Time Travel and Harry Potter by Richard H. Jones

Published by Outskirts Press, Inc
Reviewed for Review the Book

Is it possible to go back in time and make changes to history? Time Travel and Harry Potter - Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction says it is. Richard H. Jones presents a defense of changing history in time travel, as he puts forward a theory of why and how history was changeable in The Prisoner of Azkaban. How else was Harry able to save himself? How else were Harry and Hermione going to be able to save Buckbeak?

First it must be realized that J.K. Rowling's book is both magic and fiction, and as such her words must be accepted as true in the world of the book. Theorists for hundreds of years have spouted many theories about time and the possibilities that could or could not occur in time travel. Working on this level, the laws of physics are necessarily employed. What does that mean when one thinks of time? Is time from the present going back to the past a straight line? Perhaps, but in this book, the author explores what the possibilities would be if we take Ms. Rowling’s words as true in the world she has created.

I found this book quite interesting considering the theories that are argued. I am not a physicist, I am a reader, and therefore while reading I live in the created world of the author. Richard Jones has taken a complicated subject and made it readable. Time travel in this world of wizardry and magic, according to Jones, presents us not just with the possibility that we can change the past, but he also brings forward the equally questioned theory of new time lines created while the old time line remains. Hence, while time traveling to and from the past three times, if I understand this theory correctly, Harry and Hermione would create three time lines, each line leaving them ignorant of their other selves living their lives on their current time lines..

In this book, the author covers a lot of ground, cites many references, and ties the loose ends together cohesively in regard to Ms. Rowling's books. Since time travel is in The Prisoner of Azkaban, that is the book that Jones bases most of this theory on, but he also references later books in the series to help his hypothesis. All in all, I do feel he got his many points across and I'm sure Harry Potter fans will enjoy the way J.K. Rowling inserted time travel into the books and made them believable. I am a great fan of the Harry Potter books and J.K. Rowling, and Richard Jones' book has given a good frame of reference that could be considered an aid to the Potter books, presenting what wording was used and where it fits into his theory.

Stunt Road by Gregory Mose

 Reviewed for "ReviewTheBook"

Gregory Mose takes the reader on a whirlwind ride into the world of the obscure, enlightening, mystic, and colorful world of Horokinetics. Never heard of Horokinetics? Oh, you will in this book, and enjoy the journey. Unemployed Pete McFadden, along with his old college friend and mathematician Emily, and childhood friend and psychologist, Susan take on a project thrown out almost as a challenge by the person Pete has been trying to get a job interview with. He is promised an interview if he can produce a program "as good as" astrology but based on science, a program which he and his friends have successfully produced based on pure math. Something profound, dedicated, prophetic and insightful.

When his challenger reneges and doesn't even return his calls, Pete is devastated.  He takes a long drive up into the mountains, gets out of the car and gives in to memories and self-deprecation over his apparent latest folly.  He is so deep into his thoughts that he doesn't realize he is not alone. A man on horseback has come up the trail behind him.  Both begin to talk and it appears that both are soul-searching and currently unemployed.  Jake does not laugh at Pete's program but seems very interested in it and soon has turned Pete's thoughts to positive ones.

The journey of selling his idea and program begins as Pete finds himself at a table with his program and Jake at a "New Age" fair, a place he never dreamed of being at any point in his life. The book begins to take on an entirely different, and yet still similar forward movement. Over the next several chapters there is mystery, suspense, mythology, corporate greed, mistrust, and many more elements and switches.  The author combines fractals, chaos and philosophies in such a fluid way the reader won't find the sometimes obscure words difficult.  The beginning of the book in particular is quite tongue-in-cheek humorous, but becomes more serious in later chapters. There is quite frankly a lot that can be learned about ourselves as a whole without effort within these pages. On the other hand, the book contains, and in some way combines, the unscrupulous with purity.

I've never read a book quite like Stunt Road.  It is fascinating, depressing, joyful, cynical, provocative and even deadly, all at one go.  Quite an undertaking for a first novel. The range of characters really breathes life into the story.  Without the strong characterizations, this would be a different book.  The ending brings to mind Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" and the lines

    "...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
    I took the one less traveled by,
    And that has made all the difference."

I am left to wonder, which road did Peter take when he came to the crossroad at the end of the book?  4 ½ stars

Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason by Russell Shorto

Originally posted Thursday, November 27, 2008
Reviewed from Shelf Awareness for publisher/author

Interesting history of philosophy, reason, and science
This has been an unusual trip through the beginning of modern philosophy back in the 1600s to the present. I have not personally studied philosophy, but I found the book easy enough to read. There are many endnotes which in this case I found to be less distracting than footnotes yet easy enough to look up, and many references. The work is well-researched and written for the average person such as myself. There was a great deal of history showing Descartes’ reasoning, studies, and presentation of the original idea of duality of mind and body. This early beginning formed the basis for all science today, giving him the ‘title’ of the Father or Modernity”..

Shorto’s book takes a new look at the beginnings of Descartes’ work and follows through the centuries after his death, showing his effect on science and reason to the present day. However, he has taken an interesting route of demonstration. Descartes never lay quietly in his grave, he was moved through the centuries into various locations, some religious, some not. These relocations of his bones tended to coincide with important turning points in history, harking back to his view of duality and modernism. To make matters more mysterious, the skull was not with the bones. Surprisingly, the skull was located almost 200 years after Descartes’ death and has been authenticated. However, the bones (fragments), presumed carefully handled with each removal and noted, are no longer believed to be authentic. I found the book interesting and different, there are fascinating looks at several historical figures and times. The characters are humanized and real, and I think it would appeal to readers who are inquisitive, like factual science, or history, without sounding like a text-book. 3 1/2 stars