What's Up God ? A Romance Of The Apocalypse

Book Name : What's Up God ? A Romance Of The Apocalypse
Author : Simon Louvish

What is it about : The End is nigh ! Yep ! The Archangel Gabriel was sent down to us and announced (on TV) to the human race that The Resurrection was set for April 30, 1999 and the Judgement Day seven days thereafter. Non one would be spared, whatever your creed - believers, atheists, the lot. Everyone's dead relatives, friends, foes, bosses, right up to the neanderthals would be back from their graves and came knocking on the door; including the dead girlfriend of our hero, Jerry Davis. The Book focused on Jerry's dilemma, fate and journey to meet his Maker.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The Book did have its moments with Jerry meeting up with his resurrected teenage sweetheart; Karl Marx contemplating the present day capitalism in Jerry's father living room and of course our man Jerry had to get shot and returned like his dead counterparts in an angelic "bubble car". The scene I liked most was - in the process of getting ready for their trip to the pearly gates (or otherwise), Jerry's father dressed up in his overall with a spanner thrusted out from his breast pocket, a hammer and screwdriver on either side of the studded belt looking as if he's ready to fight a on-coming gang of hooligans; and Jerry's mother "more pragmatically" packed her wash bag with mosquito lotion, anti-septic cream, bandaids, scissors and threads, mini-coffeemate, pocket torch as if she were going for a weekend's camping in the Lake District. Definitely the best and funniest set piece I had read for a long while.

Would I recommend this book to you : Entertaining at first, but messy and confusing to end. The last ten pages would see Jerry's journey to his judgement and the text read like someone lost inside a submarine or on board an abandoned capsized freight carrier. At times the drama did brighten up my day but don't expect tightness in plot or a grand finale to finish.

The Life And Death Of Charles Darwin

Book Name : The Life And Death Of Charles Darwin
Author : L.R. Croft

What is it about : By piecing together the evidence gleamed from Charles Darwin's own words, personal letters as well as comments from collaborators, relatives, friends, critics, clerics, the book presented Darwin The Man. The Book also gave tentative answers to Darwin's mysterious illness, the probable reasons behind the years' delay on publication of his mind-altering masterpiece - The Origin Of Species; as well as the question of : did or did he not, on his deathbed, recant his theory of evolution by natural selection and his eventual conversion to Christianity ?

Some thoughts after having read the book : Having read Darwin's many great books and stories, this book gave me pause for thoughts. My own image of the Great Man before reading this book, had been a "Hall-Of-Fame" hero of the scientific world. This book however, made me think of Darwin as a devious, wavering, publicity-seeking self-server, who inadvertently fanned the flames of racism, who despicably included other's data in his research and never had the magnanimity to give credits to those with the original ideas and experimental data. As to Darwin's final conversion to religion, I surmise that this act was another of his "let's be on the safe side" tactic. Great work he did, not sure about the man himself.

Would I recommend this book to you : Yes. It was a highly enjoyable read and exciting to follow the Author's track of thoughts in analysing the materials available and finally arriving to a clearer picture of the (not so) Great Man. The Book read a little like a detective story where the P.I. investigated a dubious character with the assistance of a F.B.I. psychological profiling specialist.