The Five Bells and Bladebone

Book Description

Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury is just one pint into his vacation in Long Piddleton when the murder of a notorious philanderer rocks the small village and its eccentric inhabitants...

"A writer to relish." (The New Yorker)

"Blends almost Dickensian sketches of character and social class with glimpses of a ferocious marriage." (Time)

Customer Reviews:

Strong plot, steeped in ambiguity.......2006-06-23

Grimes maintains a high level of ambiguity about the central characters, thereby presenting us with a thoughtful musing on the vagaries of memory and personal identity. The delicate balance is resolved, not in a dramatic climax and denouement, but in a subtle lifting of the veil. Some might even argue that the veil is never fully lifted. In any case, it is very well done.

On the negative side, I am tired of Grimes's cute characters, and I was tempted to skip past any scenes involving aunt Agatha.

IT'S THE PIG'S FAULT.......2003-04-06

Martha Grimes writes a darned good mystery, but then again, so do a lot of other folks. So why do I keep coming back to her books when there are so many other good mysteries out there begging to be read? Well, let me try to figure it out. There's Richard Jury of New Scotland Yard and his friend, and unofficial fellow mystery solver, Melrose Plant, the former Earl of Caverness (former because he has renounced the title just because he doesn't want it). Together, they make a pretty good crime solving duo. But then again, so do Holmes and Watson, or Batman and Robin, or even Nick andf Nora of "Thin Man" fame, but it's to Jury and Plant that I keep returning. Why? The truth is that Ms. Grimes has surrounded them with some of the most colorful characters in modern mystery fiction.

Before I discuss a few of my favorites, I'd better reveal a bit of the plot of THE FIVE BELLS AND BLADEBONE. To start with, a piece of antique furniture in the town of Long Piddleton, home to Melrose Plant and many of the other "regulars," is found to contain a dismembered body. Elsewhere, the body of a murdered London woman is discovered. Although it is not evident, Richard Jury believes that there is some sort of connection between these seemingly unrelated murders. He takes it upon himself to determine whether or not these murders are related to one another, and to find out who committed the murders. Obviously, this is a simplified description of the plot.

Before going on to my real reasons for loving Martha Grimes' novels, I do have to tell you that Richard Jury and Melrose Plant are real, lively, and interesting characters who are worth reading about on their own. They have distinct personalities, problems, etc., and it is rewarding to get to know them.

For starters, there's Jury's official aide, Detective Sergeant Wiggins. Wiggins is a walking pharmacy. He knows, as surely as he knows that sea air is poisonous, that he is going to fall seriously ill in the next minute. Any air he breathes is fraught with murderous bacteria and virus. He breaks out if it's dry and wheezes if it's damp. He sneezes if it's spring and coughs if it's fall, but never fear, he has pills and potions, nostrums and salves, inhalants and something called "fishermen's friends" in one pocket or another. He takes them all, too. In spite of his hypochondria, he is an outstanding policeman with an analytic mind and an ability to take unimpeachable notes.

Then, in Long Piddleton, there's Melrose's friend, Marshall Trueblood, antique dealer and a frequent partner in Melrose's pranks. Marshall dresses with a flair, in pinks and purples and mauves, in the finest silks and satins, and is rarely without a colorful scarf to set off his sartorial elegance. These clothes are the products of the finest (read expensive) tailors and designers that London has to offer. In this book, when an antique secretaire a abbant (desk to us commoners) he has purchased turns out to contain a dismembered body in it, his reaction is, "I bought the desk, not the body, send it back."

It's difficult to describe Jury's Scotland Yard supervisor, Chief Superintendent Racer, without resorting to a description that combines the word pompous with a word that describes the south end of a mule who is facing north. For reasons unknown, he has always had it in for Jury, but, in his heart of hearts, he knows that it is only Jury's amazing successes in solving difficult crimes that he, Racer, who is a total incompetent, has managed to keep his prestigious position. There is also, Cyris the cat, the bane of Racer's existence. Cyris is Racer's intellectual superior and lives only for the opportunity to torment and outwit Racer. That Cyril survives whatever trap Racer sets for him is testament to their relative intellects.

