Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Not the Stainless Steel Rat I Know and Love
I don't know where all the 5-star reviews have come from, because I'm having a hard time believing them. Harrison has taken everything good about the Stainless Steel Rat and left it out of this novel. Jim DiGriz is a con man, but there are no cons. He's also know for his fantastic robberies, but this book had none. He works for the Special Corps, saving the universe, but not here. Everything that's special about The Stainless Steel Rat is missing.

When I found out there was a new novel in the series, I was really excited. But reading it was a disappointment. The plot does not require Slippery Jim DiGriz -- it could have been any normal person facing difficulties in a future world. Harrison has let us down in this one.

This book is up to the standard you should expect from a scifi grand master
I'm going to have to spend this comment taking apart the idiot and dullard of a professional book reviewer at Publisher's Weekly who tried unfairly to paint Harrison as a racist in his public review.It seems to be removed here But I'll post here anyway as I did at Barnes and Noble.
This is a bit spoilerish, just a warning...............

As he hasn't read the series much less Harrison's background from WWII where he worked with black soldiers as a Sgt. while their white jackass Officers were always giving them crap and trying to get them written up or jailed.Harrison wrote a long time ago about his experience of this, and how it was about time the day black soldiers got their equal rights and were desegregated in the military back in the late 40s when he was stationed in the south at a training base. Harrison has never been a racist.
The Reviewer quotes the one sentence where jim remarks:
> Jim (himself quite pink) declares that the different skin colors "should
> have been bred out centuries ago."

Firstly Jim is not pink.His race is never mentioned in the books, though he is generally portrayed as a white guy by artists on some covers and the comic book by creative license alone. Harrison (and he has said this before himself) always tried to keep race specifically vague for the main characters in his Rat books so that any reader identifies with them.
Jim mentioned that racial differences on the same planet and same continent were odd to him BECAUSE in his world (this series) humans had colonized the galaxy thousands of years ago.With an end to racial bigotry in THEIR modern social culture anyone would naturally be likely to marry anyone else regardless of race, so after thousands of years of mixed breeding everyone is just a standard light brown color- why this color?It was predicted by scientists back in the 80s that that was what people would look like if all the races mixed out of existence. The result would be sort of brown with slightly asian eyes.Harrison went with this hypothesis, he WASN'T saying that Jim is this certain color so it is the best some how.

Secondly, if you have read any number of Harrison's books, you'll know he always paints country folk as being ignorant bumpkins.He seems to think this is funny, I don't know...
Same with those on planets that lost their technology.They are always ignorant dullards in need of schooling and galactic contact.

Except for the Grey Men they faced in the third book.The inhabitance of a lost forgotten iceplanet had evolved separate from the rest of the human race, were very strong and hyper intelligent to the point of telepathy.He only beat their scheme to subvert the normal humans (who they resented for forgetting about them while they suffered in their cold mining colony) by a bit of trickery and misdirection playing on their nihilistic paranoia.

The reviewer also writes:
> the green-skinned, shiftless, slow-witted majority oppresses the
> smarter, slower-breeding, pink-skinned minority

I didn't see the greens being any more shiftless than the LIGHT BROWN humans, or any more slow witted than the shipwrecked humans who were also savage bumpkins.Again its like the reviewer is trying here to compare this story to black-white prejudice and accuse Harrison of being an earth-race bigot.

The greens, being a mutated species had a non-human hive like caste system where the majority were like drones and didn't need to be bread to be smart, they were bred to do menial labor and could be replaced easily.The minority in the greens were bred to lead and so had higher intelligence bred into them.This was a self inflicted culture which had nothing to do with the normal humans.There was no use of comparison.

When Jim landed the smart leader greens colored themselves different human colors to be most pleasing to who ever they might be talking to.They knew of the different colors humans might come in, because different groups of humans had landed there long ago before people fully integrated.
And the remaining normal humans all interbred giving the "nice healthy brown" look that Jim saw on the real humans that would be normal in Jim's homogenized universe.

Too bad many real humans these days appear no smarter than the 'green mutant majority', of whom the writer for the publishers weekly review is obviously a member, so maybe Harrison really should have written this back in the 60s as the reviewer suggested, before the rise of the cult of the reactionary and the dumbing down of the American people started.

Classic Rat
Classic Stainless Steel Rat, with a nod to another of Harrison's books, "Bill the Galactic Hero", making extensive use of the 'Bloater Drive' for interstellar travel.If you're familiar with the series the book is great, if you haven't read any of the series previously, you'll want to start with an earlier book, inasmuch as there are references to people and events (Inskopp primarily) that make sense only in context of the other books.

Harry's back with the rat!
I finished this book last night after a 5 day reading binge.The rat is back and he's wittier than ever.I laughed out loud constantly in the first few chapters, and was glued to the book after that.I would definitely start out with at least a few of the older stainless-steel-rat books first then read this one.Thank you Harry Harrison!This book is highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
In England, Irish-born citizens are being herded into prison camps. On the high seas, a furious British Navy is seizing American cargo ships bound for Europe. And on the Thames, a new weapon of unparalleled destructive force is sailing toward an impregnable city–spearheaded by a daring act of espionage. For U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, Britain’s Queen Victoria, Lord Palmerston, and a loyal opposition, a day of reckoning is at hand . . . and so is history’s most astounding battle.

Harry Harrison’s series of alternate history, based on the U.S. Civil War, stands as a provocative work of imagination, drama, and brilliant historical insight. Now in the thrilling finale, Harrison tells a stunning, action-packed story of America’s rapidly growing military might being locked, loaded, and aimed at the heart of England itself.

For the two countries that share a language and a heritage, the conflict began at the dawn of the U.S. Civil War. Just as America was about to tear itself to pieces, Britain itself committed an act of war by seizing a U.S. packet ship. In retaliation, the Confederate States rejoined the Union and took up arms against England. Repulsing a British invasion, and defeating her majesty’s army first in Canada, then in Mexico, then in Ireland, American pride and power swelled. Britain, like a wounded lion, howled in shame and anger. Now, Queen Victoria’s empire is more dangerous than ever before, turning against the Irish on her own soil, flexing her naval might, and all but forcing a weary President Lincoln to authorize the next step in a headlong journey toward war.

A tale of daring and strategy, Stars and Stripes Triumphant explores how arrogance turns superpowers into victims, how regional conflicts can explode into world wars, and how the personalities of a few men and women can change the course of history itself–for better or for worse.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

A few more negatives about this book
Some of the previous reviews have pointed out some serious problems with Stars & Stripes Triumphant.I just finished reading it, and I noted some more discrepancies.

Count Iggy could not have gone to the Royal Naval College Greenwich before the Crimean War, since it wasn't established until 1873.Moreover, it was not a place for training officer candidates (that was done at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, started in 1863).The courses taught at Greenwich were for mid to upper-grade officers, lieutenant commanders and above.

The river running through Cork is not the River Lee but the River Lea.

Ulysses S. Grant was known to his contemporaries as "Sam."

In the 1860s there were two battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, not 25.Only during the massive expansion of the British Army during the First and Second World Wars did certain regiments grow anywhere near that large.

Triumphant Again!?!
Stars and Stripes Triumphant is the third book of a trilogy by Harry Harrison in which once again the Republic of the United States is threatened by a United Kingdom seeking revenge due to previous loses of her empire to the upstart colonial States. This third and final installment of the Stars and Strips Trilogy does have the excitement and detail as the other books of this trilogy; however, overall it suffers the fate as most series and sequels.

The first, Stars and Stripes Forever, detailed the abortive American Civil War, abruptly ended when the Union and Confederacy re-joined in order to stop a continental invasion by the British Empire. The US is Triumphant and also secures Canada into the ever growing list of Democratic Countries.The second, Stars and Stripes in Peril, described a British counterattack, followed by an American invasion of Ireland and a successful attempt to free that beleaguered nation from British misrule. Once Again, the US is Triumphant as well as adding another couple of Democratic Countries (Mexico & Ireland).In the third and final installment, Stars and Stripes Triumphant, Britain resorts to policies that did not work in the War of 1812 coupled with the forced incarceration of Irish peoples in Concentration Camps which capitulates into another War between Britain and the United States.

