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

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.

Sharpe's Prey: Richard Sharpe & the Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807

Average customer rating:

A Great Series
Vintage Cornwell, vintage Sharpe, but non-vintage English cruelty
Cornwell at his finest
Sharpe in Transition
Rolicking Sharpe yarn, completes Sharpe's Background

Sharpe's Prey: Richard Sharpe & the Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807
Bernard Cornwell
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060084537
Release Date: 2003-12-16

Book Description

The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his career seems to have come to a dead end, despite his heroics in Britain's recent victory at Trafalgar. Loveless, destitute, and relegated to the menial tasks of quartermaster, Sharpe roams the streets of London, pondering a bleak future away from the army.

Then, out of the blue, an old friend invites him to undertake a secret mission—the delivery of a bribe—to the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Denmark is officially neutral, but Napoleon is threatening an invasion in order to capture the powerful Danish fleet, which would replace the ships France lost in its disastrous defeat at Trafalgar. The British, fearing such enhancement of French power, threaten their own preemptive invasion, and Sharpe, whose errand seemed so simple, is trapped in a web of treachery that will end only when the city, which thought itself safe, is subjected to a brutal and merciless bombardment.

Download Description

PerfectBound e-book extra: ""Bernard Cornwell On: The Origin of Richard Sharpe, Sharpe's Adventures, and Sharpe's Trafalgar Plus: Become a member of the Sharpe Appreciation Society. Bestselling novelist Bernard Cornwell returns to his popular Richard Sharpe series with this eighteenth dazzling installment, which finds his beloved hero in the heart of war-torn Denmark, trying to protect the prized Danish fleet from Napoleon Bonaparte's ambitions. The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his career seems to have come to a dead end. Loveless, destitute, and relegated to the menial tasks of quartermaster, Sharpe roams the streets of London, pondering a bleak future away from the army. Then, out of the blue, an old friend invites him to undertake a secret mission -- the delivery of a bribe -- to the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Denmark is officially neutral, but Napoleon is threatening an invasion in order to capture the powerful Danish fleet, which could replace the ships France lost in its disastrous defeat at Trafalgar. The British, fearing such enhancement of French power, threaten their own preemptive invasion, and Sharpe, whose errand seemed so simple, is trapped in a web of treachery that will end only when the city, which thought itself safe, is subjected to a brutal and merciless bombardment. Sharpe's Prey - the chronological sequel to Sharpe's Trafalgar - finds Bernard Cornwell at the top of his bestselling form, combining the meticulous historical detail and fantastic battle scenes he's famous for with a plot that races at breakneck speed toward the final, bloody battle that threatens to destroy Copenhagen.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Series.......2006-08-15

This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.

Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...

And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.

Vintage Cornwell, vintage Sharpe, but non-vintage English cruelty.......2006-05-09

You have to give Bernard Cornwell credit -- for a Brit (albeit one who emigrated to Cape Cod) with a warm affection for his homeland, he sure is capable of giving it a stick in the eye. And what a sharp, brutal stick it is, too.

"Sharpe's Prey" takes place in 1807, a couple of years after Sharpe helped the British navy destroy the French at Trafalgar. That book, "Sharpe's Trafalgar," ended on a high note for Sharpe - triumphant, rich, and hopelessly in love.

Bliss lives a brief life in Sharpe's world, and "Sharpe's Prey" opens with Sharpe destitute and lost -- even his home, the British army, doesn't seem to want him anymore, putting him in the thankless and totally inappropriate role of quartermaster for the 95th Rifles.

But through a murder, hope springs anew for Sharpe, as an old friend sends Sharpe as hired muscle on an important mission to Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danes, though neutral, had the second-largest fleet in Europe, and the Brits learned that through a super-secret treaty, the Russian emperor gave Napoleon the Danish fleet. (Just think of the arrogance of the Russian and French leaders at that -- giving away a fleet that wasn't theirs!)

So Sharpe is charged with escorting a British agent and 43,000 guineas to Copenhagen as an inducement to the Danes to keep their fleet out of Napoleon's hands. Unfortunately for Sharpe, the British agent is a dastardly and lethal fellow named Lavisser, who has no intention of giving up 43,000 guineas or of letting Sharpe get in his way.

But the book really focuses on one of the black marks in British history, the firebombing of Copenhagen. As one can expect, the Danes resisted the British overtures and wanted to remain sovereign (recognizing the British offer for what it was). As a result, Sharpe finds himself amidst a Copenhagen that for three days becomes a raging inferno as the British navy launches thousands of firebombs per day into the city -- a city they knew held thousands of women and children.

Cornwell pulls no punches in his virtuoso descriptions of those hellish nights. "Sharpe's Prey" may be one of Cornwell's shorter novels (a mere 260-odd pages), but it is among his most powerful. And through it all, Sharpe marches on. This is a difficult yet valuable book.

Cornwell at his finest.......2005-10-30

All the perfect ingredients for an action-packed and page turning read" as THE TIMES said. This book is for people who like adventures packed with action in the 19th century. This novel is about the time where the battle field was on the sea. Lieutenant Richard Prey an Englishman, is given a mission to stopp war. His adventure is exciting as the plot reaches its climax; Prey has to, protect a women he loves, hunt a traitor and stay alive.

