on feedback from students over the past four years, they, too, agree.
The text is easy to read, and enhanced by many graphs, charts and photographs.

David Liscio, adjunct professor, Endicott College, Beverly, MA

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church

Average customer rating:

Asking The Hard Questions
The New Church
One that must be read.
Church Transformation
The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church
Reggie McNeal
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0787965685

Book Description

In this provocative book, author, consultant, and church leadership developer Reggie McNeal debunks these and other old assumptions and provides an overall strategy to help church leaders move forward in an entirely different and much more effective way. In The Present Future, McNeal identifies the six most important realities that church leaders must address including: recapturing the spirit of Christianity and replacing "church growth" with a wider vision of kingdom growth; developing disciples instead of church members; fostering the rise of a new apostolic leadership; focusing on spiritual formation rather than church programs; and shifting from prediction and planning to preparation for the challenges of an uncertain world. McNeal contends that by changing the questions church leaders ask themselves about their congregations and their plans, they can frame the core issues and approach the future with new eyes, new purpose, and new ideas.

Also available: The Present Future DVD Collection (978-0-7879-8673-5), Reggie McNeal's DVD presentation of the ideas and insights featured in his best-selling book.

Customer Reviews:

Asking The Hard Questions.......2007-10-17

Fantastic book. Really makes you reflect on your ministry and the questions the book asks gives a structure for evaluating the overall focus of your church. I would highly recommened this book for someone seeking to bring about revitalization within their congregation and personal ministry.

The New Church.......2007-09-11

Excellent book which speaks to the problems the modern church faces. Gives specific information and direction to deal with current issues. I have found this work tremendously useful in advocating change for the church I serve as pastor.

One that must be read........2007-07-25

This book explores the emergent church culture. The book's focus is on missional living within a ever changing culture. The books deals with the changing paradigm of modernism to postmodernism. Some church leaders would consider this book radical, but this book is helpful in providing a proper perspective on reaching out in faith. It is a plea to change churchianity into Christianity. Because of the influence of mega-church culture, we have been seduced into selling Christianity like a product on the open market, the book presents a way to authentically change the community for Christ.

Church Transformation.......2007-05-24

While many will be turned off by the author's strong language and seeming 'over stating' of the case; most of what McNeal says and recommends rings true. The church in North America is dying and dying rather fast as seem by the exodus of members and churches from the major denominations. If you are a leader - and especially a pastor - in a church you need to study this book (preferable with the rest of your team) and seriously consider what and how you are going to respond to the new world order. Unlike the Boomer Generation who have `grown up' and for the most part taken their responsible position in leadership in the ministries of the church, this current last generation (Millenniest or Matrix) are not likely to do that. They are looking for something better and God may indeed pass by the North American Church to accomplish His purpose in reaching the entire world with the Love of Jesus for the Glory of God.

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church.......2007-05-15

Excellent book! SO HELPFUL!

Average customer rating:

I'm not sure what this is about but I really Like the book
Why did I buy this?
Understanding Death
another load of Chopra
Excellent Science and Philosophy

Life After Death: The Burden of Proof
Deepak Chopra
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0307345785
Release Date: 2006-10-17

Book Description

Deepak Chopra has touched millions of readers by demystifying our deepest spiritual concerns while retaining their poetry and wonder. Now he turns to the most profound mystery: What happens after we die? Is this one question we were not meant to answer, a riddle whose solution the universe keeps to itself? Chopra tells us there is abundant evidence that “the world beyond” is not separated from this world by an impassable wall; in fact, a single reality embraces all worlds, all times and places. At the end of our lives we “cross over” into a new phase of the same soul journey we are on right this minute.

In Life After Death, Chopra draws on cutting-edge scientific discoveries and the great wisdom traditions to provide a map of the afterlife. It’s a fascinating journey into many levels of consciousness. But far more important is his urgent message: Who you meet in the afterlife and what you experience there reflect your present beliefs, expectations, and level of awareness. In the here and now you can shape what happens after you die.

By bringing the afterlife into the present moment, Life After Death opens up an immense new area of creativity. Ultimately there is no division between life and death—there is only one continuous creative project. Chopra invites us to become cocreators in this subtle realm, and as we come to understand the one reality, we shed our irrational fears and step into a numinous sense of wonder and personal power.

Customer Reviews:

I'm not sure what this is about but I really Like the book.......2007-10-17

I'm almost done with Life After Death and I'm still not sure where Dr. Chopra is going. Having said that, I love this book. It is a casual walk through basic beliefs of Hinduism, Quantum physics, Morality, and Ethics with a bit of New Age thrown in.

The writing style makes it VERY easy to read and there have been at least a dozen concepts I have never thought of (and I've read about almost every subject on the planet). I was blown away with the alternative view of how savants work and how they are capable of performing such mental feats. That view makes so much sense.