Like most of Harry Harrison's books, this is a very good read.He is a fine writer and is detail oriented.The concept, about a reunited America against a tyrannical Great Britain, is clever.European powers are not quite sure what to think of this New United States and the Republics that have been created since Re-unification.Assassination attempts, Historical Characters, Espionage, Inventions, Battles, & Philosophy are all part of this book (and series).Creating specific events based on what really did happen (in the real world) demonstrates that Harrison has put some historical thought into the series.The first part of this book basically provides background information that helps the reader with the later part of the book in which the invasion of Great Britain actually occurs.Like all of Harrison's books, the last few chapters deal with the aftermath of the climax, of which in this case, the outcome of an American invasion.

Although the fine detail helped the reader, there wasn't a lot of suspense. The reader, at least I did, knew the outcome of the battle(s), the climax, and of this "Alternate Earth" while reading the book.One could determine the fate of Great Britain without reading the last installment of the trilogy.Stars and Stripes Triumphant suffers from the same problem as Stars and Stripes in Peril, great detail and story; yet, the excitement and suspense were not there.

Besides the lack of suspense, some other concerns were characters.Although I enjoyed the idea of having some fantastic Historical Characters interact; these characters seemed one dimensional.Any character would have done just as well replacing these historical figures.The first part of the book is very detailed oriented to give the reader the basic idea of the European attitudes as well as a tour of the Great Britain coastline.Realize that this is an "Alternate" view of history; I can accept that major advances in weaponry as part of the Sci-Fi Genre which did not take away from the story.Who really knows what would have happened if this fictional war did occur; many advances in weaponry have occurred due to war and the crises that arises during war. My problem was the method of the espionage and the encounters with the Russian Count were somewhat unbelievable.There were so many "close calls" that after each one, it seemed a little far fetched.Lastly, this last installment of the trilogy seemed to lack the overall excitement of Stars and Stripes Forever; that is, the novelty was gone.

I have enjoyed Harry Harrison's Books in the past.His Eden Trilogy is a great series about an Alternate Earth in which Dinosaurs and Mammals evolve simultaneously; very detailed oriented, sound scientific ideas, and great characters.I would also recommend his Deathworld Trilogy; however, this trilogy suffers the same fate exactly as the Stars and Strips Trilogy; that is, the first book of each series, Deathworld and Stars & Strips Forever respectively, are the best books of the series.

If one is interested in Alternate Civil War books, I would suggest Harry Turtledove's "How Few Remain" & "Guns of the South", Robert Conrad's "1862", or Various Author's "Alternate Gettysburg's".However, if reading Turtledove's "How Few Remain", be prepared to read the next 3 installations concerning WWI & WWII between the Union and Confederate States on the North American Continent.

I would recommend this book as a good enjoyable read; however, realize that the uniqueidea created in the first installment is missing, there really isn't really a big threat to the Stars & Strips which will be Triumphant again.It is a feel good book in which the American Attitude and Philosophy has won.

1066 Redux
The aged, entrenched mentality of the 19th-century British Empire could certainly have overlooked some of the innovative weapons and tactics employed by the upstart United States after America successfully invaded Ireland. In conservative Britain, enemies might be seen everywhere, especially among the ex-pat Irish living among them. It wouldn't be an unnatural response to round them all up and "concentrate" them in camps where they could be watched more closely. The result would be a repressive society that had not yet come to terms with its military over-extension; a society that now felt safe at home; a society willing to use its powerful navy to interdict American ships, seize American cargos, and impress American sailors into service.

It is 1812 all over again, but this time America is mobilized and strong.

General William Tecumseh Sherman sees the writing on the wall and begins to lay plans for what he realizes is inevitable. When the time comes, he launches his invasion of England, which falls like a house of cards--like the Berlin Wall. American ironclads sail up the Thames. Scotland sees its chance, finally, and pulls away from England. It is all over very quickly. This is the way empires fall.

"Stars and Stripes Triumphant" is the one book in this series in which I wished that Harrison would have gone into a bit more detail regarding the political aftermath of the conquest of England. There are so many parallels throughout history, and universal lessons that are also playing themselves out in the world today. Would that the modern-day lessons of this series had been required reading at the Defense Department. Still, this final installment is entertaining and plausible.

Pathetic end to a truly dreadful series
I enjoyed everything else I have read from Harry Harrison, and am fascinated by alternative history, so I expected to like the "Stars and Stripes" trilogy. I didn't.

The three books in the series are:

Stars and Stripes Forever
Stars and Stripes in Peril
Stars and Stripes Triumphant.

The starting premise of the first book - Britain blundering into war with the North in the American civil war - is horrifying plausible, which is not surprising as this very nearly happened. However, the author then abandoned any attempt at either a realistic attempt to work through what might have happened, or to look sympathically at how the situation might have developed from the viewpoint of all sides. Instead, looking for a way to turn both the USA and CSA into heroes, he cast the Brits as incompetent and evil cretins who both sides could unite against.

The second book was round two, with Britain invading the US again and getting beaten again, and the US deciding to "liberate" Ireland. The third book is round three. Given what has previously happened, most of the second and third books are not as ludicrous as the first one - although there are still some pretty silly things - but the basic premise still takes the course of the story too far away from anything which could realistically have happened in our world to work as alternative history.

Like the first two novels in the series, this book is basically written for people like the idea of presenting Americans as idealistic wonderful heroes, including those who in real history fought to preserve slavery, and British people as caricatures of evil idiots.

Harry Harrison is almost the last writer on earth I would have expected to prostitute his considerable talents with such chauvinistic rubbish as the Stars and Stripes trilogy. One-sided nationalism is not usually his style, and he has written another book about a set of events which might have changed the course of the US Civil War/War between the States - "Rebel in Time" - which is far superior to this.

For anyone who is looking for a good account of how the American Civil war might have gone wrong, try Harry Turtledove's "The Guns of the South," or "How Few Remain" and the "Great War" and "American Empire" trilogies which follow it. Or indeed Harry Harrison's "Rebel in Time".

Readable nonsense
"So, Mr Ericsson, what marvel do you have for us today?" General Sherman enquired.
"Well, Cumph - you don't mind me calling you Cumph do you? Everyone else in the books seems to do so." Ericsson replied.
"Of course not dear chap - we're all on first name terms here."
Well, then - my latest engineering marvel I term the stealth bomber. I was going to come up with some ridiculous name from Norse mythology but I got tired of constantly getting knocked back by those egg-heads in the Department of War."
"Mr Ericsson - you've quite outdone yourself this time."
"Not at all Cumph - those Wright boys were taking too long to get born and all so I just sped things along a little" Ericsson proudly claimed.
"And what is this peculiar contraption" General Grant queried?
"Well Sir, make that Ulysses, that is something I just knocked up in my spare time. I call it a Global Positioning System - or GPS if you prefer. You remember those extra large firecrackers I let off awhile back? They are what make this thing possible. No more risk of landing in the wrong place like those stupid Brits whom we all thoroughly detest because they are without exception arrogant and obnoxious, unlike our good selves. This little device will tell you exactly where you are in the world to within a few feet."
"Well, that will really reinforce the new American hegemony" said Sherman. "Time to teach those blasted English another lesson and still be home in time for tea. Thank goodness those race disruptions seemed to entirely disappear after the shooting of old Jeff Davis. Funny how spiriting away the perpetrator ended the whole thing without another peep but I ain't one to complain."
"Hooray for the good old USA!"
And the three of them, the two old warhorses and the Swedish engineer - but Americans all - rode off into the sunset together.
A little excerpt from the fourth book of the series??? No, but it almost could be. Having just finished the series I found it to be readable and moderately entertaining, if not increasingly implausible by the rate of military advances and infrastrature and materiel development. But more bothersome was the unremitting negative stereotypical portrayal of the English. It almot got too much to bear. ... Read more

Product Description
Boys are different. Boy, are they different. And so too is the mother-son relationship, whose depth and wonder are captured perfectly in one of the very first pages of MOTHER TO SON: Don’t forget that even as a baby, he will always be looking for your face. It will be this way forever.

