Book review: A brief history of time

As a follower of Christ, and also as someone who is generally passionate about physics and has a background in engineering, I really enjoy reading books on cosmology, because personally I find the more I understand how the universe is operating, and its origins and laws, the more it fills me with awe and admiration of how beautiful and powerful God is.

So today, I would like to review a book called “a brief history of time” by Stephen Hawking. Let me start by giving some info about Stephen Hawking:

Professor Stephen Hawkings, a British theoretical physicist, is without doubt one of the most brilliant mind in recent human history. He was also the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a position previously held by people like Isaac Newtown. His famous research works include the theoretical prediction that black holes can actually emit radiation, now days now as the “Hawking radiation”.

He wrote quite a few famous books about physics and science. From books for the general public such as” the universe in a nutshell”, to the more technical books such as “God created the integers: mathematical breakthroughs that changed history”.


So, what is this book “a brief history of time about? Well, as the title suggests this is a book that introduces the general public to many topics in cosmology such as: black hole, big bang, and light cones. I have to say that this book is quite well written, because Hawking really did manage to write and explain physics and Maths in ways that the general public can understand. Throughout the whole book, the amount of “xyzqed” equations are practically non-existent, except the famous equation by Einstein E=mc^2.

Having said this book talks about subjects in cosmology, essentially this layout of this book follows a very logical progression, I will list them here:

1) Hawking started off by introducing the history of mankind’s research on universe.
2) Then he started to talk about the concept of space and time, and then moved into Einstein’s special theory of relativity and why it is needed for us to understand what space and time is, and how this leads to the mathematical conclusion (from special and general theory of relativity) that the universe, has a beginning and will have an end.
3) With the understanding of space and time, Hawking then started to talk about the expanding universe based on our understanding of space and time, and provided some recorded experimental proofs of an expanding universe, in conjunction with the well know blue-shift and red-shift phenomenon (the Hubble’s law).
4) Hawking then started to talk about the uncertainty principles, and at the end conclude that although we don’t have a unified theory of general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, but we do know what the shapes of the unified theory should “look like”.
5) Next, the elementary forces and particles of the universe is discussed, and the fascinating subject of “black hole” is discussed, and the fate and the origin of the universe is discussed.
6) Hawking then started to talk about the arrow of time, by invoking the laws of thermodynamics, this is a very useful chapter for people who wish to know more about the arrow of time, and its implications such as why things decay, or why cold things can’t make hot things hotter.
7) Finally, Hawking concluded the book by talking about the unification of physics, and a “theory for everything”.

So yes, this is basically what this book is about. It is short, but gives really good general summary of where we are in terms of the discovery of our universe.

Throughout the book, Hawking shows that he has agnostic view about God. His view on God is probably more similar to Einstein’s view that God reveals himself through the physical laws that governs the universe, but does not intervene with the universe and its events.

As a follower of Christ, I believe that God is the author of everything we know and don’t know, but also God does care and His finger prints are in every pass moments in this universe. When I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but keep thinking, wow how amazing is our God, the creator of space and time, relativity equations, big bang, arrow of time, black holes, elementary particles and forces of nature etc., these are all very mind blowing things that really took my breath away. For me, it always fills me with awe how God can make everything out of nothingness. Just to think of how God can create a singularity that caused the big bang, and how that ties in with the laws of thermodynamics, and the elementary particles and forces so and so forth. It is like everything is created and written so the mechanics of the universe works like a perfectly designed engineering masterpiece that can harbour and nourish life on earth.

Therefore, if you have some interest in cosmology, or are just someone who wishes to see the beautiful mind of God and his design but doesn’t have good background in physics, then this is the book for you. Hawking is agnostic, and in the book he did not attack on any religious concepts of any sort, but simply stated at the end that, if we can find a unified theory of everything, then we can know the mind of God. I don’t want to comment on Hawking’s statement, but however I would like to ask, even if we know the theory of everything, isn’t it more important to know the will of God and His purpose for us in life? I always think after we know the purpose of the creator who made the “theory of everything”, then if we do discover the “theory of everything” one day, this theory would simply show us how beautiful and mighty the creator of everything is, and how we can apply it for the better of the world.

If you want to further reading, then I would also suggest “Just six numbers” by Martin Ree, and “The origin of the universe” by John D. Barrow. If you have good mathematical and physics background, you can also read “Anthropic cosmological principle” by Barrow and Tipler (this book is very hard to find, it took me a long time to locate it).