I HIGHLY recommend reading this book. I can't say it is the best on Hinduism or the best at New Age or the Best at Quantum Mechanics. Heck I can't even really say what it is about. But I know this. It is one of the best books I've read.

Why did I buy this?.......2007-09-16

I bought this after one of my friends died. Not sure why, mental lapse. What a waste - just theories that contradict themselves, you wont learn anything or really feel better after reading this either. Same stuff can be read by searching google for Life after Death and spending half an hour that way. I eventually just threw it out.

Understanding Death.......2007-08-26

Science has not been able to tell us much except we seem to cease to exist once we die. Why is it that man and woman alike crave something more after the flesh gives out? I find Deepak Chopra books intriguing and I want to believe there is something more. Our traditional Jew, Christian beliefs here in the USA makes it so hard to feel that way if we don't quite believe in the bible. We're taught we must believe in God as he is shown us in the bible or we lose life everlasting, but to thinking people this just seems bogus that have to accept just one way of viewing God or the Divine.

I loved the book, and I love the ideas and presentations of the Author. I will continue my quest for understanding the divine in a new way. Thanks to Mr. Chopra for continuing to challenge our western way of viewing the world.

Ruth Baker

another load of Chopra.......2007-08-13

I find reincarnation very interesting and hoped that this book included much on this subject. There was very little about it. The book was very disappointing overall. It was more about one's conscious mind than anything else. Nothing new, nothing good.

Excellent Science and Philosophy.......2007-07-28

I recommend skipping right to chapter 12 for some of the excellent far reaching science and philosophy today. I appreciate his presentation of ancient eastern philosophy and mix it with the ancient Greek philosophers. I not only read these chapters often, but I also make audio notes to review while driving in the car. He reaches into areas that are possibilities and he will tell you that, not like religion who says "it is the word of God!"
The first few chapters use parable-type techniques like scripture, designed to teach us, but I would rather he jump right to the hard core philosophy and science. I will summarize these chapters for myself eliminating the "story telling" and just list the solid core information these chapters intend to teach us.

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Average customer rating:

uninteresting
Fantastic insight into a possible, plauible future of humans and the universe
Look-out future here we come
hold onto your hat
Not for non geeks!

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
Ray Kurzweil
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human
On Intelligence
The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life: How to Reduce Fat in Your Diet and Eliminate Virtually All Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer

ASIN: 0143037889

Book Description

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.

Customer Reviews:

uninteresting.......2007-10-17

really not impressed, it's a collection of items and examples that don't necessarily fit together.
The style seems somehow childish...

I personally am disapointed...

Fantastic insight into a possible, plauible future of humans and the universe.......2007-10-07

This is one the the favorite books I have ever read. It is not an easy read for a non-scientist, but absolutely rewarding. It is surprisingly accessible, despite the technical and intellectual scope. The logical and insightful nature of Kurzweil's arguments make it a compelling and inspirational read. The book has had a huge impact on my thinking and introduced me to the whole subject of futurism. It is affecting my investment and career decisions. There were numerous mind-bending, mind-expanding moments during reading this as the gravity of the concepts sank in. Garreau's book, Radical Evolution, is a great follow-up read, comparing and contrasting Kurzweil's optimism with the pessimism of others. It is a joy and luxury to be exposed to the visions such "big thinkers".

Look-out future here we come.......2007-09-10

I read this book with such optimism for our future. I only hope to live long enough to see some of the exciting events in our future on this planet. Just when you think you have seen it all, you "ain't seen nutt'n yet". Come on world let's work together and solves some of the mysteries that are tearing us apart.

hold onto your hat.......2007-08-29

the future is going to be wild.

ray kurzweil is the leading guru of the not so far off world where key technologies merge to allow us to turn ourselves into non biological humans.

no crack pot he. when kurzweil presented his thesis at MIT the arguments centered on the when, not the if of kurzweils predictions

Not for non geeks!.......2007-07-26

Although the reading is tedious for someone who is not that scientifically or computer oriented, the concepts and ideas the book presents are fascinating and a bit scary!

My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance

Average customer rating:

An interesting, representative look into physics, computer science, math, and finance
Engaging
Shorting Sidhartha to ground
An interesting career path
good source of info for those who wonder what a quant is

My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
Emanuel Derman
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471394203

Book Description

Emanuel Derman was one of the first physicists to move to Wall Street, and his career paralleled the growth of quantitative trading over the past twenty years. In My Life as a Quant, he traces his transformation from ambitious young scientist to managing director and head of the renowned Quantitative Strategies group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Derman’s tale recounts his adventures with quants, traders and other high fliers on Wall Street as he became the best-known quant in the business. He describes the struggles of research and his interactions with an assorted cast of famous scientists. He relates his impressions of some of the most creative minds on Wall Street, including Fischer Black, with whom he collaborated on the widely used Black-Derman-Toy model of interest rates. Throughout his story he reflects on the appropriate way to apply the refined methods of physics to the hurly-burly world of markets and the people that inhabit them.