Woven out of wisdom, humor, experience, love, charm, and a poetic economy of words, here is one pithy, memorable lesson per page, beginning with the Beginning, and covering toddlerhood, the school years, sports, spirituality and, of course, girls. There are practical matters for first-time mothers of sons: Watch out when you’re changing his diaper.Baby boys shoot straight in the air. The helpful reinforcement of principles: There will be times when the last thing in the world you want to tell him is no. But sometimes you’ll have to. The whimsical yet invaluable suggestion: Have tea with him in the afternoons. Serve cookies. The true voice of experience: He is not a child anymore, but he’s not an adult either. Treating him like either one will lead to disaster. Reminders about the importance of your own values: Treat his father with love and respect. Show your son that being a man is a good thing. And what to do when he’s all grown up and getting ready to leave: Hug him fiercely. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

very cute and true book
I bought this book for myself and loved it..it's so sweet and TRUE!!!I love going back and reading parts...I think this would be great as a gift as well

Love it!
I LOVE this book and keep it on my nightstand.It always puts a smile on my face and fills my heart with love for my little guy!

Waste of money
I did not care for this at all. Did not realize what it was just a book of quotes.

Great little book....
Great little gift book for mothers expecting a son!

Thats how I came across this book, however it was my wife, not me that received it as a gift the day before our son was born, alot of very good, thoughtful one line advice!

Can't wait to give this book to a friend / family member expecting their 1st son.

Looking forward to reading more of these little books by The Harrisons.

This particular book has several different mini sections-

In the Beginning
The Toddler Years
Sports
Grade School
Spirituality
Middle School
Girls
High School
Leaving Home

Excellent fun book
This is a great book for any mom anywhere. Each page is filled with random words of wisdom that make you think. warm your heart. make you smile. make you realize things you maybe don't want to. Its fun, its a GREAT read ! ... Read more

Product Description
"HARRY HARRISON IS ONE OF SCIENCE FICTION’S MOST PROLIFIC AND ACCOMPLISHED CRAFTSMEN."
—The New York Times Book Review

In the midst of Civil War, a stunned North and South join forces to combat a sudden attack of British troops. Though the Americans are victorious, three years later a new threat emerges. Her Majesty’s Army is massing for a possible attack through Texas. Into the gauntlet Lincoln sends his chosen angel of death, General Ulysses S. Grant—while his top soldiers, including Robert E. Lee and William Tecumseh Sherman, plan the most daring naval invasion ever launched: an assault on British soil itself.

Stars and Stripes in Peril is the new masterwork from one of the world’s most provocative authors. Venturing beyond a fascinating question of what if? Harry Harrison brilliantly examines the people and passions that make up nations both great and small—and shows how technology and politics had the power to shape history’s first great World War . . . half a century before it began . . .

"Lovers of novels of alternate history hold Harry Harrison in high regard and his latest book can only enhance that esteem."
—Abilene Reporter News
Amazon.com Review
Harry Harrison has been publishing science fiction for half a century; this novel appears in 2000, the year of his 75th birthday. His 1998 Stars and Stripes Forever was a foray into alternative history at the time of the U.S. Civil War. An opportunistic British invasion is so badly bungled that it unites warring Union and Confederate forces against the common enemy, and the course of events is rousingly changed.

Now it's 1863 and perfidious Albion is making a comeback via the Pacific, establishing a Mexican beachhead and planning attacks on united America's "soft underbelly" in the Gulf of Mexico. Gurkha and Sepoy troops build roads while sweaty white officers express nostalgia for England: "I despair of ever seeing her blissfully cold and fog-shrouded shores again."

An early coup of misdirection makes the British advance seem unstoppable--but America forges ahead with new guns and naval armor, and General Robert E. Lee devises an audacious counterblow. What better way to disrupt Britain's wicked schemes than to strike at her own rebellious province of Ireland?

Harrison, an American, perhaps overdoes the lofty dignity of figures like Abraham Lincoln, while showing British politicians with their full complement of warts. But the breathless, headlong action sweeps you away as the battle is planned and at last joined. Even hardened English patriots will feel a sense of wish-fulfillment at the possibility that America may solve the "Irish Question" for them. This is a rapid-paced, slightly slapdash, and unfailingly energetic adventure in alternate history--all great fun. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

History Continues To Adjust
From a single small change in history came a British invasion of the United States and the reunification of Union and Confederacy. The British were driven out, Canada declared its independence from the United Kingdom, and then things settled down for a little while. But Harry Harrison knows his history (unfortunately, he knows his history better than our current gaggle of politicians), he knows that an enemy unconquered is an enemy undefeated. Britain has a new plan: to invade the United States through a politically divided and tumultuous Mexico. How successful have we been at securing our border with Mexico today? Would it have been possible to secure that border in the 1860s? No. A bold counter-invasion is necessary. Considering how many Irish have emigrated to America, considering America's easy access, then, to military intelligence of the Emerald Isle as well as soldiers who are highly motivated to return home in triumph, an American invasion of Ireland is a plausible counter-move to the British presence in Mexico.

Harrison's "Stars and Stripes" series continues to entertain, with stories not too spare in detail, but not bogged down in detail either. Innovative machines of war, which began to appear in reality during the Civil War, are further accelerated by the new threat from Britain, as innovation is always driven by the pressures of war and security. These weapons launch General William Tecumseh Sherman well ahead of his Continental counterparts, and catch them wholly unprepared. He discovers "Lightening War"--Blitzkrieg--quite by accident when he realizes that he can move his troops quickly by train and overwhelm traditional defenses with his modern weapons. Warfare has inadvertently leapt into the 20th century in an eerie precursor of what we all know was to come.

I know the Brits are none-too-fond of this series, and I don't blame them, but these books are fun reading on this side of the pond. Just the alternate-idea of General Robert E. Lee's invasion of northern Ireland is enough to thrill.

How did this get published?
Okay.... It started out with a harmless, poorly researched novel that was okay for the non-historian. Now it is just silly. Really, it is too ridiculous to even give credence to. Britons are dumb, the Union is all-powerful, and 1942 clearly wasn't that far from 1862, as the USA seems to have mastered every technological advancement short of air power. I will not even bother with his last book, and I recommend you not bother with this one.

Second in a truly dreadful trilogy
I enjoyed everything else I have read from Harry Harrison, and am fascinated by alternative history, so I expected to like the "Stars and Stripes" trilogy. I didn't.

The three books in the series are:

Stars and Stripes Forever
Stars and Stripes in Peril
Stars and Stripes Triumphant.

The starting premise of the first book - Britain blundering into war with the North in the American civil war - is horrifying plausible, which is not surprising as this very nearly happened. However, the author then abandoned any attempt at either a realistic attempt to work through what might have happened, or to look sympathically at how the situation might have developed from the viewpoint of all sides. Instead, looking for a way to turn both the USA and CSA into heroes, he cast the Brits as incompetent and evil cretins who both sides could unite against.

In this second book the principle that the USA and CSA had united against the Brits is already established and Harrison just takes it from there. Given what has previously happened, most of the book is not as ludicrous as the first one - although there are still some pretty silly things - but the basic premise still takes the course of the story too far away from anything which could realistically have happened in our world to work as alternative history.

Harry Harrison is almost the last writer on earth I would have expected to prostitute his enormous talents with such chauvinistic rubbish as the Stars and Stripes trilogy. One-sided nationalism is not usually his style at all, and he has written another book about a set of events which might have changed the course of the US Civil War/War between the States - "Rebel in Time" - which is far superior to this.

