Baudolino

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The most playful of historical novelists, Umberto Eco has absorbed the real lesson of history: that there is no such thing as the absolute truth. In Baudolino, he hands his narrative to an Italian peasant who has managed, through good luck and a clever tongue, to become the adopted son of the Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and a minister of his court in the closing years of the 12th century. Baudolino's other gift is for spontaneous but convincing lies, and so his unfolding tale--as recounted in 1204 to a nobleman of Constantinople, while the fires of the Fourth Crusade rage around them--exemplifies the Cretan Liar's Paradox: He can't be believed. Why not, then, make his story as outrageous as possible? In the course of his picaresque tale, Baudolino manages to touch on nearly every major theme, conflict, and boondoggle of the Middle Ages: the Crusades; the troubadours; the legend of the Holy Grail; the rise of the cathedral cities; the position of Jews; the market in relics; the local rivalries that made Italy so vulnerable to outside attack; and the perennial power struggles between the pope and the emperor. With the help of alcohol and a mysterious Moorish concoction called "green honey," Baudolino and his ragtag friends engage in typical scholastic debates of the period, trying to determine the dimensions of Solomon's Temple and the location of the Earthly Paradise. And when the Emperor needs support in his claims for saintly lineage, who but Baudolino can craft the perfect letter of homage from the legendary Prester John, Holy (and wholly fictitious) Christian King of the East? A giddy and exasperating romp, Baudolino will draw you into its labyrinthine inventions and half-truths, even if you know better. --Regina Marler

Book Description

It is April 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story.

Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts-a talent for learning languages and a skill in telling lies. When still a boy he meets a foreign commander in the woods, charming him with his quick wit and lively mind. The commander-who proves to be Emperor Frederick Barbarossa-adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of fearless, adventurous friends.

Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, this merry band sets out in search of Prester John, a legendary priest-king said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East-a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs, of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens.

With dazzling digressions, outrageous tricks, extraordinary feeling, and vicarious reflections on our postmodern age, this is Eco the storyteller at his brilliant best.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining even for non-intellectuals (like me).......2007-10-11

NOTE: This review is for the unabridged audio version.

I hesitated to tackle this book since I've found some of Eco's previous books to be a bit difficult to understand (I'm not the most intellectually gifted reader!)

But this one was extremely entertaining (except for a short period in which he gets into heavy theological discussion which verges on sermonizing). Most of the book is the interesting and often hilarious telling of the adventures of a young man named "Baudolino" who goes on a quest for the Holy Grail.

Having the book read by the talented George Guidall (one of the best narrators in the business) was a big help and the entire book, although long (19 hrs!) went quickly. In some ways, I didn't want the adventures to end.

I'm sure literary critics will discover and discuss all sorts of hidden meanings and symbolism that I missed. Who cares? I had fun reading it and consider it 19 hours very well spent!

A Great Novel of Medieval Intrigue.......2007-09-16

If you have at least some background in medieval history, you will be able to get through Baudolino without too much trouble. If not, you will no doubt find this book esoteric, dense and impenetrable.

In a beseiged Constantinople in 1453, a wealthy man takes a grizzled con artist named Baudolino, into his home - a con artist who may or may not have been an advisor of the great Frederick Barbarossa, witha grand tale of a manic quest for the mythical priest-king Prester John. One is never sure of whether Baudolino is telling the truth, but in the end, it doesn't matter, as truth and falsehood seem to collapse into reality and Baudolino's most fantastic yarns earn verisimilitude. Along the way, we meet and come to love Baudolino's rag-tag group of lifelong friends who travel with him to the ends of the earth. A complex read, but for fans of Eco or intellectual thrillers, one that will prove satisfying and enjoyable.

A frustrating read, but how can you pass it up?.......2007-08-19

Eco's latest is hard to put your finger on. His trademark verve and brilliant turns of phrase are found on every page, shining through the translation from the original, and the nearly-historical world he creates is fascinating as always. But somehow, over five hundred-plus pages, the story never quite comes together. The narrator is difficult to get a handle on or symphatize with, and the waited-for meeting with Prester John keeps getting further and further off. All the dramatic suspense peters out after 400 pages or so, before the threads of the story really start coming together, leaving one feeling a bit cheated.

