Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain

Book Description

It's by no means clear just how much control Jeremy Davenant has over his own destiny. He believes that the blueprint of his future exists on a page torn out of a book chosen randomly twenty-two years ago, in a literary game of blindman's buff orchestrated by his scoundrel uncle Gerard. The Page is from an encyclopedia, and is supposed to chart out his life, which may or may not explain why the Zulu tyrant Shaka, the Indian love epic Shakuntala, and the Ukrainian town Shakhtyorsk all start to feature in his life-along with William Shakespeare and, of course, his dark lady.

Romantic and fatalistic, Jeremy finds himself teaching Shakespeare at a university, living in an apartment owned by Ukrainians, and waiting for his destiny to unfold. And unfold it does: one glance from a dark lady in the street below, and his life veers into chaotic mischance and misadventure. The woman is half-Indian, half-Czech Milena, who is even more mysterious than Shakespeare's own ladylove. And although Milena is ambivalent and complex, and requires as much decoding as the Page, Jeremy stumbles after her in his determination to follow his fate.

Customer Reviews:

great book.......2004-09-05

I find that the book is not too long...this is not a story about a man obsessed with a girl, who uses and throws him away, but about human interaction and perceptions and how someone sees what they want, and can justify it based on events that happened way in their past...its about jeremy's person, which is why we see uncle gerard, and milena, and her sister...we are invited into jeremy's life, and at this point, he is loving milena, and trying to win her. jeremy is not a hero, he's not perfect. but he is (as in, is alive, is as a person). sometimes a story does not have to have a happy ending, with a clearly defined hero. jeremy is more real. it's as though you had to peek into someone's life a it was, and it just happened to be jeremy walking by. that doesn't make him perfect, but that doesn't mean it can't be interesting and entertaining either. I think it's a fantastic book.
and sure, there are bits that can be improved, but that's true about everything! overall, an excellent book.
my favourite thing about this book is that, while you know jeremy is a born loser, you watch him in these situatiuons and you actually cringe and feel bad for him...and then you see him do something and feel like, what a jerk! you can alternate your sympathy between milena and jeremy. thats why i think they are more realistic as characters.

Great Writing, But Weak Plot and Characters.......2003-03-04

At the start of this debut novel we are introduced to Jeremy, a young English boy whose "Uncle" Gerard convinces him that a random page torn from an encyclopedia is his destiny. The page contains entries such as Shaka Zulu, Shakespeare, and most importantly Shakuntala, with Jeremy's belief in the talismanic powers of "The Page" rather warping him. Fastforward to Jeremy as a grownup and fraudulent professor of Shakespeare at a university in Montreal. Having just ended a relationship, he moves into an awful new apartment and becomes immediately obsessed with a local woman. His determined and thickheaded pursuit of ardent feminist, and inconsiderate Milena is more or less the core of the book.

Moore wields an awfully witty pen, and his regular deliveries of clever wordplay manage to hide the shallowness of his characters-for a while. A rather major problem is that neither Jeremy nor Milena are at all likable other than in brief flashes (Jeremy when he talks about his Uncle Gerard, and Milena when she puts a snobbish professor in his place), and both are tremendously shallow and maladjusted adults. Their "courtship"-which is the main plotline-is also not particularly engaging, consisting as it does of her mild on-again, off-again interest, and his pathetic puppy-dog chasing. So, while it's nice writing, it's also squandered writing.

It's a pity really, 'cause Moore is very skilled and clever. He keeps one guessing throughout as to whether apparently manifestations of "The Page" in Jeremy's life are real or simply a series of projected meaning and minor coincidence. There is also a nice subplot of academic satire which is quite funny at times. Throughout the book, individual scenes and conversations can be really engaging, so it's a bit disappointing that things drag on so long and end in a series of rather predictable revelations and semi-reversals. The book did win the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Novel, so clearly some were able to overlook its flaws. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for his next book.