Sharpe in Transition.......2005-08-18

This 18th installment in the Sharpe series is set in 1807, following the events of Sharpe's Trafalgar. The story kicks off in high gear with the cold-blooded murder of British officer in London at the hands of a traitorous fellow officer. Meanwhile, Sharpe is first encountered in a rather comic scene at the offices of a firm that handles the monetary affairs of military men. It comes as some shock to find that he is attempting to sell his battlefield commission in order to leave the army! It seems he is disenchanted with being a quartermaster and is penniless following various nefarious legal actions following the death of his paramour Lady Grace. Fortunately for the continuity of the series, selling a battlefield commission is not permitted (no matter how threatening Sharpe is to the priggish clerks!), and he's stuck in his position for the moment.

Larger events are at work however -- it seems Denmark has built a very nice fleet, which the French want in order to replace their losses at Trafalgar and the British want in order to keep the French from having it. Following a brief episode in which Sharpe revisits the orphanage he was reared in (the most unconvincing part of the book), he is assigned to replace the murdered officer as the bodyguard for the nefarious Captain Lavisser. Lavisser is an aide to the Duke of York who has been charged with a secret mission to take 43,000 guineas and bribe the Danish prince into "storing" his fleet with the British for safekeeping. Alas, he is also a traitor and French agent who is planning on killing Sharpe and making off with the gold.

And so Sharpe is tossed into a James Bond role as he attempts to stay alive, foil Lavisser, and boink the beautiful daughter of Britain's agent in Copenhagen. More suited to the battlefield than intrigue, Sharpe is generally a step or two behind Lavisser until he finally gets to go mano-a-mano with him in the midst of a bombardment. Ah yes... the British bombardment of Copenhagen... one of the earliest deliberate attacks on a civilian population using modern armaments. Not the finest moment for the British fleet, and Cornwell pulls no punches in describing the horror and destruction it wreaked.

On the whole I found the book to be as entertaining and gripping as any in the series. True, there's not as much battlefield action as some might prefer, but there is a well described action in which British regulars rout a rag-tag group of Danish militia. And you have to like the irony of Sharpe being on the wrong end of volley fire for once! There are also little cameos by series regulars Wellesley, Harper, and the first action of the riflemen. There's even the rather shocking scene of Sharpe weeping! All in all, a little bit of a hodge-podge, but one built solidly upon an obscure piece of military which Cornwell once again capably brings to light.

Rolicking Sharpe yarn, completes Sharpe's Background.......2005-03-21

Sharpe's Prey is very different from Sharpe's Trafalger. When Trafalger had ended, Sharpe was united with his love Lady Grace, her husband conveniently shot while attempting to murder her. When Sharpe's Prey opens, Sharpe is wearing his traditional green jacket of the rifles, but our hero is tough to recognize. Grace died from childbirth complications, along with the baby. Sharpe's fortune has once again been eaten up and he is penniless. His commission is worthless and he is not very happy with his military career. Yet Sharpe comes out on top and soon he finds himself in a secret mission with a gentleman to Denmark. After his defeat at Trafalger, Napoleon is desperately looking for ships to use against the naval power of Britain. Denmark's fleet is tempting and the British want that fleet safe in English ports while the Danes disagree. Soon Sharpe is in over his head in a world of spies and double crosses all while the English invade the peninsular kingdom. What follows is a tale of love, revenge and war, culminated by the British bombardment of Copenhaggan a little remembered event in world history. As always Cornwell does a fine job but this time he outshines himself.

Average customer rating:

Demise of Determinism
Intriguing.
Intriguing concept - but is it drama?
The play and a fascinating postscript
Deserves a reading

Copenhagen
Michael Frayn
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385720793
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Amazon.com

For most people, the principles of nuclear physics are not only incomprehensible but inhuman. The popular image of the men who made the bomb is of dispassionate intellects who number-crunched their way towards a weapon whose devastating power they could not even imagine. But in his Tony Award-winning play Copenhagen, Michael Frayn shows us that these men were passionate, philosophical, and all too human, even though one of the three historical figures in his drama, Werner Heisenberg, was the head of the Nazis' effort to develop a nuclear weapon. The play's other two characters, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, are involved with Heisenberg in an after-death analysis of an actual meeting that has long puzzled historians. In 1941, the German scientist visited Bohr, his old mentor and long-time friend, in Copenhagen. After a brief discussion in the Bohrs' home, the two men went for a short walk. What they discussed on that walk, and its implications for both scientists, have long been a mystery, even though both scientists gave (conflicting) accounts in later years.

Frayn's cunning conceit is to use the scientific underpinnings of atomic physics, from Schrödinger's famous cat to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, to explore how an individual's point of view renders attempts to discover the ultimate truth of any human interaction fundamentally impossible. To Margrethe, Heisenberg was always an untrustworthy student, eager to steal from her husband's knowledge. To Bohr, Heisenberg was a brilliant if irresponsible foster son, whose lack of moral compass was part of his genius. As for Heisenberg, the man who could have built the bomb but somehow failed to, his dilemma is at the heart of the play's conflict. Frayn's clever dramatic structure, which returns repeatedly to particular scenes from different points of view, allows several possible theories as to what his motives could have been. This isn't the first play to successfully merge the worlds of science and theater (one is inevitably reminded of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and Hapgood), but it's certainly one of the most dramatically successful. --John Longenbaugh

Book Description

The Tony Award—winning play that soars at the intersection of science and art, Copenhagen is an explosive re-imagining of the mysterious wartime meeting between two Nobel laureates to discuss the atomic bomb.