For anyone who is looking for a good account of how the American Civil war might have gone wrong, try Harry Turtledove's "The Guns of the South," or "How Few Remain" and the "Great War" and "American Empire" trilogies which follow it. Or indeed Harry Harrison's "Rebel in Time".

Better than the first book...
Yeah, that kind of surprised me too, till I figured out why - it is no longer based on our REAL history.It has gone so far off track that Harry Harrison can write it anyway he wants and as long as he keeps to the logic and reality he set up in the first book it works.I also loved the scene between John Ericsson and William P. Parrott as well as the scene between Mr. Ericsson and Captain Raphael Semmes.
But most of the book feels rushed and the characters are bland, cut out paper dolls, set up to do certain actions and say certain things for the plot to go in THAT direction.
Anyway, the plot is England and allied European nations invade Mexico.The invasion of the US is just around the corner and Lincoln decides he has to do something about it.So they decide the best way to open a second front and force Britain to withdraw its troops is to invade Ireland.
It sounds simple, but even Mr. Harrison shows that the United States Army and Navy would have a few problems they couldn't foresee.
But after 334 pages you know there is going to be a third book.

waterlogged
I am truly glad I did not purchase this one at full price. Ionly regret what I wasted buying it.

I thought the first novel of this series was pathetic. This one is not up to that standard.

The story line of this one is as waterlogged as the Merrimac's engines the author arranges to have salvaged and put into another ship, and just as bad in performance.

It gets nowhere for me. ... Read more

Product Description
Driven by prophetic dreams, the Viking warrior Shef as become the One King, the undisputed ruler of the North. Now he must face the reborn power of the Holy Roman Empire.

Rome threatens Shef's fearsome Viking navy with a new invention of unparalleled destruction: Greek fire. Unable to defend his fleet against this awesome weapon, Shef travels East in search of new wisdom. His quest leads him to the lavish court of the Muslim Caliph and, ultimately, to the secret hiding place of the Holy Grail.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Blows it in the end.
Eh, I suffered through this book, but didn't enjoy it very much at all. It veers into Holy Blood Holy Grail speculating, and wraps up with some sort of bizarre thing where our favorite super-techno Viking becomes a cut-rate Christ figure, or something.

I just sort of shrugged at the sainlty Vikings who followed The Way for two books, but this time it got really screedy-anyone who thought these books were just an exploration of alternate history instead of Harrison's Great Statement should be quite disabused by this novel.

Interresting Mix of Religions
The rich tapestry of the spirituality in this series, as well as the rich, accurate historical views and alternate histories continue to pull the reader within the realm of it's pages.I found the interresting mix of religious viewpoints in this story intriguing.Harrison has done his research in both history and religion quite well.This also brings to light some more disturbing aspects of various religions.

This book brings the wonderful trilogy to a close in a way that is satisfying. Shef and his ex-slave companions, as well as his viking companions head to the mediteranian region to seek a flying man in Shef's never-satisfied search for knowledge.

The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting of the trillogy, but is still a good one.

One of My Old Favorites
I love this trilogy, from the start of book one to the end of book three, the historical aspects are pointed out in a way that fits as part of the story and they don't overthrow the plot, lending the books a very authoritative tone. The Characters are great, (Brand is one of my favorites) and there's plenty of action. What I like best about these books is that Harrison really makes you feel inside the story, the way he handles the characters attitudes towards each other and their surroundings really makes you feel like you're right with them weather it'sAnglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia, The Frankish Empire, Muslum Spain or what's left of Rome. As for character development, Harrison has a great way of using the third-person point of view in a way that can convey things unknown to the characters yet at the same time the tone of the narrative is flavored with the particular character's personality, culture and view of their surroundings, helping the reader understand more fully the motives and inhibitions of the people he describes. I read these back in high school and loved them then as much I still do now.

In a different Universe
I've enjoyed this third volume of "Hammer & the Cross" saga greatly. First I want to point out how Harrison starts from an universe deeply rooted in early middle ages in the first volume and end in a completely different environment, created by the new facts and actions performed by Shef and his pals.

In "King and Emperor", the human dimension of each character grows and they are confronted with moral and ethical dilemmas.Shef, Svandis, Cwicca, Thorvin, Bruno, Brand and the rest (even the crooked Erkenbert) has to choose between different actions in order to proceed. Still is a novel full of action, adventure and entertainment. In my personal point of view, some aspects of Svandis cuasi Freudiandream explanations are out of context. I don't agree with other reviewers, in their appreciation of an abrupt and rash ending of the novel. The confrontation between Bruno and Shef is well paced and reach a "logical" ending.

The overall background of examining different religious beliefs is provoking, but each reader may extract it's own conclusions without being forced by the author to take sides or accept his points of view.
A great book!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Gritty, interesting (alt) history stories
I read these books a few years back at the same time as my brother in-law.We were both impressed by the depth, (alt)history, and interest in thestories. Not as thick as a George R.R. Martin's books, but a similargrittiness. (The first book features the removal of limbs by sword andpreserving of life by searing the limbs with fire to cauterize the wounds.eeyoo!)

The stories are really well crafted and takes the reader from theNorth Sea to the Medeterainian and throughout the land masses in between.The character develpoment kept me reading the entire series end to enddespite my semi-revulsion at the gore.

As a fan of Orson Scott Card,Issac Asimov, Terry Goodkind, C.J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, NealStephanson and Carl Sagan, I can say I liked this book and its predecessorsenough to read them all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great example of Harrison's work
I read this book twice the first month i had it.Really compelling story and charters.

"Damned" waste of time
Another of those stories wherein only a specially trained superman can save the day. In this case, a man from a frozen world is the only one who can acclimatize to a hot planet (yeah, right). Ends rather abruptly with too contrived a solution to the problem. Occasionally goes off-topic to rant against religion, totally meaningless to the story.
The middle portion of the book drones on endlessly while saying nothing, it was like reading a politician talk about his trip to the beach.
Had it's moments so I gave it 3 stars. ... Read more

Product Description
She brims with curiosity, enthusiasm, often joy. She has an independent spirit to nurture, values to shape. And through every step, it’s her mother—who knows just how she feels—who is her guide. From Melissa Harrison, because only a mother knows, and Harry Harrison, author of the chunky bestsellers Father to Son and Father to Daughter with nearly one million copies in print, comes Mother to Daughter, a pithy book of wisdom and inspiration.

Divided into sections including The Bonding Years, The Awkward Years, Girls and Success, Girls and Spirituality, and (of course!) Girls and Boys, the book offers one succinct lesson per page.

Fun stuff: Have a skipping contest. This is especially good for when you need to get somewhere fast.
Passing down tradition: Share stories of your mother and grandmothers with her. Remember, girls are keepers of the flame.
Focusing on the big picture: Understand that for girls, independence usually starts with hair. Ask yourself, how important is it really if it’s blue?
Setting moral examples: Let her see you give of yourself unselfishly. Not just your money, but your time, your patience, and love.
Nurturing self-sufficiency: Teach her how to change a tire, use an electric drill, mow the lawn. She should never depend on some guy to do it for her.

Finally—Tell her how much joy she’s brought into your life. And when it’s time—Let her go. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A relaxing read
This little book is a good compilation of beautiful pieces of advice and I find it very inspirational. Reading it makes me smile, at the same time it gives me ideas about how to make special memories with my child. It's an easy & fun read which is very nice for busy Moms.

Useless words
I found these bits of so called "wisdom" completely obvious and some a little offensive."Be a good wife.You're shaping their future relationships with men"?Really?Of course, I'm a good wife if my husband is a good husband. What if you're not married?It like mothering tips from cosmo magazine.

Very Helpful and Wise
Great Book for moms who have daughters ages 1 thru 18
I love all the advices author gives! I learned so much from this little pocket edition.
I loved it until the end! Very recommended! -))

Great Advice Book
THis book brought tears to my eyes.It's really touching and gives lots of advice mom's can really use.

