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Selected Editions: Final Theory / The Various Flavours Of Coffee / Steve & Me / The Bone Garden
“It has often been said
there’s so much to be read,
you never can cram
all those words in your head.
So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads.
That's why my belief is
the briefer the brief is,
the greater the sigh
of the reader's relief is.
And that's why your books
have such power and strength.
You publish with shorth!
(Shorth is better than length.)”
there’s so much to be read,
you never can cram
all those words in your head.
So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads.
That's why my belief is
the briefer the brief is,
the greater the sigh
of the reader's relief is.
And that's why your books
have such power and strength.
You publish with shorth!
(Shorth is better than length.)”
573 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Mark Alpert
17 books195 followersMark Alpert, author of Final Theory, The Omega Theory, Extinction, The Furies, and The Six, is a contributing editor at Scientific American. In his long journalism career he has specialized in explaining scientific ideas to readers, simplifying esoteric concepts such as extra dimensions and parallel universes. And now, in his novels, Alpert weaves cutting-edge science into high-energy thrillers that elucidate real theories and technologies.
A lifelong science geek, Alpert majored in astrophysics at Princeton University and wrote his undergraduate thesis on the application of the theory of relativity to Flatland, a hypothetical universe with only two spatial dimensions. (The resulting paper was published in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation and has been cited in more than 100 scholarly articles.) After Princeton, Alpert entered the creative writing program at Columbia University, where he earned an M.F.A. in poetry in 1984. He started his journalism career as a small-town reporter for the Claremont (N.H.) Eagle Times, then moved on to the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. In 1987 he became a reporter for Fortune Magazine and over the next five years he wrote about the computer industry and emerging technologies. During the 1990s Alpert worked freelance, contributing articles to Popular Mechanics and writing anchor copy for CNN's Moneyline show. He also began to write fiction, selling his first short story ("My Life with Joanne Christiansen") to Playboy in 1991.
In 1998 Alpert joined the board of editors at Scientific American, where he edited feature articles for the magazine and wrote a column on exotic high-tech gadgets. With his love for science reawakened, he wrote his first novel, Final Theory, about Albert Einstein and the historic quest for the holy grail of physics, the Theory of Everything. Published by Touchstone in 2008, Final Theory was hailed as one of the best thrillers of the year by Booklist, Borders and the American Booksellers Association. Foreign rights to the novel were sold in more than twenty languages, and the movie rights were acquired by Radar Pictures, a Los Angeles production company. Alpert continued the saga of the Theory of Everything in his second book, The Omega Theory, a gripping story about religious fanatics who try to trigger Doomsday by altering the laws of quantum physics. His next thriller, Extinction, focused on brain-computer interfaces and a collective intelligence that decides to exterminate the human race. His fourth novel, The Furies, told the story of an ancient clan who share a genetic mutation so shocking that its discovery could change the course of history. And his first Young Adult novel, The Six, is about six dying teenagers whose lives are “saved” when their minds are downloaded into U.S. Army robots.
Alpert lives in Manhattan with his wife and two non-robotic teenagers. He's a proud member of Scientific American's softball team, the Big Bangers.
A lifelong science geek, Alpert majored in astrophysics at Princeton University and wrote his undergraduate thesis on the application of the theory of relativity to Flatland, a hypothetical universe with only two spatial dimensions. (The resulting paper was published in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation and has been cited in more than 100 scholarly articles.) After Princeton, Alpert entered the creative writing program at Columbia University, where he earned an M.F.A. in poetry in 1984. He started his journalism career as a small-town reporter for the Claremont (N.H.) Eagle Times, then moved on to the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. In 1987 he became a reporter for Fortune Magazine and over the next five years he wrote about the computer industry and emerging technologies. During the 1990s Alpert worked freelance, contributing articles to Popular Mechanics and writing anchor copy for CNN's Moneyline show. He also began to write fiction, selling his first short story ("My Life with Joanne Christiansen") to Playboy in 1991.
In 1998 Alpert joined the board of editors at Scientific American, where he edited feature articles for the magazine and wrote a column on exotic high-tech gadgets. With his love for science reawakened, he wrote his first novel, Final Theory, about Albert Einstein and the historic quest for the holy grail of physics, the Theory of Everything. Published by Touchstone in 2008, Final Theory was hailed as one of the best thrillers of the year by Booklist, Borders and the American Booksellers Association. Foreign rights to the novel were sold in more than twenty languages, and the movie rights were acquired by Radar Pictures, a Los Angeles production company. Alpert continued the saga of the Theory of Everything in his second book, The Omega Theory, a gripping story about religious fanatics who try to trigger Doomsday by altering the laws of quantum physics. His next thriller, Extinction, focused on brain-computer interfaces and a collective intelligence that decides to exterminate the human race. His fourth novel, The Furies, told the story of an ancient clan who share a genetic mutation so shocking that its discovery could change the course of history. And his first Young Adult novel, The Six, is about six dying teenagers whose lives are “saved” when their minds are downloaded into U.S. Army robots.