As is always the case in Martha Grimes' mysteries, there are too many more wonderful characters to begin to even list them all in a review of this length, much less to really do them justice, but I would be remiss if I didn't discuss Melrose's Aunt Agatha. She is everyone's nightmare in-law. She is utterly without redeeming qualities.

And what sort of mischief is Aunt Agatha up to in this book? Ah, she's at her best. She is suing Jurvis the butcher for "serious injuries" to her leg, ankle, or foot (she occasionally forgets which) resulting from an accident caused by a plaster pig that has stood in front of Jurvis' butcher shop for many years. The pig, she claims, somehow caused her to lose control of her car, an old junkheap, and to run up on the sidewalk, hitting both the pig and a parked bicycle. This pig caused accident resulted in serious pain and suffering. She can't exactly explain how the pig caused the accident, but there's no doubt that it was the pig's fault, just ask her, and Aunt Agatha is just the person to see to it that justice is served and that she will be adequately compensated for her injuries by way of a lawsuit. Wonder how this case comes out when tried by a dozing local magistrate? Well, I'm not going to spoil your fun by providing you with this information. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

And, oh yeah, there's a murder to be solved too. After all, this is a mystery novel. You're just going to have to do some reading on your own to find out who dunnit.

First Richard Jury novel.......2003-01-16

I am searching for a new author to read, so I picked up this Martha Grimes - therefore it is my first Richard Jury novel. I found it very difficult to follow all of the different characters and keep them straight. I also thought it took until about page 186 to get to the whole story - ugh, it was a bit frustrating. This is not a book I would recommend to people. I am wondering if I need to start at the beginning of the Richard Jury novels to enjoy her writing...

Intriguing and Unusual.......2002-04-16

Antique dealer Marshall Trueblood is delighted when he coaxes Lady Sommerston into selling her secretaire a abattant--at least until it arrives at his shop and vents forth the severed head of a man with more enemies than even Superintendant Jury of Scotland Yard can count. And the ensuing investigation proves problematic in more ways than one.

As usual, Martha Grimes writes beautifully, presenting us with a host of likely and unlikely suspects ranging from an eccentric romance novelist to a near-hysterical book dealer to a woman who greatly enjoys her dubious reputation--and considerable humor in the form of Aunt Agatha, a plaster pig, a bicycle, and chamber pots. But fascinating as her prose is, the sheer complexity of her story seems to run away with her in this particular novel, which piles character upon character and event upon event in a truly dizzying sort way.

Perhaps more to the point, this particular work deals with the thematic thread of to what degree we actually know people as individuals, the plot relies heavily upon coincidence, and Grimes juggles a great many balls to conceal the killer's hand. Whether or not readers feel these balls all fetch up together in logical order is a matter of opinion; clearly some consider this one of her most spectacular finishes while others find it frustratingly vague. For myself, I found the novel requires more concentration than one expects of a murder mystery, and while I thought the device was very clever I felt the conclusion lacked drama and consequently doesn't entirely come off. While I do recommend the novel to long-time Martha Grimes fans, I would hesitate to recommend it to newcomers, who might find BLADEBONE's deliberate ambiguity a bit off-putting.

Not terrible, but not very natural.......2001-12-09

Grimes is a talented mystery writer, who rarely fails to entertain. While not laugh-out-loud funny, reading one of her books generally inspires a chuckle or two. _Five Bells and Bladebone_ is no exception-- the book is well-written, and the characters of Long Piddleton continue to entertain.

The major problem with the book is the resolution. It's as though Grimes got an idea into her head about the clear-cut nature of murder and wanted to see it through even if it did violence to the characters as she'd already established them. I was very unhappy with the ending of the book-- I found it contrived and at least a little bit silly. Mysteries are better off character-driven rather than being pushed by Ideas of the writer.

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Little Brown c1987
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FOI1ZM

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells And Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PRYNTM

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone

Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 9992713100

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Thorndike Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K3R38E

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NYBJ2Q

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Dell Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I16U3W

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OB2HS8

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and Bladebone, A Dinner to Die For, The Uninvited Corpse (Detective Book Club)
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Walter J. Black, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Grimes, Martha | ( G ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000QVDTQU

Average customer rating:
The Five Bells and the Bladebone
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Onyx Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000RT5QC6

Book Description

From the incomparable master of romance Nora Roberts comes two tales of holiday love, available for the first time in over a decade.