Stay whit me,you unguessable darklover.......2002-08-30

This is sentimental comedy whit more than a dark edge:Hornby's High Fidelity meets Scorsese's After hours,so to speak. Many scenes are immersed in an onirical atmosphere, and the realism whit wich the decaying bohemien neighborhood is descripted makes them even so bizarre. The story, per se, is very linear: Jeremy's obsession for the mysterious Milena, fascinating Dark Lady,and their rather discontinuous relationship. But that's only the canvas for a narrative witty, intelligent,full of intriguing satirical notations,while the story unravels the mystery of Milena's identity. Very nice the invention of the eccentric "uncle" Gerald and his whimsical bibliomancy. This is a book to enjoy,subtly disquieting and funny at the same time. And finally,let me say it:
kudos to a thirtysomething-in-love novel whit a protagonist who doesn't wallow in self-pity for three quarters of the book!

A Promising Writer with Work Still to Do.......2002-06-06

Jeremy Davenant's Uncle Gerald tears a page out of a dictionary and tells the youngster (who is really his girlfriend's son) that here is his destiny. It's a leaf from the S's, which includes Shakespeare, the Hindu play "Shakuntala", and the Ukranian city of Shakhyorsk. What can such disperate fragments have to do with someone's real life? Jeremy finds out.

This is a promising premise for a book, and could have, should have, made "Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain" a lively, brain teasing kind of read. But instead, it's caught up in Jeremy's obsession for the weird and unappealing Milena, and gets stuck in a "boy wins," "boy loses" groove. There are some well-written scenes and an interesting character in Uncle Gerald, but Jeffrey Moore seemed unsure whether to gamble on one of those frisky literary tales or commit to a semi-comic saga of 20-something angst. A writer to watch, but he's not there yet.

classy comedy.......2000-11-20

I really enjoyed Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain. I laughed out loud, snickered up my sleeve, and guffawed many a time throughout the read. I kept posting comments about it at my book group's message boards. Now, quite a number of them want to read it also.

The book is very well-written. The author has an intriguing way with words - even making up his own which exactly fit the topic. He also has a good literary background that shows throughout.

The humor and twists make the story a real joyous adventure to read! I hope he has another book up his sleeve for the near future!!

Average customer rating:
Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain

Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HYW8DG

Amazon.com

Queen of Demons is the middle volume of a mammoth heroic fantasy trilogy that begins with Lord of the Isles. After dealing with a variety of menaces in book one, shepherd-boy hero Garric is on course to unite his archipelago world against the remaining forces of chaos, evil, and unpleasantness, thus earning the title Lord of the Isles.

Again Garric's allies--including some interesting new helpers--are widely scattered in a tangle of linked story lines and headlong action, featuring many exhilarating fights against monsters, chimeras, phantoms, revenants, Hairy Men, Scaly Men, a cyclops, wicked wizards, and the book's two biggies: the unspeakable Beast that demands a diet of young girls and the title's evilly beautiful demon-spawned Queen. At regular intervals characters fall through another magic portal to find themselves in a new plane or dimension or hellworld, there to discover mislaid friends, deadly peril, or more likely both.

Drake keeps his narrative bowling along with plenty of color, occasional doses of practical politics, and no time at all for boredom. Arbitrary transitions and wild coincidences make it seem slightly tongue in cheek, soap-operatic entertainment with an endless series of hissable villains to be zapped, outwitted, or skewered with a trusty blade. At the very end, with Good seemingly triumphant, up pops another one:

The wizard stood on the back of the monster he had called to him. He raised his head, and the heavens echoed with his laughter.

More in book three.... --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

In the world of the Isles, the elemental forces of magic are rising to a thousand-year peak. A small bank of companions has set forth across a world in the process of transformation in search of their destinies. Now their epic adventure continues.

