effect

This one describes and explains all the problems and consecuences that a nuclear war may cause ,its a very interesting one it explain and goes from the simple to something more advanced that anyone can understand

Reading this book was quite an experience. It really made me reflect on the consequences of irresponsable human acts. Specially all of those with the power, the ambition or the curiosity; since we all have different convictions, beliefs, and concerns, this is an issue that should matter all of us. The consequences of nuclear detonation (specially massive nuclear detonation) are catastrophic. I think it is great to have access to this type and quality of information at a low price, it really helps you get an idea and have a valid opinion on the subject. I think this book is really great, lots of recognizable scientists collaborate in it.

The book starts out with a young girls excitement to go to Peace Park with her friends for the rememberance of all the people who died in Hiroshima, Japan because of the atom bomb. The young girl was only two years old when the bomb was dropped. She just remembers the bright light from the atom bomb. She takes you into her life of an average kid with a dream to run track on the school team. Sadako does not feel good and becomes sick, her parents take her to the hospital where people go who have the atom bomb disease. She discovers that she has leukemia but is determined to beat it. Her friend brings her a gold peice of paper to make a crane. She believed if you make a thousand paper cranes the gods would grant her the wish of good health. Sadako becomes friends with a young boy in the hospital who dies during her stay. She is determined to beat the disease and continues making the cranes. She never made a thousand paper cranes and died at the age of twelve. Sadako is very well known in Japan and all around the world as a heroine. In her honor they have established a memorial in Peace Park. I really think this is a good book to read to children because it is not too graphic about the atom bomb. This would be a good book to read to children for an introduction in the understanding of what happened because of the dropping of the bomb. As a reader you feel like you have become friends with Sadako and really get intouch with your feelings about the bomb. Her memory lives on when children learn how to make paper cranes and send them to Hiroshima to be placed at the memorial. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to be touched by a true heart warming story.

The story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr, was based on the life of a real little girl who lived in Japan from 1943 to 1955. She was in Hiroshima when the atom bomb was dropped in WWII. It is a compelling story for children aged 8- 12 to read about the bombing of Hiroshima. Years later after the bomb was dropped, people suffered many diseases from the radiation of the bomb. Sadako tells her courageous story of fighting her disease, leukimia, and how the paper cranes lifted her spirits and changed her life forever.

The story is based on the true story of a Japanese girl,Sadako who died of leukemia. And she lived in Hiroshima when a atomic bombs[little boy] was dropped. When the gigantic explosion broke out, people living there witin 2km from the center had heavy skin burn that other people never had imagined. The burn remained until they died that called to[Keroido].

And the agony unfinished to the burn. In addtion to them, they had ratiation influences. Their things broke out after a few years. And it was different to the burns, that is, when people looked at the patients, they did not notice the condition, like leukemika. But as the patients were old, the cause of the death was indirect sickness by radiation rather than the direct burn.

And sickness like leukemia could not be cured because of the poorness of the medical skill, that is, the patients had nothing except of waiting their death. And by Japanese culture, there were customs [if they want to have their wishes,should make a lot of origami cranes]. Sadako would make a lot of cranes not to die.

A few days ago,there was the schedule that the atomic bomb exhibition of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was held in USA. But that was denyed. The reason were for including very cruel pictures and ignoring Japan bad point, Parl Habor,,,etc.
But even if what reasons exist there, that should is held. I think that both countries have bad points and not bado points but if both countries have not the wish that want to know each other condition, nothing can start.
May be many people will not know the agony that the people got.
For instance, the young girl that lived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki got heavy burn in their faces that can not imagine. They lost the most impotant age. One person dicided not to fall in love or get marry for the heavy burn of all body. And other person selected her suiside for her ugly looking. Can you imagine the agony so that the young girls would to suiside?

I want to tell the truth over the world as Japanese. Even if my English is poor, want to tell the history.

I cannot imagine the truth that about 50% of USA people approve of Iraq war. Why? If you know the Hiroshima and Nagasaki girl's agony, your thinking will change.

Thank you.