Home for Christmas
After years of world travel, prizewinning reporter Jason Law returned home to New Hampshire. He had carried the memories of Faith Kirkpatrick, the girl he left behind, for ten years -- now he was determined to win back her love. But she was a woman with responsibilities, and he was nothing but a wandering nomad. All they could have was this one Christmas together. Could Faith summon the courage to give Jason a once-in-a-lifetime holiday gift?

All I Want for Christmas
Identical twin boys Zeke and Zach wanted only one gift from Santa: a new mom! And when they first meet their music teacher at school, they could hardly believe their luck -- Miss Davis was a mom made-to-order. But convincing their dad was a lot harder than they thought. Mac Taylor wasn't willing to risk his heart, but when Nell brought love and laughter into all their lives, his heart began to thaw like a spring snow. Will the boys get their Christmas present after all?

Customer Reviews:

The Gift.......2006-12-29

You know how you go into a thrift shop and see a decent-looking book with a shiny cover, by an author who is apparantly best-selling and famous... you are likely to buy it for 50 cents, just to see what all the fuss is about.

I read this for the holidays, since it is about this time of year and I wouldn't feel right reading about Christmas any other time of the year. But I wish I would have never picked this up at the thrift shop. Both the stories were surprisingly similar. Two people see each other, feel desire, then something happens that makes one of them mad, and then they make up and they get engaged.

It's all so sappy and romantic and it's been done many times before. But this book was the reason that I picked up a good mystery, instead of suffering through another romance.

Magical holiday stories.......2005-07-04

It seemed odd reading Christmas stories so far out of season, but this book tempered the July heat as it warmed my heart! If you are looking for long involved stories with a lot of drama and action, then this isn't the book for you. At under 100 pages each, the two wonderful stories in this collection are sweetly romantic; the type of feel-good, magical short stories similiar to those featured in the December issue of woman's magazines such as Good Housekeeping or Redbook. The solid and likable characters are very realisically presented and the dialogue between them flows naturally. The children have prominent roles and are charming in a precocious and mischievious sort of way. The attention to detail, especially in describing the both the wintery New England and the autumnal rural Maryland settings, pulls the reader into these small communities. It's amazing how Nora Roberts can make such an impact on such few pages!!

Nora, what's happened???.......2005-03-23

I only read the first story in this book. I was so dissapointed that I took it back to the library. Faith is nothing but a selfish woman who uses time old excuses. She kept her daughter from Jason for the stupidest reasons that you will only find in a romance novel. Jason shouldn't have left in the first place, but he did, and all Faith had to do was tell him as soon as she could. That would be the RIGHT thing to do. Jason wasn't any better though. He shouldn't have been so angry that Faith had gotten married. He left all of a sudden and didn't call or write till six months later. I always like the characters and writing of Nora, however this was such a short story that it left a lot to be desired. Nora should have not made her characters so cliched. Hopefully Midnight Bayou will be better, I got that from the library also today also. If not, then I'm giving up Nora for good.

Good Holiday Book.......2005-01-20

"The Gift" is a novel made up of two stories. The first, "Home for Christmas" is about a man, Jason, going back home to the small town he left years ago. He goes back to found Faith, his high school sweetheart he left behind to make a life for himself. He wants to take her away with him, but he discovers she has established a life for herself and her daughter in her town. So he tries to fit into her new life, but she has some trouble accepting him back in her life. The second story is titled ""All I want For Christmas". It's about two twin boys who want nothing for Christmas except a new mom, a love for their dad. So, Santa sends them their wish, in the form of a new teacher. The only problem is, their dad doesn't seem to notice Miss Davis, and they think their Christmas wish won't come true.
I chose this book because the holiday season was beginning and I was in the mood for nothing but Christmas romance novels. I was very happy with my decision. This is the perfect book to read if you just want to enjoy a fun story and a happy ending. The stories are well written and make you feel for the characters as if they were your friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and recommend it for anyone who wants a smile on their face.

Short and Sweet.......2005-01-06

While I am a huge fan of NR, these 2 books lack the strength of her latest books. These 2 stories were short...so short in fact, one can read them in a 2-hour sitting!