Sweet book that will bring tears to your eyes
I have read this tiny book countless times as my daughter has grown up, and the insight that it gives to a mother-daughter relationship is priceless. ... Read more

Product Description

On November 8, 1861, a U.S. navy warship stopped a British packet and seized two Confederate emissaries on their way to England to seek backing for their cause. England responded with rage, calling for a war of vengeance. The looming crisis was defused by the peace-minded Prince Albert. But imagine how Albert's absence during this critical moment might have changed everything. For lacking Albert's calm voice of reason, Britain now seizes the opportunity to attack and conquer a crippled, war-torn America.

Ulysses S. Grant is poised for an attack that could smash open the South's defenses. In Washington, Abraham Lincoln sees a first glimmer of hope that this bloody war might soon end. But then disaster strikes: English troops have invaded from Canada. With most of the Northern troops withdrawn to fight the new enemy, General William Tecumseh Sherman and his weakened army stand alone against the Confederates. Can a divided, bloodied America defeat England, or will the United States cease to exist for all time? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

Good idea. Poor execution.
This trilogy starts with a good concept but delivers it so badly........

Characterisation (mostly of the British) isn't even two dimensional; they are poor stereotypes at best. But even the Americans are flat and lifeless.

Also, if an author is going to write about historical warfare it behoves him to do some research, the number of simple errors in these books is terrible.

Amusing but not worth the effort.

So So effort from a great SF Writer
All fiction, particularly Science Fiction and Fantasy (which are Mr. Harrison's forte') rely on the "suspension of disbelief" - the changing of some aspect of what we accept as reality to form the basic premise upon which the story will be built.This works if the changes don't depart too far from what we'll accept as believable - hence the term "suspension of disbelief".In this case, are we willing to believe (for the sake of the story) that Prince Albert of England died sooner than history says he really did?The answer here would have been yes.

So, if Mr. Harrison had stopped there, and built a story based purely on that one premise, a really good novel could have resulted.However, the possibility that "suspension of disbelief" can be achieved declines as more and more changes have to be accepted by the reader to make the story believable to themselves as they read it.

Although I am a big Harrison fan, I think the author forgot that most basic of all rules when writing this novel: there are too many changes that have to be accepted - the British being more incompetent and vindictive than we'd expect, improbable battlefield events and shuffling of alliances, new warfare technologies being adopted sooner and/or much more rapidly than they really were.Even someone who is not a student of the Civil War will find much of this book to be hard to accept.

It's just too much: the storyline becomes less and less believable the farther you go into the book.The rest of the trilogy follows in this vein, with hard-to-believe developments piling on top of other not-quite-so-hard-to-believe developments in Stars and Stripes in Peril (Stars & Stripes Trilogy) to reach a completely improbable conclusion in Stars and Stripes Triumphant (Stars & Stripes Trilogy).

I could talk a bit, as others have done here, about weak character development in a few cases, and hard to follow plotlines - but, in reality, although not outstanding in these areas, I did not find these issues as troubling as others seem to have.

Despite my reservations, I did read all three novels in this trilogy, largely because they are at least as good as the average in this genre', which - if nothing else, is a testament to Harry Harrison's skill as a writer and the esteem in which I hold most of his work, despite the fatal errors he made early on in this book and the subsequent volumes.

So, can I recommend any novel in this trilogy to the casual reader, looking for an light and entertaining read some weekend?Unfortunately, No...

I can, however, give it a limited recommendation, as I think it works to some extent, despite the flaws, especially for those who like to dwell (as I do) upon the "what if's" of history: Mr. Harrison raises some interesting points which are thought provoking, and Civil War fans will find enough military hardware, historical personalities and battle scenes to keep themselves happy.

So, overall, I'll give it Two Stars: a so-so effort, but with enough interesting points and good enough writing to keep it from totally missing the target.

A more pressing problem
Most of what can be said about this book has been said already.It has an interesting premise, and terrible execution.The characters are wooden, the dialogue painfully trite, and it relies entirely too much on coincidence.The British are the most inept gaggle of ninnies ever assembled under one flag.The presto-chango reconciliation is appalling.As for Harrison's inexplicable habit of using sentence fragments, I'm not sure whether this is an indication of poor editing or a lame attempt at an experimental writing style.It amply demonstrates that there is only one Harry to read for alternative history, and Mr. Harrison is not him.

But it's hardly the only bad Civil War novel.Jeff Shaara has made cranking them out into a cottage industry, and he's not the first, either.What is truly disturbing, especially for an established author like Mr. Harrison, is plagarism.Theft of intellectual property cannot be tolerated.So when Harrison uses John Stuart Mill to discuss the social and economic situation of Europe with Abraham Lincoln, he should not lift nearly two whole pages from Robert Heilbroner's book The Worldly Philosophers.Check out Heilbroner, the beginning of chapter 6.Numerous phrases inexplicably find their way into Stars and Stripes Forever.This shameful behavior, if made common knowledge, could very well end Mr. Harrison's literary career.

A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings...
I'm going to be a bit more charitable to Harry Harrison than other reviewers of "Stars and Stripes Forever". A single second passes and becomes history, immutable, and we are all swept up in it, from events both large and small. It is easy to recollect a single instant in our own lives, question our actions, and wish that we had made a different decision, a decision that would have led to a vastly different outcome. Transfer this sentiment to a larger historical canvas and a cascade of events can ripple out from a single, seemingly innocuous focal point--in the case of the American Civil War, the death of Albert, the Queen's consort, a few weeks earlier than history records. What could have come from this, Harrison asks?

Harrison's transition of Union and Confederacy from antagonists to allies is clumsy, but by no means implausible. All of the triggers were there: the pragmatic assessment of the Confederacy's position in which the tea leaves did not necessarily predict a favorable outcome; horror at the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers who spoke the same language, worshipped the same god, and shared the same Revolutionary heroes; the necessity-of-war driven arrival of new weapons such as the breach-loading rifle and iron clad ships; an arrogant and effete British Empire. Harrison could have spent another hundred pages or so developing in greater depth the reunification of Union and Confederacy, but these pages were simply not necessary: just one small change to the historical sequence of events could certainly have led to a cascade of all of these triggers, with the unleashing of chaos and the instinctive human drive to restore order and put the cork back in the bottle.

"Stars and Stripes Forever" also serves as a feel-good piece during our era of political polarization. The Civil War is now too far in the past; too few remember that Americans have also experienced brutal war at home, seen American cities burned, civilians deprived and killed. These stark lessons seem to have faded, but many older Americans will remember a grandparent or great grandparent who fought in that war; a 19th century bible with Confederate money marking the pages; a tin-type photograph of a soldier whose features vaguely resemble our own; trees in the wooded lot out back that still yield minnie balls to Civil War buffs using metal detectors.

I found "Stars and Stripes Forever" to be a fun read. It is not high literature and does not claim to be anything more than what it is: a good, quick story to sate the curiosity of those of us who, as children, were fascinated by ships like the Monitor and Virginia (Merrimack), who wondered why the repeating rifle wasn't pushed into production much sooner--who wonder: What if things had been just a little different?

How NOT to write alternate history
When you're writing an alternate-history story, the correct thing to do is to set up your point of divergence and then let events develop naturally from there so that you and your readers can see at least one way things might otherwise have turned out.Harry Harrison does just the opposite in his "Stars and Stripes Forever" trilogy; he's set up a desired outcome and turned just about everything after his POD (the British go to war with the United States over the _Trent_ affair - to be fair, as another reviewer has noted, that part is well done) to achieve that desired end.