Customer Reviews:

be a little original.......2006-10-20

This book was terrible(i am being nice to give it even one star). I read the first and it was good so I read this one -what a disappointment.silly me I even continued on in the series and- it dose not(underline not) get better its all the same as if the author needed money and couldn't think of what to do so repeated the same thing in different circumstances. Boring everyone who's used to good fantacy and can see through it. My advice is don't read it and if you read it already don't continue it doesn't get better

Excellent Book.......2004-05-29

"Queen of Demons" is a very good sequel to the original. The plot has many twists and the characters are interesting and colorful. This book does bear a slight resemblence to the original in that the heros are trying to take down a powerful wizard, but there are very few similarities beyond that. Garric develops to become much more than an inkeepers sun and begins to restruchture the government. Cashel is sent on a series of adventures in different dimensions (Drake seems to like to send Cashel to different dimensions, as he does in the next two books). A whole host of different characters are intoduced, each very well developed. An all around great book.

Interesting, but no feeling.......2003-08-21

So many words, so little feeling. There are plenty of harrowing battles and many (definitely too many) changes in scenery; but it feels like so much hot air because the characters are flat, dull, and cliched. I couldn't put the first book down, however, I can't seem to finish "Queen of Demons." Skip this book, and try Ursula Le Guin's "Earth Sea" series if you want exciting plots AND characters you care about.

Just Can't Seem To Finish It.......2002-08-09

I'm amazed! I started reading these reader comments hoping to get some insight into where these books are headed. Apparently no other reader has figured it out either. Even the people who said they liked it seemed to hit the nail right on the head: There is NO character development in this book.

The characters are dull and uninteresting. After a book and a half and some 700+ pages I had to admit that I just didn't CARE what happened to these people.

This book, more so than the first, is impossible to finish because if you lose interest and set it down for a few days (weeks, months while you read something more interesting)then pick it up again, you're completely lost because there is absolutely nothing memorable about the characters or the plot.

Sure Drake "Juggles plot lines and brings them neatly together" because in this world NOTHING makes sense, there's no cause and effect, the characters don't learn from their adventures, so he can just WRITE them back together. The books end when Drake stops writing, not when he's resolved some conflict.

Okay, his writing is clear, his ideas are fresh, inventive and fairly exciting, but basic writing techniques like story arch and character development seem to be lost on the author. Considering these are covered at length in nearly every basic creative writing class, book or magazine, one wonders how he's managed to avoid exposure to any of the above, or why he chose to ignore these basic concepts. A one-night class would do him wonders!

But then he's managed to get paid to write at lest 4 of these. Do us all a favor. Don't buy this book and maybe he'll stop writing them.

Fantasy fan.......2002-03-28

For some reason this book seemd familiar too me even though it was my first time reading it. I soon dicovered that this book is identical to the first book of the series. Basically this book is the same string of events with differnt names attached. Then as i continued the series i found that each book was very similar. It seemed that by 50 pages in the book each character was seperated from the group in a different and dangerous world. I'll admit that drake seemed to improve as an author but his plot is really suffering. Although this book lacks originality it is still somewhat entertaining.

Amazon.com

Alicia Butterworth is a physicist from U.C. Irvine who's trying to re-create the conditions that existed just before the big bang using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on Long Island. Something goes wrong during one of the collider runs, and part of the machine explodes, leaving behind a strange metallic sphere. Butterworth sneaks the object back to Irvine, where she and a colleague determine that what they have on their hands is a window into a miniature universe, or cosm. The cosm is evolving far faster than our own universe, giving Butterworth a ringside seat as the history of creation replays itself. Her theft turns out to be just the start of what, at times, is a boisterous adventure as she becomes ensnared in the intrigue of cloistered academic and scientific circles.

Book Description

After an accident in a brilliant young physicist's most ambitious experiment, it appears: a wondrous sphere the size of a basketball, made of nothing known to science. Before long, it will be clear that this object has opened a vista on an entirely different universe, a newborn cosmos whose existence will rock this world and test one woman to the limit: the physicist who has ignited this thrilling adventure.