$The Gift: Home For Christmas\All I Want For Christmas\Gabriel's Angel$
Average customer rating:

The Gift: Home For Christmas\All I Want For Christmas\Gabriel's Angel
Nora Roberts
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Anthologies | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0373285612

Book Description

Home for Christmas

After years spent abroad, reporter Jason Law returned home determined to win back the girl he left behind. It would take all his skills—and then some—to win Faith back. But this time, nothing would stand in his way—it was time faith was rewarded.

All I Want for Christmas

Identical twin boys Zeke and Zach wanted only one gift from Santa this year: a new mom! But convincing their love-wary dad that their music teacher, Miss Davis, was his destiny and part of Santa's plan wasn't as easy as they'd hoped—.

Gabriel's Angel

All Gabriel Bradley wanted was solitude. But when Laura ended up at his remote cabin during a blizzard, desperate, alone and on the run, the modern-day Scrooge couldn't turn her away. For she brought him the gift of passion, life, hope—if he had the courage to reach for it.

Average customer rating:
The Gift: Home for Christmas and All I Want for Christmas
Nora Roberts
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OX94AA

Book Description

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAR TREK ® ODYSSEY

After almost a decade of strife against foes such as the Borg, the Cardassians, the Klingons, and the Dominion, the United Federation of Planets is at the dawn of a new era. Starfleet is renewing its mission of peaceful exploration, diplomacy, and the expansion of knowledge. Among the starships spearheading that endeavor is the U.S.S. Titan, commanded by Captain William T. Riker and manned by the most biologically varied and culturally diverse crew in Starfleet history.

But their mission does not begin according to plan.

In the wake of Star Trek ® Nemesis, Praetor Shinzon, slayer of the Romulan Senate, is dead. The power vacuum created by his demise has put the Romulan Star Empire, longtime adversary of the Federation, at the brink of civil war. Competing factions now vie for control of their fragmenting civilization, and if the empire should fall, that entire area of the galaxy may destabilize.

To restore order to the region, Titan 's long-anticipated mission of exploration is delayed as Starfleet assigns Riker to set up power-sharing talks among the Romulan factions. But even as the first tentative steps are taken toward building a new Romulus, the remnants of the Tal Shiar, the dreaded Romulan intelligence service, are regrouping behind the scenes for a power play of their own. With no other help available, Riker and the Titan crew become the last hope to prevent the quadrant from falling into chaos.

Customer Reviews:

Poorly written.......2007-07-12

I had high expectations for the first of the TITAN series, but this is the worst Trek book I've ever read.

Of course it's necessary to introduce many new characters at the start of a new series, but most of these Starfleet personnel merely stand around and lecture each other on the need for interspecies understanding. Very few of the characters actually DO anything. The plot is slow-moving and driven by interstellar politics, a theme that is handled far more successfully in ARTICLES OF THE FEDERATION.

My biggest problem is not the pace or the moralizing, however, but the fact that the book simply isn't very well written. The authors seem almost obsessed with certain devices and phrases: characters touching their rank insignia, making odd gestures, maintaining eye contact with their opponents, and displaying personal quirks that have nothing to do with the story. Secondary plot elements are introduced but never resolved, and the strong emphasis on the characters' personal lives is completely out of place in the first book of a series. (Yes, we might eventually care about the characters' personal lives, but only if we've first developed some interest in them over the course of several books or episodes.) These characters are just redshirts, each with a single distinctive characteristic.

If your favorite TNG episodes focus on Counselor Troi and the Troi/Riker dynamic, then you just might possibly like this book. Otherwise, don't bother.

t. rex, but no gay humans?.......2007-05-31

I have been much chagrined by the attack on the inclusion of gay characters in this novel. Being gay, having read many Star Trek novels, and only once having discovered homosexual Starfleet members in a Voyager novel, I was quite pleased, no, excited about these two characters. Two out of a whole crew is not an exorbitant number and wouldn't one expect that by the 24th century we gay people have civil rights and everyone is just over it? Kirk kissed a black woman in the old series and we look back on that episode as a stellar moment in TV history, for God's sake.
Now for the attempt at guilt. Would you nongay people who have complained like it if heterosexual characters were never included in ST novels? If you were never represented in the entertainment world? If you read a review condemning you as straight one of the few times you were ever included?
It makes total sense that gay people would serve openly in Starfleet and I look forward to more inclusion of our sexuality and relationships (to the same degree as straight) in the rest of this series. The amount of space dedicated to the gay characters was certainly brief.. I hope the authors further develop this possible relationship for the sake of making Star Trek more realistic and all us gay fans out here. Consdidering the diversity of species with which ST deals, can you really believe a sexual variation in humans would not be tolerated?
Charles

A fun new direction.......2007-03-28

This is a good book to get into after watching Star Trek: Nemesis. It basically picks up right from the start of Riker's command of the U.S.S. Titan - a new 'Luna' class starship.