Book rating: 4.5/5 Strongly recommended

Movie Review: Requien for a dream

Requiem for a dream, is a drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky (the director of pi, and the wrestler). It is an adaptation from a 1978 novel by Hubert Shelby Jr.

First of all, a word of warning, this film is R-rated for drug use and sexual content. It is a movie about different addictions and how it can ruing people's lives. Personally, it was quite difficult for me to watch through the whole film, because some of the scenes are very painful to watch. However, I have to say the film is really well made, because the horrific images of the results of addiction, whatever addiction will probably never leave my mind. In this movie, the characters are all pursuing dreams that ultimately lead them into addictions and destructions. God said we should only worship him, and not idols. In requiem for a dream, it is really clear that all the characters are worshipping the idols such as fame, youth and beauty, money and how that destroyed them. As followers of Christ, we know that the consequences of worshipping idols is far worse than just the horrific results depicted in the movie, the consequences of worshipping idols is the eternal seperation from our creator, which will be our ultimate destruction.

The director did a really good job, the camera angles are very unique, much like the first 5 minutes of "the wrestler". I don't really want to spoil the story too much, all I can say is, if you see past the explicit sexual themes (not very long actually) and some difficult to watch wounds and grotesque scenes, then you probably won't regret watching this film.

Video (4/5): although made in 2000, the film is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ration, which is not bad and provides good contrast, the director Darren Aronofsky brings us his unique style of camera angle and works really really well.

Story (4/5): The story really shows the price and the consequences of addictions.

Sound (4/5): The soundtrack "Requiem for a dream", sounds very epic, one of my favourite movie soundtrack.

Overall (4/5): This is a good film, but if you are looking for entertainment you won't find it here. Also remember my warning that there are explicit sexual themes and horrific images of wounds that might upset more senstivie viewers.

Book Review: Romance of Three Kingdoms

Romance of Three Kingdoms, is a Chinese historical fiction novel written in the 14th Century, written by Luo Guan Zhong, if you do the maths, this book is about 600 year old and personally is my favourite novel of all time, because some of the characters in the book are worthy of tears and song of praises.

As an introduction, I should talk about the origin of this epic novel. The novel is based on the historical "three kingdoms" era in China, which took place from 184AD to 281AD. There are all together 1000+ characters in the book, all are real and true people who lived in the era. There are four classical Chinese novels: The water margin, Journey to the west (better know to western audiences as Monkey Magic), Romance of Three kingdoms, and the Dream of Red Chamber. Out of the four classical novels, only Romance of three kingdoms is based on real history, but there is a saying in China that, Romance of three kingdoms, is 70% fact and 30% fiction. This is definitely so because there are some minor elements of supernatural scenes.

Romance of Three Kingdoms is probably the most famous novel in China, or in East Asia. Now days, it is starting to be spread into the western world. In 2009 the movie "Red Cliff" is based on this novel, CCTV made an 84 episode TV series back in 1994, and the Japanese video game company KOEI has made the famous "Dynasty Warriors" series based on this novel as well. Actually, this novel is so famous in East Asia that you can almost go up to any Chinese person and start a conversation with them about the characters and stories from Romance of Three kingdoms, yea, it is that famous. In the commercial world, business people have used this book as a guide for planning their business strategy and using of human resources. Now days, the novel has been translated into English as well, and is quite a heavy tome (or tomes sometimes).

The popularity and the literature value of this book in China, can probably be compared to Shakespeare's play in England. The original Chinese version, is not written in vernacular Chinse, but in classical Chinese, therefore unless your Chinse literacy level is quite high, otherwise it would be very difficult to understand the language and sentences used in the book, especially when it comes to the poetry part, the author tends to use poems to describe battle scenes or characters in the book a lot.

So, what is this book about? Well, the story starts at the end of 184AD, the Han dynasty ruling China was extremely corrupted, after years of famine and unrest, one of the biggest peasant rebellion in Chinese history took place, it was know as the "yellow turban rebellion". This lead to a series of events that gave rise to the power struggle between warlords and heroes with political ambitions. After years of war eventually China was divided amongst three "kingdoms", and lasted until around 280AD when the land was re-united again.