Only the author of the landmark novel Timescape could so plausibly take the reader behind the scenes of major scientific research, so boldly speculate about the consequences of paradigm-shifting discovery, and so vividly capture the intense human drama as the forces of academia, government, theology, and the mass media battle for control of a mysterious new reality. COSM is Gregory Benford at his provocative best, exploring ideas at the frontier of mankind's understanding, and posing profound questions about Creation, human destiny, and the riddle of godhood.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Miniverse.

A scientist makes a bit of a discovery. This provokes a lot of competition and conniving when this tiny new cosmology becomes available for people to work with, or try and make money and weapons out of. Academic and real world politics to be dealt with, and a bit of loving on the run.

Wooden, Didactic, and Cliched.......2007-02-03

My understanding of theoretical and practical physics (pick your subdiscipline) is more akin to catching a glimpse of an intricate structure in my peripheral vision than being able to read the architectural plans. But I do know a good book when I read one. Unfortunately, Gregory Benford's Cosm was not one of them. If he had wanted to explain to non-academics the differences between experimental and theoretical scientists, or to critique the workings of the scientific community, essays would have been a better milieu for the didactic opinions offered in this book. All of these are representative of the way a large proportion of academics see their work and the world, but a better novel would show the reader how these ideas impact the characters through dialogue and action.

The characters are wooden stereotypes alert to racial and sexist discriminations more reminiscent of the 1970s than what actually exists in today's universities (the novel is set in 2005). The clichés make an early appearance with "This far out from the city, people thought of quality entertainment as a six-pack of Coors and a bug zapper" (p. 8) and continue throughout.

All of this is mixed in with a bit of environmental angst as characters note suburban sprawl as an "upscale fungus" and see industrial park developments "crouched down, as if ashamed."

Benford has made modest attempts at providing glimpses of near-future technological advances.

In brief, a particle accelerator experiment of the main character, Alicia, results in the accidental creation of the Cosm, a universe which can be observed (sometimes directly, sometimes not) from inception to death throes. She is (unthrillingly) kidnapped and escapes. She displays rampant narcissism as she disregards authority and alternates between self-doubt and goddess-hood. And she finds love where she never thought to look.

I was debating between 3 or 4 stars...........2006-09-06

As a black woman, I must say that reading these reviews both disturbed and intrigued me. Many of the reviewers wrote that Mr. Benford does not "accurately" portray a black woman. To this, I must ask, how is a black woman "supposed" to act/think/feel? To say that Alicia is unrealistic is to relegate black people to one-dimensional stereotypes.

After reading so many negative reviews about the author's portrayal of a black woman, I immediately ordered the book so I could form my own opinion. And you know what? I have to applaud Mr. Benford for his truthful-yet-risque comments & observations through the voice of Alicia Butterworth. Do I agree with everything Alicia says? No. Of course not. Does every white reader have to agree with every white character in a book? I think not.

Anywho - I gave this book 4 stars because of the concept, the great science and the questions it raises. I especially like the letters, emails and newspaper titles/blurbs peppered throughout the book because they give points of view from outside of the academic world (i.e., are we playing god? etc).

I took off a star because some aspects of the book were just unrealistic or unnecessary. For example - it makes absolutely no sense that Alicia was the only one with access to the Cosm. What university would allow that? Also - why wasn't the Cosm being video recorded? Yes, they were getting reams and reams of numerical data, but why wouldn't they record it for others to see (especially since no one else was allowed into the lab)? Completely unnecesary were all the pages dedicated to her failed love & social life. Yes, I enjoy character development and background history, but come on...this is not a trilogy. Why waste space writing about singles bars when there is a MINIATURE UNIVERSE SITTING IN YOUR LAB?

