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Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. This is a time of superstitions and witchcraft. It is fairly obvious the sort of danger Tom and his family are in. Hence the first rule is learned. Do not stay in the same place for too long. Otherwise you, or your loved ones may suffer terrible consequences.

Especially in Elizabethan England, where punishment for being suspected a witch was a brutal and agonising death. She had finally been subjected to the ultimate test: Do not care too much about anyone, because you will have to leave them. Most certainly, do not fall in love. We meet the lovely Rose, who sells apples in the market, and indulge in a little romantic fiction: It is the simplest, purest joy on earth, I realise, to make someone you care about laugh.

What else do we need, to make us want to carry on reading? Ah yes, conflict, or a threat. And tried not to fall in love again. What we need then, is a good old baddie. And we get it. Not only that, but we get an entire conspiracy subplot. There are many like him, dotted around the world and so Hendrick has established a society to protect them. In return for this protection, they have to … but that would be telling. What often lets time travel books down, is that the solution somehow lies in the present day, or using present day thinking, although admittedly it would be hard to do otherwise.

I am not a person. I am a crowd in one body. I was people I hated and people I admired. I was exciting and boring and happy and infinitely sad. He has to be well acquainted with what he can and cannot do, what he does and does not know, all the conventions of the time - and the details are present in the story quite naturally, without ever feeling laboured or heavy handed.

Quite often they are slipped in as jokes. Or our contemporary world: And this one is timeless: We skip between the different eras. Tom has had a varied life so far, and through his eyes we meet many famous figures from the past. When you live many lives, you become adept at many special skills. Why do they always meet Shakespeare? Why when someone is regressed into their past lives, are they always Napoleon, or Cleopatra? He witnesses the Great Fire of London first hand, which is of great assistance when trying to convey this to bored 21st century teenagers.

He sails to Tahiti with Captain Cook. He meets Samuel Johnson, and due to his exceptional piano playing skills, meets Charlie Chaplin, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their entourage, and Gertrude Lawrence in a s restaurant. All these episodes are drawn in a very lively way, and these scenes are very entertaining. We are familiar with the idea of a character who lives for centuries, conveniently finding himself in the right place at the right time to meet and even interact with significant historical figures.

In classic or literary authors, the conceit may be used to to examine the notion of time itself, and our relationship to it. Concepts such as the fear of ageing and death, or even the problems associated with not dying at all may be explored. But Matt Haig has a consistently light touch when reflecting on the larger issues. He does not get bogged down in period detail, nor in philosophical conundrums.

He presents these encounters in an entertaining, slightly world-weary way. After all, Tom has seen it all before, many times. Some days - some years - some decades - are empty. There is nothing to them. And then you come across a year, or even a day, or an afternoon. And it is everything. What about the love interest? Hardboiled cynics we may be, but that is what drives many novels. What we have here is a thread which will run right through the novel.

As a young man Tom fell in love with Rose. These parts become a little sentimental: There was nothing else. I suppose that makes me a romantic, in a sense. The idea that you have one true love, that no one else will compare after they have gone. To be faced with all those lonely years after. To exist when the point of you has gone. And when I say lonely, I mean the kind of loneliness that howls through you like a desert wind. The loss of who I had been when I had been with them. We see her as a young child, a sensitive musical girl: Music is already in.

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A rebirth of sorts. But the feeling is that the author is groping around for some great truth to impart, and all he can come up with is quips: But it is a tale told convincingly with consummate ease, and passes an entertaining hour or two.


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Oh, one little quibble. Matt Haig was born in Sheffield. What made me shout in disbelief was not any scientific speculation, but that he apparently got a job there in a private school! What were the odds, in this inner-city borough, with a mostly Sylheti community? I had never come across one, save for Faith schools. Intrigued, I googled, to find that yes, indeed, now there are just two. Benedict Cumberbatch has been lined up to star in an upcoming film adaptation. Much in How to Stop Time is pseudo-profound, as if it attempts to impart a great truth, but just misses the mark.

The ending is a bit of esoteric pyschobabble, which to me feels like rather a damp squib: Just as every object on earth contains similar and interchanging atoms, so every fragment of time contains aspects of every other. In those moments that burst alive the present lasts for ever, and I know there are many more presents to live.

I understand you can be free. I understand that the way you stop time is by stopping being ruled by it. I am no longer drowning in my past, or fearful of my future. How can I be? The future is you. Mission to Mars Maurice Gray, 1. Do you remember Patrick Moore? For the second half of the 20th century and up until his death in , Patrick Moore was the man for this. He was a popular figure, not least because of his diverse interests. He was a self-taught xylophonist, glockenspiel player and pianist, and also an accomplished composer, having composed a substantial number of works, including two operettas and a ballet.

