Everyone knows at least one Norman Abbot de Ratour. The museum world and academia seem to attract his type, so having him as the protaganist of this mystery was perfect. Norman is a middle aged, single, never married, fussy, prissy, pretentious man. He hides behind the barrage of memos over the "correct procedure" for everything from where the annual Christmas party should be held to meeting procedures, etc.

Norman's ordered life is assaulted at every angle by the modern world, the slovenly museum business manager, and the attempts by Wainscott University to take over the governance of his beloved Museum of Man. Into this mix, the visiting Dean from Wainscott University is murdered and his remains seem to have been feasted upon and prepared by a gourmet chef. The attending scandal on his beloved museum is more than Norman can stand, so he decides to solve the mystery himself.

The book is written as an unofficial Museum of Man journal by Recording Secretary Norman de Ratour. You feel the pain of this man as he tries to come to grips with the fact that his ordered "civilized" world doesn't really exist anymore. We also learn about his lost love, Elsbeth. One hears so much about her, that it isn't even a surprise when she appears in the last quarter of the book. Not a natural detective, Norman makes many false starts and wonders how best to proceed, trying to draw on the few detective stories he has read.

The book takes great joy poking fun at academia, museums, governing bodies, committees, etc. The meetings where the Wainscott oversight committee looks into the proposed exhibit on Neanderthal life is hysterical. My only complaint about the book is that it proceeds along at a leisurely, drawn out pace for 4/5 of the book then - bam we are rushed to an ending that makes sense but seems to come somewhat out of left field.

If you have worked in museums, academia, or similar environments you will enjoy this book. If you want a good, interesting and amusing read you will enjoy this book. However, if you are looking for a fast read, look elsewhere.

The local barmaid at the Jellied Eel finds herself in a romance with a dashing rich man, who just may be a serial killer. This is a deft and gripping mystery by Peter Lovesey, and very nicely read by Barbara Rosenblat. There are enough twists and clues in this story to keep you engrossed and guessing until the very end.

If you like mysteries, especially English mysteries, and are looking for something to occupy your time on a road trip; I recommend this book on tape. It's perfect for short trips, as it's only 2 hours long. It keeps you interested, and is nicely presented by Barbara Rosenblat.

June Thomson is obviously a Sherlock Holmes fan. The story comes off as something written by a fan writing for other fans. However, that is not necessarily a good thing.

The mystery is rather slight. The appearance of Mycroft Holmes and his dire concerns about the case seem quite unwarranted. In fact when Holmes and Watson arrive on the scene, they are basically told who the culprit is and there is a very brief journey to uncover proof of this. The ending is rather anti-climactic.

However, Simon Jones does a superb reading of the story. He is able to give unique voices to his characters and quite brings the story and characters to life. Mr. Jones is now among one of the actors I will look for when choosing audio books, joining Time Curry and Michael York.

In the final analysis, this audiobook makes a decent distraction for a short commute. It is not gripping, but the performance is strong and worth the listen.

Max Allan Collins' novelization of the 1999 film "The Mummy" is a lot of fun. Which is of course what you would expect, since the movie itself was such pure unadulterated fun.

It does what most good novelizations do, it fleshes out the characters a little more. It provides some background information on the characters and storyline. The novelization is also very helpful for explaining a bit more about the ancient Egyptian ceremony where Imhotep tries to resurrect his dead love, Anck-su-namun. The novel also focuses on the romance aspect between Evelyn and O'Connell, much more than the movie.

If you enjoyed the recent Mummy movie, you would probably enjoy this book. It's a fun and fast read. As long as you don't expect anything more from it, you should enjoy this book.

In this book, Jim Marrs tries to present the many theories about the assassination of President Kennedy, no matter how realistic or laughable. The book tries to cover its topic exhaustively, and gives you an idea of the full gamut of theories about the J.F.K. assassination.

Probably the best statement to make about the book is what the author wrote at the beginning of his Preface: "Do not trust this book. In fact, when it comes to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, don't trust any one source or even the basic evidence and testimony..."

Mr. Marrs begins the book by giving a wide variety of witness statements. Some of it is contradictory, some of it is very thoughtful, and some of it is plain ludicrous. While I found this section interesting, I found the fact that he gave equal weight to statements made shortly after the event as he did statements that weren't made until years - sometimes decades - after the assassination.