The most interesting thing about this chaotic era is, in times of unrest anyone with good abilities can put their abilities to use to the maximum, depsite their backgrounds. Therefore, in this era we see the most brilliant military strategists, most brave generals, craftiest politicians.etc.. essentially the characters introduced in the book will craft long lasting memories not only because of their abilities, but also their personalities and characters.

The foundamental of Chinse culture and moral values are deeply embedded in this book. The moral values such as loyalty, filial piety, kindness, mercy are displayed lavishly on some of the characters. Personally I think western audiences would find it very hard to understand why some of the characters depicted in the book are so loyal to their king and lords such as they are, but I guess this is because the concept of loyalty and filial piety is not seemed as very important values in the western world. So if you are from western background, and want to explore more about East Asian culture instead of just listening to myths and legends, then this is a good place to begin.

I cannot describe enough how awesome this book is, the characters are memorable and lively, the military struggle, strategy, and the politics are intriguing, the battle scenes are thrilling and exiciting. I have read Lord of the Rings 5 times from the front to the back, and I don't think I will read it again, but Romance of Three Kingdoms, I don't even remember how many times I have read it since I was 13 years old and I will read many many more times in the future.

As a follower of Christ, I find no conflict between the core moral values described in Romance of Three Kingdoms and the life principles taught in the Bible. One of the main theme in this book is about being loyal to the king, a nation or the country. As Christians we know that these things are created by God, so our first priority should be dedicated to God, and because the Bible taught us that it is good to serve our country with loyalty, that's why we should serve our country. However, what if the country we are serving has gone to the wrong direction? For example, what are Christians to do if we find ourselves living in a country like Nazi Germany? Should we continue to give our loyalty blindly to support the wrong cause? In Romance of Three Kingdoms, some of the most well known characters are famous because they choose to serve only the king who is fighting for the righteneous cause, and that is usually the most kind, generous and merciful king who really cares for the people.

Overall, Romance of Three Kingdoms is a fantastic historical novel, if this is your cup of tea then don't miss it.

Video game review: Dragon Age origins

One of the most well known RPG maker on the face of the planet, the company Bioware Corp. has released Dragon Age: Origin on the 3rd November 2009. They claimed that this massive fantasy RPG is the sipritual successor of the legendary Baldur's Gate series that was released a decade ago. However, does Dragon Age: Origin live up to its standard? Let's find out:

Concept: (4/5)
Bioware has made many awesome RPG games in the past, from games like: Baldur's Gate, Icewindale, Knight of the old republic 1, Neverwinter night 1, to the recent hit Mass Effect. Some die hard RPG fans would claim that if you have never played or finished Baldur's Gate, then you are not a hardcore RPG gamer at all. The concept of DOA is very similar to Baldur's Gate and Icewindale, both are set in the fantasy world with orcs, elves, human, dwarves.etc.. However, DOA is not set in the Forgotten Realm as Baldur's Gate does, and is set in a different world of its own. The concept, although good, is nothing new. However, DOA does have a very in depth character creation, where you can customise everything. THe character class choice is very simple, only 3 major classes, but each class has three different specializations that you can unlock in the game. YOu can also choose three races: human, elves, and dwarves. Each of the races has different "origin" story, and the origin story are all different from each other, which provides a very interesting start. This is an RPG game, and the developer Bioware really made sure that you are actually doing "role playing", because everything you do, from the beginning to the end are all based on yoru choices, the story and the fate of the world will change according to your choice.

Story: (4/5)
The story of DOA seems pretty straight forward in the beginning, after you finish your "origin" chapter, you become a grey warden, which is an organization of protectors that helps to get rid of the "dark spawns" (equivalent to the orcs). You mission is to destroy the mastermind controllng the dark spawns, which happens to be a massive evil dragon. However, as the story unfolds you will realise there is more than meets the eye. Each of the person who joins your quest to save the world all have their own individual personality and background, and they even comes with their own personal quest. By the end of the game, you will feel like you know these people. However, there are still plenty elements that seems all to familiar, but the story is epic and is actually pretty good.

Gameplay: (5/5)
The gameplay is when the game really shines! DOA goes back to the old school RPG style. You controll a party that varies from fighters, wizards or rogues. You can select different people in your party as you venturing from location to locations, and the game play on PC focuses on the ability to play the "over the shoulder view" or the old school D&D style isometric view. Spellcasting is based on how much magic you have, and recasting of spells require a certain cooldown time. As for melee characters, as you level up you can learn different fighting feats that will enhance your combat abilities. Sometimes upon delivering the killing blow, a short combat animation shows up and it is really cool to watch that. Bioware weren't kidding when they said this is a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate, because not only do the gameplay is very similar to BG, but the difficulty as well, is very hard. If you are new to pen and paper style RPG games, prepared to be overwhelmed!