Patrick Moore was a former amateur cricketer, golfer and expert chess player. He had met Albert Einstein, and the first aviator, Orville Wright. He was invited to visit the Soviet Union, where he met my hero, Yuri Gagarin, the first man to journey into outer space. Later he met the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Patrick Moore held extremely controversial views on several topics, perhaps best not gone into here. What probably appealed to people most however, was his willingness to be the butt of jokes.

He increasingly often appeared in self-parodying roles, happy to do so, as his public persona became more and more extreme. Track back a few years though, and we see a different Patrick Moore. The programme had very broad appeal, being aimed at both casual viewers and professional astronomers, and this format remained consistent right through its run.

Patrick Moore presented every monthly episode except for one, even broadcasting from his own home between and , because arthritis had prevented him from travelling to the studios. His first television appearance had actually been in a debate about the existence of flying saucers, after a sudden rise in reported sightings in the s. Track back just a little further, then, to just before this period. Patrick Moore was a teacher, an earnest young astronomer in his early thirties. My Dad was the president of the Junior Amateur Astronomical Society which actually included members up to around 30 years of age in a Northern City, and greatly admired Patrick Moore.

I used to go to the meetings, tiny as I was, probably on a nod and a wink. Everyone there seemed to be such brainboxes, and I sat in awe on those big chairs, not tall enough for my feet to touch the ground. Most of the lectures passed way over my head but I loved the slides, the erudition, the captivating talk of great astronomical events so many miles off, the vastness of space, and the enthusiastic observations of members from their monthly diaries.

Occasionally the big boys would lift me up, so that I too could have a look through the big telescope. It seemed so remote and magical. A few times there was an extra frisson, as the great Patrick Moore had been invited to speak. This was only in the early years, as when he achieved celebrity status, the Society could not afford his fat fees. Still, he came several times. Patrick Moore never believed that Astronomy should be taught in schools, despite himself being a teacher, as he believed those interested would always find a way, and that formal teaching would quell their enthusiasm.

But before this preamble becomes any more monstrous, the point is that this is the time when Patrick Moore began to write his young adult fiction, and his Space Fantasies. He wrote numerous books on popular science, but these fiction works were new to me. Patrick Moore wrote Mission to Mars in It was only his second book, and was destined to be followed by five more books featuring the young astronomer Maurice Gray.

This first one is fascinating, imagining a time when journeying to Mars would be possible, even though it was actually written fourteen years before the first moon landing! Given his credentials though, the science is entirely consistent with what was known at the time. The novel starts when Maurice Gray, sixteen years old, has recently lost both his parents in an air crash. Although English, he is sent to meet his only known relative, Dr. Leslie Yorke, who is a scientist at the Woomera Rocket base in Australia.

He grows increasingly frustrated as the days pass and there is no sign of his uncle. Eventually, Bruce Talbot, a radar technician just a few years older than Maurice, tells him quietly that Dr. For many days the team are on tenterhooks, as no message is being received. Maurice takes his turn manning the radio, as he is expert in morse code, and it is hard to distinguish the sounds among all the space crackle and interference. One day, when listening to the base radio, Maurice hears a fragment from a message from the expedition. It seems to report that the Hermes has landed, but has been damaged somehow, and is inoperable.

Moreover they have limited supplies of air. There are no details. There is a lot of discussion over what to do.


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Would it be foolhardy to mount a rescue expedition? There would be no guarantee of a safe return, and perhaps even more scientists would die horribly as a result. There was no option but to have a very lightweight third member, and the obvious person, because of his youth and slim build, was the young Maurice Gray. The deciding factor was his knowledge of radio-transmission. From now on the story becomes quite exciting.

Maurice proves his worth in a couple of ways during the journey, such as view spoiler [ during a spacewalk Maurice has to defy orders and rescue Bruce, when Bruce becomes detached from his safety line.

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Of course Bruce is indebted to Maurice for saving his life, hide spoiler ] and from now on, all three members begin to feel a close bond, and equally valuable members of the crew. The crew begin to suspect what may have gone wrong for the Hermes during the landing. They do manage to land, but are very shaken to find their radar systems are damaged beyond repair.

They discover that this Violet Layer has a powerful magnetic field, and it is this which also probably damaged the Hermes. Maurice and Bruce set out to explore Mars on foot. Maurice Gray once again show his mettle and great courage, view spoiler [when a dust-storm comes apparently out of nowhere. They have to take shelter, and Bruce is injured. Inevitably time moves on and such a delay is dangerous. The cold sets in and although at the high point of the 12 hour day it could get to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, they are nearly frozen by the extreme cold of a Mars night - potentially more then ten to twenty degree below freezing - by the time they get back.