That's the root cause, to use a much-overused nonce phrase, of everything that's wrong with these three books.Harrison goes wrong as soon as he has the British fire on the Confederate town of Biloxi, Mississippi, in a friendly-fire incident as they try to find the Union forces they're supposed to attack.Actually, that's plausible enough, but what happens immediately thereafter is NOT plausible (especially if you consider the fact that we're talking about the British army, one of the best-disciplined in the world at any time in the last couple of centuries) and the absurdities just begin to pile up from there.As I said, Harrison has a predetermined objective in mind and he'll get there, come hell, high water, or counterfactual believability.The only real value these books have is as a sterling example of how NOT to write an alternate-history epic. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (28)

Make Room!
This book served as the basis for the movie "Soylent Green."It gives a fictionalized but realistic account of what can result from uncontrolled population growth, though its time frame (it was written in the 1960's and projected an unsustainable world population in 1999) is slightly off.It ranks with books like "On the Beach" as a warning about the future if steps aren't taken to ease the adverse impacts of worldwide population growth, potential for global warming, and other consequences of un-thoughtful urbanization and loss of arable land.

still one of the best
I read this book long ago and I bought it to replace the one that had long since been lost or traded with other now classic SF books I owned. This one will go back on the shelf along with the Asimof, Heinlein, and others from that era. If you are not familar with the origional I highly recommend reading it and then rewatching Solent Green.

Gift enthusiastically received.
This book was on my son-in-laws wish list for years. We finally got it for his birthday. He was very happy to receive it.

Don't be a chunkhead
Another book I should have read in the 90s, and dated or not, still a facinating story. I tried to figure out what made this science fiction, and now see that there is evidence that improvement in medical sciences was part of the problem, the solution being planned parenthood. Still don't know what the Loop is for birth control. Good things in birth control have happened, but we still see a lack of resources in this world - energy, oil, water, etc. This book covers the impact religion has on the populace, corruption in the government, and the unfairness of welfare to those who pay for it. I had to put myself in the wayback machine to see where a lot of these concepts were coming from, but I really enjoyed the characters and the story. In Harrison's 1999, a lot of things haven't happened, and to think of a young woman in an apron in 1999 just cracks me up. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, I still found the main character Andy to be witty and fun. A short, disturbing read.

Good reading, interesting story
There's something a bit disappointing in writing a book which it's story is set in the nowtime's past. This one was published in 1965, and the plot is happening in 1999, in which, according to the book, the world population has grown to 7 billion people (not so far from the truth), and New York City itself has a population of 35 million people (that's a bit far from the truth).

Each episode focuses on another charachter, although the main charachter is Andy, a policeman who works hard, trying to cope with the surging crime and a weak police mechanism.

With plenty of injustice, corruption, nonfunctional goverment - this book is for the passemistic people who are interested in an almost-apocalyptic fiction.

The only disappointing thing about the book is that near the end, the author tried to "spill" all of his ideology. It's like the thought "well, maybe the readers didn't get the point, so I'll say it out clear". It interfered, at least for me, with the general plot, and the fact that the idea (of birth control) WAS clear.

Nevermind. Still a good reading :) ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Some of Harrison's Best
I like Harry Harrison's writing -- generally the earlier better, before he 'grew out' of pulp-style stories. He has literary sci-fi classics (Make Room,Make Room, et al), but my favorites are his Death World trilogy and the Stainless Steel Rat series. The Deathworld and Stainless Steel Rat series are related, not in their plots, but in that the protagonist in each is basically the same smart, tough, wise-a** character -- if you like the Stainless Steel Rat, you'll love Deathworld. I've had this volume (three books in one) since I was a teenager, and reread it every few years when I feel like taking a day off and just having fun. While there is an ecological theme to the first book, you don't read these for the 'message' looking for hidden metaphors and meaning, and you won't find any of the New Wave anger boiling beneath the surface. But if you enjoy classic sci-fi, these three stores are all an enjoyable ride, and I can't imagine a better way to spend a day on the couch...or transatlantic flight...or day by the pool...

A Vacation Read
These three books are absolutely great fun to read. I enjoyed them thoroughly. IMO they are better than the Stainless Steel Rat series.

Adventure and Violence
The classic science fiction trilogy is reprinted together with a short story from the same universe. Deathworld 1 (1960), Deathworld 2 (1964), and Deathworld 3 (1968) represent formulaic science fiction in which the set of main characters battle for their lives on three separate but quite deadly worlds. The object of their adventures is always survival. The obstacles that Jason dinAlt (a gambler and scoundrel) and his friends overcome are different in each story, yet the components of each feel very much the same, only employed in different settings.

My first reading of these novels, when I was a teen, happened at a time when I had only recently discovered science fiction. I read them then because my school library had them all. I found them to be worthwhile entertainment. I chose to read these stories again many years later to see if, as sometimes happens, my opinion of the entertainment value had changed over the years. Now, I find that the first novel is a little better written than the sequels, though if you like this sort of story, you should at least read the sequels once. They're a fun and interesting way to spend an evening or two.

A Deathworld short story, "The Mothballed Spaceship" is included in my copy of this classic Science Fiction omnibus, and I was excited, at first, to discover that there was something new to me. My excitement quickly evaporated as I read through the first page or two of the story; dull and forgettable are the kindest things I can say about the short story, which should never have been published. It feels unfinished, as if "The Mothballed Spaceship" were the seed of a fourth Deathworld novel that was never fully developed - but for good reason. There's really not much about the story that's interesting enough to develop further.

I couldn't help but care for Jason, scoundrel though he may be...he's lovable in his own way, and his girlfriend, Meta, is just awesome...in fact, I'm just a little bit jealous of her capabilities. That said, Deathworld isn't for everyone. There's major violence involved and the fights get bloody at times. Recommended for ages 16 and up if you don't mind some violence in your entertainment, and of course if you like Science Fiction.

Pulp Science Fiction at its best
Harrison might well be known for his short story "Make Room, Make Room" which was the basis for teh classic movie "Soylent Green".This is not 7000 page long epics like something from Asimov.This is pulp science fiction at its best.
Our Hero, Jason Din Alt is just that.A hero.He could have been played by any modern top actor.Dynamic and smart and, yeah sure, a of a smart alic but what does that mater.The character has a mild Psy ability that allows him to "help" the odds while gambling at dice games.His skill draws the attention of the Pyrans in their desparate battle for survival.
The World images are harsh and strong.The stoic attitude of the Pyrans in their struggle is harsh and pulls at you.The solution is a science fiction classic.
The other two stories take us to other worlds where death is at ever doorstep.Here we have a hero that uses his brains to solve problems.Much like teh Stainless Steel Rat series.Brains prove more powerful than brawn.

Mediocre At Best
There are three main reasons to why I did not enjoy this trilogy.First, the story and overall flavor is a bit juvenile.The first story in the trilogy is decent, but the latter two were simple and uninteresting.Second, the main character of these stories is incredibly annoying.A know-it-all, the book repeatedly showed how great the main character was in stark contrast to the rest of the characters who are portrayed as stupid, and well below the greatness of the main character.Third, several things bothered me with the writing style of the books.The author used a lot of words and phrases over and over again."Jason shuddered" must have been used at least two dozen times, trying to show how much smarter Jason was than the other characters.Also, the second book tries to get philosophical and really does a poor job.The author attempts to promote moral relativism, but does so in an overly obvious dialogue between two characters.I appreciate philosophy in narrative, but it must be done well like CS Lewis and Arthur Clarke.All this to say that the book is a disappointment, there are much better science fiction books out there to read. ... Read more

Product Description

In West of Eden and Winter in Eden, master novelist Harry Harrison broke new ground with his most ambitious project ever. He brought to vivid life the world as it might have been, where dinosaurs survived, where their intelligent descendants, the Yilanè, challenged humans for mastery of the Earth, and where the human Kerrick, a young hunter of the Tanu tribe, grew among the dinosaurs and rose to become their most feared enemy.

Now, in Return to Eden, Harrison brings the epic trilogy to a stunning conclusion. After Kerrick rescues his people from the warlike Yilanè, they find a safe haven on an island and there begin to rebuild their shattered lives. But with fierce predators stalking the forests, how long can these unarmed human outcasts hope to survive?

And, of course, Kerrick cannot forget Vaintè, his implacable Yilanè enemy. She's been cast out from her kind, under sentence of death, but how long will her banishment last? For her strange attraction to Kerrick has turned into a hatred even more powerful than her instincts -- an obsession that compels her to hunt down Kerrick and kill him.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Prehistoric C-Span
West of Eden was one of the most interesting and thought-provoking books I've ever read.I can't recommend it highly enough.