The second part of the book outlines the possible suspects for the crime - giving their means, motives and opportunities. This was my favorite part of the book. Not only did he list the possible subjects (Oswald, USSR, Cuba, Mob, CIA, FBI, LBJ, Nixon, etc.) but he gave a brief history of the person or organization. I found it extremely fascinating to learn about the history of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, the formation of the Secret Service, how their powers evolved, etc. If I were reviewing the book on this section alone, it probably would have received 5 stars.

The third section of the book discusses consequences and occurences after the assassination. These include the Warren Commission, Ruby killing Oswald, the irregularities around the autopsy records, the Garrison investigation, etc. This section was interesting and did create a lot of questions.

The final section outlines the author, Jim Marrs, hypothesis about what really happened in Dealey Plaza that fateful day. As I'm sure Mr. Marrs realized, this section is sure to cause a lot of arguments.

All in all, Mr. Marrs has created a very interesting and fairly well written book about the Kennedy assassination. He definitely is in the camp of the conspiracy theorists, but then most people who would read this book are probably also in that camp. I do have 2 significant problems with the book: 1) I don't feel that his conclusions presented at the end of the book are supported by the evidence that he provides within the book. 2) I don't agree with his reasoning for not footnoting within the text. Mr. Marrs states (in the introduction to the sources and notes section at the back of the book) that he did not want to footnote within the text, because he thought it would impede upon the flow of ideas. I did not find this statement until I was almost done with the book. I was very frustrated because there were a number of things that he mentioned in the book that I would like to have looked up the original source - unfortunately, it is very difficult to go back and find the items that I wanted to look up.

If you are interested in the J.F.K. assassination, you will probably enjoy this book. However, keep in mind the author's own warning about trusting this book alone!

Whitley Strieber continues his series of books about human interaction with the "visitors". This time out, however, he tries to offer up "proof" of visitation by aliens in the form of videos, letters and medical evidence. The result is quite lacking.

Let me first state that I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Strieber's book, Communion. This was an excellent book documenting one man's experience with something real to him. It offered no definitive answer and was more of a quest for the ever elusive truth. With each succesive book about the phenomena that he has experienced, his interepretations get more far out. The other main advantage that Mr. Strieber has over other authors on similar material, such as Budd Hopkins, is that Mr. Strieber is a professional writer and his books are very well-written.

Back to Confirmation, the first third of the book discusses video evidence of UFOs. It would have helped if Mr. Strieber had given readers some suggestions as to where they might find copies of the footage he is describing. (I did see one of the videos he was descibing on Larry King, so at least that one should be available somewhere.) He describes the movements that the UFOs make, and how they would be difficult to falsify - not impossible, just difficult. Now without being able to view the footage, it is very difficult to come to your own conclusion about the said footage. It is also very difficult to evaluate video footage from a written description. (try to imagine describing one of your favorite action scenes to someone who has never seen it, but don't tell plot just give descriptions of the movements, their mental image would probably be much different than the actual footage)

My other complaint/concern about the first section of the book is that Mr. Strieber is making comments about propulsion and how this particular movement isn't possible, etc. While, I firmly believe that he is a very intelligent man, I've never seen anything to believe that he is a physicist or an expert on propulsion systems.

The next section describes close encounter experiences from witnesses across the nation. While very interesting, since these are mostly taken from letters, and don't have corroborating testimony or evidence again there is no hard evidence.

The third section of the book is the most interesting, and could have come closest to providing that all elusive "proof". Mr. Strieber conducted a number of tests to try to find implants that people remember having inserted into them during their close encounters. While some very interesting data was recovered, the results were inconclusive to say the least. There is no way of proving that the implants removed from these people were put in during their alleged encounters. The materials are not out of this world, odd, yes but not necessarily from somewhere else.

Finally, I do appreciate what Mr. Strieber was trying to do here but it just doesn't work. I think the biggest problem is the title, the book does not live up to it. I hope that Mr. Strieber continues his personal search, but I don't know that I'll continue reading about it.