In 1941 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a clandestine trip to Copenhagen to see his Danish counterpart and friend Niels Bohr. Their work together on quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle had revolutionized atomic physics. But now the world had changed and the two men were on opposite sides in a world war. Why Heisenberg went to Copenhagen and what he wanted to say to Bohr are questions that have vexed historians ever since. In Michael Frayn’s ambitious, fiercely intelligent, and daring new play Heisenberg and Bohr meet once again to discuss the intricacies of physics and to ponder the metaphysical—the very essence of human motivation.

Customer Reviews:

Demise of Determinism .......2006-11-25

Why did Heisenberg come to Copenhagen? Was he there to prod his former mentor for information on America's nuclear program? Or, was he there to gloat? Perhaps to reach a bargain; we won't build it if you don't? Perhaps to warn Bohr: Leave now before it is too late. Or, merely to pick the brain of the old master? About that calculation, did you say two tons or two kilos? Then again, Bohr was a kind of deity. Could Heisenberg have come to him for absolution: Forgive me Father for I have sinned; the Nazis made me do it. Or, is it possible that a German could actually be a goodie. After all, Heisenberg never built "the" bomb. Indeed, after the war Heisenberg asserted that though he possessed the scientific ability to construct a bomb, he instead steered the Nazis towards the production of a reactor.
Uncertainty. It allows Frayne to explore science, morality, politics and memory, all of which are inexorably linked. Explore is the operative word, here. Nothing in the play is ever really resolved but Frayne does use Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" to consider and explore the subjective nature of observation, which in this case relates not only to the workings of the atom but to the human mind as well.

Intriguing........2005-11-09

Michael Frayn, Copenhagen (Anchor, 1998)

Copenhagen 2000 Tony Award winner for best play, turns on a rather simple premise: Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe, and Werner Heisenberg, who were all together at a brief meeting in 1941 which has confused historians ever since, are back together after death. They are trying to piece out what actually happened that night; it seems they don't remember what happened that night any more than do those who have written so many pages about it over the years. In the process, they also dissect quantum physics, argue the viability of the atomic bomb (and why Heisenberg didn't think it was possible, while Bohr ended up being a small, but instrumental, player on Oppenheimer's team), and in general behave like old friends who have grown old and crotchety.

Frayn is obviously coming from the Waiting for Godot school of drama here, as the play is absent any action whatsoever; all the events are described by the three players. This has been expressed by a large number of the play's critics as a weakness. Whether or not you see it as one is, well, pretty much up to you; in all honesty, it never really occurred to me to consider it a weakness while I was actually reading the play, which I take as a positive thing.

The real reason to pick this up, though, is in Frayn's rather long afterword. (One wonders if anyone considered having one of the actors come out and relate it after each performance.) While the play itself does a decent job at demystifying the physics and mechanics of the various details about which Bohr and Heisenberg spent most of their lives niggling, the play's afterword both puts these details, and the nigglers, into the larger picture of their culture and time and elucidates a few things that someone simply seeing the play is likely to still not understand (such as how much of Frayn's various ideas as to what happened in the mysterious conversation he pulled out from under his arm, and how much has actually been posited by scholars). While the play itself is interesting, the afterword is fascinating, and the two together make for a good read. *** ½

Intriguing concept - but is it drama?.......2004-07-29

Reading a play poses challenges, as one must imagine it as a production while reading it as a book, and Michael Frayn's "Copenhagen" is no exception. Written without stage directions or set descriptions, and relying solely on dialogue, this three-person play describes the complicated relationship between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, two physicists responsible for groundbreaking work in quantum physics. With Bohr's wife Margrethe acting as a fulcrum, the two great physicists discuss their lives before, during, and after World War II, using Heisenberg's visits to Copenhagen as focal points. Probably the most radical device Frayn uses is skipping around in time (appropriate given the mention of Einstein) where the characters speak after they have died as well as in the past, often with one describing to the audience what is happening or what something means while the other two interact; the reader has to be astute enough to "hear" the change in tone to know whether the characters are speaking in the past or as deceased observers, especially since the change can occur from one sentence to the next. This play gathers its power mostly near the end as certain principles of quantum mechanics, particularly the ability of an atomic particle to act like both matter and wave, clarify these relationships. Issues of personal responsibility and negligence ignite the last pages.

But is this drama? Frayn does not create scenes except through expository writing and discussions. Action is described rather than shown, and thematic development is contained solely in the words spoken by the characters. What's worse, the characters seem too aware of the implications of their actions, making the dialogue somewhat heavy-handed. I would expect skilled actors to be able to magnify the glimpses of deep emotion as well as enliven what is already an intriguing concept, but in lesser hands, this play could end up as a mere exercise. The cover perfectly describes the starkness of "Copenhagen": three industrial chairs on an empty stage, two characters talking while another looks on.

Frayn's postscript lends context to the play, and I recommend not skipping it since this is an intellectual play about an intellectual topic. Particularly interesting is Frayn's description of fact, background, interpretation, and pure imagination on his part.

The average play reader should find "Copenhagen" fascinating. The basics of quantum mechanics are rendered in understandable and digestible bits. If you are planning to see a production of "Copenhagen" in the near future, the book is worth purchasing for the postscript; it should enhance your enjoyment of the production.