Unfortunately, Return to Eden (and to a similar extent, Winter in Eden) isn't anywhere near as interesting a book.The story, while well written, just doesn't go anywhere.It seems to me as if Kerrick and the other humans do a lot of wandering around around the continent, and the Yilane spend a lot of time talking rudely to one another.Though the prose is excellent, the content reads like C-Span.

Great Ending
This is the third book in the Eden trilogy and arguably the best. I loved all the resolutions of the various plots, the complex relationships among dinosaurs and people and the final Kumbaya conclusion. I only wish that Harrison had written more series like this.

Great ending
This is the third book in the Eden trilogy and arguably the best.I loved all the resolutions of the various plots, the complex relationships among dinosaurs and people and the final Kumbaya conclusion. I only wish that Harrison had written more series like this.

Alternative history at it's best
This third volume of the Eden trilogy brings everything to a satisfactory but predictable closure. There is enough left open to hope for a possible "Back to Eden" in the future.

The relationships between the Yilane(dinosaur) and Tanu (human)are almost as good as the Lizard/Human relations in Harry Turtledoves' World War series.The story is much richer simply because there are not as many story lines as Turtledove keeps going.

A really good read but I think only available in pricey trade paperback.I was able to easily find all 3 in used shops with very little trouble.

Immersive writing
The bueauty of Harrison's Eden series is how much he draws you in to the point that the entire world seems as if it could really exist somewhere. Think 'Lord of the Rings' without all the UNNECESSARY details, and a story that moves muvch quicker. ... Read more

Product Description
Slippery Jim DiGriz is the Stainless Steel Rat: the galaxy's greatest thief and con artist. For novel upon novel, the Rat has outfoxed the forces of conventionality, cutting a stylish swathe through dozens of star systems. Now three of the Rat's greatest exploits are collected in a single volume. In A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born, we see the origin and early days of Jim DiGriz's brilliant criminal career. In The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted, the Rat must avenge the murder of his mentor-in-crime. And in The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues, Slippery Jim must retrieve a missing alien artifact, while disguised as a futuristic rock-and-roller . . . or forfeit his life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The Stainless Steel Rat Rides Again
I read the whole series back in the 70's and remember that I really enjoyed the series.But unfortunately I don't remember a lot of details about them so this was a welcome refresher.I remember him as a rebel against the establishment, one with a wicked sense of humor, and I was rewarded by that exact same character.Harry Harrison's books have held up to the passage of time because they're about people not science.While some of the ideas were a little out-of-date, for the most part there were so few that it didn't bring the book down.For me Harry Harrison is a must for the library of any science fiction fan.

I love the Stainless Steel Rat series!
I stumbled upon the series long ago. Kind of read them out of order, but they were all very fun books. Was really glad at least some of the adventures of Mr. di Griz were on the kindle!

The books are even more fun for me to read now. I really hope more of the series shows up soon.

Great science fiction, silly stories, and just a heck of a lot of fun.

Hurrah for the Stainless Steel Rat!
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series make me laugh when I read them.This trio is no different and as usual he excels.Go Go Go deGriz!

It's About Dang Time
These were some of my favorite books growing up.Harry Harrison is possibly the most undervalued science fiction writer of the 20th century.I recommend reading "The Stainless Steel Rat gets Drafted" directly after reading Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" to get diametrically opposite perspectives on the same concept.I just hope they make the "Bill the Galactic Hero" series available on Kindle soon.But if I could pick between the two, I would definitely go for the RAT!

Stainless
If you're a fan of theese books by Harry Harrison this is a must have. ... Read more

Product Description
A little book of wisdom for fathers on raising boys, Father to Son is a guide to the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood. Divided into sections covering the different stages of a boy's life, the book features one succinct lesson per page-some lighthearted, some serious, all supported by the book's strong moral backbone. Here is the importance of passing along skills- "Show him how to eat an Oreo." "Show him how to put a baseball in a new glove and wrap a belt around it." Of setting a good example-"Be home for dinner." "Do push-ups together." Of staying involved- "Race him. You'll never forget the day he beats you." "Be sure to meet his girlfriends." Being flexible-"If his favorite thing about organized sports is the uniform, let him wear it to school." Offering guideposts, material and intangible- "Hang a punching bag in the garage." "Put a computer in his room. Never a TV." "Never tell him boys don't cry-ask him why he's crying." Nurturing responsibility- "Make him understand that even a small lie makes him a liar." "Teach him the joy of finishing a job." And instilling wonder- "Teach him the joys of staring at the moon." "Encourage him to go barefoot." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Treasured tidbits
Both my husband and I absolutely love this book!We are raising two young boys and I am glad we found this book.
We keep it handy so we can read through it for a quick refresher.
I have given this book to a few new Dads.

Excellent Book
This book was shipped as it was stated in the description and is a wonderful book for anyone who is going to be a father.

Father to Son
The customer service was excellent.I received the book very quickly and it was in perfect condition.The book is a gift for my son-in-law and I'm sure he will enjoy it.I will continue to place orders.

A pocket reminder for the small but fun stuff!!
My husband and I love this book.It is not a detailed book on how to raise your son but it is a reminder of the little things that are important - which tend to get lost in the day to day.Every now and then one of us pull the book out for a quick smile and reminder that not everything needs to be serious all the time.

Great Advice
This is supposed to be for my husband, but I enjoy learning a bit too! For the main part, the advice is great. Some common sense, others funny, like don't put your son in Superman PJ's and expect him to not jump off the couch "flying." My only complaints are when the author is against Attachment Parenting ideals. For example, he says do not let your child (also said in 'Father to Daughter' book) come into your room if they had a nightmare, or upset. This goes against how we are raising our children, so as with everything else we read, we take what suits us, and leave the rest!! Otherwise, we enjoy the majority and even buy it for new Dads (before there was 'Mother to _____' books published) as their baby shower gift! ... Read more

Product Description
"Deathworld" centers on Jason dinAlt, a professional gambler who uses his somewhat erratic psionic abilities to tip the odds in his favor. He is challenged by a man named Kerk Pyrrus (who turns out to be the ambassador from the planet Pyrrus) to turn a large amount of money into an immense sum by gambling at a government-run casino. He succeeds and survives the planetary government's desperate efforts to steal back the money. In a fit of ennui, he decides to accompany Kerk to his home, despite being warned that it is the deadliest world ever colonized by humans...DEATHWORLD!

DEATHWORLD is one of the classics of the Golden Age of science fiction, born in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction under the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr. Enjoy!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Enjoyable
I enjoyed this, despite my initial imprssions as I first started reading. I did think that the ending was very lame however.I recommend this, with reservations. I foudn it enjoyable, but not very deep.I do not see myself ever rereading this. Nor do I see myself chasing down another Harry Harrison novel. However, I could easily think of worse things that being stuck reading another of his novels.

Good story - two versions of it, though
Jason diNalt is a drifter and a gambler who finds himself drawn into a gun-running scheme for Pyrrus, a planet of colonists who are at war with the rapidly evolving and highly lethal flora and fauna of their homeworld. What is the secret of this bizarre and deadly planet? Why does it seem hellbent on destroying the colonists?

[...]I read it the first time when I was 10 or so and loved it. During my teen years I re-read it (and its two sequels) several times, but I haven't touched it for at least 20 years.

Honestly, it holds up. It's a real fun SF yarn. However, the free edition out there has been converted from the Astounding Science Fiction magazine version of the story. (I have also read that it appeared in Analog and in Galaxy magazines instead. I don't know which source is accurate.) Spot comparisons have proved to me that the book edition is expanded and a bit richer, though the plot is essentially the same. Interestingly, there are at least four different editions sold through Amazon for the Kindle 2 e-reader, all of which appear to be the older and shorter version of the story (though one contains the original illustrations as well, which I would like to see). ... Read more

Product Description
Seven classic works by Harry Harrison with active table of contents.