I really enjoyed the book and, honestly, found myself not wanting to put it down. The most enjoyable aspect of the book for me was the fact that it really starts a whole new era of Trek adventures for some of the familiar TNG characters I love. I felt that the authors really took Riker and Deanna and pushed them forward into a "post-Enterprise" chapter of their lives. Sure, they're the same people as they were before, but, as you know yourself if you've ever moved to start a new career, there's a "fresh start" aspect of the experience that leads to change. It's interesting to me to see how things are changing for Riker and Deanna and the Trek universe as a whole. I feel that the authors captured that well.

Some of the points that the more negative reviews have are legitimate, though. I did feel like there were too many new characters and I had a hard time keeping them all straight. There is also an overbearing sense that the main point the authors were trying to make - on a moral level - was that bigotry is wrong. They really did emphasize this, almost to the point of ad nauseam.

I was able to get through that, though, and still really enjoyed the book. There are a couple of 'surprise' appearances by other characters that I didn't see coming, and that are well-written. If you read some of the other reviews, I'm sure you can find out who they are.

Average start to the new Riker lead series..........2007-03-18

Taking place almost directly after the events of the motion picture movie "Star Trek - Nemesis (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)", the novel Titan: Taking Wing focuses on the now Captain William T Riker and his newly assembled crew aboard his very own Federation Luna Class ship, the Titan.

There is a lot of familiarity found in this go around. Anyone who has seen Nemesis should be familiar with the events that most of this book references. And the characters are a mixture of various Star Trek TV show personalities. From Riker, to his now wife Troi to the Vulcan Tuvok who was a part of Voyager and even some other lesser known Next Generation cast members make a return on the new crew in bigger roles. There are even nods to the Old Series and a cameo moment with Worf and LaForge.

Of course with the old comes a lot of new never before seen characters. Like a chief medical officer who looks more like something out of Jurassic Park (Widescreen Collector's Edition) and seems to scare everyone with his eating habits and apperance, but of course he is nothing more then a gentle and brilliant giant. We have another who must stay in water at all times so her room was filled with parts of the ocean. We have a Trill, a Ferangi and Bejorin to name a few of the various species we have met in our time watching Star Trek that are proudly a part of the ships crew and civilians. Of course all of this diversity will lead to a lot of interesting situations which is probably the authors thought process behind such a crew.

While it is great to see some of our old friends back together again, it also is a bit disapointing as the book is nothing more then average, predictable and lacking in that extra something that other books to carry the Star Trek name have had.

The authors seem to be missing the point at some areas. Often relying on resorting to Poker references throughout the book as if everything was just one big tournament going on on ESPN that every character in the book was dealing with. Also Troi seems to be able to now converse with Riker in the same way she does with her mother, which was weird and confusing to say the least. I found myself skipping through long parts of the book waiting to get to the meat of the situation at hand. We have a lot of character building but the story even when it reaches its climax never really gets anywhere eventful. What was almost all out war is easily resolved by some clever thinking on Riker's part, but still didn't come off as anything creative or new that we haven't seen before on an episode of the series.

Other weird out of place aspects that really took over a huge part of this book that also made me think "We aren't in Star Trek land anymore.." are the focus around racism that came up at many times. Due to the before mentioned diverse cast, we have some of the members of the ship not liking some of the others due to their differences and even moments of them being repromanded for their opinions on others. Just seemed too much like a lesson in a Sociology class at times rather then a realistic Star Trek situation going on with all of the racist views flying past the reader. A sensless spaceship fight towards the end that never goes anywhere also made one scratch their head while reading this. It just seemed like it was thrown in there as it was expected to be in a Star Trek situation but really seemed silly and forced for the most part.