Aside from those points though, I really enjoyed the book. I love how Benford captured the current scientific atmosphere in this paragraph:

"Some felt that the big, solvable issues were largely done, and the unsolved ones couldn't be settled. That left smaller, manageable, naggingly boring science, like sequencing human DNA. Of course, the implications of that knowledge could be vast, but no one expect grand syntheses to emerge. Mostly, it would be endless detail. Fascinating particulars indeed, but smaller in scale that the heroic era that had followed Crick & Watson."

This reminds me of the beginning of Asimov's Foundation series, when the Empire felt that humanity had discovered everything there was to discover, thereby making all new "scientific" ventures purely revisionist. This is an important theme as the academic community struggles to reconcile established theories with the information acquired from the Cosm.

All in all, a good read.

The Universe and Universities.......2004-07-19

The hard SF sub-genre has a rough row to hoe: these books not only have to have all the normal requirements of fiction, such as believable characters and an interesting plot line, but must also educate the reader in what are frequently some very esoteric theories and some very strange facts that fly in the face of `normal' logic. Benford has been one of the major practitioners of this field for some time, and this book could possibly be the ultimate expression of it, it terms of pure science. The other requirement, to tell a good fictional story, however, is just not on a par with the science.

The scientific point of extrapolation here is a small, silvery sphere that is produced as the result of a sub-atomic particle physics experiment. This result is totally unexpected, and wrecks a good portion of the equipment when it appears, forcing the lead experimenter, Alicia, a black female physicist, to stop any further planned work. On impulse (or gut feeling), she takes the sphere back to her own university, without informing anyone else what she is doing. Upon investigation, and with the help of a theoretical physicist, slowly a theory is developed about what the sphere is - a `pocket' universe budded off from our own, which is evolving at a time rate that is exponentially faster than our own.

The description of the evolution of this sub-universe is based on some of the more current theories of the day, starting from the moment of the Big Bang to points that are far in the future history of our own universe, and are well described and easy to follow. However, I found the university politics that surround Alicia's theft of the sphere somewhat unbelievable, as her institution leaves her, an untenured junior professor, in sole charge of the investigation even after preliminary results indicate that it may be one of the scientific breakthroughs of the century, and one of the side effects of the sphere is the direct cause of the death of one of her students. The bureaucratic quagmire that makes up the university administration is more believable, with individuals who are more interested in having Alicia, as a minority representative, help on committees devoted to such subjects rather than work on science, and others who are clearly out to only hold on to their own positions in the school. The small scene of the President's involvement of using the sphere as one more campaign aid, without any understanding of the real science or its import, is, unfortunately, spot on.

Characterization for the secondary characters (Alicia's helpers and her theoretical physicist) is quite reasonable, but I found myself looking serious askance at Alicia herself. I found it difficult to believe that someone steeped in the methods and doctrine of science would steal and conceal such a find; her reactions to others trying to place her in the `minority' box came off as much too mild; and those scenes where she is on the prowl for a man felt like they belonged to a different person.

The end of the book takes a route that I felt was even more unbelievable than the initial `theft' of the sphere, and did little to really resolve either Benford's character conflicts or the philosophical musings on the fate of the universe and the reason `our' universe is so perfectly `tuned' to allow the production of life. Thus, at the end, though I was left with some excellent cosmological insights, in terms of story and completeness, or any real look at the people who actually do scientific work, this book had little for me.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Create a Universe in Your Own Basement.......2004-06-28

I just finished reading Gregory Benford's COSM. The book was good (as usual) and sort of followed a path similar to that in ARTIFACT in that you have some characters trying to learn about a mysterious object.

An ambitious, young physicist is running an experiment on RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) using streams of elliptic uranium. At first everything is fine but then the readings seem to slow down. Suddenly there is a massive explosion. Amidst some of the wreckage is a reflective sphere about the size of a bowling ball. The physicist knows this has something to do with the explosion and takes the sphere for observation. Unfortunately she is a little too secretive and charges of theft and impropriety are raised.

The sphere is an enigma. It feels solid but doesn't seem to be made of anything. It has no spectrum. Light can penetrate is slightly. It emits photons as if it were at four-thousand degrees. It seems to have a tidal effect near the surface. What is this object? The physicist teams up with a theorist to try and solve the mystery. But as the mystery becomes clear bit by bit, the political and scientific climates intensify. Finally, a theory is arrived at that seems to take into account all of the facts. The object is a pocket universe with an internal time that is accelerating.

Soon the sphere becomes transparent and the birth of galaxies can be witnessed. As time speeds up in the sphere, now called a Cosm, it becomes more and more important to continue observations. But as the experiment demands closer inspection and more time, the charges against the physicist also demand more time. Although the physicist warns against it, the Brookhaven Lab repeats the experiment and creates a much larger Cosm. Unfortunately this one is too big to move and is obstructing repairs to the RHIC. The story's threads all build and collide in an ending that brings about a number of interesting questions about the nature of our own universe.

COSM is a very good novel that Gregory Benford first had the idea for in the late 1980s. A number of theories, studies, and publications are mentioned in this novel and they are all real. Even if you are not a promising particle physicist the story is very easy to follow. The characters all seem to act consistently and I found no obvious flaws that detracted from the novel. If you like hard science that is located right on the edge of current research then I would strongly recommend COSM.

Average customer rating:
Across the Sea of Suns & Timescape & Jupiter Project & foundation's Fear & Cosm ( Set of 5 Books )

Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSB9H4

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Chemistry & Manufacture of Cosm 2ND Edition Volume 1
Maison G Denavarre
Manufacturer: D VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QA3LAK

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Cosm
Gregory Benford
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000KBFKCM

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Online Lic Slinline-Cosm Spani
MILADY
Manufacturer: Delmar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1401882692

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Online Prep Cosm-Spanish 1-15
MILADY
Manufacturer: Delmar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1401882676

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Online Prep Cosm-Spanish 16-25
MILADY
Manufacturer: Delmar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 1401882706

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Online Prep Cosm-Spanish 26-50
MILADY
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Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 1401882714

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Online Prep Cosm-Spansh 51-100
MILADY
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ASIN: 1401882722

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Por culpa de los melanomas. (Tendencias: belleza).(autobronceadores )(productos para mejorar la tez de la piel )(Art?culo breve): An article from: Epoca
Eva Reuss
Manufacturer: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008DHZ2A
Release Date: 2005-06-01

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on May 15, 2003. The length of the article is 4740 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: Por culpa de los melanomas. (Tendencias: belleza).(autobronceadores )(productos para mejorar la tez de la piel )(Art?culo breve)
Author: Eva Reuss
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 15, 2003
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 58(1)

Article Type: Art?culo breve

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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A little on the Light side.

The Publishers Weekly Editorial Says It All!

INACCURATE! POORLY WRITTEN! A WASTE OF TIME! REDICULOUS!

The Only Show In Town

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

A Life With Purpose: The Story of Bestselling Author and America's Most Inspiring Minister, Rick Warren
George Mair
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Now, acclaimed biographer George Mair provides a rare, personal look at the private man behind the powerful teachings. This inspiring biography reveals what prompted Warren to start preaching, the motivation behind The Purpose-Driven Life, and how he overcame serious obstacles to achieve success in every aspect of his life-from his work, to his marriage, to his visionary mission. For the first time, A Life with Purpose tells the story of the unassuming man who has dedicated himself to changing the world, one soul at a time.

Customer Reviews:

A little on the Light side........2006-07-26

This is a difficult book to review. While being fairly well written, A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE doesn't really explain much about the subject, Rick Warren. I was hoping to find something out about Warren's leadership techniques and "team-building" methods, if you will, but found very little. In fact, I really don't know much more about Rick Warren now than I did before I read this book.

The author certainly gives high praise for his subject, touting accomplishments on virtually every page, but that's about as far as it goes. Overall, a dissappointment.