In the end, it's Umberto Eco's latest. Without a doubt, it's worth the read. But it doesn't rise to the heights of some of Eco's other achievements.

An epic adventure set in the Middle Ages.......2007-06-21

In this epic tale set in the Middle Ages, Umberto Eco tells of the adventures of Baudolino as he saves the life of a Byzantine historian and a high court official from certain death at the hands of crusading warriors and proceeds to tell his own fantastical adventures. In 1204 Constantinople is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, here comes the rescuing hand of Baudolino...
In this richly entertaining novel, Eco mixes pages of intellectual discussion and hilarious comedy and it further reveals the author's practically inexhaustible erudition. Readers will learn a lot about the thoughts and beliefs of people living throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.

Baudolino.......2007-01-09

Umberto Eco is known for creating difficult first chapters for his novels. If a person will not work through the first chapter of the book, then how can they be trusted to handle the complications of the remainder of the novel? This approach worked with The Name of the Rose and Foucalt's Pendulum because those novels were intelligent, clever and witty. It fails horribly in Baudolino. If you cannot make it through the child-Baudolino's first attempts at writing, do not worry too much - the rest of the novel isn't worth the effort.

Baudolino is 'adopted' at an early age by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, who was impressed by his ability to read and write. Later, Baudolino is sent to Paris to study, where he meets various people who function as both clear and veiled references to historical figures from the time. He returns to Frederick and is part of an honour guard until the monarch's death under mysterious circumstances. From there, his Paris friends and a few others head East to the mythical lands of Prestor John. Eventually he returns to Constantinople, where he meets Nicetas Choniates, a Greek historian and tells the story of his life.

If I have glossed over the plot, it is because ultimately, it does not matter. The novel may be split into two parts, the first of which is involves Frederick, the second concerning the 'Twelve Wise Men's journey to Prestor John's land, but it is more honest to discuss the novel based on its two themes - deceit and history.

It should first be noted that Eco is a tremendously intelligent man, with an astonishing thirty honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He is a famous medievalist, and uses this knowledge as a base for the environs and times of Baudolino. This is fine - he manages to throw enough history and clever 'in' jokes into the mix to show that he is a smart man.

Now to the first theme, deceit. We are told, early on and throughout the novel, that Baudolino is a liar. The text shows this quite often, though it is surprising to note that for a novel written in the first person, as narrated by Baudolino to Nicetas, there is virtually no introspection, no thoughtful analysis, no internal dialogue. Baudolino is a man of action, though the action is poor.

So, a liar. Baudolino happens to be present at various points of significant historical interest, and it is through his self-serving and self-interested machinations that history progresses. For us, the twenty-first century reader, this is clever, because we know the truth, as it were. But it is dishonest. Baudolino makes up a variety of events and items to prove the existence of Prestor John, including creating the Holy Grail from the drinking bowl of his dead father. We chortle because everyone back then was so superstitious, we chortle because the Grail is a Big Deal even day, but ultimately, the laughter is empty. What is the point of such deceit? Is it to consider ourselves more clever and better than the people of those times? Is it to believe that Baudolino himself is more clever than anyone else? If yes, why do we care? Baudolino is a personality-less archetype, that of the wanderer. As above, there are no insights into his thoughts or motives, and his adventures aren't exciting enough to excuse this omission.

To continue further: Baudolino was educated in Paris. He could read and write in many languages. He would have known the grand scale to which his deception would reach, and yet he was willing to deceive the Church. Why? His character showed no great dislike towards religion. The argument could be put forth that it was to further honour Frederick, to enhance his greatness but again, why? The character, as shown, does not display, in thought or word, much gratification for what Frederick did to him. It is too large a leap to expect the reader to believe that a man who, throughout the narrator of his story never really praises his adopted father, would go to such world-changing lengths for him.

The second theme involves mythology. Eco draws heavily from the Nuremberg Chronicles, an early illustrated world history that is one of the best surviving examples of an early printed book. The Nuremberg Chronicles is filled with all manner of wondrous creatures: the skiapod, with its one great foot that it uses to hope along at tremendous speeds; the blemmyes, or people who have no head but a face in their chest, and so forth.