Poor Arthur Dent, all he wanted was a seat upgrade and to find a world where people look something like him (what he really wanted was to go back to his home planet that had been destroyed to create a hyperspace highway and live out his life with the woman he loved who had disappeared in a space-time anomaly). Instead he discovers he has a teenage daughter that he had no prior knowledge of and receives an ominous package from Ford Prefect, so he has to leave his new-found home where his sandwich making skills are greatly appreciated. This is as close to a plot that one can get in Mostly Harmless, the 5th book in the Hitchikers Triology. (If you have trouble with that concept, then this book is definitely not for you!)

This book is rather slow in getting started, and some of the early chapters of the book are almost tedious. I don't know whether I've just gotten so used to Douglas Adams' tangential storytelling, that it just doesn't seem as fresh anymore, or whether they really are ho-hum. I miss the constant snippets from the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, that were liberally sprinkled throughout the previous 4 books of the trilogy. However since there seems to be a problem with the guide and it seems to have been taken over by some nasty characters, I suppose that could explain why there aren't excerpts throughout this book.

However, once Ford Prefect starts to figure out that something is going on with the guide, or perhaps once Douglas Adams figured out what to do with the story, things really perk up. The last 1/3 of the book is what actually allowed me to give the book as high a rating as I did. If I had rated it on the first 2/3, it would have received a 2 or 3. As it is, the book really deserves a 3.5 rating.

I actually bought this book in hard-back when it originally was released in 1992, but have only gotten around to reading it now. (The reason being is that I read Mr. Adams works infinitely faster than he can write them, so I try to wait so that I'll have more than one of his books to read.) I even went to a book-signing/reading by Douglas Adams at Cal State Long Beach Fall 1992. I believe that he read an excerpt from Mostly Harmless, one of the very amusing bits with Ford Prefect I believe. However, I do recall that he seemed to spend much more time reading from Last Chance to See, and this was supposed to be a book tour event for Mostly Harmless. I guess I should have figured out that even the author wasn't that happy about the book, at the time I just figured that he was taking the opportunity to drum up some business for an excellent but over-looked book.

Anyway, to sum up the book was good, but definitely not up to the other four books of the trilogy. If you can muddle your way through the first 2/3 of the book, you're home free. If you haven't read the other Hitchiker books, stay away from this one, it's not the place to start.

Finally, Mr. Adams I enjoy your work even if I do take awhile to getting around to reading them (see previous comment). I have to admit that while I thoroughly enjoy the Hitchiker books, I would love for you to write another Dirk Gently book. Having said that, I just want you to write books that you are proud to have written. Thanks

I picked up this book expecting a good scientific overview of many mysteries of the ancient world. It covers such interesting topics as megalithic buildings like Stonehenge and the pyramids, biblical mysteries such as the location of Noah's ark, and curiosities of the New World such as the location of Vinland. The book started off nicely with a chapter looking for the location of Atlantis, which gave a good historical and archaeological argument for placing it at Minoan Crete. I figured even though the book is over 20 years old, it would be a good read.

I quickly became disappointed. For every interesting and well written chapter, there seems to be one that takes giant leaps of fancy. It's almost like the author had a split personality. The other very annoying thing about the book is that while it was published in 1978, most of the few resources listed date to the late 1960s. There are even a number of sources published in the 50s. Even for the time it was published many of Mr. Furneaux's ideas were greatly out-dated.

A perfect example is his discussion of the end of the ancient Mayan civilization. He would lead you to believe that the only two people studying the ancient Maya were Eric Thompson and Sylvanus Morley. Further, the only works he mentions from them date to the 50s. There is no mention of such well-respected Maya scholars such as Kent Flannery, Michael Coe or Tatiana Proskouriakoff to name a few. They were all well-published on the Maya by the mid-1970s, if not the late 60s.

The chapter immediately following the discussion of the collapse of the Maya civilization, is actually an excellent synopsis of the discovery of Lord Pacal's tomb at Palenque (made famous by von Daniken as proof of ancient astronauts). It's this switching back and forth from reasonable scientific explanation and examination to wild leaps of fancy that make the book so frustrating.