Let me start be saying that I'm not connected in any way with the publisher of this book. I further suggest that the glowing reader reviews for this book might be due to the fact that most people who have read it enjoyed it. The positive reviews are long because these readers are supporting their opinions with reasons, rather than just giving knee-jerk reactions and conspiracy theories. On to more important matters... I was quite surprised that The Tipping Point was not an overly thick book. At 288 pages, it is a good length, but not a difficult book to finish in a reasonable amount of time. Gladwell's experience as a magazine writer really shows in the way he manages to fill those pages with as much relevant information as one might find in a much longer book. In teaching us about the way social epidemics behave, Gladwell obviously uses many of his own ideas to make the lesson enjoyable to a wide range of people. Parts of the book are written in a way that invites the reader to participate. Gladwell administered a "connectedness" test to a variety of people, to compare how many people they know. The test is included in the book for the reader to try. The section on the contagiousness of yawns is written so suggestively that it makes the reader part of a live demonstration. I yawned at least four or five times while reading a page and a half on the subject. Real-world examples are used extensively. Gladwell analyzes Paul Revere's ride to illustrate how word-of-mouth travels. Children's shows serve as examples of how to get (and hold) a person's attention. The Hutterites and Gore, the company that makes Gore-Tex, both illustrate the same principle of group behaviour. The list goes on and on. The Tipping Point is filled with the views of real people interviewed by Gladwell. They include scientists, marketing experts, TV show creators, and many others who personify the ideas expressed in the book. All of these individual ideas and principles are neatly tied into one central argument. I found that many seemingly illogical things were clearly explained in The Tipping Point. I now have a better understanding of why some popular children's shows are virtually unwatchable by adults, or why teenagers suddenly start dressing in ways would have made them a target of ridicule only a couple of years before (and will again in a couple of years). In fact, it was nothing short of amazing the way Gladwell's book can be applied to so many of the important issues facing my community right now. Squeegee laws, crime, government reform, and smoking bylaws -- The Tipping Point has information relevant to all of them. Some of what Gladwell writes about human behaviour seems logical enough, but other ideas fly in the face of conventional thinking. I don't necessarily agree with all of his interpretations, but Gladwell does make a very convincing case. He backs his statements up with a substantial amount of research, citing studies whose results range from curious to humorous to downright disturbing. In all, The Tipping Point is a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable book that was very hard to put down.

This was a fascinating book. Gladwell seeks to explain how ideas can be passed like viruses, how ideas reach a "tipping point" when many people start adopting them and how this exponential growth of these ideas often takes us by surprise. I am constantly being reminded of the anecdotes that Gladwell uses to illustrate his points. There were stories regarding how cracking down on non-paying subway riders helped encourage the reduction of crime in New York City, how breast cancer education taught to hairdressers was more effective than many other means of education and why much of our anti-drug campaign may actually increase the likelihood of teens smoking or using drugs. Gladwell tries to explain all these phenomena through the theory of the "tipping point". Gladwell has been so successful in the marketing for this book that the tipping point has entered our cultural lexicon. I see it pop up in news articles all the time now. Gladwell forces his theory onto some situations and his evidence is not statistically overwhelming but the rationale of his argument is compelling and difficult to deny. A winner.

If you are engaged in ANY kind of human organization, or just like to know how isolated events take on a life of their own, read The Tipping Point.

Gladwell's work is detailed, yet easy to read. You will come away with a clear understanding of the term that has now worked its way into common speech.

This book is excellent for beginning designers as well as for more experienced designers with a mental block. Though I personally did not like very many of the actual designs the author came up with, the key words, techniques, and brainstroming ideas are great. THis book is like your little checklist of mental notes to run through when designing. Overall a good book to have on the shelf in moments of frustration.

Once arrived, I must confess, I said "what the hell, who shrunk this book?".. I did not pay too much attention at the book format during ordering. Anyway, disappointment turned to pleasure just after a few pages. This tiny book is full loaded with suggestions and it's a very helpful friend for brain-storming about graphic ideas. It's the typical book a graphic designer should keep very far from client's eyes!. Worth every dollar. Happy Happy Joy Joy.

this is a NICE book.