Baudolino encounters these and many other mythical creatures throughout his travels. Can we believe him? No. But, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In the hands of a good author, mythological creatures are just fine. And Eco is a good author, right? No, not in this novel. He describes the weird and wonderful creatures, and then they become little more than jokes. Only one, a skiapod named Gavagai, develops a personality, but it is a joke personality. He speaks in stilted, child-like dialogue, and functions primarily as a guide throughout the world of monsters.

I suppose it is nice that Eco is writing a novel that draws heavily from the Nuremberg Chronicles, just as I suppose it is nice that he weaves history and myth into his story of the 13th century, but the question that must be asked is: Why am I bothering reading this book?

At the end we find out. A character says, 'in a great history little truths can be altered so that the greater truth emerges.', and the text of the novel supports this. Does it matter that Baudolino lied about probably everything that ever happened to him? No, it does not. If a greater truth is revealed, it doesn't matter how many lies are told. But Eco has no greater truth. The idea that history changes based on our perception is not new, nor is it worthy of devoting an entire book.

Perhaps the worst part of this novel is that there are other authors who write historical fiction better than this. Generally, a lot of what is written is pulpy, but the authors usually provide a strong plot, strong characters, and no end of excitement. Take that away, and we have a history book. Sadly, Eco doesn't even provide this, because the history we have is too full of lies, and what is true is not fully explained. In the end, we have a book that could have been done better by almost anyone, and which has virtually no reason to exist whatsoever. Eco is a better writer than this book shows.

3 Book Set By Umberto Eko; the Island of the Day Before; Baudolino; the Name of the Rose.

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3 Book Set By Umberto Eko; the Island of the Day Before; Baudolino; the Name of the Rose.
Umberto Eco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WJUA36

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3 Book Set By Umberto Eko; the Island of the Day Before; Baudolino; the Name of the Rose.

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Italian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000J657L2

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: Harcourt Brace and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Italian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OJGTJI

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: HARCOURT, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000OKUESE

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0099422395

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000OHF5P4

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Toe in the Eco water...
Baudolino the Opportunist
A good tale by Eco

Baudolino

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1413222730

Product Description

"It is April, 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story. Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts- a talent for learning foreign languages and skill in telling lies. One day, when still a boy, he met a foreign commander in the woods, charming him with his quick wit and lively mind. The commander- who proves to be the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa- adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of fearless, adventuring friends." Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, this merry band sets out in search of Prester John, a legendary priest-king who was said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East- a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs, of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens.

Customer Reviews:

Toe in the Eco water..........2007-05-12

Umberto Eco is one of the most technically challenging authors of our time. His knowledge of history, religion and philosophy is truly stunning. Additionally, his writing from the perspective of an educated Italian professor, provides an insight into the very core of westernm literature. Many of his previous works, The Name of The Rose, Foucalt's Pendulum were massive tomes which would easily smother the reader.

This is not the case for Baudolino. Set in the late 10th/early 12th centuries, this is a very readable book about one extraordinary individual. Baudolino is a connsumate con-man who, after rescuing Frederick (the Holy Roman Emperor) in his native Italy, is elevated to foster son and concocts numerous tales to support his own adventures.

Eco infuses Baudolino with remarkable humanity and thought. The text flows quickly, and unlike other works, is a manageable length. I found the stories compelling and easily applied to many of our own modern myths (or official spin) put forward to the public.

Baudolino is a great introduction to this superb author. I recommend those folks who enjoy high fantasy, strong history or even some of the more esoteric philosophical tracts to pick up this book and settle in for a delightful ride in pursuit of the mystical kingdom of Prester John.

Baudolino the Opportunist.......2005-09-28

I've recently started reading Umberto Eco's Baudolino, a rambunctious tale of a thirteenth century opportunist. "The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most trivial things, and it rewards poets, who lie only about the greatest things."