However, they do make contact of a sort with Dr. Yorke, who reports that they still have a few hours of air left. All three set out to rescue the original crew of the Hermes. He could see too that it looked much smaller than the sun he was used to, and somehow the light was eerie, not unlike powerful moonlight.

The mountain themselves were comparatively low, and slope gently up from the level plain in a way that reminded him of sandhills. Now that they were nearer, the dark patch had become more obvious, and presently he could see that it was distinctly, greenish in colour, contrasting starkly with the reddish-ochre of the desert and the mountains. Instead of being an isolated spot, it looked as though it were the beginning of a strip that led back through a valley between the hills … it looked more like mould.

Bruce waked over to the nearest path and pulled at it. It came away in his hand, and he could see some fine thread-like roots. Or could it possibly survive from some wetness in the air? Was there yet water to be found on Mars? Already the story has reminded us of certain known facts. The sky would not look a bright pale blue, but more of a mauve or indigo, with two dimly glowing smaller moons, Phobos and Deimos.

The surface of Mars was a reddish ochre plain of a dustlike material, possibly pulverised limonite, and stretched for miles without a break. Sometimes they have had impressions of view spoiler [ flying creatures, and once caught sight of: It, too, had green eyes, and the face, with its nose-like beak and slit mouth, gave an eerie impression of a human being. Its long low body was covered with reddish hairs spread over a tough scaly hide, while there were six thick, shortish legs and a stumpy tail.

But the horror of the thing was that there seemed to be no proper face. Floundering around, still unable to find the Hermes, they become aware that several of these bat-like creatures seem to be leading them in a certain direction. They conjecture as to what this may mean. The creatures do lead them to the Hermes, where they find that Yorke, Professor Charles Whitton and Norman Knight are running critically short of air. Despite the extra weight, they manage to take off navigate the dangerous Violet Layer, and return to Earth. So what might Horace have been?

A fossil had been collected by Professor Whitton, one of the original expedition members. They all examined it: Gradually the water dried up and the air leaked away, so that life died out; but - who know? If Horace and his kind are really are the remote descendants of an intelligent race, is it impossible that they should hold onto at least a little reasoning power?

We now know quite a lot more, although the evidence of water, or the possibility of primitive sustainable life on Mars is still open to question.

🎁 Review Highpoint Whyworry Books Book 2 B00glavoee Rtf

But what a great story! It always fired young imaginations and once when Heather Couper later the Astronomer Royal gave a talk to my class at the Planetarium, she was surprised how knowledgeable and enthusiastic they were. But did it last? Recently I talked to one of my ex-pupils, now around thirty, and no longer a tiny scrap but with six kids of her own. I admit I was dumbfounded. However much we learn, there always seem to be more to learn. The universe is expanding, and so are all our questions and thirst for knowledge. The Short Stories of H.

Classics Illustrated of Off On A Comet. In a Thousand Years. This story is part science fiction, and part travelogue, and first published in The story is set, as the title suggests, a thousand years hence. In fact the title is sometimes translated as "The Millennium". Hans Christian Andersen predicts a time when giant airships tour the world. To the wonderful land of memories and dreams - to Europe! The story ends, "'There's a lot to see in Europe' say the young Americans.

And so it is here. This story is very atypical of this author, and has a strange dream-like quality - and a dash of whimsical humour. The Lathe of Heaven. Dangerous Corner is a great title. But a play or novel with that title today, would be assumed by its audience to be a thriller. This is decidedly not Dangerous Corner is a great title. This is decidedly not a thriller. The title is metaphorical, although there is a crime - and a magnificent twist at the end. Priestley spent just one week writing this, his first play, in early , "to prove that a man might produce long novels and yet be able to write effectively, using the strictest economy, for the stage.

After three days he was told that it would be taken off, and in a rather defensive introduction to the plays, which J. Priestley wrote much later in , he makes it clear that the performances only continued on his own insistence. It happens, just reset it in a minute. Please enter your User Name, email ID and a password to register.

International Shipping at best shipping prices! Notify Me We will send an email as soon as we get it in stock. Write a Testimonial Few good words, go a long way, thanks! Personalize Gift card We will send an email to receiver for gift card. Highpoint Whyworry books Volume 2. Home Highpoint Whyworry books Volume 2. Click on below image to change. Click on image to Zoom. Sorry, out of stock. Please enter valid pincode to check Delivery available unavailable in your area. Description Francisca, who needs him most; Jennifer, who dotes upon him most; Mabel, who imbues him most; and Madonna, who cares about him most.

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