This is book for those who are at least somewhat aquainted with the principals of graphic design (and are maybe too busy to have the time to actually read technical wordy book.. this is a picture book. You see and draw your own conclusions and decide your own methodology)

Jim Krause is a brilliant designer... and just seeing all the "variations on a theme" (diffrent ideas for one concept or word) he does all in one organised place; its a beautiful thing. Even on the occassions when I didnt like the design, I usually found it impressive; aside from that.. well... you cant win them all, can you?! ^_~

If you can conceptualize and execute designs, but need a little nudge or a fresh outlook now and again this is a great book; full of "now why didn't *I* think of that?" ideas.

As an international aid worker and former Peace Corps volunteer, I was hoping for objective and well-researched criticism of international aid programs. Wrong book. The majority of this book is based on the author's personal experiences and anecdotal experiencesof others with a couple of specific aid agencies, which are hardly indicative of the "aid industry" as a whole. The writing was so amateurish and the facts so slanted and incomplete that I struggled to finish the book.

No aid worker believes that there isn't corruption or incompetence in the field - it's like any other profession in that respect (the Peace Corps, in my opinion, does as much harm as good, but rarely either). Maren frequently characterizes aid workers as cowboys who are in it for the money. Sure, there are any number of those, but it's hardly representative of most of the people I work with. Working in post-conflict situations is extremely challenging - logistically, mentally, and emotionally. Hard choices and compromises need to be made. But Maren isn't interested in portraying the challenges - he's got an agenda and an axe to grind and he won't let facts or research get in his way.

If you want a more thoughtful and interesting but equally critical portrait of Peace Corps life, I strongly recommend George Packer's "The Village of Waiting" over this book. This book is more of a memoir than journalism, although it's presented as the latter.

I spent five years in the aid business, two in Africa and three in SE Asia, and I've read most of the available books about it. Nothing captures the reality of the aid universe like The Road to Hell. What Mr. Maren manages to portray is the combination of self-righteous arrogance and clueless ineptitude that characterizes so many of the activities of these organizations. The book is dead-on accurate about the young Western kids who show up in poor countries and somehow instantly know what's best for the poor souls who inhabit them.

I've seen the destruction caused by these so-called charities. I even participated in it for a time. Sure, we did some good for some people sometimes. But that does not in any way counterbalance the overall negative effects -- cultural, economic & political -- that are so accurately described in this book. I recommend it to anyone who is thinking about working overseas, anyone who has already done aid or relief work, or anyone who cares about the plight of poor nations.

At a time when the answer to most problems seems to be throwing money in their direction, Maren points out graphically and convincingly that a) it doesn't help; and b) it often does more harm than good. As I read his argument he seems to be saying simply that the problems in poor countries are generally caused by the corrupt and/or indifferent practices of thier leadership. Aid and charity always support that leadership and therefore perpetuate the problems.

He uses the example of Somalia and other African countries but it's easy to see the full breadth of his argument. Further he shows that most charites like CARE and Save the Children are actively aware of the damage they are causing (he cites internal memos) but continue on their way because they are dependent upon Western governments for tens of millions of dollars in financing that goes along with doing their projects.

To my mind, two things make this book unique: First, it's part memoir (Maren has been both an aid worker and journalist in Africa) and told in a riveting narrative style. Unlike most "policy" books, the characters come alive in this one. Second, and most important, Maren is not one of those right-wing cranks who wants do abandon the poor to rot in their own poverty. He believes that the rich countries have a moral obligation to help the Third World. This is the ultimate insider exposé. He does a great job tossing the money lenders from the temple.

I must say I'm a bit biased, because I usually don't read this genre of books. It seemed interesting though, as it claimed to be a scientific thriller, and I'm a scientist who likes suspense.

I got immediately put off by the way it is written. So many clichés! And the scientists - sigh. They always have to be extreme geniuses, while nothing in the text shows that they actually are. I was not once impressed with any observation that was made. Then, their 'difficult' backgrounds make the story go a bit more downhill. It's all so easy! I would sooner take up an Agatha Christie I have read many times had I known what the book would be like.

One plus is that he makes science sound interesting. All in all, the science in the book is too simplistic for such a complicated problem, but I understand you have to compromise.

I would not recommend this book. I have read far more interesting scientific novels, of which 'A scientific romance' by Ronald Wright is one.