Alpert lives in Manhattan with his wife and two non-robotic teenagers. He's a proud member of Scientific American's softball team, the Big Bangers.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 30, 2016
Final Theory (4/5) - This was a fast paced thriller in which the main character is in a race against time with the FBI and a criminal. They all want Einstein's hidden final theory, kept hidden because it has the potential to be a very dangerous weapon. This involved a plot twist I just didn't see coming and I was finding it hard to drag myself away from the pages. Very good.
The Various Flavours Of Coffee (5/5) - Wow. I loved this book. It's been a while since I was sucked in like that. I could not put it down. It was a shame this was only the condensed version as I think I would have devoured the full one.
The main character Wallis is so very flawed, yet you can help but like him. I loved his relationship with Emily but didn't hate him when he fell in love with Fikre. The whole story was captivating and I loved that Emily turned out to be a suffragette, even if that did have a rather tragic end.
This book has also made me crave coffee, I personally prefer instant(okay you can stop being shocked now!). Coffee shops just never make it taste how I like it but I know I'm in the minority here!
I will be putting the rest of Anthony Capella's books on my wishlist, I can't wait to read more from him.
Steve & Me (5/5) - Although I knew of Steve Irwin I didn't really know much about him, apart from he was Australian and he hunted Crocodiles. I also didn't realise that he hunted Crocs to save them, I always thought he just used to wrestle them for tv entertainment. I remember when he died though, as my local Rock Club hosted a Steve Irwin night and I went as the nurse that would have saved him, had I been there.
This was a really sweet book about his life written by his wife Terri, you can tell how much she loves him in every page. They are so well suited and their relationship story is lovely. She describes the work they did together to help protect the animals and how they were always working towards that goal. They faced criticism from the media about how they raised their family but personally I think this was unfounded.
Even though I know this book would end with Steve's death, it was still heartbreaking to read. I was at work having lunch when I read this and was struggling to keep those tears in. A really heartwarming book that I couldn't put down.
The Bone Garden(4/5) - A historical fiction mystery mingled with the present day. Julia finds a human skull in her garden when she is digging one day, it's very old but it certainly wasn't a death from natural circumstances.
This book flashes back and tells the story of how the skull came to be there. It's a good story which also reminds us of horrible things that don't happen today. And I'm just talking about the medical technique! All those poor women who died from Childbed fever could have been easily avoided just by the Doctor washing his hands.
This has some interesting characters and is worth a read.
Overall - This was one of the best reader's Digest collections I've ever read. There is something here for everyone and I would recommend it.
The Various Flavours Of Coffee (5/5) - Wow. I loved this book. It's been a while since I was sucked in like that. I could not put it down. It was a shame this was only the condensed version as I think I would have devoured the full one.
The main character Wallis is so very flawed, yet you can help but like him. I loved his relationship with Emily but didn't hate him when he fell in love with Fikre. The whole story was captivating and I loved that Emily turned out to be a suffragette, even if that did have a rather tragic end.
This book has also made me crave coffee, I personally prefer instant(okay you can stop being shocked now!). Coffee shops just never make it taste how I like it but I know I'm in the minority here!
I will be putting the rest of Anthony Capella's books on my wishlist, I can't wait to read more from him.
Steve & Me (5/5) - Although I knew of Steve Irwin I didn't really know much about him, apart from he was Australian and he hunted Crocodiles. I also didn't realise that he hunted Crocs to save them, I always thought he just used to wrestle them for tv entertainment. I remember when he died though, as my local Rock Club hosted a Steve Irwin night and I went as the nurse that would have saved him, had I been there.
This was a really sweet book about his life written by his wife Terri, you can tell how much she loves him in every page. They are so well suited and their relationship story is lovely. She describes the work they did together to help protect the animals and how they were always working towards that goal. They faced criticism from the media about how they raised their family but personally I think this was unfounded.
Even though I know this book would end with Steve's death, it was still heartbreaking to read. I was at work having lunch when I read this and was struggling to keep those tears in. A really heartwarming book that I couldn't put down.
The Bone Garden(4/5) - A historical fiction mystery mingled with the present day. Julia finds a human skull in her garden when she is digging one day, it's very old but it certainly wasn't a death from natural circumstances.
This book flashes back and tells the story of how the skull came to be there. It's a good story which also reminds us of horrible things that don't happen today. And I'm just talking about the medical technique! All those poor women who died from Childbed fever could have been easily avoided just by the Doctor washing his hands.
This has some interesting characters and is worth a read.
Overall - This was one of the best reader's Digest collections I've ever read. There is something here for everyone and I would recommend it.
September 29, 2011
Can't remember how i got this collection. Was a bit sceptical about the first story so dilly-dallied on reading it but when i eventually started, loved every time spent!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews