Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite Book of all time., Oct 14 2003
I read this book, for a class; we were supposed to pick any book we wanted to. Me not being into reading books that much, went into one of our cupboards in our living room. There I started looking thru some of the books my dad got at a Library sale. This when i found the book entitled "When Worlds Collide" I open it up thinking its going to be about something that is metaphorical, i was wrong. This book is literally about 2 worlds colliding. I started reading it, right there on the floor and i couldn't stop reading it; i was reading the book in school, at times when i wasn't supposed to be reading; like history class. I read all day all night, I didn't want it to end. I read this one part i still remeber in history class, the description of the mathematician, was spot on just like me. I did notice some fallacies in the book, about space, and the spaceship being made out of a material that is radioactive, but i thought nothing of it since the book was so old, they wouldn't be able to know certain things about space. I kinda read over the part really fast while they were in space, because of the schema i already had about space. I read the whole book in before the project was supposed to be completed, thats when i realised, that i was only about half-way thru the book. It didn't say on the cover, it did say on the inside cover it contained, both "when world collide" and "after worlds collide" I did not know this, so when i reached the second book, i stopped; I didn't want the book to end. I later read the second part, it was great, it was just like how i would imagine exploring a new planet would be. I did think the ending of the second part was little too abrupt, i was somewhat dissapointed of the ending, it seemed like they ran out of ideas and raced to the finish. One thing i did notice being different with my book was there were lots of spelling errors, and wierd symbols in the words. eg. "æ" they were all over and i had trouble finding the deffinitions for those words. I later found out that my copy is an original copy. So thats why there are all those spelling errors and stuff. This is truly my favorite book of all time, and it has brought me into the world of reading more than anything else.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
The REAL Armageddon, May 6 2002
I discovered this one when I was in 5th grade. Buying it now, 30 years later, I was worried that it just wouldn't hold up. To my delight, it stands up to the test of time magnificently. We've seen movies and TV specials in the past few years on the impact of some cosmic body with Earth (Deep Impact, Armageddon, Meteor). Balmer and Wylie did it decades ago, and did it on a scale and with an attention to (then-current) detail that's still staggeringly convincing, if dated, today. Written before WWII (1933 and 34), When Worlds Collide features the destruction of the Earth in the most complete manner possible, and focuses on the efforts of a few people to find a way to escape that destruction. The manner in which they do so is brilliantly thought out and detailed, the progressive deterioration of both society and of the Earth itself is heartwrenchingly chronicled, and the final flight from the doomed planet is a classic. Yes, we have super-science, purple prose, and sometimes overly-simplistic characters (not to mention outdated concepts), but this is an example of the Golden Age that can still stand on its own. It DEFINED the disaster novel, and set the bar so high that few who came after even dared attempt the grand scale that Balmer and Wylie achieved. The sequel has its own charm, a combination of aftermath and exploration, with some eerie scenes that still give me a bit of the creeps to read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT STORY!, Feb 20 2002
This is a true science-fiction classic. The reason is simple: it is plausible. I first read this story almost forty years ago when I was in junior high school, and in the intervening years, it has lost none of its' fascination for me. I especially was taken by the sequel. The basic story is this: an astronomer discovers two planets from outside the solar system that are on a collision course with earth. One of them is a gas giant the size of Uranus, the other is a planet similar to earth, which will be destroyed. The other planet will assume the approximate orbit that the earth had. The scientists of earth build space vehicles in an attempt to save the human race. When I heard it was back in print, I orderd a copy and was very happy to find that the sequel was included. After Worlds Collide deals with the adventures of the people who land on the new planet.Some of the criticisms of these books are somewhat understandable. For example, the dialogue is sometimes--to be charitable--unrealistic. And the absence of diversity will offend some. There were only whites and Asians mentioned, and the "Asiatics" were, for the most part,the villains. Ignoring these relatively minor flaws however, still leaves a story that fascinates.One disappointment in the Bison reprints is that they do not have the maps of the new planet in it, but I am still glad it is back in print.If your local bookstore does not have it, order it. I doubt that you will be disappointed.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