Although I'm only 120 pages into this 500 page novel, I'm engrossed by the weaving plots and rich characters. Baudolino is an Italian peasant with a gift for languages and a bald-faced liar who is adopted by an emperor as a boy and falls in love with the emperor's young bride as a teenager. He studies at the University of Paris in its first years, and befriends a wannabe poet and a moorish scholar, and the three of them are off now on worldly quests, befuddled by alcohol and "green honey".

The thirteenth century was an influential time for so many elements of our modern society, seeing the usurpation of the church in Europe by the birth of the university, science, nationalism and capitalism, for all the good and bad that it all heralded. This book thus far does a great job of chronicling this from the perspective of someone entrenched in the middle of it all. It's great fun to compare our modern knowledge with that of a medieval persona.

I'll let you know what I think when I'm done with it, but so far, I'd highly recommend Umberto Eco's Baudolino.

A good tale by Eco.......2004-12-15

This is an entertaining read.

"Baudolino", by Umberto Eco, is a tale of grand adventure and intrigue: the setting is in Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The story is well written and absorbing: it moves at a good pace and procedes to a definitive ending. I really looked forward to finding time to keep returning to this book.

If you like Umberto Eco's style of writing then you will enjoy this book. Recommended.

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Baudolino
Umberto Eco
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1402531990

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Baudolino

Manufacturer: Editora Record
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8501060267

Book Description

She is the lieutenants daughter; he is the lieutenants prisoner. But beautiful, golden-haired Marilla can not deny her secret longings for the handsome, red-skinned warrior they called Kohanah. And in the sultry hush of a summer night, Kohanahs dungeon cell becomes a forbidden paradise of rapturous delight as Marilla surrenders to the fiery ecstasy of his powerful embrace. Tom apart by the twin forces of evil and injustice, Marilla vows that nothing will separate her from the fierce yet tender Indian chief....In the savage wilderness of Oklahoma, she dares to defy her family and risk death and disgrace for the love of the only man who can melt her senses in a white-hot inferno of eternal desire. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Savage Whispers.......2006-03-22

Amazon is the best place and only one I go to for books

all of the savage series.......2002-11-18

I have read all the books that Cassie Edwards has written and I think her books show people that if you truly love someone you can overcome any obstacle as long as you believe in each other ! Thanks for your great talant !

Ahhhh the work of Cassie Edwards!.......2002-02-13

With a background like Cassie Edwards' has no wonder she was drawn to writing Indian Historical Romances! This book is a Cassie Edwards classic. However, it's Lieutenant's daughter falls in love with the big bad prisoner that no one should go near. However, daughter defies father and his troops to do just that and even goes so far as to steal the cell key and sneak into the said prisoner's cell to be with him! I like all of Ms. Edwards books that I have gotten my hands on. This one is no exception!

Save your money!.......2000-11-21

Reading this book was like gawking at a terrible car accident. You know you should look away, but you just can't help yourself. The charecters are one dimensional and the plot predictable. Not even the romance side of the story is enticing. In addition, the way Kohana referred to himself in the first person, "KOHANA LOVES THE WAY MARILLA LOOKS..." sounded like a very bad Tarzan movie. I only finished this book only because I was stunned that someone actually published it.

Savage Whispers.......2000-10-01

This book is another Cassie Edwards keeper. The trials and tribulations that Marilla and Kohanna go through is very adventerous and the way they keep finding themselves back together again after many seperations and the love they have for one another is heart melting. I have the whole collection of her books and this is one of the best.

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This book has literally taken me months to read...

Savage Whisper
Earl Murray
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0812538862
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

By 1852, Kentucky had grown too tame for trader Austin Wells, and when he got a letter from his uncle promising him a job with the American Fur Trading Company, he wasted no time heading for Fort Benton, on the upper reaches of the Missouri.

But greenhorns have to prove themselves quickly in a land where man can be more treacherous than the elements and a life can be bought and sold for a jug of whiskey. With a few supplies and no friends, Wells is forced to work with his uncle, a hired bushwhacker, who burns out competing traders for "The Company."

Their first raid is foiled by Eagle's Shadow Woman, whose power as a warrior is feared and respected by all Indians in the region. Wells escapes with his life, but he cannot forget the beauty and ferocity of the woman who almost killed him--or figure out a way to see her again.

Customer Reviews:

This book has literally taken me months to read..........2005-03-30

...and I still haven't finished it!