One comment on the editorial at amazon: much of the book is about who kidnapped Jess, and the editorial writes it down in one sentence as if it is a triviality! Thank you for giving it all away directly!

Hecht is an entertaining, intriguing writer. This is his second novel I have read (Skull Session is the first). He delves into interesting topics that create psychological thrillers. This book, in addition to being a book I couldn't put down, focuses on deeply philosophical and even spiritual issues that strike the heart of human behavior and responsibility.

The only shortcoming in this book is the role of a religious-zealot-wacko who plays a prominent part. Although probably a realistic type of character, I just was not able to logically connect his mission and what would motivate him to kidnap a scientist. It seems incongruent that such a zealot would ever consider little knows scientific evidence to actually threaten his empire of mind numb followers.

Otherwise, the characters are interesting and the story creative and intelligent. If you like this, I recommend Skull Session too.

An interesting story that investigates the possibility that the origin of violent behaviour may lie in our genetic composition. A young couple sets out on a quest to solve this mystery which begins with interviewing death row subjects. What begins as innocent investigation, however, turns into a gruesome nightmare for both husband and wife.

You might find your mind wandering a bit in the beginning, but just when you begin to wonder how you are ever going to get through the 430-odd pages, the pace picks up tremendoulsy (in the last 100-150 pages or so). Although a bit drawn out at times, this chilling mystery is filled with surprises. From trans-continental journeys to religious undertones, the many twists and turns keep the educated reader on the edge of their seat.

If you are a scientist, or an Ivy League graduate, it makes for stimulating reading! It may be a bit much for other readers, though, as there is a lot of scientific vocabulary which is essential to comprehend in order to understand the full picture.

I work for a large computer company that makes software. This book was instrumental in creating and organizing our human interface engineering department.

I don't think you can put a price tag on the amount of damage this book and the attitude it promotes has cost us.

On the one hand, the examples presented are insightful and on target; on the other hand, Mr. Cooper is a usability consultant, and his goal is to convince you that you need a usability consultant. My company drank the kool-aid, and has even paid for training services based on his work.

Part of convincing you that you need a usability consultant is convincing you that your programmers will be congenitally incapable of doing good UI without one.

Now, of course, human interface engineering departments eat that up, since it justifies their existence. Human interface engineering departments are a Good Thing. Having two teams (which must collaborate on producing a product that the market will want) at each others throats, waging political wars and each casually making the assumption that the other is incompetent does not lead to an effective organization. But it is the organization that Mr. Cooper's advice can easily lead to.

I can say categorically that our product's user interface is *worse*, not better, as a result of the attitudes Mr. Cooper promotes - not due to inattention, but due to the fact that in many cases were everyone agreed improvement was needed, the mutual animosity between the HIE department and the Development department was so great that the decision ended in a stalemate and nothing was done. We are only now pulling away from that era.

Read it warily, if you are thinking about how to set up your organization, and remember that it is written with an agenda that may not be set up to benefit you.

Good read, just be cautious of the one sided slant to this book!

According to this book, the inmates are everywhere and as is the main premise of this book, they are in charge of not only shaping the asylum known as software design, but also our world. Cooper uses various anecdotal examples throughout the book to illustrate his ideas and views on technological design. Focusing entirely on how it has run amuck. Many of the examples are painfully obvious and basic.

While points are well made and key to adding to ones thought process about designing software and better ways to bring product to market. Cooper misses the boat with regards to some of the realities of business. I found Cooper's ideas a little too idealistic with little suggestion in terms of comprimise or strategic change.

Methodology also seems to be off as book is all general impression based on observation and personal experience.

Finally, If you are looking for a reminder about good common sense and a prompt on how to make your customer king, you'll find this a helpful read.

This book is written for two audiences. The frustrated computer user will enjoy the early chapters with its anecdotes about computers failing to meet human needs. The rest of the book is for software managers and professionals who want to be change agents in the industry.

The problem, says Cooper, is that users and programmers think very differently. Users just want to accomplish a task, and have no interest in understanding how the computer works. Programmers want and need to understand the computer on a deep level, and find it hard to design software to meet the needs of people who don't.