The play and a fascinating postscript.......2004-02-11

This book contains the text of Michael Frayn's Tony Award-winning play (94 pages), a fascinating 38-page Postscript, and a two-page word sketch of the scientific and historical background to the play.

The play itself is brilliant (see my review of the PBS production directed by Howard Davies, starring Stephen Rea, Daniel Craig, and Francesca Annis available on DVD) and is the kind of play that can be fully appreciated simply by reading it. There are no stage directions, no mention of props or stage business. There is simply Frayn's extraordinary dialogue. A photo from the cover suggests how the play might be staged on a round table with the three characters, Danish physicist Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe, and German physicist Werner Heisenberg, going slowly round and round as in an atom. This symbolism is intrinsic to the ideas of the play with Bohr seen as the stolid proton at the center and the younger Heisenberg the flighty electron that "circles." Margrethe who brings both common sense and objectivity to the interactions between the ever circling physicists, might be thought of as a neutron, or perhaps she is the photon that illuminates (and deflects ever so slightly) what it touches.

At the center of the play (and at the center of our understanding of the world through quantum mechanics) is a fundamental uncertainty. While Heisenberg and Bohr demonstrated to the world through the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics that there will always be something we cannot in principle know regardless of how fine our measurements, Frayn's play suggests that there will always be some uncertainty about what went on between the two great architects of QM during Heisenberg's celebrated and fateful visit to the Bohr household in occupied Denmark in 1941. There is uncertainty at the heart of not only our historical tools but at the very heart of human memory (as Frayn explains in the Postscript).

"The great challenge facing the storyteller and the historian alike is to get inside people's heads... Even when all the external evidence has been mastered, the only way into the protagonists' heads is through the imagination. This indeed is the substance of the play." (p. 97)

The three characters appear as ghosts of their former selves, as it were, and begin immediately an attempt to unravel and understand what happened in 1941. The central question is Why did Heisenberg come to Copenhagen? Was it an attempt to enlist Bohr in a German atomic bomb project? Was it to get information from Bohr about an Allied project or to pick his brain for ideas on how to make fission work? Or was it, as Margrethe avers, to "show himself off"--the little boy grown up, the man who was once part of a defeated country, now triumphant?

The play leaves it for us to find an answer, because neither history nor the recorded words of the participants give us anything close to certainty. With the conflicting statements of the characters Frayn implies that the truth may be a matter of one's point of view, that is, it may be a question of relativity. Ultimately it may even be that Heisenberg himself did not know why he came to Copenhagen.

Also being asked by Frayn's play is a moral question. Is it right for scientists to build weapons of mass destruction to be used on civilian targets? Heisenberg contends that this is the question he wanted to ask of Bohr. It is ironic that although Heisenberg was condemned by physicists around the world for his (presumed) unsuccessful attempt to build a fission bomb for Hitler, his work killed no one, while the universally beloved and admired Bohr had a hand in the Manhattan project that resulted in the bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities.

As the electron is seen and then not seen, its speed measured and then not measured, but never both at the same time, so it is with Heisenberg's character in life and in this play. We are never sure where he is. Is he working for the Nazis or is he only pretending to? Is he working on a reactor or is he working on a bomb? Did he delay the German project intentionally (as he claimed), or was the failure due to incompetence, or even--as Frayn suggests--to an unconscious quirk of Heisenberg's mind?

In the Postscript Frayn recalls the historical evidence he used in constructing the play and cites his sources and gives us insights into what Bohr and Heisenberg were like. He quotes Max Born, describing Heisenberg as having an "unbelievable quickness and precision of understanding," while "the most characteristic property" of Bohr, as described by George Gamow, "was the slowness of his thinking and comprehension." One can see where Frayn got his metaphor of the atom with its heavy nucleus and its speedy electron. But Bohr was also thoughtful and thorough while Heisenberg was "careless with numbers." And of course these are relative terms since both men were Nobel Prize-winning physicists, brilliant men who reached the very pinnacle of their profession.

Bottom line: one the great plays of our time on an epochal subject, fascinating and cathartic as all great plays should be.

Deserves a reading.......2004-01-21

COPENHAGEN is a play that welcomes a reading. The structure of pure dialogue between the physicists, Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr's wife Margrethe( who represents the non-physicists in the audience) lends itself to the closer examination the written word gives us. Michael Frayn brilliantly imagines a moment frozen in time- Heisenberg arrives from Germany in 1941 to discuss something with his mentor, Bohr in occupied Copenhagen. Seizing upon this historical event and its mysterious circumstances, Frayn recreates the event from a variety of perspectives in pursuit of a greater truth. Was Heisenberg a hero, who kept the Nazi's from achieving the ultimate weapon, or a victim of his own carelessness?
Reading the play, gives you the time to reflect upon how creatively Frayn frames each of his scenarios. The dialogue is never less than challenging, even while playing to the audience surrogate, Margrethe. Frayn uses these two great minds to introduce the audience into the realm of advanced physics and the moral ambiguities involved in the mixing of pure science with the nature of war. The forced civility between the two men emphasizes the underlying current of terror created by the Nazis rise to power and the oncoming dawn of an atomic age. Frayn does not offer any easy answers, to do so would be an insult to the wonderful work that has gone on before.
The postscript alone is worth the price of the book for any fan of the play. It sets up the historical context for the play's creation and gives the reader a much greater understanding of where Frayn came up with many of the issues he examines in this work.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