I started reading Savage Whisper months ago and just couldn't connect with the characters. I usually read a book until I reach page 100. Sometimes books start a little slow, but by then the action gets going. I barely made it to page 50. Several months (actually a year or so ) later after finishing another novel, I reached for this one and started reading. There was something oddly familiar about this book. I then realized after again not being able to connect with the characters that I had already tried unsuccessfully to read Savage Whisper. I read to about page 200 this time and still, felt no connection. I stopped and picked up another novel and easily became attached to the story.

5 Titles by Cassie Edwards - Savage Heat - Savage Shadows - Savage Illusion - Savage Splendour - Savage Whispers

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5 Titles by Cassie Edwards - Savage Heat - Savage Shadows - Savage Illusion - Savage Splendour - Savage Whispers
Cassie Edwards
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TB4U3S

Product Description

Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN - Volume 1, number 177 - September 1990: Well of Whispers; King Kull; Revenge of the Red Brotherhood; The Ties That Bind; Ernie Chan Portfolio

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THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN - Volume 1, number 177 - September 1990: Well of Whispers; King Kull; Revenge of the Red Brotherhood; The Ties That Bind; Ernie Chan Portfolio
Chuck (re: Robert E. Howard) Dixon
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICFCW6

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Savage Whispers
Ruth Hudson Savage
Manufacturer: Waltsan Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Poetry that's sometimes funny, sometimes thought-provoking and aways enjoyable. By award winning Texas poet. Contains audio of the author reading her interpretation of the poetry.

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Savage Whisper

Manufacturer: ZEBRA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I8XGVY

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Robert Charles Wilson is an accomplished and acclaimed writer with an impressive body of work. The Chronoliths is his best novel yet, an intelligent, fascinating, and frightening account of a unique incarnation of time travel.

American software developer Scott Warden is living a careless expatriate life on the beaches of 21st century Thailand when a monolithic pillar, sheathed in ice and composed of an unknown, indestructible material, appears in the jungle. The artifact is a chronolith, a memorial commemorating the conquest of Thailand--20 years in the future. As Warden follows his estranged wife and badly injured daughter back to the U.S., more chronoliths celebrating future victories appear, to devastating effect. Bangkok and Jerusalem are destroyed, and societies worldwide dissolve in chaos or teeter on the brink of collapse. As the chronoliths close in on America, Scott joins with biker and undercover agent Hitch Paley and experimental physicist Sue Chopra in a literal race against time to find a way to change the future--which has already happened. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Scott Warden is a man haunted by the pastand soon to be haunted by the future. In early 21st-century Thailand, Scott is a slacker in a beach community of expatriates, barely supporting his wife and daughter. One day he witnesses an impossible event: the appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. This is no ordinary artifact. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiselled into it commemorates a military victory sixteen years in the future. Not long after, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkokobliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, its own near future. Who is the warlord whose victories they note? Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him, to the central mystery and a strange final battle with the future. Tense, emotional, rigorous, and exhilarating, The Chronoliths is another masterpiece from one of the finest SF writers now working.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't put it down, and it made me go look up Calabi-Yau.......2007-08-11

I've been working hard to read a lot of the ARC's I received at Book Expo America and have read and reviewed three. But on a recent trip, I finished one and had only my trusty backup emergency paperback in my bag. It was The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson, recommended to me by my friend Christopher (who also turned me on to Illium).

Christopher is 2 for 2; I could not put this book down. And he made me use the Internet to connect the dots of my long ago Physics degree and go back and refresh my old brain on manifolds and their relationship to quantum mechanics (yeah, I know...geek boy).

The Chronoliths tells of massive monuments that spring up instantaneously, the first one in Thailand, observed by our main character Scott. All of them have inscriptions of a battle won some twenty years in the future by a warlord named Kuin. Another springs up in the middle of Bangkok, causing devastation. The monuments are named Chronoliths, and begin showing up all over Asia, apparently foretelling the path of conquest of this future warlord.