Graphics: (4/5)
The graphics of DOA is not bad, but not very good either. Comparing to games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, DOA graphics does not particularly stand out. However, the armors and the swords are still shiny, and that's all it matters really.

Sound and music: (5/5)
Bioware has carried on its tradition of awesome sound effect and epic soundtrack in fantasy RPG games. The sound effect is great, the voice acting is top notch. THe soundtrack is composed by the legendary composer Ian Zur, and sounds exactly the way it has to be for an epic game of this calibur.

Otherthings:
Well, to be honest, I didn't really see anything that's worth noticing in terms of Christian belief. However, a word of caution: one should be aware that in the game, you can choose to "romance" with your party members and eventually have sex with them. There are also options of homosexual relationships. I speculate that some Christians might find this extremely offensive. However, personally this doesn't really offend me, because in the game you can choose to do it, or choose not to do it, just like in real life you can choose to have pre-marital sex or waiting till you are married. So I think you will be fine as you make the right choice in the game. One thing worth mentioning is that, without spoiling too much, at the end of the game, you can choose to either: glorify yourself so you can receive power, or sacrifice yourself totally to end the dark spawn chaos. It's all up to your choices, and like I said before in the game the devleoper really made sure that all your choices will have consequences.

Final verdict: (4.5/5)
I rate this game highly, because it is one of most epic RPG game I've played since Baldur's Gate series. I really like the "choose and see the consequences" theme, the gameplay and combating system is solid and requires plenty of strategic planning, with an epic storyline what more do you want? However, if you do decide to pick this up, just remember don't become addicted to this.

Happy gaming!

Movie review: District 9

District 9 is a sci-fi movie written by a South African script writer Neill Blomkamp, and produced by Peter Jackson. This movie received generally positive reviews by critics and audiences alike. The title sounds weird and strange, so what exactly is District 9? Well, let me give you some insight into this movie. I would like to say first that this movie raises some very tough questions about ourselves, and we can only find solutions if we know Jesus.

Story: (4/5)
The story of the movie is a bit unusal. The story goes like this: In 1982, a giant alien spaceship landed in Johannesburg and hovered over the city's sky for three months. This event greatly distressed the locals and also people worldwide. Eventually, the South African government broke into the spaceship, and found the aliens onboard are all starving to death, and some are sick and extremely mal-nutritioned. The aiens seek refugee on earth, so the government put all the aliens in a special district and have restricted the alien activities within the district. People of Johannesburg dislike the aliens and want them to leave earth, giving them nicknames such as "prawns". The story then fast forward to present day, when the government decided to evict the aliens from district 9 and relocate them to a new planned area. I won't spoil the rest of the plot here..

I have so much I can say about this plot, I guess it is because I was an immigrant and grew up in South Africa myself. The first thing I spotted in the movie was that, the idea of District 9 is actually parallel to apartheid in South Africa than ended some 15 years asgo, in a way that during Apartheid, the black people were forced to live in segregated areas. However, to be honest, the story is so much deeper. I will break down into two major themes:

1) The movie is trying to make a point about Xenophobia. How did I see this? The aliens are nicknamed by the locals as "prawns", this is a reference to a type of cricket in South Africa the "king prawns" that usually lead to plagues. Now in South Africa, there are a lot of immigrants from other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Somalia etc.. The local African despise these people because they think these immigrants are taking their jobs. Same here, in the movie the aliens are seen by the lcoals as outsiders who have come to their land to take their lands away, and is causing the rise of crime rate and socio-economic problems, hence the "prawns" reference. This movie isn't just about racism, but about xenophobia, for racism is a much more narrow minded type of discrimination, when someone dislike someone because of their physical features. Xenophobia however, is the dislike for people who are from the outside, and is therefore a much wider form of discrimination that can happen in a racist free environment. For example, a white British can treat a black British as equals, but discriminate against an immigrant from Thailand, this is a good example of xeonophobia.