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Time Out Copenhagen (Time Out Guides)
Time Out
Manufacturer: Time Out
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1846700027

Book Description

Though it is no longer a secret that the Danish capital, Copenhagen, is the perfect destination, with its beguiling blend of super-cool shops, fabulous restaurants, and world-class museums all conveniently compressed within a pretty, pedestrian-friendly heart, this fourth edition of the Time Out guide illuminates the corners of the city that other guides rarely reach. In recent years, visitors have begun to discover an alternative Copenhagen — away from the royal and historic riches of its 1,000-year-old center. Newly revitalized parts of the city like Vesterbro and Norrebro have emerged as groovy hot spots where cutting edge fashion, food, and design flourish. So, while many are lured to Copenhagen by its rich 20th-century design legacy, they are as likely to leave having sampled the best that modern Scandinavia has to offer. This comprehensive guide to Copenhagen, with color photos and maps throughout, covers every attraction, museum, and source of amusement, including new hot spots and up-and-coming neighborhoods.

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Pleasantly Surprised
WOW A GREAT READ
Discover a new mystery master!
Excellent view of Swedish life and police procedure
Tursten takes psychological approach to Scandinavian serial killer

the Torso
Helene Tursten
Manufacturer: Soho Crime
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1569474257

Book Description

Praise for Detective Inspector Huss:

"Absorbing, intelligent Ã¢Â€Â¦ holds its own alongside the best feminine hardboiled novels currently being written by Englishwomen Val McDermid and Liza Cody, and our own Sara Paretsky."-Maureen Corrigan, NPR, Fresh Air and The Washington Post Book World

"A truly satisfying police procedural."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Another winner."-ALA Booklist

Part of a human torso washes up on a beach near Goteborg, Sweden. It is so mutilated that gender is only established by DNA testing. A similar crime, now several years old, remains unsolved in Denmark. Detective Inspector Irene Huss is dispatched to Copenhagen to liaise with police there in pursuing the killer. Then a third corpse is discovered. This time it's identified. She is a girl Detective Huss knew; she was asked by the girl's mother to locate her missing daughter. The next victim, the son of the woman heading the Copenhagen crime squad, is also known to Huss. She fears the killer is tracking her, killing people with whom she is connected. There is even a chilling suggestion that he or she is one of her colleagues.

Customer Reviews:

Pleasantly Surprised.......2007-07-09

The Torso was recommended to me by a friend. Not being an aficionado of Swedish Crime, I purchased it with some trepidation. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the book. It has an interesting storyline, strong characterisation and clean-simple writing. Although many other crime authors manage to achieve this, what separates Tursten is her ability to weave a "feel" of normal Swedish family life into her story - very interesting. Buy it, you will not be disappointed.

WOW A GREAT READ.......2007-02-17

one of the best mysteries i have read since i real all the henning mankel books...i think this is the best, very involved , good detective work and strong characters that are belieable. .... can;t wait for the next one

Discover a new mystery master!.......2006-12-21

Helene Tursten writes tightly woven, hang-on-the-edge-of-your-seat mysteries, police procedurals at their finest. "The Torso" is her best yet, a blazingly good story set in Sweden that'll keep you glued. If you have grown weary with the cutesy cozy stories that pass for American mysteries today, you will be delighted to discover Ms. Tursten's books. She never lets her readers down. Her protagonist, the very competent Inspector Huss, is more than equal to any challenge that comes her way. Huss is a master at judo, which makes her capable of taking care of herself magnificently in tough spots. Inspector Huss does not go cute, naive, or fragile when things get tough, unlike the formula that our American mystery writers frequently follow for their female sleuths. No, the savvy Huss gets in there and takes care of business, no matter how dirty it might be. Get the book! Enjoy a great read! Helene Tursten can't write fast enough for me.

Excellent view of Swedish life and police procedure.......2006-08-17

Thoughtful mystery full of twists and turns. Strong female detective. Excellent view of Swedish life including tantalizing description of Swedish food at various stops along the way. Intriging view of Danish sex trade. I can hardly wait for the next book!

Tursten takes psychological approach to Scandinavian serial killer.......2006-04-04

Swedish cop Irene Huss makes her second appearance (after "Detective Inspector Huss") with the other members of the Goteborg Violent Crimes Unit when an eviscerated torso turns up on the beach. DNA evidence determines the deceased was male but the only clue to his identity is an expertly crafted tattoo. A similar unsolved crime in Copenhagen, Denmark, takes Irene there where she finds the tattoo's source on a sign for a gay sex shop.

Then a young girl she has been looking for is similarly murdered in Copenhagen and Irene is shaken, feeling responsible. This fear deepens as more murders occur in Irene's wake. Could the killer be a cop? Someone with inside information? Is her family at risk?

The killings themselves are beyond grisly, featuring necrosadism - murder for sexual enjoyment of the mutilation of a dead body - but the focus is more on people and setting than gore.

With elements of Ed McBain's 87th precinct series in the friction, co-operation and competition between the differing personalities of the cop team, and a fascinating glimpse of cultural dynamics in Scandinavia, this is an absorbing, character-driven series. At 40, Irene has a busy, satisfying family life with her chef husband, twin teenage daughters and energetic dog, and a focused dedication, which doesn't mind bending the rules when it suits.