Cooper says we need to abandon the idea that there are "power users" and "naive users". Most users are in fact very smart people who just don't think like computers. Cooper's solution is to use 'personas', made up users intended to represent real users with very specific goals, and to design software to meet only those specific users' goals. Design must occur before any code is written, otherwise it is too late.

This isn't a manual on how to use Cooper's goal oriented design methods, but after reading this book it is hard not to be convinced that such methods, or equally radical ones, are needed. Cooper may not have all the answers, but he surely has part of the answer, and is asking all the right questions.

Having spent the better part of the last 12 years on a virtual A(tenolol)to Z(oloft) tour of drugs prescribed to treat my symptoms of low self-esteem, generalized and social anxiety, and depression, I began to suspect these pretty, candy-like pills--so quickly prescribed interchangeably by psychiatrists and GP's alike--were not only affecting me in the short-term, but also manifesting long-term (if not permanent!) changes in my body--most notably a reduction in sex drive and function and excessive sweating--all without an appreciable, lasting reduction in my original symptoms. Therefore, when I stumbled across this book on Amazon.com, I was intrigued; what I found in it's pages left me with mixed feelings of horror, relief, knowing, and suspicion. Not only did I recognize the myriad of side-effects and withdrawal symptoms from my own experience, but Drs. Breggin and Cohen portrayed with uncanny accuracy my attempts at enlisting the help of practitioners unwilling to comply with my wishes to de-medicate. Too many times I have entered my psychiatrist's office ready to reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of medications I take, only to emerge twenty minutes later with a prescription for an ADDITIONAL drug, often with the intent to treat the side-effects of the first! This book has given me additional tools and strategies with which to broach the subject at my next appointment. Am I afraid of the probable return of the original emotional difficulties that brought me there in the first place? Absolutely. Am I dreading the all-too-familiar onslaught of dizziness, nausea, restless legs, headaches, depression, and intense emotional suffering that accompanies withdrawal? No question. But I am tired of the endless stream of side-effects and general numbing I experience on each successive drug, which inevitably stops working within a few months only to be replaced by something "better". I'm tired of being afraid of my doctor's disapproval, my mental "illness", and of living.

All this having been said, it's only fair to point out some of the obvious flaws of this book. As mentioned in previous reviews, it is repetitive in places, oddly devoid of any sense of actual experience with emotional suffering, and conspicuously one-sided. To claim that "the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree to which we are alive" is laughably new-agey and useless in a real-world context. Try sharing that bit of fluff with the person so deep in a depression that they can't get out of bed, can't care for themselves or their kids--indeed, can't even cry--and see how it is received. Also, the section on reducing your medications is a bit difficult (even dangerous) to follow if your medication comes in capsule form. Their suggestion that a capsule be opened and its contents separated into smaller doses isn't very helpful--how do you administer the smaller dosages? Couldn't it be risky? All in all, the weakest section of the book is Chapter 13, entitled "Psychological Principles for Helping Yourself and Others Without Resort to Psychiatric Medications". It's rife with mindless psychobabble, offering far too many pat fortune-cookie suggestions without any substantive plan for action. Most disburbingly, Breggin & Cohen tread a dangerous line by zealously condemning ALL use of psychiatric medications (all the while assuring the reader that they don't blame the user). Surely every schizophrenic or bipolar (and their loved ones) won't find solace in the simple realization "that emotional crises and suffering are opportunities for accelerated personal growth" (p210), nor by focusing "on finding a rational, loving, and confident center in yourself that can rise above your emotional crisis or suffering" (p205). Common sense would suggest that sometimes, for some people, a medication can be the sanest, if not the only answer.

At any rate, this book provides a welcome counterpoint to a nation blindly medicating their children into conformity, eagerly requesting prescriptions for psychotropic drugs they see advertised during "Survivor", and assigning a convenient DSM label (with the inevitable, corresponding "miracle" pill) for every emotional fluctuation. In itself, "Your Drug May Be Your Problem" is best regarded as a jumping-off place for further research rather than the end of the line.