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Customer Reviews:

An interesting, representative look into physics, computer science, math, and finance.......2007-08-18

This book is an easily readable and interesting look into the life of a financial engineer. Derman describes his life in relation to the history of modern physics and modern finance. He describes the route he took, from a student who wanted to research physics permanently to an enthusiastic programming newbie.

This book is sort of divided into four sections. First his early and student life. Then he ventures into the world of UNIX and computer science. As a computer programmer myself, I especially felt the joy he felt when he created a program to solve a small program that was commercialized and used by many other people. The satisfaction of small victories was quite apparent and mirrored my own life in some ways.

He then ventures into the world of finance in the mid 80s - during the boom time of financial engineering. His work from a naïve physicist to a financial wizard describes both the history of his career development and the quantitave finance itself. He ventures into new topics of finance, such as implied binomial trees and the such.

Sometimes the book does get bogged down into a little too much technical detail. I understood the finance and computer programming part perfectly because I've studied and worked in those fields, but the physics stuff was quite esoteric and I had a hard time following much of it.

All in all, it's a fun book. Nothing really spectacular, but to see the history of a new field being described, told by a pioneer, is quite fascinating.

Engaging.......2007-07-05

This is an engaging book which, I suspect, will be most interesting to those of us with more than a decade of experience in the financial technology field.

The book is appealing on many levels: the story of a physicist-turned-quant, the drama of professional life amongst the players in the fin-tech field, and the discussions of the mechanics of quantitative analysis, made accessible by Mr. Derman's plain-spoken writing style.

I don't read many books for pleasure, but I couldn't put this one down.

Shorting Sidhartha to ground.......2007-03-11

After reading Derman's Platonic idea of the origin of physics on the first two pages, I was so angry that for a while I couldn't read further. When finally I did read further, I couldn't put the book down until midnight. This autobiography of a physicist turned financial engineer is more entertaining than most novels, and is informative in a way that no other book is. Derman's description of his life and times is the chronicle of an era. This is a book that should be read by physics grad students who fantacize about working for banks or trading houses.

I remember how in 1957 we and our neighbors went out at night to watch Sputnik pass overhead as a pale, visibly moving light. This was the same year that Mercury had produced the 6 cyl. 60 h.p. outboard motor, Chevy produced its classic model, Elvis sang 'Loving You', and my youngest brother was born. Then, each morning before school, we would turn on the Today Show and often watch as a rocket from Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville) or Cape Canaveral went up a few meters, then fell over and crashed. Finally, von Braun (who'd escaped from Penemünde via Thüringen to North Tirol (where I mainly live) and then engineered his capture by the U.S. rather than the Russians or the French) eventually got it right and launched too, but not before Americans were treated to huge, Life Magazine photos of Chicago teenagers jitterbugging their lives away, and of Russian teenagers intensely studying math and physics. The US reaction to Sputnik was in part the NDEA loans that got me and a lot of other science majors through the university, and produced a very large excess supply of physics Ph.D.s by about 1970. In the seventies, academic jobs in physics in the US were so few, and the competition so great, that it was the kiss of death to take a postdoctoral fellowship in Europe. Going there put you outside the loop. One could generalize a British postdoc's experience after his arrival at Cal Tech in the following way: the US was the center of the universe in physics, and to a first approximation Europe did not exist. In the early eighties I noticed that a former physics grad student in nonlinear dynamics had been hired by a trading house. I didn't understand the significance then. Eventually, one of my later to be closest collaborators (and is Feigenbaum's only grad student to boot) worked for a year in 1990 at a Chicago trading house before coming to the University of Houston. In 1999, the same year that I heard of the Physics and finance meeting in Dublin where Gene Stanley coined the awful but effective term 'Econophysics', I read that Mitch Feigenbaum and Nigel Goldenfeld had opened a derivatives-related business in New York. Derman was one of the first physicists to go to work as a modeler on Wall Street. Derman's book, written humorously, self-deprecatingly and introspectively, yet objectively, is a chronicle of that era, a chronicle of physics and job hunting by physics grads in the post-Vietman war era, the era that began with Nixon's deregulation of the dollar (tied to gold at $35/oz. from 1935-1971, gold that Americans were not permitted to own for reasons of attempted currency stability). I'll stop here with my introduction and recommend that anyone who really wants to understand something about the world financial system read Eichengreen's `Globalizing Capital'. Here are some comments about parts of the book that I liked particularly well, or particularly disliked. The book can be read as a useful complement to `The Predictors', Liar's Poker', and `Inventing Money'.

The platonic view of the origin of mathematical laws of nature expressed on the first two pages is wrong. One can understand how a theorist with a focus on gauge theories might get on that track, but it is not true that Einstein thought that way in his early discoveries. For a better picture of why mathematics is unreasonably effective in physics, read Wigner's `Symmetries and Reflections', and read Barbour's `Absolute or Relative Motion' for the history of the discoveries.