The science is, of course, how can these monoliths be sent twenty years back in time, and how to stop them. Because as they appear with alarming regularity, mankind begins to believe that there is no way to stop them and society sees itself as doomed. A former college professor of Scott's, Sue Chopra, believes she can first predict and then stop the Chronolith's from forming, with some string theory / M-theory constructs:

I did not then and I do not now understand the physics of the Chronoliths, except in the pop-science sense. I know the technology involves the manipulation of Calabi-Yau spaces, which are the smallest constituent parts of both matter and energy, and that it uses a technique called slow fermionic decohesion to do this at practical energy levels. As to what really happens down there in the tangled origami of spacetime, I remain as ignorant as a newborn infant.

The pacing is this book is perfectly written. The science is integrated in with the story so that you barely notice it, done so by having the point of view for the novel from a man who is not a physicist or mathematician, so information gets dumbed down for him. But the science is written in a way that it made me follow the links back through the Internet to get an update on these theories. As was discussed during a session at Apollocon today (see John's notes at SF Signal), it's called science fiction for a reason; don't use them as science text books, but they make you think, remember and research the current theories and learnings.

Also, as a counterpoint to string theory, see Peter Woit's blog.

A good but not very satisfying sci-fi experience.......2007-07-09

Spin was the first novel I've read from Mr. Wilson, and it was one of the most engrossing sci-fi books I've ever read. After reading that, I wanted to look into what else he's written and I found The Chronoliths.

Much of what I loved about Spin was present here as well. I think Wilson's greatest strength is in characterization. His characters are fully fleshed and well realized and they allow his stories to flow as well as they do. Scientifically, The Chronoliths is also right on the money. Wilson's theories on time travel are complex enough to appeal to science afficianados yet he does a good job explaining everything in layman's terms.

As with Spin, the happenings in The Chronoliths are on an epic scale and he wastes no time jumping riht into it. Within the first ten pages, our POV character, Scott, whitnesses the arrival of the first chronolith, a monument hundreds of feet tall commemorating a military victory that happens more then twenty years in the future. These chronoloths begin to appear all over the eastern part of the globe, many destroying cities as they arrive right in the middle of them. As with Spin, Wilson deals a lot with the global implications of this crisis, both religious and economic and gives you a good sense that he knows a good deal about our world.

Where the familiarity stops is that there doesn't seem to be an actual conclusion to this story. I expected the whole time to find out exactly why the chronoliths were sent from the future and who sent them, and he doesn't really explain that at all. He simply leaves you with a few cryptic clues and seems to say "it could be this way, but it doesn't really matter." He more or less explains the science of the chronoloths but as far as the fiction is concerned, I wasn't entirely convinced. It gives me the feeling that he had this great idea about time and how it can be manipulated, but didn't quite know how to build a complete story around it.

So this book didn't leave me with a sense of satisfaction as did Spin. I still think Robert Charles Wilson is a great science fiction author and his strengths, even here, overthrow his weaknesses. I'll be reading more Wilson, and especially look forward to Axis, the sequel to Spin coming out this year.

disappointing.......2007-05-22

This is one of those books you keep reading because you hope that eventually something significant will happen or that some revelation will be made. By the end of the book, you are still waiting. I closed the book and pronounced "What a disappointment". You don't know anything more about the chronoliths on page 300 then you did on page 10 and nothing significant is revealed about the conflicts caused by the appearance of the chronoliths. Not a bad read, but no substance.