I am a licensed clinical social worker who supervises other clinical social workers in a well-respected Treatment Foster Care program. I know for a fact that psychiatrists often prescribe Ritalin, anti-psychotic drugs and powerful anti-depressants to seven and eight year old children. Once the prescribing begins, it often escalates and rarely does a child get taken off meds. These are not "occasional" psychiatric practices - they are the rule, not the exception, with this population.

Before reviewers claim Breggin and Cohen are "narrow minded" or "extreme," they need to read eight or ten other source books (among them:From Placebo to Panacea, by Fisher and Greenberg; Blaming the Brain, by Valenstein; Talking Back to Prozac, by Breggin and Breggin; The Tripple Helix, by Lewontin). These are writers of substance, with well-documented arguments. They present clear pictures of the gaping holes in the biopsychiatric model and the shoddy, self-serving research that allegedly supports that model.

Several of these books present detailed indictments of the degree to which huge financial interests dominate psychiatry and drug research; they present clear and verifiable information (of which most psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers seem unaware) about the questionable effectiveness and all-too-common dangers of these drugs.

I don't doubt that a number of people have felt their lives saved by these drugs. But there is much research to support psycho-social interventions which do at least as well as psychiatric meds, without the dangers and side effects. This research is hard to find in the U.S., largely because of the huge amount of money the pharmaceutical companies spend supporting the American Psychiatric Association, NAMI, CHADD, the medical journals, and academic researchers. Studies which don't reinforce drug companies' vested interests are very hard to fund, and harder to publish. The latest figure I've seen: the drug companies in a recent year spent over 13 billion dollars on promotion alone. Dr. Martin Keller, a lead researcher in a major study supporting the use of anti-depressant medication was reported by Glenmullen and the Boston Globe to have received income of over $500,000 dollars from drug companies in a single year.

The efficacy of psychiatric drugs is way overstated. Their damage is vastly minimized by the drug companies, the researchers and the FDA. Read Breggin's Talking Back to Prozac, and Glenmullen's Prozac Backlash. See if you can find, anywhere, a point by point refutation of their specific charges about fudged drug studies and naked economic influence on "scientific" research. You won't find the drug companies, the FDA or the psychiatric establishment addressing these issues head on, fact for fact, because they know they have no response.

Don't just read this one book by Breggin and Cohen. Keep looking. No psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker or counsellor should consider themselves prepared to engage in ethical and informed practice until they have read and seriously considered the other books cited above, as well as several other books by Breggin (e.g., Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Ritalin, The War Against Children of Color).

If you take prescription medication, this book should be in your personal library. If you are considering medication, this book will save you possibly years of wasted time and pain. I highly recommend it to anyone, more than i can put into words.

I bought this book in a bookstore, so I cannot blame Amazon.com for not providing enough information about its content. From the cover I was expecting to learn something about 1) the prophet Isaiah -- especially some mysterious, recently unearthed version 2) a scientifically critical and rational way to examine prayer, and 3)how Gregg Braden managed to create a synthesis of Old Testament prophecy and quantum mechanics. The single star rating should illustrate how far short he has fallen in all of these goals.

As near as I can tell, Mr. Braden is a tour guide and a New-Age philosophy advocate. This book represents another way to drum up business...a new way to attract tourists. Consistent with that perspective, Isaiah only rates a superficial treatment, while his visit to Tibet is treated as a sacred and monumental event in human history. The word "quantum" appears throughout the book, but never in a way that suggests Mr. Braden has the background to do more than use it in an occasional sentence. Last, his ideas on prayer being a harmonization of mind, body and feelings is just silly.

In short, this book could be of interest to a "New-Age-Post-Modern wanderer starting out on a spiritual journey. However, for the serious amateur scientist or theologian, this book is of little value.

Greg Braden is a former earth science expert as well as a computer systems designer turned tour guide of sacred and religious sites all over the world. He has written a number of books on similar subjects.

The Isaiah effect examines many tenants and religious beliefs throughout man kind's history. Looking at who wrote the Bible, why books were left out and what it meant to the overall understanding of the Bible that the books were not included in the final project. He looks at the Bible with all the books and also looks at Native American, Mayan and Aztec beliefs among many others (to be listed later). How are they similar? The writer will show you.

