false 234225 88 This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence. <p> The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium. <p> <i>Dune</i> is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. <I>--Brooks Peck</I> 3634639 book 1965 Dune (Dune Chronicles 1) total:47770|5:21253|4:13692|3:8139|2:2802|1:1884| 47770 192938 61533 2260 4 39 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1970 Thu Nov 20 06:09:14 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 20 07:16:04 -0700 2009 5 Don Quixote, many centuries after Cervantes. He publishes a novel with the same title, containing the same words in the same order. But, as Borges shows you, the different cultural context means it's a completely new book! W...more...]]> 5 17 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1984 Mon Jun 02 06:54:06 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 09:13:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 20 false false Sun May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 09:09:27 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 21:08:29 -0700 2009 10,191 Dune sitting on his bedside table. Finding it there was like a revelation to me, like the sort of experience only Taoists and Catholic philosophers have a name. He was nearly 70 years older than me, a teetotaler, a hymn singer and dramatist in the Celt...more...]]> 5 7 false false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Fri Sep 28 20:08:34 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 14 09:22:12 -0700 2008 5-6
Dune was Frank Herbert's imagination breathed into the pages of a single book. He wrote numerous others to follow it, all of which continue to explore and flesh out the world he introduced us to in this, the fi...more...]]> 5 7 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 25 13:04:51 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 25 13:04:51 -0700 2007 Dune. I can’t put my finger on exactly why I hadn’t read it; although, I do have a nebulous memory of picking it up and not being able to get in to it. I know for a fact that I’d read the closing line previously, which is something I never do prior to reading a book; so that i...more...]]> 2 9 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jun 24 23:28:28 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 24 23:39:58 -0700 2007 Dune. It laid the foundations for a great deal of the themes and constructs in modern science fiction. Frank Herbert was as important to the genre as Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke. Unfortunately, just like them, he's quite dated, and his books can be a labor to re...more...]]> 5 10 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Mon Feb 05 09:38:13 -0800 2007 Sun Jul 29 12:06:29 -0700 2007
Dune isn't a light, enjoyable read. At times it reads more like excerpts from geology, ecology, zoology, sociology, pscyhology, and political textbooks. The characters are ...more...]]> 5 5 false false Fri May 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 14:43:47 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 18:19:57 -0700 2008 Dune
Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1965
pp. 483 (without appendices and glossary), 539 (with app. and glos.), unpriced
ISBN: N/A

Commonly billed as the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, Dune, an expansive tale of intrigue, religio...more...]]> 2 4 false false Thu Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 22:41:55 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 29 00:00:34 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 5 false false Tue Feb 05 00:21:07 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 18:14:25 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Thu Aug 23 09:56:11 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 11 12:09:44 -0700 2007 ...more...]]> 4 7 false false Fri Jun 01 19:11:54 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 19:21:31 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 5 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Fri Jun 01 16:25:40 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 21:26:17 -0700 2007
I had the pleasure or reading Dune when I was fifteen, the same age as its protagonist, Paul Atreides. At fifteen, Paul is the son of Duke Atreides, who has been sent by the ...more...]]> 4 3 false false Tue Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 06:36:48 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 06:47:15 -0800 2008
Years later, of course, when I knew something more about politics, religion, science and life...more...]]> 4 4 false false Sat Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 22 00:08:50 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 13 17:55:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Mar 03 11:15:04 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 11:50:09 -0800 2009
This grand sprawling book has a lot to offer: genetic engineer witches, religion as premeditated social engineering, amazing heroic islamists -- I m...more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Mar 09 09:12:31 -0700 2009 Mon Feb 23 10:49:08 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 09 09:12:31 -0700 2009 Dune, the novel, retains its 4+ stars in my heavens. This audio version gets the lesser rating because of deficiencies in presentation.

The good side of the CD is that, as happened while listening to Tolkien's The Silmarillion, I heard a lot of things I had missed or glo...more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Jul 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 09:35:09 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 12:20:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Jul 09 11:30:25 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 09 11:38:36 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Apr 09 10:01:43 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 09 10:13:38 -0700 2007 more...]]>