The book serves as a good start to what will hopefully become a better series. For those sad to see the Next Generation come to an end with Nemesis, this is a great chance to see what maybe would have happend after those events. Riker and Troi's relationship will be a big part of the series and hopefully with all of the character introductions out of the way now (almost half the book is just character building .. be aware of that fact if you don't like long reads that just are developmental and nothing more) the future books will be more action and situational then this one was. The story was predictable but still fun enough to fit into something that you maybe would see in a typical episode. This book isn't bad, it just isn't great either. It seems a little more of a draft with a nice idea on how to tie things together from the end of the last movie, but seeming to miss out on really taking the chance to make this fun.

Overall its worth getting just to see what happens next, but don't expect it to be on par with some of the great Star Trek books that have come before this. It just doesn't rank up there as it is slow at points and really won't keep you at the edge of your seats as you would like. Worth checking out and the series is continued in the later books that will follow and those books are better at points. It's great to see Riker in the Captain's chair where he finally belongs but you will wish that he was given a better send off to his new life then this book did. It can only go up from here at least for Riker and his crew on the Titan.

Ho Hum! New Frontier Does It Much Better.......2007-01-12

Taking Wing by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels suffers from a clear lack of focus, too many new characters, and too little focus. Entirely too much time was spent on the political aspects of Romulan society-- the writers obviously learned nothing from Episode 1 of Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. I found the political stuff just plain boring.

Then the two major criteria that Martin and Mangels seem to have for making someone a crewmember of Titan is that we must never have heard of them before and that the person be from a freaky alien society. Oh yes, they do pull in Nurse Ogawa, Tuvok and Lt. Melora Pazlar (from a DS-9 episode) as well as making the ambassador be the adult son of the baby Dr. McCoy delivered in a notable Classic Trek episode but at least twenty (I lost count after that) new characters are whizzed past us with little more than their name, occupation, planet of origin and whatever alien characteristic makes them stand out from everybody else. They make a big deal of Titan being unique because of the diversity of its crew, but Peter David's excellent New Frontier series with the Excalibur has a much more diverse crew and doesn't pat itself on the back for it every five pages. I don't care if Excalibur isn't canon; the writers certainly have to be aware of it and don't need to act as if it doesn't exist.

Finally let's get down to the reasons why we want to read the Titan series in the first place-- the continuation of the story of Troi and Riker. Riker spends too much time dealing with insecurity and angst over his new command-- come on, this is the guy who thought nothing of spitting in the eye of Captain Jellico and being relieved of duty rather than accepting commands from a royal idiot. Now he's second, third and fourth guessing himself. The Riker of Next Generation was always superbly self confident and self-assured. He knew what he was, who he was and was comfortable with it. The Riker in this book seems to have lost all of that.

However, his character is not as poorly dealt with as Commander Troi. Granted, I always felt that her purpose on Star Trek started out as being for more of the babe in a catsuit factor than anything else, but her character developed into being a valuable and necessary member of the crew. In this book, her role is more as Riker's wife than anything. She's supposed to be the diplomatic officer, but Riker handles all the diplomacy stuff- while she suffers a fit of pique at his doing so without including her. She's still the ship's counselor as well, which means we get treated to the, "I sense you are feeling troubled" type of dialogue from her that she was able to get away from after a couple of seasons of Next Gen. With this book, she seems to be back where she started, as more of a sex object than anything else. Very few references to her are allowed to slip by without including the qualifier that she is Riker's wife. Okay. We get it. They're married. Big whoop. Move on.

The book is redeemed by about 50 pages of action that happen near the end when crewmembers stage a stealth raid on Romulus to rescue a Federation operative. It's a great scene, with terrific action and suspense. But then, unfortunately, we are returned to the ship where we once again need a scorecard to keep track of all the characters. We probably don't need to bother, however, as a lot of them seem to be getting killed off before we have a chance to learn if we even care about them or not.

In short, this is a disappointing start to what I hoped would be a good new Star Trek series. Forget Titan, grab a New Frontier book and read the kind of series that Titan apparently aspires to be but falls short of.