Greg Braden believes we are missing something today. He explains how mass prayer has been proven to work. He discusses quantum physics theories that make many of the ancient prophecies seem plausible. The book spends a good bit of time discussing "The Bible Code" and the possibilities that it teaches us. The writer also has chapters discussing healing through prayer among many other faith based actions.

This book tries to make you think. Common prophecies, common threads in religion, did we all come from one belief? The book also presents a new way to look at time, time travel, dimensions, religions and quantum physics, prayer and prophecy, alternate realities, multiple paralleled universes. Can we bounce back and forth between them? Maybe even without knowing? Are we actually just now starting to learn or relearn what the ancient people knew? If so, why? How do the prophecies from Peru, Tibet, Egypt, Jerusalem and the American Southwest coincide?

Many questions are explored in the book. Some answers are given which in turn just raise a few more questions. This is a book that makes you think about many things including how we, as a race, relate to the seen and unseen worlds. If you are in a contemplating mood this is the book for you. If you are interested in the history and contents of religions this has some interest. If you feel something is missing in today's religions, read this book. It will make you think.

Braden's new book on the Lost science (read: technology) of Prayer and Prophecy is not to be missed by people interested in changing the world's future (cataclysm or ecological decay...) for the better (and this means most of us, yes?), despite what criticism may be leveled at the sometimes repetitious writing style, etc. The reason being that he has attempted to re-present and synthesize lost, disappearing or otherwise unavailable techniques for empowering us as instruments of prayer and peace, and shapers of our own realities. While it is disheartening to learn that in many of his workshops, people admit that when they pray, it's usually for money, it's clear that the underlying intention of this book (anything but pecuniary) is to pass on knowledge of how to pray for the only thing that really matters: our own peace and healing, which is then reflected in the world. Put this together with the Compassion and DNA work in Braden's earlier books, and I think we've been really given something important to work with.

This book is a history of the world in 535 and following, the time of the "darkening of the sun", a event described in every part of the globe where written records existed. I remember reading about this long ago, it is believed that there must have been a volcanic blast that sent a black cloud around the planet and blocked the sun for a period of time.

The conclusions reached by the author here are far fetched, in some cases ridiculous. I am an avid reader of history and it is difficult to get a accurate descriptions of events and understand human motivations in the past, the further back you go the more this is true, yet David Keys has a definite answers for everything, solving great mysteries with simple, clear cut answers. He offers the real reason for the collapse of the Roman empire, why Islam expanded to become a major world religion, the true reason for the Nasca lines in South America and even has all the facts about the holy grail and what the whole legend really means. Simplistic explanations with historical events twisted to suit a new version of history.

I gave this book 2 stars because it is packed with interesting little details such as descriptions of the Avar civilization and the Turks, the Khazars as a Jewish empire, Javanese "Book of Kings", the Frankish empire and the Visigoths of Spain even if I believe the author's conclusions to be ridiculous.

I love cause-and-effect books. This book ranks with the Pulitzer Prize winning "Guns, Germs, and Steel" in analyzing how the world came to be the way it is. As a result of one unbelievably massive volcanic explosion in AD 535, the entire world's geopolitical system was turned upside down and twisted around forever. The blast contributed to the final collapse of the Roman Empire; united China; contributed towards the formation of Western Europe; and arguably, caused the emergence of Islam! A lot of our modern geopolitical system that we thought came to be as a result of normal human machinations and war actually had their beginnings from humans reacting to the effects of a volcanic eruption. The explosion also provided the backdrop for the emergence of the "first" Jewish state, a state that possibly kept Western Europe from becoming Muslim. Four years of very heavy research went into this book and it shows it. A 2-hour television special was based on it. It gives the reader a true appreciation of nature's power to literally force humanity to irrevocably change world history with one gigantic blow. Could it happen again?

"Catastrophe" rocketed to fame as a result of a PBS series which devoted two one hour episodes to its thesis: that an eruption of what was probably a monstrous earlier version of the volcano Krakatoa created weather disruptions and tidal phenomena which wiped out many Classical civilizations, brought on LITERAL "dark ages" in many societies, and helped to create the Medieval world and lay the foundations of the modern.

