Rating: 
Summary: Yet to be surpassed.
Review: Dune is easily the best book I have ever read. It is life changing on every level and awakens "the sleeper" in all of us. There is something here for everyone, but for me, it was the philosophical understanding that this book provides. It was, after all, written by an obvious genius. And even if you're not looking for this--it is still the BEST designed and plotted world and story that has yet been created--only comparable to Lord of the Rings--but so much deeper. Read this book--it will change your life. And for those out there who put a bad light on the other 5 sequels--please discontinue trashing some of the best books ever written, especially since you don't understand them. These books aren't for dopes. He wasn't beating a dead horse with them--he was merely taking his audience to another level--most notably with books 2 and 4: Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune. Dune was merely opening the window into Herbert's genius--preparing his readers for his more intense writing, but still, with the same flair, style and depth of story that most authors strive at. If you're looking for the best example of what Speculative Fiction has to offer, Herbert is your man. As for the art of world building-he practically created it. 99% of all genius is imagination. Yours,
R.R.
Rating:
Summary: Yet to be surpassed.
Review: Dune is easily the best book I have ever read. It is life changing on every level and awakens "the sleeper" in all of us. There is something here for everyone, but for me, it was the philosophical understanding that this book provides. It was, after all, written by an obvious genius. And even if you're not looking for this, it is still the BEST designed and plotted world and story that has yet been created, only comparable to Lord of the Rings--but so much deeper. Read this book. It will change your life. And for those out there who put a bad light on the other 5 sequels: please discontinue trashing some of the best books ever written, especially since you don't understand them. These books aren't for dopes. He wasn't beating a dead horse with them--he was merely taking his audience to another level. Most notably with books 2 and 4: Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune. Dune was merely opening the window into Herbert's genius--preparing his readers for his more intense writing, but still, with the same flair, style and depth of story that most authors strive at. If you're looking for the best example of what Speculative Fiction has to offer, Herbert is your man. As for the art of world building, he practically created it. 99% of all genius is imagination. Yours,
R.R.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: The best way I can describe Dune is that it takes the political and strategical elements of the latest books in the Ender series (Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets) and takes them even further in depth, all the while being supported by an incredible plot. The emphasis put on the importance of every little action affecting the overall outcome helps to paint a beautiful and intricate picture for the reader. The depth of this world is amazing, Herbert creates an entire alien culture better than any I have ever found. He has even made an entire ecosystem with everything having a purpose and explanation. This novel does not disappoint in the least and I recommend it to any sci-fi book reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book, but.....
Review: Dune is a great book, the problem however is with this edition. There are several obvious spelling errors, and at least twice i've seen whole lines repeated twice in a row. Try a different editon.
Rating:
Summary: A Prophet awakens, a cosmic Jihad begins.
Review: One of the most intricate and challenging books of my experience. I can read it again 30 years later and see meanings and references that I never saw before. A book that can be read at many levels. This is the story of the far, far future. It is a universe where man has conquered space and colonised an Empire of many worlds. Yet, it is an Empire ruled in the ancient corrupt pattern- brutality, greed, fear, and Byzantine game playing. An Emperor rules, playing great family against great family. Secret societies play their own intricate games in the shadows. It is all the more terrifying because men have long since rid themselves of thinking machines (the Butlerian Jihad) and instead unlocked human mental potential to become far more than mere machines could ever be. Yet these gifts are still used in a vast dark, medieval web. Inspite of the intrigues, the wars, the assassinations, it is a narrow and stagnant society. Enter Paul Atreides, scion of House Atreides. We see Paul grow from boy, to man, to more than man. In Paul we see the result of ninety generations of selective breeding to produce the ultimate in human development- the Kwisatz Haderach, a being capable of stepping outside of space-time itself to see all aspects of past and future in the eternal NOW. Yet Paul has not awakened to his potential. It takes his being plunged into the heart of the hell-planet Dune to awaken him. Here among the wild and honorable Fremen of the planet-wide desert he is tranformed into the warrior prophet long awaited- Muad'Dib. Even the Emperor and his elite killers learn to tremble in fear, for the prophet has the strength of righteousness and heaven smiles upon him. It is time for cleansing Jihad to wash over the stars themselves....
Rating:
Summary: Dune is a epic piece of Sci-Fi
Review: To put it shortly this is one of those books that anyone who is seriously into Sci-Fi needs to read. The way Frank Herbert uses and mixes in religion, science and politics is just something you must behold and witness on your own. Frank Herbert creates not just a world to travel in but also a universe to wonder about and contemplate about as well. His characters are all solid and very real. Their thoughts, emotions, and motives are so well intertwined into this story that it baffles the mind how one man can come up with such a masterpiece of Sci-Fi lore.
Rating:
Summary: middle east analogies
Review: I am sure that I not the first reader to see anologies in the first dune book to potential developments in the middle east References to jihad and mahdi ( and Maud dib ) and the struggle of the technologically ill equiped but religeously motivated population against the invading forces using overpowering , but sometimes innapropriate weaponery have strong echoes I am not comparing the allied forces to the Harkonnen , but the precedents are a warning to avoid long term emersion in a dangerous situation This book will continue to be on most peoples must read list as the concepts are still as true today as when they were written I also thought the orignal film a brave try at a difficult to film book and I loved " Sting " as Feyd
Rating:
Summary: It's worth ten times its weight of water!
Review: Without a doubt Dune is one of the strongest sci-fi books I have ever read. Infact, I should have read it sooner. The book was written way before I was born but it is only when someone presented it to me as a gift that I decided to read it. I believed that after seeing the movie adaptation by David Lynch the book will not be as interesting. I was wrong.
In addition, I have played every computer game in the Dune series. After reading the book I have noticed some subtle roots of computer game story and design I have not noticed before.
Without contemplating any longer, I went out and bought the two sequels. I can't wait to finish them. There is something amazing about Frank Herbert's writing. It is so rich, so deep, so dense with thought that I find it to be a jewel among thoughtless sci-fi of today. Dune was written in sixties but it still blows away the sci-fi world of today.
Rating:
Summary: It just doesn't get any better then this
Review: This book rocks. It was really enjoyable. This is one of the deepest series of sociological science fiction of ever read. This book grabs you and pulls you straight through. However, you read the appendicies first including the glossary. It really helps to make the book more engrossing.
Rating:
Summary: Readable. Re-readable. A sci-fi classic.
Review: Like many great books, "Dune" can be understood on many levels. On the surface, it is great Science Fiction, introducing a complex world of intrigue and imagination. On another, it is a religious novel -- a comparison between Catholicism and Islam, and the uniting of both of those religions through a future messiah. It is good literature, with complex characters representing the classic heroic and diabolical archetypes. Finally, you can relate to the characters -- especially Paul, who grows from boy to man to something much more complex -- right before your eyes. Well worth reading. And re-reading.
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