Average customer rating:

Overuse of the word intuition

A serious effort to get to the real roots of religious thinking

A joy to read for a behavioral scientist

Religion not explained

Worth the effort

Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought
Pascal Boyer
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Psychology | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0465006965
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Amazon.com

What's it all about? Though we might never answer the really big questions--with good reason--maybe we can understand why we ask them. Cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer tackles this topic in the unapologetically titled Religion Explained, and it is sure to polarize his readers. Some will think it's an impermissible invasion of mental territory beyond the reach of reason; others will see it as the first step toward a more complete understanding of human nature--and Boyer is acutely aware of the emotionally charged nature of his work. This knowledge informs his decision to proceed without caution, as he warns readers early on that most will risk being offended by some of his considerations. Readers who can lay aside their biases will find great rewards here; Boyer's wide scholarship and knack for elegant writing are reasons enough for reading his book.

That gods and spirits are construed very much like persons is probably one of the best-known traits of religion. Indeed, the Greeks had already noticed that people create gods in their own image.... All this is familiar, indeed so familiar that for a long time anthropologists forgot that this propensity requires an explanation. Why then are gods and spirits so much like humans?

Peppering his study with examples from all over the world, particularly the Fang people of Africa, Boyer offers plenty of evidence for his theory that religious institutions exist to maintain particular threads of social integrity. Though he uses the tools of evolutionary psychology, he is more careful than most EP proponents to avoid ad hoc and circular arguments. Best of all, at least to those unmortified at the idea of examining religion critically, his theories are potentially testable. Even if he turns out to be dead wrong, at least Religion Explained offers a new and powerful framework for thinking about our spiritual lives. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from.

Customer Reviews:

Overuse of the word intuition.......2007-02-27

I was disappointed in the author's overuse of the word intuition. Especially since he did not define it in the book, and then he attached it to many other words and really overused it, ending up in the last chapter with 66 uses. I enjoyed the substantive content, but feel he deconstructed too much. His use of counterintuitive was also bothersome. I could not get beyond my own conception that intuition is something that feels an inspiratation from outside oneself, and therefore his use grated on me from the get go. Many folks today are using the term intuition in a contemporary sexy way, colloquially, and what they really mean to say deals more with guessing and rational thought processed, than the frequently surprising and unexpected aspects of true, often irrational, intuition.

A serious effort to get to the real roots of religious thinking.......2007-01-20

Pascal Boyer goes deep in his effort to explain belief in the supernatural. As a result, some of the reading is a bit dull, but it is ultimately rewarding. He goes well beyond the "people are a afraid of death" and "social approval" sorts of explanations in his wide-ranging survey of current and historical supernatural beliefs. Most people today take monotheism as the norm, and Boyer shows how and why we got to this point, as religion came to mesh with an increasingly complex web of human intuitions and emotional needs, showing the edifice of religion to be nothing but a cultural artifact.

A joy to read for a behavioral scientist.......2007-01-09

This book helps us to see current formalized (text based) religions and ethics as almost necessary products of the evolutionary history of our hyper-social species.

Religion not explained.......2006-09-04

I was very disappointed in this book, and not just because it is difficult. I was mainly disappointed because rather than explaining religion, Boyer explained the "transmission" of religious beliefs. He explains the influence of "memes" (cultural archetypes)on people's beliefs, but he doesn't explain why some people reject them and believe something else.

Worth the effort.......2006-09-04

I would give this book 5 stars for its content, but only 3 for its style. The information contained here is enlightening, thought-provoking, and very rewarding, but it does take an effort to read.

It took me 2 hours to read the last 50 pages, and then I immediately started another book ("The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond) and I read 100 pages in 2 hours. This gives you an idea about Boyer's writing style which can be slow to read.

However, if you are interested in this topic, you will want to read this book. The basic thesis expounds how the social human mind is predisposed to believe in religious concepts despite their implausibility. Boyer explicates with precision these deep-seated psychological roots of religion.

If you find Boyer's style just too grating to read the entire book, but still want to get the meat of his argument, I would recommend chapters 1-3 and 9. Although if this subject is as fascinating to you as it is to me, you will want to eventually finish it in its entirety.

Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. (Faith Seeking Explanation). (book review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life

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Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. (Faith Seeking Explanation). (book review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Paul J. Griffiths
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1702 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. (Faith Seeking Explanation). (book review)
Author: Paul J. Griffiths
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 53(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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