2) Moral complacency: When I was watching this movie, I always felt so frustrated with the main protaganist Wiskus Van Der Merve. he represents the kind of guy that has everything going in his life: a house, a career, a beautiful wife but is just complacent about the injustice in the world, and sort of goes with whatever the world tells him so he can fit in. However, later in the movie Wiskus had to make choices and even has to do some acts of self sacrifice to do what is right, and that was really good to see as it symbolises someone who gradually come out of the ivory tower and face the reality to make the right choice.

The Old testment has numerous accounts of Jewish people being exile and being "aliens" who are not welcomed in foreign lands for what they believe. I often feel really moved whenever I read the part of the Bible when he said the greatest commandents are "love God with all your heart, strength and soul, and love your neighbour as you would love yourself". However, it is really hard to put this into practise. It is really to love our neighbours when they are the kind of people you like, you know the cool people. But it is hard to love your neighbours when they are not the type of person you like to associate with, or to love your neighbours when they are very different to you, or when they are annoying you. We often choose the easier way out, which is to isolate the people we don't know or don't like, and just want nothing to do with them. If there is one thing I learned from this movie, then it is, next time when you are not loving someone because of whatever reason you have, think of how you will feel if you were that person. I guess this ties in really well with what Jesus said about loving people as you would love yourself.

What does this movie inspire me to do? Well, it really made me reflect on how I have been treating the people whom I don't like, or are annoying me, for my part I am really sorry that I have been treating a fellow Christian brother of mine as someone I wish to get rid off, and I had to repent for this. Another lesson I had to think about was, how have I been treating those people who no one else wants to associate with, I have been terrible at loving those who are rejected by others for whatever reason, and sometimes I even join in to bash those who are rejected by other people so I can fit in. In many ways, I am just as morally complacent as Wiskus Van der Merve.

In the movie, human treat the aliens like crap because they are aliens, but what about us when it comes to treating fellow human beings? No matter how shattered, broken, stupid, annoying or different they might be, at the end of the of day, the first book of the Bible said human are all made in the image of God, so next time when in your heart you decide someone is not good enough to be your friend because of that person is not intelligent, has ADHD, asbergers, smells bad or has opposite personality to you so on and so forth, remember that person was made by God just like you do, and is an image of God, and therefore carries His dignity just as you do.

Video and visual (3/5):
I was surprised that the DVD release was presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio instead of the normal blockbuster 2.35:1 ratio. Neverthless, the special effects are very well done and the make ups are very realistic.

Sound and audio (4/5):
The sound and audio is very good, crystal clear just as any modern day sci-fi movies.

Final verdict (4/5):
This is a good movie, the one that will give you head explosions, and if you are willing to think deeper about the plot, and compare yourself against the main protaganist in the movie, it is likely you, like me will find myself very similar to the protaganist, it's just that we don't carry a mirror with us so we can see it. However, in contrast to Jesus our true sinful selves really show, I wonder when God watches us, if he feels just as frustrated with us like we are frustrated with good old Wiskus in the movie.

Movie review: Avatar

One of the biggest blockbuster in 2009 is the Avatar, made by the famous director James Cameron. The movie was released in the cinema and it used the latest visual technology, it is a 3D movie. This movie made quite a stir and is the almost 3 hour long movie worth watching? Well to begin with, let me review the story:

Story: 2.5/5
The story of Avatar is very linear, there is nothing different compared to the standard Hollywood blockbuster plot. You have a good guy, and a very bad guy. The story of Avatar is set in the future, where human beings are mining a strange alien planet. Human can't breath the air on this planet (called Pandora), so the only way for human to survive on the planet is to create avatars of themsevles in the form of Pandorans, it is a mix of genes between the humans and the pandorans and can be controlled by humans through some mind reading machine. The main character of the movie controlled the avatar of himself and become an undercover guy for the humans to find the Pandorans' secrets. Then he fell in love with a Pandoran girl, and realized that the humans are the evil ones who will ultimate destroy everything on Pandora due to their greed. Well, the story is very straight and simple, no twists and turns and there are many inconsistencies in the plot. However, I do like the portrayal of the greedy side of human nature, in the movie it was shown that the greedy nature of human eventually (almost destroyed) Pandora, and finally the planet itself fought back against the destructions human are causing. The Bible said human are supposed to take care of earth, not abusing it. Today we are polluting the water, air and doing all sorts of harm that accelerate the global warming. I know people are saying that the end of the world can only come when Jesus comes back, but I also think that if we continue the way we are, someday our children will suffer the consequences of all the destruction of nature that we are doing right now.