The writing is spare, vivid and atmospheric. This is a series for readers who like procedurals with a strong psychological component.

--Portsmouth Herald

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Quite Possibly One of the Most Boring Books I have Ever Read.
Nothing but Time
Thought-provoking and compelling, but tedious in parts
haunting but flawed
The Borderliners: The More You Dig, The Less Is There

Borderliners
Peter Hoeg
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The History of Danish Dreams
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The Woman and the Ape
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Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories

ASIN: 0374115540

Book Description

They're refugees from orphanages and reform schools, children in danger of being institutionalized for not fitting in: Borderliners. Now they've been given one last chance: transfer to an exclusive private academy where they will be integrated with normal, privileged students. What they don't know--yet--is that they are subjects of a secret experiment in social Darwinism. All they have is time, every moment of which is rigidly managed by their Dickensian academy. For Peter and his newfound friends, August and Katarina, the only escape from the draconian present is in recreating time and space for themselves in an insidious rebellion that is both revolutionary--and suicidal...

Customer Reviews:

Quite Possibly One of the Most Boring Books I have Ever Read........2006-10-16

No emotion, no real plot, and nothing but theories on time and the concepts around it. The characters seem to have no feeling, and the plot is boring rather than suspense filled. I wanted to like this book because it is so well written, but it just doesn't keep one intrigued. Sorry, but I cannot give an obviously intelligent and talented writer like Hoeg the rating his style deserves.

Nothing but Time.......2006-01-25

I can't emphasize enough how important it is that an audio book have the correct narrator. George Guidell seems able to "own" almost any story, and this one by Danish author Hoeg is no exception. This is the story of Pater, a boy caught up in an odd experiment in the 1970s by the Danish Ministry of Education wherein the idea was to re-integrate problem children into the normal school system - in very strict circumstances - in the hope they could be blended back in and "ennobled." This is a very odd story, filled with a variety of teachers with quirks and ticks, students with light to heavy mental imbalance, and a running monologue on the nature of time. This monologue overpowers the story itself at times, but it's well worth the trouble to make it through. The characters in this one, their reactions, and the reasons for them, will stick with you. The ending is a little ambiguous, and I wasn't totally enamored of the conclusion and the end that the protagonist came to, but there is deep thought in the pages of this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone, particularly those who are interested in the concept of linear vs. cyclic time.

Thought-provoking and compelling, but tedious in parts.......2006-01-21

I chose this for my most recent book club selection, based on the synopsis, the high rating, and the fact that I'd seen and loved the movie Smilla's Sense of Snow.

I don't wish to belabor points already raised by so many reviewers before me, so I'll just comment on how I experienced it. To be candid, I didn't like it very much the first time (though I wouldn't have said it was bad). Because I had to lead the upcoming book club discussion, I read it again, and the second time through I really enjoyed it.

So what was the problem the first time? I think I did have expectations based on what I'd read "about" the book that caused me to be looking for things that weren't there. I think I thought it would be more of a thriller, and I also thought the adults and institutions would be more sinister. Instead, I think the book points out the sinister aspects of things that many of us are already familiar with to some extent. So it wasn't as shocking as I expected.

Another issue that discolored my initial read, was the structural combination of jumping chronologically, jumping to different settings/characters, and the sparse style. Hoeg doesn't use much detailed descriptions, and the flow seems to be mostly guided by the narrator's stream of consciousness. I felt confused much of the time - Who ARE these people? WHERE are we? WHEN are we? Yet, on the second read, I would not have changed any of these points. The sparse style is part of the beauty of this book. To paraphrase one of the characters, you have to listen to the pauses between Hoeg's words. What he doesn't say, his decisions on what to leave out, or leave to the reader's imagination, is just as important as what he does say.

The final problem, of course, is the discourses on the nature of time, which are strewn lightly throughout Parts 1 and 2, but seem to make up the bulk of Part 3. (There are three "Parts" total.) As others have said, at times these are interesting and seem pertinent, but often they are tedious, boring, and severely interrupt the flow of the story. The only excuse I can imagine for keeping them is that they are "true to the character".

Despite these difficulties, I have to rate this at 4 stars, which is high on my personal scale. During my second read, since I knew what to expect (or what not to expect) and I was no longer confuse, the many positive points of this novel came through. The book deals with a long list of topics which are relevant to our times. The characters are interesting and sympathetic. The style is beautiful in its apparent simplicity. I expect that, like many great works of art, each succeeding experience will reveal new depths.

I would recommend it, but note that it is not for everyone. Although I found it to be uplifting in the end, many of my fellow book club members found it to be too sad and depressing throughout. If you are looking solely for entertainment, you might skip this one. If you enjoy something that makes you think, definitely give this a chance!

haunting but flawed.......2005-11-29

"Borderliners" tells the story of three young adult Danish students: the narrator (and author stand-in) Peter who has been orphaned since birth, recently-orphaned Katarina, and August, who has killed both of his abusive parents. Peter has been the target of physical and sexual abuse from his foster families, from the other students in the various institutions he has lived in, and from the administration of these places. Their current school is called Biehl's, and Katarina begins to suspect there is something sinister going on. The plan eventually revealed is to take in "borderline" or troubled students and raise them up to the standard as the rest. When August cannot cope, despite everyone's efforts, tragedy strikes.