Suspense coming in reverse.......2007-03-30

The best time travel novels are the ones that both treat the concept somewhat realistically (incorporating theoretical physics, though not to the point where they lose me) instead of people jumping in a box and going on a jaunt through the fourth dimension, and don't really skimp on recognizing the human element, that moving through time has its own consequences and that nothing can be untouched. Years ago, Gregory Benford did a novel called Timescape that dealt with trying to send messages backwards in time to prevent an ecological disaster, and it wound up being a tense read, as the people in the past were trying to figure out what the weird messages meant before it was too late. Chronoliths is along the same lines but with a slightly different angle, though no less interesting for it. The central character is Scott Warden, who is living in Thailand and basically slacking off, but who winds up witnessing the materialization a giant pillar, one that turns out to be a monument to a military victory that is supposed to come sixteen years in the future. More monoliths start to appear, each commemerating some kind of victory from the same conquerer, as the world tries to handle what could be coming and a small group of people try to figure out how to stop it. Wilson does a good job establishing Warden's voice, he starts out as somewhat unlikable but even then he's mostly self-absorbed. But then he sets around him a good-sized cast of characters, his ex-wife, his old physics professor who is trying to short-circuit the monolith appearances, an old drug-runner friend, weaving their lives into the changing world and into his life as well, spinning plausible coincidences and so on into the story itself. His extrapolations of how the world would react to a future dictator basically saying "In twenty years this will all be mine" is believable, as the scientists try to figure out it's done while dealing with the eventual paradox that if they do figure out how to do it, they may be enabling the unknown future dictator to perform the task himself. Thus the story becomes a race against time as the time grows closer and more chronoliths keep dropping, the book really does a good job at becoming a page-turner and while Wilson does discuss some high-level physics, he keeps it both understandable and entertaining so that it never becomes a lecture. For a book that alternates between running from one place to another or sitting around discussing quantum mechanics, there really is a palpable sense of tension, and his prose is skillful, depicting the changing world in terms both gritty and poetic, and the voice of a man who has to change as well, whether the world is changing or not. Effortlessly bouncing the cast off each other, but at the same time making you care about each last quirky one of them, he manages to balance the science and human sides of the story without sparing either angle. One of the better time travel novels in recent years and actually a good thriller if you get past the fact that it involves science, it's yet another example of how good SF doesn't have to drown the reader in equations or involve aliens with spaceships. A good story is a good story, regardless of how it's told.

thought-provoking.......2007-03-07

Like some of Wilson's other novels (Darwinia, Bios, Spin, etc.) I think he does a good job, of telling a good story, and rewarding you for your suspension of disbelief.

I found it to be a good enjoyable straightforward read, an engrossing story, and I also found it to be thought-provoking, about time travel, in a way reminiscent perhaps of the movie "Primer".

The thoughts it provoked for me (as did "Primer") weren't quite so apparent in the beginning, but only later, after finishing the book and reflecting on it.

To me, that's one of the important signs of a great work of literature in general, not just science fiction.

In this case it reminds me of an episode of the greatly under-rated TV show "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", where Chief Miles O'Brien disgustedly exclaims, "I HATE temporal mechanics...".

Average customer rating:

CHRONOLITHS

Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H97R0U

Average customer rating:

The Chronoliths.
Robert Charles. Wilson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTSMKM

Book Description

Garry Wills's complete translation of Saint Augustine's spiritual masterpiece—available now for the first time

Garry Wills is an exceptionally gifted translator and one of our best writers on religion today. His bestselling translations of individual chapters of Saint Augustine's Confessions have received widespread and glowing reviews. Now for the first time, Wills's translation of the entire work is being published as a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. Removed by time and place but not by spiritual relevance, Augustine's Confessions continues to influence contemporary religion, language, and thought. Reading with fresh, keen eyes, Wills brings his superb gifts of analysis and insight to this ambitious translation of the entire book.

“[Wills] renders Augustine's famous and influential text in direct language with all the spirited wordplay and poetic strength intact.”
—Los Angeles Times
“[Wills's] translations . . . are meant to bring Augustine straight into our own minds; and they succeed. Well-known passages, over which my eyes have often gazed, spring to life again from Wills's pages.”
—Peter Brown, The New York Review of Books
“Augustine flourishes in Wills's hand.”
—James Wood
“A masterful synthesis of classical philosophy and scriptural erudition.”
—Chicago Tribune

Customer Reviews:

An Engaging Translation.......2006-06-10

Garry Wills' translation of Saint Augustine's "Confessions" brings this work to life. Wills has rendered Augustine's Latin into beautifully flowing contemporary English. It is commendable that he was able to do this while preserving the personal character of this saint's life story and demonstrating the complexity and depth of Augustine's thought.

While reading this book, I often felt amazed that this work, despite being written so long ago, appears to be so contemporary. Augustine's life and ideas really transcend time and are insightful reflections on the basic human condition. If you would like to read a good translation of the "Confessions" written in contemporary English, I highly recommend this edition to you.

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