Link

Rating:
Summary: Good story. Bad science
Review: I enjoyed the story, but the author's insistence on pushing a Creationist agenda greatly detracted from it.

The main character is supposedly questioning established scientific theories, yet he not only misrepresents them, he shows a complete lack of understanding.

Bad physics. Misrepresents abiogenesis. Misrepresents evolution. Shows a complete lack of understanding of the Big Bang theory. Shows a complete lack of understanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

For an ignorant Fundie, this would be a great book. For everyone else, if you can stomach the pseudo-science, the story's not too bad.

Rating:
Summary: A Thumbs Up for Link
Review: If a great book contains heart-beating action, violence, love, interesting characters and a bit of the unknown then "Link" by Walt Becker is a great book. Link is one of the best books I have read in awhile. This book makes you start thinking and the action never stops. There are several climaxes that lead up to a final climax and the end only leaves you wanting to read it over again.

The whole point of this book is to answer the question: where did we come from if there has been no clear evolutionary link between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens? This is a question that the author Walt Becker seems to have been asking for awhile. But he has come up with a theory that we, modern humans, come from extraterrestrials as well as Homo erectus. Although this theory may seem far-fetched he weaves it into a story with facts from existing old documents and myths that by the end you are sure that it is true.

The main characters he weaves this theory into is Samantha Colby who is a paleoanthropologist- the study of and search for the keys to human history. And Jack Austin who was Samantha's ex-boyfriend/fiancé who has out of the world theories that had caused him to fall towards the bottom of the scientific food chain. But Jack's theory about "the source" of where modern humans came from are soon going to come true when Samantha finds a fossilized skeleton of something she had never seen before- an extraterrestrial and a mysterious isosceles triangular object that has Egyptian like hieroglyphs all over it.

This object is made entirely of an element not found on Earth and on the bottom within the triangle is made of 100% beryllium, which is found in the African country of Mali where they are. This object sends them on a wild chase to the ancient ruins of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia South America where they find the truth, action, violence and love. They find the truth through finding a compound in the ground made by the aliens. In this compound they found incredible technology that could change the world as we see it now, mummified aliens and the answers to long unanswered questions such as how prehistoric people were able to build the great pyramids of Egypt out of stones that weigh several tons. Even with the technology we have today we can't move them in one piece. This story's ending leaves you satisfied but wanting more.

This is the only book that Walt Becker has written and I very much hope that he write more books. This book is unlike the rest of those books who are about scientists because the scientists in Link actually believe that there is a God. And by going over the book again I found a quote that is in the very beginning but you won't get how it relates to the book until the end:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-

and also afterward-

when the sons of God went to the daughters of men

and had children by them.

They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

-Genesis 6:4

I would highly recommend this book to anyone but especially to those who are sci-fi lovers and the ones who like to think of the origins of humans in a new way.

Rating:
Summary: Movie, Please... :-)
Review: Let's see... what do I have to add? I actually read this about four years ago and its effect on my outlook on life is still apparent. Although a work of fiction there is a tremendous amount of historical, geological, and archeological fact lain as groundwork. Character development is somewhat lacking but it doesn't detract from the reader's enjoyment of the storyline (character dev. isn't what this book is about anyway...).

If you're looking for "depth", though, read "Forbidden Archeology" by by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson - one of the many works cited in the bibliography. None-the-less, I would encourage you to do your own research on the specific and verifiable references in the story. There is a reason that you do not hear much about this subject matter - because much of it cannot be explained such as the megaliths in Lebanon that cannot be moved much less lifted and megaliths and smaller stone incorporating laser precision cutting in Bolivia or the Dogon's seemingly impossible astronomical knowledge that dates back well over 5000 years OR... - I could go on and on and I don't want to give everything away! :-)

This is a fast-paced Indiana Jones/Lara Croft meets "The X-Files" thriller that will grab your attention from the first couple of pages until the last and have you salivating for more - I found it very difficult to put it down and cursed Becker for not including several hunderd more pages! There are some books that you wish they'd make movies of and this one was one of those for me. Yes, some may call this "shallow fun" but if I'd written a story in the 15th century (for example) about how we'd set foot on the moon I would have been beheaded or burnt at the stake for blasphemy (THOSE shallow morons...)!!! Hope you enjoy this quick read as much as I did!