Visual and video quality (4/5):
The 3D effects of the movie was really worth watching in the cinema, things flying in and out of the screeen and it is a immersive experience. However, the aliens looked a bit fake to me, as they look more like animated cartoon characters than real live action characters.

Sound effect (5/5):
The sound effect was really quite good, the sound of the jungle. etc.. it is very well done.


Final verdict: (3/5):
The Avatar is not good, but not a bad movie either. It is a blockbuster but hardly a classic at all. To be honest, personally I don't think it is worth 20 dollars to see this movie. I would say wait for the DVD release and rent it from the DVD stores.

Book review- Beowulf: An illustrated edition

Hi, this is my first book review on this blog. The book I am going to review is called: Beowulf-an illustrated edition translated by Seamus Heaney. The ISBN number is: 978039330106.

Book rating: 5/5 (Excellent)
Offensiveness: 0/5 (not offensive at all)

In 2007, director Robert Zemeckis relased his version of "Beowulf" in the form of an animated movie. The movie was visually spectacular with its use of 3D technology (I will review this movie at some later stage when I have time). It was a blockbuster, however many critics heavily critizied the film and accused the film for deviating storyline from the original Beowulf story.

Here I am going to say, if you have watched the movie and thought it was bad, I agree 100% with you. However, on the other hand, if you have never read Beowulf, then I would say it's time to pick up a copy of the translation of Beowulf.

Beowulf, is one of the oldest surviving heoric epic poem written in old English. The scholars have estimated that the poem was probably composed somewhere between the 7th century to the end of the 10th century. In a language that is known as "Anglo-Saxon" or "Old English". Apparently this 3000+ line epic poem was often sung by bards at travellers' joints in ancient times, and when sung in its original language, it is full of rhymes and is melodic. However,
now days unless you are some Old English scholar, the chances are that you will be reading a translated version. The problem is, according to Howell D. Chickering, JR. a professor at language and literature at Amherst College, he said no matter how well the modern day translation might be, can never make all or most of its poetry come across, and a lot of its richness and meaning are lost in the translation.

So what is so great about Beowulf? Besides its historical and literal values, Beowulf has an awesome story! In the Beowulf story, not only is Beowulf a hero with the strength of 30men, but he is also an honourable character who is God fearing, and God praising. Many have specluated that Beowulf was composed by a Christian monk in the 8th century. So how good is this? The earliest fantasy fiction story in history turns out to be something that was aimed to glorified God! Also the story of Beowulf is pretty epic, and action packed with thrilling moments. I mean, Beowulf fights a troll in the beginning, then fights and decapitated a sea hag, which was the troll's mother, and finally fought, killed but died in an epic battle against a fire breathing dragon. How epic is that! Another interesting thing is that by reading Beowulf, you can get an insight into the early Christian culture amongst the Danes and the Swedes in those ancient times. Furthermore, I can only guess that many fantasy novels we have today all have elements of Beowulf in them, almost like a DNA for all fantasy novels. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien probably used a few elements in Beowulf besides themes from the Norse and Icelandic saga.

Since you can only buy translated Beowulf from bookstores, which one is the best? Well, personally I own three different translations:

1) Burton Raffel's translation - this is almost like the prose translation, very readable and easy to understand, but the degree of poetry in translation is.. well minimal.

2) Howell, D. Chickering, JR. version, this is a dual language edition book, where he presented the original Anglo Saxon language versus his line by line translation. Some have claimed that this is the best translation you can get compared to the original. However, I found the translation a bit hard to read through, only recommended to die hard fans of Beowulf.

3) The Seamus Heaney's version, which is the version I am reviewing here. This book has beautifu illustrations, often photos on artifacts or antiques from the era. The papers used in the book are of very high quality. The translation is readable, yet retains most of the elements of poetry, and I would recommend this book if you are interested in finding out more about Beowulf, and a good book to have.

It's getting late now and I should go to bed, but if you like fantasy, this is the great-great-great...grandfather of all fantasy fiction stuff, so don't miss it. Also, if you are into literature, poetry, or has geniune interest in nordic history, then this is defintely the must read for you as well. Finally, like I said before, Beowulf contains a lot of direct biblical references there should be nothing in the poem that should offend you as a Christian, so go ahead and knock yourself out as you embrace this historically important poem packed with action and excitment!