The Publishers Weekly Editorial Says It All!.......2005-06-13

"Mair tells us that when Saddleback Church was founded, the Warrens had an infant daughter, but she's never named or even mentioned again-nor is the fact that the Warrens went on to have two more children. If these perfectly basic elements to include in a life story are missing, it goes without saying that Mair also reveals no conflict, no difficult struggles and no rough edges to Warren's personality that could make him a real person instead of the smiling, guitar-playing, Hawaiian shirt-wearing cardboard cutout depicted here."

Rick Warren and his Purpose Drivel © Corporation are all about covering up any warts and blemishes that would hamper his Disney-esque business - Saddleback Church. As with this book, Warren ignores those of his church "family" in order to worship what is really important - the almighty dollar. That's why he has created a "church" with lot's and lot's of flash, great shows for those that attend, glitz and star-studied affairs, etc. - he's a great showman. The only problem is, it's all show. Jesus didn't put on shows - he showed them love - and He did it personally.

It would be great if someone wrote a story about what really happens behind the façade of Saddleback Church. Let's only pray that God will allow that to happen.

INACCURATE! POORLY WRITTEN! A WASTE OF TIME! REDICULOUS!.......2005-04-21

INACCURATE! POORLY WRITTEN! A WASTE OF TIME! REDICULOUS!, April 20, 2005
Reviewer: Robert Faraday "Book Reviewer" (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

It is so obvious this guy never talked with Warren, or anyone even remotely associated or related to the guy. It is laughable all of the errors in this book. Warren's life has been well-chronicled in tapes, articles, and even tons of doctoral dissertations on Saddleback church and the purpose driven movement.

Mair was obviously just trying to make a buck on Warren's name. Publisher's Weekly and every other published review has panned this book as a rip-off. Don't waste your money.

I know that Schuller tried to jump on the TV bandwagon and claim that he influenced Warren (how?)but I asked Warren's staff and they pointed out that Saddleback was 6 years old before Schuller even met the guy. And Warren once wrote Schuller a note publicly distancing himself from the dear Dr. because Schuller was having all sorts of anti-Christian speakers on his TV show, and Warren disagreed with his theology. And Warren is ANYTHING but N.V. Peale- whom he has never met, never read, and disagrees with.

Stupid errors like saying Warren and his wife went to high school together, that Warren has one child instead 3, and a hundred other factual bloopers show this book was never researched but a cut and paste job from media reports that got it wrong the first time

The dangerous thing about this book is that is is gushingly positive, so some may be tempted to believe it is accurate. It is not at all. Anyone who builds an impression of Warren from this book either unbelievably gullible or just want to believe total fiction. Wait for a reputable biographer. Save your money.

The Only Show In Town.......2005-04-12

Considering the wild popularity of Rick Warren, as pastor, author and leader within Evangelicalism, we know surprisingly little about the man. It would seem that he has deliberately withheld information about himself, which of course, fits the theme of his bestseller The Purpose Driven Life which is, "it's not about you." A Life With Purpose, subtitled "Reverend Rick Warren - The Most Inspiring Pastor of Our Time" is, as far as I know, the first published biography of Warren. It is not a strictly chronological biography, but instead is more topical. I have to admit that I felt quite skeptical as I began this book, knowing that it was written by George Mair, an author whose previous titles include, Paris Hilton: The Naked Truth, Inside Hbo: The Billion Dollar War Between Hbo, Hollywood, and the Home Video Revolution , Excelsior! : The Amazing Life of Stan Lee and Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli. I was interested in seeing how an apparent tabloid author approached Rick Warren.

This book is surprisingly light on biographical details, primarily because such information is not widely available. I would estimate that truly biographical facts would comprise only 20 pages of the book. Mair conducted no interviews with Warren or anyone close to him. Instead, he seems to have relied primarily on secondary sources, collecting whatever details he could find in books and publications. The book contains no footnotes or list of sources cited. A Life With Purpose, then, represents less of a biography and more of a collection of the facts about Warren that are publically available. It also contains extensive commentary on the programs and books Warren has written.