Works include:
Arm of the Law
Deathworld
The K-Factor
The Misplaced Battleship
Planet of the Damned
The Repairman
The Velvet Glove
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Not the Stainless Steel Rat I Know and Love
I don't know where all the 5-star reviews have come from, because I'm having a hard time believing them. Harrison has taken everything good about the Stainless Steel Rat and left it out of this novel. Jim DiGriz is a con man, but there are no cons. He's also know for his fantastic robberies, but this book had none. He works for the Special Corps, saving the universe, but not here. Everything that's special about The Stainless Steel Rat is missing.

When I found out there was a new novel in the series, I was really excited. But reading it was a disappointment. The plot does not require Slippery Jim DiGriz -- it could have been any normal person facing difficulties in a future world. Harrison has let us down in this one.

This book is up to the standard you should expect from a scifi grand master
I'm going to have to spend this comment taking apart the idiot and dullard of a professional book reviewer at Publisher's Weekly who tried unfairly to paint Harrison as a racist in his public review.It seems to be removed here But I'll post here anyway as I did at Barnes and Noble.
This is a bit spoilerish, just a warning...............

As he hasn't read the series much less Harrison's background from WWII where he worked with black soldiers as a Sgt. while their white jackass Officers were always giving them crap and trying to get them written up or jailed.Harrison wrote a long time ago about his experience of this, and how it was about time the day black soldiers got their equal rights and were desegregated in the military back in the late 40s when he was stationed in the south at a training base. Harrison has never been a racist.
The Reviewer quotes the one sentence where jim remarks:
> Jim (himself quite pink) declares that the different skin colors "should
> have been bred out centuries ago."

Firstly Jim is not pink.His race is never mentioned in the books, though he is generally portrayed as a white guy by artists on some covers and the comic book by creative license alone. Harrison (and he has said this before himself) always tried to keep race specifically vague for the main characters in his Rat books so that any reader identifies with them.
Jim mentioned that racial differences on the same planet and same continent were odd to him BECAUSE in his world (this series) humans had colonized the galaxy thousands of years ago.With an end to racial bigotry in THEIR modern social culture anyone would naturally be likely to marry anyone else regardless of race, so after thousands of years of mixed breeding everyone is just a standard light brown color- why this color?It was predicted by scientists back in the 80s that that was what people would look like if all the races mixed out of existence. The result would be sort of brown with slightly asian eyes.Harrison went with this hypothesis, he WASN'T saying that Jim is this certain color so it is the best some how.

Secondly, if you have read any number of Harrison's books, you'll know he always paints country folk as being ignorant bumpkins.He seems to think this is funny, I don't know...
Same with those on planets that lost their technology.They are always ignorant dullards in need of schooling and galactic contact.

Except for the Grey Men they faced in the third book.The inhabitance of a lost forgotten iceplanet had evolved separate from the rest of the human race, were very strong and hyper intelligent to the point of telepathy.He only beat their scheme to subvert the normal humans (who they resented for forgetting about them while they suffered in their cold mining colony) by a bit of trickery and misdirection playing on their nihilistic paranoia.

The reviewer also writes:
> the green-skinned, shiftless, slow-witted majority oppresses the
> smarter, slower-breeding, pink-skinned minority

I didn't see the greens being any more shiftless than the LIGHT BROWN humans, or any more slow witted than the shipwrecked humans who were also savage bumpkins.Again its like the reviewer is trying here to compare this story to black-white prejudice and accuse Harrison of being an earth-race bigot.

The greens, being a mutated species had a non-human hive like caste system where the majority were like drones and didn't need to be bread to be smart, they were bred to do menial labor and could be replaced easily.The minority in the greens were bred to lead and so had higher intelligence bred into them.This was a self inflicted culture which had nothing to do with the normal humans.There was no use of comparison.

When Jim landed the smart leader greens colored themselves different human colors to be most pleasing to who ever they might be talking to.They knew of the different colors humans might come in, because different groups of humans had landed there long ago before people fully integrated.
And the remaining normal humans all interbred giving the "nice healthy brown" look that Jim saw on the real humans that would be normal in Jim's homogenized universe.

Too bad many real humans these days appear no smarter than the 'green mutant majority', of whom the writer for the publishers weekly review is obviously a member, so maybe Harrison really should have written this back in the 60s as the reviewer suggested, before the rise of the cult of the reactionary and the dumbing down of the American people started.

Classic Rat
Classic Stainless Steel Rat, with a nod to another of Harrison's books, "Bill the Galactic Hero", making extensive use of the 'Bloater Drive' for interstellar travel.If you're familiar with the series the book is great, if you haven't read any of the series previously, you'll want to start with an earlier book, inasmuch as there are references to people and events (Inskopp primarily) that make sense only in context of the other books.

Harry's back with the rat!
I finished this book last night after a 5 day reading binge.The rat is back and he's wittier than ever.I laughed out loud constantly in the first few chapters, and was glued to the book after that.I would definitely start out with at least a few of the older stainless-steel-rat books first then read this one.Thank you Harry Harrison!This book is highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook edition contains two novels of the DEATHWORLD series by noted Science Fiction author and Esperantist Harry Harrison.

In DEATHWORLD, professional gambler and psionicist Jason dinAlt uses his latent psionic powers to beat the house odds and turn millions into billions at the gaming tables.DinAlt succeeds and escapes the crooked casino planet Cassylia to Pyrrus, the deadliest planet in the galaxy.

In DEATHWORLD 2, DinAlt is abducted from Pyrrus by a do-gooder intent on taking DinAlt back to Cassylia for trial.After crashing on a barbaric and uncharted world, DinAlt must use his knowledge of technology to rise in society and make his escape.

This ebook is DRM free and includes an active table of contents.
... Read more

Product Description
When it's time for your kids to leave home, will they be ready to face the world? Will they be able to handle the NYC subway system? Will they have experienced the challenge of a summer career camp? Will they be able to compare civilizations and governments around the world? Will their imaginations have been sparked in a foreign land? Will they know that tamales aren't edible until they take the cornstalk off?

In 1001 Things Your Kids Should See & Do Before They Leave Home, best-selling author Harry H. Harrison Jr. has compiled the definitive book for preparing a child for adulthood. There's so much to do...and so little time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great advice!
I was already aware of some of the tips in this book but there are also many tips that I never really thought about it.Great book to review as you raise your kids.

Pretty Entertaining!
This book could not be delivered to Puerto Rico so I had it delivered to my Parents' house in Philadelphia my mom opened it and loved it and had me order 3 more. It was received w/in a reasonable time frame and it was in perfect condition. When I finally received it I could not put it down has some cool info on things to do some are free and inexpensive and others are not. It not mainly for kids which was my impression-for example one tip says that they need to buy liability ins for their car so there are things to do for really BIG kids too.

This is wonderful!
I bought several of these for gifts for new parents and for new grandparents. Everyone LOVES this book!

A lot of good info!Too much religious talk.My child does not need to feel stupid for not believing in their God!!!!
There are a lot of great suggestions in this book dealing with world perspective.As my fiance says 95% of this book is great.However 5% of this book is full of Christian propaganda.I hope every parent knows that their kid can learn and see the world honestly without being forced to believe in your religion.Case in point #567 "There is nothing like putting on a robe , picking up a cross, and marching down the aisle with an entire congregation watching to make an 8yr old take worship service seriously" Uh creepy anyone!? In other words there is nothing like forcing a kid to do something they do not want to in front of people they do not know for a purpose they do not fully understand.#573 " They need to ask the Holy Spirit for the words to say when talking to non believes"This may be the worst in the book.This teaches children to proselytize in school and with kids whose parents either taught them something different (not wrong) or for them to find their own beliefs when they are of the right age (not 8!).This notion is terrifying.I advise to just skip the section that teachers your kid to be close minded about faith because the rest of the book does the exact opposite.

LOVE IT!
This book has so many good points.If your kids take all of this to heart, they will do great! ... Read more