The Keys theory is so widely accepted now (just five years after the publication of the book) because it is not only backed by masses of contemporary documentary evidence, but also because it explains, better than any other theory, the global decline of civilization in the 6th Century of the Common Era. In mathematical terms, it is "elegant." It is a latter-day Occam's Razor cutting through generations of theories based upon individual cultures or isolated events to show that they could all have at their heart a single event which triggered, as the title says, global "Catastrophe." (Definitely with a capital "C"!)

Keys uses Chinese records to show that a loud bang was heard over hundreds of square miles around 535, and that this was followed by a fall of yellow ash. Other records, from Japan and parts of modern Indonesia, support this occurence. Keys, after weighing and rejecting alternative theories, suggests that only a massive volcanic eruption could be the culprit for the event recorded by the Chinese, and shows, decade by decade, using historical records, dendrochronological (tree ring) records, ice samples, and other measurements, that what happened was no ordinary eruption, but possibly the largest volcanic eruption in history, which darkened skies around the world, creating a "volcanic winter" which brought famine and plague in its wake. Amazingly, he does it in plain, easy-to-read language, a hallmark of historiographic greatness.

Keys documents major climatic disruptions and uses established scientific models to project the impact of these changes on people as diverse as the Central Asian Avar and Turkish horse nomads, East African herdsmen, South American fishermen, and Anglo-Saxon and Britannic farmers in the modern British Isles. His conclusion is stunning: the eruption triggered waves of nomadic migrations which helped to bring about the decline of the recently revived Byzantine empire (which was well on its way to reconquering much of the old Roman Empire), destroyed flourishing urban cultures in the Americas, ruined the powerful Southern Arabian kingdoms which had existed for centuries (thus creating the power vacuum later filled by Mohammad's follwers), and also wrought devastation remembered in Arthurian romances.

One of the crucial contributions which Keys has made is an explanation of the otherwise unexplainable irruption of the bubonic plague out of Africa and into the Byzantine and Indian worlds. The plague -- which spread as far as Britain and permanently ended any chance that an independent Celtic Church would be established, separate from Rome -- killed millions of then and former Romaions (inhabitants of the original Roman Empire) and blasted any hopes of re-establishing the Empire, relegating it instead into an ever-dwindling Greek-centered Eastern Empire, subject to nomadic incursions from Arabia and central Asia.

In the Americas, Teotihuacan and Tikal alike suffered from near-simultaneous climatic disruption which ended their civilizations -- contemporaneously with the decline of the great cities of the Classical Eurasian world. Only the Keys Catastrophe theory explains BOTH phenomena -- the end of urban cultures in the Americas AND in Africa-Eurasia.

In east Asia, Keys blames the super-eruption for the famines whch led to the revolt of Hou Jing, which ended southern Chinese independence and led ultimately to the establishment of the Sui Dynasty and the near-continuous unification of China as a single cultural entity since then. In 535, the very year which Keys gives for the eruption, the Korean state of Silla, probably faced with climatic turmoil and famine as bad as China's, abandoned its pagan past and adopted Buddhism, laying the groundwork for the unification of THAT country, too. Again, no other theory provides a unified explanation for the near-simultaneous events.

The Keys theory is not without its weaknesses. I have particular doubts about the Indonesian chronicles which he utilizes, but which, if authentic, indicate that the Sunda Strait is a relatively modern phenomenon, and, until 535-536, Java and Sumatra formed a super-island, dominated by an unfortuante civlization (called Holotan by the Chinese). If the records Keys uses are correct, Holotan was destroyed (along with much of the island) by the super-eruption, putting it alongside Thera as a major cultural center destroyed by a single volcano. Undeniably, however, major changes took place in Southeast Asia after 535, including the establishment of Proto-Cambodia and Proto-Thailand only one generation later, along with other, more diffuse civilizations, presumably filling the gap left by the vanished Holotan.

The Keys theory will likely be subject to much criticism in the years ahead, and further refinements, but it is already so well-established as a convenient explanation for the catastrophic events of the Sixth Century C.E. that anyone who wants to understand histories of the period being written nowadays simply MUST be familiar with "Catastrophe."

I give "Catastrophe" Five Stars, the highest rating, for its historiographic significance, ease of reading, and current impact on historical thinking.