The difference between physics (academic research) and financial engineering (on the Street) is described pretty well. In the latter, a good graphics interface is more important for business than is a good model. The description of the difference is generally true of physics and engineering per se, and is not peculiar to the financial brand.

The description of reductionism is the extreme brand believed uncritically by people like Steven Weinberg. Any correct mathematical description of nature, any isolation of cause and effect, is a form of reductionism. Attempts to understand markets empirically is a form of reductionism.

The description of Lee and Yang's quarrels is revealing (both visited the University of Houston Physics Dept. at various times in the seventies and eighties). The description of Cvitanovic rings too true! I was not aware (!?) that Feigenbaum and Libchaber (name misspelled) like Steiner's writings, although it's fairly well known that Feigenbaum reads Goethe.
Derman describes vividly how no one can get past T.D. Lee in a colloquium, then with British understatement writes that his own thesis defense, with Lee on the committee, was no problem. And his advice to students about blind alleys and perseverance is correct. The race is often won not by the quickest but rather by the one who doesn't quit in the face of adversity.

The author had a tantalizing taste early on of the life of the successful (i.e., well-connected) physicist on the conference circuit. I myself read too many biographies of German professors who took a Kur for 6 weeks on the Baltic or the North Sea.

His description of life at Oxford, and the string of postdoctoral positions is believable and hilarious. The description of the pain of having to live apart from his wife and son is painful to read, although many physicists live so.

Derman also describes what makes physicists arrogant without naming it: life in a scientific culture where the standards are set by certified geniuses. It's hard to live in the shadow of these people. One learns a certain degree of arrogance merely for survival in the culture, and that makes us hard to live with at home and in society. Advice from a bright colleague how to get along with your partner: 'grovel, grovel, grovel'. It works.

His advice about publications is absolutely right: it rarely hurts to put a collaborator's, host's or advisor's name on a paper. I contemplated publishing my thesis alone because Onsager had not really contributed to it, although he suggested the problem. Actually, I doubted that he wanted his name on such a seemingly trivial piece of work, but it turned out that he liked it and did want his name on the papers. He liked all sorts of calculations. As long as they were right ....

There is no correct analogy between economics/finance and thermodynamics, the far from equilibrium nature of markets prohibits it. Fischer Black, whom I admire enormously and have read carefully, was wrong about 'equilibrium': he swallowed the economists' notions uncritically (Derman describes Black as 'in love' with the idea of equilibrium, and one can swallow anything when one is in love). CAPM is certainly not an 'equilibrium' model, and CAPM does not lead to the Black-Scholes pde, there's an error in the 1973 paper. I prefer the Black-Scholes paper to all of Merton's useless rigmarole about utility, a nonfalsifiable notion at best, although it's true that replication is not in the Black-Scholes paper. I can't see that Merton's derivation of the backward time pde is 'more rigorous' than Black's delta-hedge condition.

Derman's description of his self-imposed exile to Bell Labs is hilarious. His loving description of UNIX is beyond me (I know how to use a word processor).

Weltanschauung is mis-spelled, there are n+1 split infinitives in the text.

Now I know where Lisa Borland's boss comes from.

The description of Fischer Black is worth the book alone, even if the rest were not good. Osborne, Black, and Mandelbrot can be counted as the ancestors of Econophysics, which differs from Financial Engineering the way that physics differs from engineering. Black was right that expected returns, seen as anticipating the future, is not an observable notion. But, then, what does Soros do when he beats the market (nonmathematically)?

Derman's description of economic theory as nonsense (my term) is absolutely correct, when applied to micro- and macro-economics texts. What one finds inside those books is useless, falsified mathematized ideology. To make matters worse, economists know that and still teach the stuff in the classroom, misleading generations of students.

All in all, this is a highly recommendable book!

An interesting career path.......2006-12-11

This book is not for those interested in learning quantitative finance. Rather, it is a memoir written by a physicist who came to finance relatively late in life.

There is some poignancy in Derman's transformation from theoretical physicist bent on a life in academia (where he hoped to make groundbreaking discoveries about elementary particles) to mid-level employee of one of the world's great financial institutions (Goldman Sachs). Although he was undoubtedly well paid for the skills he brought to the financial markets, Derman's story is tinged with sadness about the loss of an ideal.

The book is particularly valuable for the insights it provides about the inner workings of a major investment bank, and in particular about the role played by the "quants" in the development of new products and trading strategies. It also provides some perspective on the development of quantitative finance as a practical discipline; and it makes clear that quantitative skills, while important to a successful career in a major financial institution, generally take a back seat to salesmanship, practical trading skills, and internal politicking.

Those with a liking for pure mathematics will have to grin and bear Derman's critical comments about mathematical rigor and economic theory.

good source of info for those who wonder what a quant is.......2006-11-13

Mr. Derman took the reader along with his journey from theorectical physics to financial modeling. The later chapters provide simple to understand explanations of what he did at Goldman Sachs to model bond options. No knowledge of advance mathematics required. One shudders when one realizes that models are formed usually after the fact. Today trillion of dollars are traded based on imperfect models. What if ... there was a flaw in the model?

Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future

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A Must Read for anyone in leadership
Great little book on leadership
Leadership for today's Christian
A Good Leadership Book for the Right Reader
The Next Generation is Here ... Now

Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future
Andy Stanley
Manufacturer: Multnomah
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Seven Practices of Effective Ministry
Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication
Creating Community: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture
Courageous Leadership
Visioneering: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Vision

ASIN: 1590525396
Release Date: 2006-01-03

Book Description

Follow Your Own Lead!

The Next Generation Leader has been challenging young Christians eager to learn, grow, and lead in ministry or in the marketplace since its original release in 2003. Now with an all-new look, this repackaged version continues to advance the mission of the first release. Mentoring young leaders as they face the unique issues of a changing world has been pastor and bestselling author Andy Stanley’s passion for more than a decade. Here he shares material from his leadership training sessions, developed to address essential leadership qualities such as character, clarity, courage, and competency. This is the perfect guide for any new leaderâor for the mentor of a future leader!

Straight Talk

to Tomorrow’s Leaders

Five characteristics mark the man or woman who will shape the future.

Courage

Clarity

Competence

Coachability

Character

Drawing on two decades of experience mentoring a rising generation, seasoned visionary Andy Stanley shows how to:

Discover and play to your strengths

Harness your fears

Leverage uncertainty

Enlist a leadership coach

Maintain moral authority

âCapable men and women will eventually catch, pass, and replace the current generation of leaders,â says Stanley . âEmbracing these essentials, you will not only excel in your personal leadership, but also ensure a no-regrets experience for those who choose to follow you.â

â Andy Stanley ’s The Next Generation Leader will equip the messengers to stand a little taller with a vision of hope and promise as they engraft these timeless principles into their daily lives.â

âDan T. Cathy, president and CEO, Chick-Fil-A Corporation

âIt’s obvious that what Andy Stanley has to say in The Next Generation Leader comes straight from the gut of someone who is in the leadership game and is winning at it.â

âBill Hybels, senior pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

â Andy Stanley offers a fresh perspective on ageless truths that will be of enormous benefit to today’s leaders and to future generations.â

âPatrick S. Flood, chairman and CEO, HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation

INSIDE LEFT FLAP

Ready or not,

you’re NEXT!

It’s time to shape the future,

and those who will do so are in training

today. Learn what it takes to lead with courage,

then follow with character.

Embrace the basics, and you’ll master the

challenges of generations to come.

âMy passion is to equip you to take your place among the ranks of those who are positioned to shape the future.â

â Andy Stanley

Story Behind the Book

Andy Stanley, the senior pastor of the North Point Ministries campuses with a cumulative congregation of more than twenty thousand, admits he has one single, core passion. He lives to train and mentor young leaders to be the best they can be! He sees the ânext genâ need for quality Christian resources on leadership and wrote this book entrenched in leadership himself, desiring to guide the up-and-coming young men and women who will shape our future.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read for anyone in leadership.......2007-09-24

This book helped me to stop and think about how I am getting my job done. Was I being efficient and effective? NO! After reading this book I began the process of examining more thorough exactly what my job was and how I went about getting it done. I have found that I get a lot more done now and don't find myself in a tailspin. Great Book!

Blake

Great little book on leadership.......2007-09-01

This is a brief read on leadership. He highlights a few characteristics of leadership. The book is not a paradigm shifting book, but is a quick reminder of the need for futuristic leadership. Andy is a leader and a clear communicator. If you are looking for some easy advice on improving your leadership skills, this is a good book for you. You will be rewarded for your investment.

Leadership for today's Christian.......2007-07-08

A great look on leadership from one of today's most influential Christian leader.

Andy Stanley is a great communicator who uses his talent in this book to inspire readers on to shape the future for tomorrow. Stanley uses memorable stories and vivid examples to explain all of his points clearly.

This book is great for anyone who needs some inspiration on being a influential Christian.

A Good Leadership Book for the Right Reader.......2007-05-04

This book is a great basic starter for younger, growing leaders. It operates around 5 clearly defined essentials that all start with C's for ease of remembering. Author Andy Stanley, a DTS grad and pastor of a large, young church, combines key leadership ideas and principles that he has gleaned from both experience and extensive research.

The book clearly demonstrates that Stanley has read a great many leadership books. This ends up being both a weakness and a strength of this book. On the one hand, you feel like you could have just skipped his writing and read other writers books on leadership, but on the other hand, this book allows you to glean quick tidbits on leadership from various leaders writings all in this one book.