The chapter on the shroud of Turin is very good and current to 1978, long before the church allowed scientists to take a sample of the shroud for radio-carbon dating and it was proved to be a medieval forgery. The chapter on the search for Vinland, the Norse settlement in the New world, is also quite well done. However, these chapters are in sharp contrast to the description of Tiahuanaco in the Bolivian highlands, which goes so far afield as to encompass the Phoenicians. Another questionable chapter covers the fall of the Harrappan civilization in India and Pakistan.

The main problem with the book is that it lacks a point of view. In one chapter Mr. Furneaux is sounding like a disciple of Erich von Daniken, then in the next chapter he is taking Mr. von Daniken and his followers to task for not providing proof for their wildly speculative theories.

If you are interested in the topics covered in this book I recommend you look elsewhere. Paul Bahn has written many popular archaeology books that cover some of these same topics, there is also a book with the same title written in 1999 that seems to have a more solid scientific footing. I would even recommend giving some of the various Time-Life books and series a look.

This is a terrific book about Stonehenge! Mr. Chippindale has created a wonderfully informative and readable book about one of the most famous archaeological monuments in the world.

This book takes the famous quote from Jacquetta Hawkes "Every age has the Stonehenge it deserves and - desires", and illustrates it by giving an overview of all the various paradigms that have been used to explain Stonehenge. Instead of giving the reader dreadfully boring and mind-numbing details about Stonehenge and the research into it, he gives us a brief description of what is physically there at Stonehenge, then he outlines what each succesive era has thought of Stonehenge since its "re-descovery" in the 12th century A.D.

All the theories, from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Merlin to the current fad of UFOs and extraterrestrials are explored. Mr. Chippindale lists sources, so that if you are interested in any particular theoretical perspective you are welcome to explore further.

Mr. Chippindale is a well-respected archaeologist and the editor of one of the pre-eminent archaeological journals, "Antiquity". He does state that he firmly is in the camp of the archaeologist, as far as explaining the origin and history of Stonehenge. However, that does not prevent him from presenting many of the other competing paradigms of Stonehenge's origin.

The book is richly illustrated throughout with photographs going back over 100 years, plus drawings and paintings that date back at least to the 16th century. The paintings of Stonehenge also help illustrate what the artist thought of this monument.

It was also quite fascinating to read about the various ideas for "preserving Stonehenge" over the last 150 years. There have been many different ideas about how this monument should be presented, and even now there is controversy about the way Stonehenge is presented to the public.

In this book you get to meet many interesting characters who left their mark on Stonehenge and its interpretation, from John Aubrey, William Cunnington, Inigo Jones, Colin Renfrew to modern new age researchers. They and their concepts are all presented here.

I strongly recommend this book as a start for anyone interested in learning more about Stonehenge. It is written with a sense of humor, and in a very readable style. You can then branch out to read more in-depth studies of the various theories and paradigms that you are interested in.

Voices is the 1st novel based upon the Babylon 5 series. It is a good novel, but fans of the television series may find it uncharacteristic or possibly a bit annoying. I tried to remind myself that it was written early in the series and that many of the plot and character developments that I was aware of had not yet been explored when this book was written.

The plot concerns the Psi Corp convention being held on Babylon 5 after their original location on Mars is blown up. During the convention another bombing takes place and Talia Winters (Babylon 5's resident commercial telepath) becomes the prime suspect. Talia manages to escape from Babylon 5 as she attempts to clear her name. Talia is a fugitive being chased by Psi Corp, the military, the police and Michael Garibaldi (Security Chief on Babylon 5). Garibaldi is desperate to find her before any of the other entities, especially Psi Corp, find her.

I found the scenes on Babylon 5 at the start of the novel very good. There was a lot of humor, the interaction between Captain Sheridan, Commander Ivanova and Garibaldi were terrific. There were also some very humorous parts as Garibaldi plots to keep the telepaths from Psi Corp visiting Down Below.

However, when the book left the station it got much less interesting. The scenes on Earth while important to the plot, were not very interesting. Talia's encounter with a tribe of anglos living as Native Americans in the Native American southwest was sort of interesting, but not much was done with it.

All in all this is a good book, but not a great one. If you've never seen the television series Babylon 5, you may find it interesting. If you've seen a few episodes, you'd probably enjoy the book. If you are a die-hard fan of the series, you may like it, but try to remember that it was written early in the series run and don't expect fully fleshed out characters and situations.