The only problem with this novel were the digressions into the nature of "time." Some were pertinent and tied in with the book's themes. Others, however, just seemed pretentious and pointless. Still, the book is worth a read.

The Borderliners: The More You Dig, The Less Is There.......2005-11-19

It is obvious that Peter Hoeg has done a lot of research. It is
equally obvious that he has put a great deal of thought, effort
and Time into this book.

Unfortunately he has put so much into this book that the various
elements are crammed against each other like too many passengers
in a too small elevator. Superficially, the book focuses on
three disadvantaged children in a private school who begin to
suspect that they are the victims of a mysterious plot. The
story describes how they attempt to rebel against the authority
of the school and what they eventually discover. Along the way
we are given insights into the feelings of children who are on
the borderline between acceptance and rejection by society.

All well and good, and this could have been a quite good story if
the main plot had been developed adequately.

Sadly, it was not. Instead the author chose to use his tale as a
framework for some incredibly tedious exposition abut the nature
of Time and how we perceive it.

The mysterious plot, the psychology of borderliners and the
nature of time were too large a crowd for too small an elevator
and the result was an unsatisfactory narration with an
inconclusive ending. Even the discovery and resolution of the
mysterious plot was a disappointment.

Above all else, a work of fiction bears the responsibility to
entertain. Learned discourses into the nature of time and space
are best relegated to other venues.

The most I can say for this book was that it was interesting in
parts, but overall a disappointment.

[...]

The Inshore Squadron (The Bolitho Novels)

Average customer rating:

Leave the Romance to others
The Inshore Squadron
The continuing adventures of Richard Bolitho
Deja vú
Admiral he's not!

The Inshore Squadron (The Bolitho Novels)
Alexander Kent
Manufacturer: McBooks Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0935526684

Book Description

Copenhagen, 1800. After seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts to the Baltic where the British navy encounters the bitter hardship of blockade duty.

Customer Reviews:

Leave the Romance to others.......2007-04-12

Alexander Kent¡¦s Richard Bolitho series has always been strongest in its depiction of naval battles during the age of sail and weakest when it comes to matter of the heart between the two sexes. Therefore, you can imagine my disappointment to find that The Inshore Squadron is focused squarely on Richard Bolitho¡¦s love and family life.

In this volume, Bolitho has already been promoted to Rear-Admiral. This seems to be astonishingly fast as we only had one story of him as a Commodore while we had many of him as a Captain. But let¡¦s leave that aside. As usual, Bolitho manages to have a squadron of his compatriots around him and all the usual characters are either on his ship or elsewhere in the fleet. Herrick is newly married and commanding the flagship while Inch is now a full Captain in charge of a 64 gun ship (Inch moved from a bomb Ketch as a Commander to a flag Captain awfully fast too!). Allday is the Admiral¡¦s Coxswain and Adam Pascoe is on board as the third Lieutenant. Also present from the past is Captain Charles Keverne who previously appeared in the series as a midshipman. Is it simply my imagination or has the world of the British Navy gotten awfully chummy? Well, that was a rhetorical question as every Admiral and senior office that we meet is always for the first time, while the gang that comes up in the Bolitho stories are maturing and being promoted along with him. Maybe it was simply that a lot of new ships are being commissioned at this time? º

Anyway, Bolitho¡¦s squadron¡¦s first mission is to relieve one of the squadrons that is blockading the Baltic. As part of this mission, Bolitho takes a Frigate to Copenhagen to present his credentials and thereby enters the world of diplomacy for the first time. As it happens, a French Frigate is also at Copenhagen. Bolitho is introduced to the crown prince of Denmark in a surreptitious manner which makes me think that there will be more to this in future volumes. While sleeping in Copenhagen, Bolitho is alerted that six British merchant ships have been captured and are in the Baltic. At the same time, the French Frigate leaves the harbor. Bolitho ignores the rules of neutrality and rushes to find the French ship and the captured British ones and immediately attacks the larger ship and releases the merchantmen.

Back on station a French squadron appears. It is escorting a transport ship bringing crack French soldiers to help train the Russian army (One of many incongruities here is why the French insist on transporting many of their mail or important things via ships when the overland routes are safer, more direct, and more convenient ¡V but I suppose then there would be no stories to tell?). Bolitho¡¦s smaller squadron attacks and manages to turn the French squadron around. Unfortunately, Bolitho is wounded by a musket ball in the thigh during the engagement. All of this happens in the first few chapters.

Now, comes the best part of this book as we learn what it is like to be subject to the medical care of that time and how easy it is for people to die while under it. Compared to the care available today, this part of the book makes one shiver and quail as the rough medical care is provided as the best there is. No fear though ¡V Bolitho survives! Of course, it is apparent that the surgeon would have amputated the leg of anyone else, but because this was the admiral, well¡K

As Bolitho is healing we switch over to the romantic part of the story. This is where Kent¡¦s weaknesses come to light. First he creates an unbelievable recreation of the scene in which Bolitho loses his wife Cheney. Then, to compound the problem, the damsel being rescued is a carbon copy of Cheney in looks and is even loosely related to her. Finally, and not surprisingly, Belinda is unbearably beautiful and recently widowed. Now, isn¡¦t that convenient? As usual in these stories, Belinda and Bolitho spend one or two hours together and are in immediate and passionate love with each other. Oh, Kent throws a couple of curveballs at us and has them separate here and there with no assurance of the love being returned or consummated but those are clearly ruses. These parts of the story occupy most of the book.