While most of the book feels like common sense, Stanley has a few points that may be enlightening to those beginning their leadership journeys. I'm still at the beginning of this range so I found some statements he made that revealing common myths of leadership to be helpful. My personal opinion is that the two chapters that were actually the most informative were the Clarity-Uncertainty Demands Clarity section and the Coaching-Coaching Enables a Leader to Go Farther, Faster section. Other than these two chapters, the questions at the ends of all chapters are the next best thing about the book. They help you apply what you're reading about directly to your life.

One criticism of the book is that it feels kind of dry. He uses lots of personal illustrations from his life, but they didn't seem very relatable to me. Therefore, they had little success in motivating me, inspiring me, or changing my perspective. I feel like this book is written for readers who have similar leadership strengths as he does, vision-casting and communication. It also seems a little like it's addressing those who are in actual defined leadership roles, and he doesn't really address that some of the younger readers may not know exactly what his or her passion or core strengths are yet. Not everyone can identify them easily; I know this because I am a recent college grad and all my friends are still trying to figure out the answers to those two questions. Furthermore, the questions in the book put things in the terms of employment - it makes it feel like the book is addressed to leadership in the workplace rather than a leadership that encompasses the way you live. This book makes it feel very compartmentalized. My final criticism is that this book doesn't seem as fitting for quiet leaders or for people who are not in leadership roles but are looking to lead up. I understand that one leadership book cannot cover all things. But then perhaps on the cover or in the intro it should specify what audience is best suited for the book. When I read the title The Next Generation Leader, I think college students... but then perhaps that's just me...

Overall, the book is an easy read that refreshes you on leadership principles and may even point out a few insightful things here and there. I would gave this book 3 stars because I would give it 4 for young leaders and a 2 for experienced leaders. This book might make a good graduation gift for college students. It's definitely worth reading at some point, just don't set your expectations too high. :)

The Next Generation is Here ... Now.......2007-03-09

Andy is inspiring. This book will change how you find, coach, and mentor future leaders. Read it ... twice!

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death

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Life After Life
Reviewing "Life After Life"
A "Metanoia" experience
Hallucination-the word of the day
A classic study of NDE (near death experience)

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death
Raymond Moody
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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On Life After Death
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Embraced by the Light
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ASIN: 0062517392
Release Date: 2001-03-06

Book Description

In Life After Life Raymond Moody investigates more than one hundred case studies of people who experienced "clinical death" and were subsequently revived. First published in 1975, this classic exploration of life after death started a revolution in popular attitudes about the afterlife and established Dr. Moody as the world's leading authority in the field of near-death experiences. Life after Life forever changed the way we understand both death -- and life -- selling millions of copies to a world hungry for a greater understanding of this mysterious phenomenon.

The extraordinary stories presented here provide evidence that there is life after physical death, as Moody recounts the testimonies of those who have been to the "other side" and back -- all bearing striking similarities of an overwelming positive nature. These moving and inspiring accounts give us a glimpse of the peace and unconditional love that await us all.

Customer Reviews:

Life After Life.......2007-09-15

Great Book! Lots of good information on an interesting subject. This book not only answers inportant questions about life, but it made me formulate new questions? This book really helped me see the world in a new light. It's quite thought provoking.

Reviewing "Life After Life".......2007-08-29

This book brought home the fact that there really is something after this life. It was recommended to me by my mother's former employer after her death. The book is based on scientific research without emphasis on religion. I have given copies to many friends who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

A "Metanoia" experience.......2007-08-27

Jesus' first words ("keynote") in the first of the written Gospels of the Christian scriptures is the Greek word "Metanoiesete" which means literally "Change the way you think about reality". This is what comes to mind as I read the reports of Dr. Moody's patients. They speak of an experience outside of time and beyond three dimensions.
For us to conceive of something requires that there be a prior three dimensional experience, in time, for us to develop a concept. That is what makes these reports "inconceivable", yet "believable", just like what is prior to the "Big Bang" wherein the Cosmos "emerged" from a "point of no dimensions". This also is inconceivable and consequently not a "fact" in the usual sense of scientific data.
After Jesus said, "Metanoiesete", he went on to say that the "good news" is that the Kingdom of Heaven is "within" you, not conceivable but believable.
Moody's small book is mind altering.

Hallucination-the word of the day.......2007-08-25

As someone who had an NDE I wish Moody would have interviewed me. I was racing on my motorcycle and flew over the handlebars and landed on my head to which I was unaware of my surroundings and a fellow rider picked me up and got me to stagger home. I do not remember anything for the estimated 20 minutes after the crash except waking up. To think you had an experience otherwise is a hallucination or the mind being deprived of a sufficient level of oxygen.

A classic study of NDE (near death experience).......2007-08-16

To the best of my memory, there are only three books I have read three times in my life: The Bible, Death Be Not Proud and this book, the 1975 classic by Raymond A. Moody, M.D., that invigorated the modern investigation into NDE's (near-death experiences). I first read it in junior high when I ordered it as a Scholastic selection and I read it the third time after my father's death in 2004. It is the starting point in the scientific investigation into the question of consciousness (or spirit or soul) surviving the body's ultimate demise.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day

Average customer rating:

Awesome!!
Modern Translation With Some Lacking Overstanding and Obscure Structuring
New computer enhanced version of the Book of the Dead
Egyptian Book of the Dead
The Book of Going Forth by Day

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day

Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, Revised Edition
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary : With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets (Vol 1)
The Book of the Dead

ASIN: 0811807673

Book Description

For millennia, the culture and philosophy of the ancient Egyptians have fascinated artists, historians, and spiritual seekers throughout the world. Now, with this deluxe edition, the legendary 3,500-year-old Papyrus of Aniâ€”the most beautiful of the ornately illustrated Egyptian funerary scrolls ever discoveredâ€”has been restored in its original sequences of text and artwork, using the latest advances in computer-imaging technology. Four exquisitely illustrated gatefold spreads and an acclaimed translation by two noted Egyptologists showcase the Papyrus's elaborately bordered images and convey its intended sense of motion and meaning in a way that other books on the subject cannot begin to match. For both lay readers and scholars interested in a wide range of topicsâ€”from mysticism and philosophy to anthropology and astronomyâ€”this sumptuous and accessible new volume will be an essential acquisition.??

Also check out www.bookofdead.com and www.studio31.com/botd.html for more information about this book.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome!!.......2007-09-16

I ordered this book as a birthday present for my partner, he has always wanted a copy of the book of the dead, he was absolutly thrilled with it. He loves the fold outs of the scrolls and having the english translation as well, and i was very thrilled at how quickly it was delivered and the quaility of the book, this was the first time i have ordered anything online and i will definatly be doing it again. ( we live in New Zealand and the book was delivered in 3 days!!!!!! thats fast)

Modern Translation With Some Lacking Overstanding and Obscure Structuring.......2007-09-13

Revised review: This book is even more difficult to rate than The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) and The Ethiopian Book of Life (aka An Ethiopian Book of the Dead). As it isn't only the ancient book and the modern revised translation to be considered. Because the so-called Ani Papyrus is ancient, yes, yet a faulty, abridged and erratically composed pre-manufactured work. For example, it had been forgotten twice to include the name of the customer, this papyrus had been purchased for, into the blank space provided for this purpose. Even in the unabridged and correctly structured version of the "(The Chapters of) Going Forth by Day and Night... to the Place he Might Desire to Be", as the complete real title translates as, the author of the edition, James Wasserman, writes about: "Much of the book is frankly incromprehensible, even for experts. No amount of exegesis can explain many passages. Images and allusians follow one another with bewildering force and frequency, lacking thematic and logical connection." In this "Ani Papyrus" (Ani being the Western version of the name of the deceased this papyrus had been purchased for) the vignettes and/or chapter titles do not necessarily match the text beneath them.

This "Book of the Dead" isn't really the/a full theology of ancient Egypt, but PRESUPPOSING full knowledge about it. Which is simply not obtainable to the modern reader by merely enjoying this text as a supposedly funerary object. In reality it isn't, but an INITIATION ritual of the new/renewed pharao. For a mystical approaches read Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Yoga Vol. 1:: The Philosophy of Enlightenment.

As for the modern publication: The facsimile of the vignettes had been published originally in 1890 under the supervision of E. A. Wallis Budge and quality enhanced for this new edition. The translation is based on the 1972 version of Raymond Faulkner, and additional corrections have been included by other translators after that. The book was published first in 1994 and was then revised in 1998. The presentation of the papyrus is well done. However, the structure of the entire modern book leaves much to be desired. As I read from cover to cover as usual, afterwards, I wished I hadn't. I would have gotten more out of the book in a different approach: Glossary (at the very end of book), foreword-preface-introduction, commentary p.137-154, then in combination the individual Ani Papyrus plates + English translation with the explanations of those individual plates in the commentary p. 154-170, with the abridged chapters of the "Theben recension" p. 99-135 in between. It should be noted that the translation directly beneath the "Ani Papyrus" isn't a 100% match to the papyrus presented above, as some sections have been included or changed according to the "Theben recension". Sounds complicated? Exactly. And the book isn't really that easy to handle, for oversize also means overweight. What is missing is vignettes and most certainly comments of the "Theben recension". Be upwised that the "Ani Papyrus" is a mere fraction of the entire "Theben recension". In other words, to read the entire so-called (Egyptian) Book of the Dead, the "Ani Papyrus" qualifies as a trailer and this edition of the modern book makes for a major obstacle reading - which you find out only, after having read this book unsuspectingly for the first time.