Allow me to address the author's commentary. After reading the book I am still uncertain as to the author's religious background and beliefs. Generally when I read a biography of a Christian personality, it has been written from a professed Christian and the perspective is clear. In this case it seemed that Mair was perhaps even professing to be a believer. He lavishes praise on Warren throughout the book and often speaks positively of evangelism and other facets of Warren's programs. However, he makes many clear doctrinal mistakes and rash oversimplifications that seem to cast doubt on his understanding of Christianity, both in history and theology. For example, the book begins with a short introduction to Christianity in America that immediately betrays the author's ignorance. He mixes Christianity with New Age, and often oversimplifies. "Protestants experienced a divide between modern thinkers, who identified with modern Bible critics, and fundamental thinkers, who followed the Bible literally" (page 17). Later, when addressing "change vs status quo," he writes, "But if we assume that everything, including religion, needs to be able to change in order to survive, then it becomes clear that status-quo churches are only destroying what they are so desperately trying to hold on to. Though the success of the mall church model can't be completely equated to Rick Warren's success at Saddleback, they share the passion for growth and change that some older churches lack. They are willing to take risks, to challenge the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" crowd" (page 122-123). He portrays traditional churches as blindly clinging to tradition, and thus to the status quo, rather than more accurately clinging to the instructions of the Bible. A final example is within the author's commentary on Week 3 of The Purpose Driven Life. "Although God creates us all, we don't immediately become a part of His spiritual family. We must have a second birth through baptism to truly become children of God" (page 145). This is neither a traditionally Protestant understanding of baptism, nor would it be Warren's understanding. Beyond these concerns, the author also makes several factual mistakes and I was often left with the impression that he had filled-in details about Warren's life where such information was missing.

Having addressed my concerns, allow me to comment on the book's positive aspects. Mair rightly identifies Robert Schuller as being a profound influence upon Warren, and Norman Vincent Peale being a primary influence in Schuller's life. He briefly traces the confluence of theology and psychology through Peale and Schuller and suggests that Warren has taken the models developed by those two men and brought them to new levels of popularity. Though he provides only a cursory examination of the topic, I have little doubt that many others will address this topic in detail in the future. He also examines other formative influences, such as Donald McGavran and Gilbert Bilezikian. Second, Mair did enough research that he was able to collect many facts that were previously unknown to me, and surely to many others. As such, this book does provide as much information about Warren as we are likely to know until the publication of an official biography. Finally, I enjoyed the author's secular perspective. He lauded many of the aspects of Purpose Driven methodology that concerned Christians highlight as being more secular than sacred. Having read far too many Christian examinations of Warren's ministry, it was interesting to read one that seemed to be written from outside the church.

While far from a perfect biography of Rick Warren, I still found this book interesting and somewhat informative. I am not convinced that the research is entirely honest, nor that the author truly understands Warren and, even more importantly, Christianity. Yet if you are interested in knowing more about Rick Warren, this is the only show in town, and for that reason I will provide a tentative recommentation, but a recommendation premised on the warnings above and founded more on my interest in the subject matter than in the quality of the publication. The book is quite short, at 210 pages (but with large font, wide spacing and many blank pages) and easy to read, despite poor editing for a major publishing company. In the end, it seems that this is a book designed to cash-in on the success of The Purpose Driven Life, but it is one that is not entirely without value.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.......2005-03-28

This book is just plain wrong -- no interviews with Warren were conducted, Mair used conjecture to fill in gaps, and most of the book really doesn't even have anything to do with Warren.

And most troubling is the fact that where Mair DOES talk about Warren, he makes mistakes all over the place.

How do I know??? Because I have attended Saddleback Church for nearly 10 years, know Rick Warren personally, have listened to hundreds of his sermons, and I have even had dinner with not only he and his wife, but his father, Jimmy.

Believe me, this book is no biography of Rick Warren. Pass on it, and wait for an authorized bio.

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