Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Too ambitious
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 20/09/2019
» We are told as children that we must have ambition to make something of ourselves. What we aren't told is that it must have its limits. To be sure, most people are too lazy to make the effort needed to fulfil it. They figure that just getting along is enough. Anyway, they tell themselves that the odds are stacked against them. That those who succeeded did so by cheating or were just lucky.
The end is nigh
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 28/03/2019
» It has been determined that we've been around for 4.5 billion years, Earth the only habitable planet in the solar system.
Choosing sides
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/12/2017
» Not long ago a historian calculated that throughout human history there has been a total of fewer than 25 years of peace. There were wars somewhere on the planet the rest of the time. The clear meaning is that homo sapiens are a violent, bloodthirsty lot.
The enemy is them
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 06/10/2017
» Yank seafarer and treasure hunter Clive Cussler is a prolific author of adventure stories, several co-authored. His series include Dirk Pitt, Sam and Remi Fargo, Isaac Bell, Kurt Austin and The Oregon Files. To his credit they are all popular. Dirk Pitt perhaps the most.
A force of nature
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 28/09/2017
» Lee Child was a passable British author when he decided to try his luck in the States. It was a fortuitous decision. While the US doesn't lack detective thriller writers, he proved better than most.
Too good to be true
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 01/02/2016
» Yank oceanographer Clive Cussler, on his own and with co-authors, has been penning adventure stories for decades -- all about the sea, and dry land to an extent. In his own boat, the author employs old maps to search for centuries-sunk ships. He's not a treasure-hunter, handing over the doubloons and other items he stumbles across to the proper authorities.
Now what?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 23/06/2014
» Whether created in seven days, according to the Good Book, or in seven billion years, according to astronomers, it is generally agreed that the time will come when Earth is no more. “The end is nigh!” has long been a standing joke, but no longer elicits universal laughter.
The Preacher vs the Tracker
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 09/06/2014
» In times of war, those we are fighting are our foes and the enemies of all mankind. We can’t excoriate them enough. But in times of peace, which bogeymen do we direct our fear and hatred at? In the cinema, it is aliens from other galaxies and creatures from beneath the earth. Novelists turn to the mass media and find that they have three choices: Muslim terrorists; Somali pirates; Russia’s expansionist activities. To be sure, each is dangerous in the short and long run. Writers whose plots contain two of the three deserve a gold star. A brickbat to those who throw in one to spice up their dull stories.
A high flyer
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/04/2014
» A US naval air combat veteran, Stephen Coonts turned his training and experience into successful literary thrillers. Unlike Tom Clancy, who never went to war, his detailed descriptions of weapons and armaments are based on first-hand use. His knowledge of planes, from the earliest flying machine, is unsurpassed.
Twists and turns galore
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 10/12/2012
» Novels are stories, it being the responsibility of the tellers to make them interesting. Some succeed, many fail. The best are fascinating, the worst boring. As important as the story is the way it's told. If told well, seriously or humorously, you want to hear it to the end. If not you yawn, your mind wandering.