To help in making it seem like a real Bolitho story, we are also entertained with another two rounds of Bolitho needing to guard his nephew¡¦s reputation from his brother Hugh¡¦s misdeeds. This time it goes as far as a duel with a proxy for a senior office involved. And, we are given to understand that Bolitho and his squadron also took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in a role that is auxiliary to Nelson¡¦s. This is the second straight book in which Bolitho plays on the same stage as Nelson as we head toward Trafalgar.

As you can tell from my writing, I think that Kent writes and excellent adventure series as long as he maintains his focus on sailing ships, handling them, and the action between the British and French navies. He clearly loses his touch when he attempts to add romantic elements to the story. I wish he would stop trying to add the romantic elements and focus on his best side ¡V the adventure aspects.

The Inshore Squadron.......2007-01-19

Calling all Richard Bolitho fans. Be sure to continue the series with The Inshore Squadron. Written with the flare and excitement as all of the previous books in the series. Alexander Kent is untiring in his ability to keep your interest up throughout the story.

The continuing adventures of Richard Bolitho.......2004-02-11

Bolitho is promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of a squadron assigned to the Baltic, where the Tsar of Russia is trying to create an alliance with the scandinavians, and simultaneously make an alliance with Napoleon. Bolitho meets a relative of his late wife, who bears a close resembland to her, and loses his heart to her.

This is another great Kent novel, set in 1800 from the viewpoint of the British Navy. This is the 13th book out of 26 in the Bolitho series, and they are all exciting depictions of life aboard ships of His Brittanic Majesty's fleet. Like the rest of them, one gets the feeling that the period is accurately depicted, with sufficient detail and character development to make you feel that you are a witness to history.

I must admit that I am a fan of Alexander Kent (a pseudonym) and his naval fiction. He seems very knowledgeable about square riggers, their armament, and the problems inherent in naval warfare with only the wind to provide propulsion.

Do I recommend these books? Absolutely!

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

Deja vú.......2002-02-07

Ever humble in his sterling achievements, a popular hero cheered by his men, Richard Bolitho has been made rear-admiral. Bolitho has moved away from his more happy-go-lucky (but never sky-larking!) enthusiam of youth and turned towards introspection and the burdens of ever broader commands of, necessarily, ever more anonymous people (now grown to 3000). Kent seems increasingly interested in writing of the psychology and pressures of supreme command. We see the thinking of The Admiralty vying with the jealousies of admirals, or the uncertainties of information and of diplomatic choices. In the climactic battle for Copenhagen we see Bolitho make his first cold-blooded command decision to throw away a ship in favor of the survival of his fleet as a whole.

This is an often grim story that jumps between English ports and the entry to the Baltic Sea, plots and battles, health and death, and points of view. As with the novels of Hornblower and Drinkwater, Bolitho's Baltic mission is intimately tied to Tsar Paul's potential (mes-)alliance with Napoleon in 1801, and the British attempts to prevent it. Britain was fighting the greatest threat to its existence in 800 years, struggling to keep any allies at all on the continent to face the totalitarian French juggernaut (Hitler's model). The secondary story is about Adam Pascoe, Bolitho's orphaned nephew, and his growth as an officer in the squadron through trying personal relationships and, finally, knowledge of his birth. Extraordinary coincidences threaten to repeat some of the dark episodes of earlier stories: a wound that again drives Bolitho out of his mind, Pascoe's involvement in another duel like his traitorous father's, a carriage wreck like that which killed his beloved wife, and someone providentially like her....

As a writer Kent doesn't include informative period asides so much as go for the jugular of battle or command tensions. In idle moments Bolitho indulges in reminiscence of people from earlier stories, of most meaning if you've already read them. As always, pay really close atttention to any sailing instructions (e.g., difference between wind veering and backing) if you want to visualize what's going on; at one critical point I thought two squadrons were approaching battle bow-on, when they weren't! I really missed a map of the intricate waterways at the mouth of the Baltic.

Admiral he's not!.......2001-12-10

In Number 13, Bolitho becomes a rear admiral; Herrick is his flag captain, Pascoe is on board. Bolitho was an average midshipman, a good lieutenant and and excellent captain, although most of his more daring feats were ashore. Kent can't let go of this, and Bolitho improbably hangs his flag on a small frigate, to get that frigate action that Aubrey could never let go of. The best thing about this book in the series is the almost soap-opera relationship with Allday, Pascoe and Herrick.
Bolitho finds a new woman, a carbon copy of Cheney, in a most unbelievable way. We still do not get enough of either the wardroom or the lower decks, except from Dick's ever more removed view. I do not like Admiral Bolitho much, not as much as I liked him before he became an admiral; but he is still more likable than the irascible Nathaniel Drinkwater (Woodman). We lack the incompetent, malevolent superior, as Bolitho becomes the superior. A good enough read, however, to lead me into #14.

Wallpaper City Guide: Copenhagen (Wallpaper City Guide Copenhagen)

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Wallpaper City Guide: Copenhagen (Wallpaper City Guide Copenhagen)
Editors of Wallpaper Magazine
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Copenhagen & Denmark Travel Map (Globetrotter Travel Map)

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