Also considered has to be the content of the commentaries and introductions. Honestly, I wouldn't do without, no question. However, James Wasserman and his colleagues are orthodox egyptologists. For one thing, they are still working with the traditional Imes (time) frame for ancient Egypt, which is explainable in having worked on this book in the early 1990s. Sin-ce then, the Imes fakings of an early Berlin egyptologist have been exposed, who attempted to make the ancient Egyptian civilization appear to be much younger in order for less embarrassment for Europe in relation to that. The further you go back, the more additional Imes get accumulated. By the Imes of this specific Ani Papyrus, this is a bit more than a century of difference only, earlier it is about millennia. (Read more in When We Ruled: The Ancient and Medieval History of Black Civilisations.)

Next, the Western rendered names of ancient Egyptian names are used. Though currently, it isn't EXACTLY possible to produce the real pronouncation/Western transcription of names, much better approximations are possible and indeed used in more African centered books. (The Black African nature of the ancient Egyptian culture is attempted to get veiled by orthodox [= Euro centered] egyptologist. For example, there is no mention in the otherwise meticulous commentary of the various - and changing! - skin colors of the characters depicted in the vignettes. As is still the case in religious paintings of today's West Africans, some of the ancestors of the ancient Egyptians, these colors do not always represent the real skin color, but religious meaning according to the respective function of the situation depicted.)

Last not least the book isn't only averring a purely polytheistic religion, but directly denying any mysticism and monotheism of the ancient Egyptians. Thereby, the direct ancestry of the Judo-Christian-Islamic culture is attempted to get severed from (Black) Africa. On first sight, ancient Egypt APPEARS to be polytheistic. Yet, in reality, all the gods were considered to be facets of a single one. Even more: Everything is One, not only the god(s). At the Imes, this book had been written, it may have been quite easy to sweep away any claims of monotheism (or actually pantheism) for ancient Egypt, without even taking the time to go into those claims and attempting to disprove them. Today that approach simply cannot be done anymore. Too many mystics and progressive and African-centered egyptologists have come forward. Read for example Egyptian Divinities: The All Who Are THE ONE or the books by Muata Ashby, such as The Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ. The difficulty the author of this book experiences is that he doesn't know the mystic level of the Western religion, Christianity. By overstanding e.g. Master Eckhart of the 14th century, he would be capable of not blinding the monotheism of ancient Egypt better. Instead, James Wasserman says that it would sound hubris to us today that after death one becomes (a) god. Yet, mysticism all over the world - ancient or modern alike - knows that we already are, but have forgotten that until we "die". Accordingly, Wasserman blinds "denial of death" and vocabulary such as "passing on" instead of "dying" as euphemisms of supposedly avoided dealings with the inevitable perishing quality of the death concept. That is, because he is caught in the myth and rites level of his branch of religion. Which makes it difficult to REALLY translate and comment ancient Egyptian religious texts, especially this one. The literal words may come closer and closer, but the meaning will remain sphinxed. For example he gives the translations of the "prime" god Atum as "He Who Is Entirety" or "The Undifferentiated One", but can't see that this means that EVERYTHING is meant with that, as God is undifferentiated from anything and within. Which includes ourselves, returning to the state of this knowledge after "death", i.e. "becoming" God/Jah/the universe/etc., (Asar/Osiris in this case).

Besides all of that I find it interesting that this papyrus contains the odd gender bending in the text as well as the vignettes, but does NOT contain any amorist (homophobe) notions. Simply, because I have come across some books averring that. Referred to are the up to 42 "negative confessions" or rather "declarations of innocence" which are often compared to the Christain Ten Commandments. This may have been a result of the previous, faulty and prejudiced translation of E. A. Wallis Budge. I always wondered about that supposed Egyptian amorism, as it didn't really seem to fit either the "androgynous"/non-dualist religion and the Imes, as amorist interpretations of earlier holy texts occurred much later historically for the Egyptians really to have been able to be amorist in the first place. Instead I could find declarations of innocence of not making slaves, not making hungry, not building a dam on flowing water and not hunting animals. But also of not fornicating and at first sight strange appearing ones such as not copulating and not extinguishing fires.

New computer enhanced version of the Book of the Dead.......2007-03-24

The ancient Egyptian bible, everyone who could afford one was buried with one. This is a new version, and has English translations on each page with color images. It is a guidebook for the deceased person to follow to find his way to the afterlife to live on forever. The Egyptians were not obsessed with death but with obtaining the perfect afterlife. Sound familiar?
By the way I do agree with the excellent reviews already here. But, to make it accessable to Western eyes, I think NOT to refer to it as a sort of "Bible" is a bit confusing I think. The ancient Egyptians studied it, tried to memorize it, and took it with them in their sarcophagus if they could afford to, in order to have access to it when they awoke and needed to start their journey to the West (afterlife). It held all they needed to know to get there safely.
This version, I understand, is the best new one ever and most accurate translation. Fascinating just to go through, the art is wonderful.

Egyptian Book of the Dead.......2007-01-17

This was a gift to an Egyptologist.
Very much appreciated.

The Book of Going Forth by Day.......2007-01-11

A great reference of the original writings of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. A valuable read for anyone studying Ancient Egyptian History.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies

ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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