Dust

Rating:
Summary: Exicting and eye opening and worst of all PLAUSIBLE!
Review: I was impressed with the way such a wide scale crisis could be boiled down to the most relevent aspects, yet presented as a story with no feeling of missing pieces. This is a truely disturbing book due to the feeling of "This could happen"

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking but not really mainstream material
Review: Right on the nail! So in tune with what could possibly represent our future as a society that it's truly frightening! Pellegrino does an excellent job of bashing all hope for his characters until the very end. So well researched it'll daze and confuse you into wondering which aspects are real and which strategically planted by the author. But there is a very gaping flaw in Pellegrino's approach. All the scientific babble reads more like a dissertation than a novel composed primarily for a mainstream audience. I am sure readers simply searching for a thought provoking thriller will leave feeling a bit short changed somewhere amidst the all too bountiful scientific vocabulary terms that seem to run on endlessly page after page. In other words, the editor could've done a better job in cutting out uneventful excerpts instead of letting Pellegrino's "scientist within" run free range all over the place. CONCLUSION: If you can force a bored mind to plod through the parts where Pellegrino is allowed to rattle on repeatedly about the evolution of a species or the genetic make-up of prions going around about so many times in such a way as to make a person dizzy instead of simply getting "straight to the point", then the rest is worth the headache! Otherwise, "Dust" might turn you to dust before you ever find it worth finishing.

Rating:
Summary: Scared the bejeezus out of me!
Review: Wonderful book! One of the best things about the plot is that it could, might, actually happen!

Rating:
Summary: Dust is a bust.
Review: The cover and author's name caught my eye in a bookstore. Having read Pellegrino's excellent "Her Name, Titanic," I looked forward to reading "Dust." I bought it without a second thought. Mistake! The book is filled with wooden characters, repetitious dialogue and every ridiculous cliché imaginable. Badly in need of editing and shortening. I find it impossible to read this book for any length of time. I already read three others while "Dust" collected dust on my bookshelf. This is a book that tempts me to skip whole chapters...the only problem is I am afraid to miss an important twist in the plot. Too late do I realize I did not miss a thing and should have skipped the chapters. I still haven't finished it...maybe I will, maybe I won't. Perhaps I will wait for the movie (if they make one), rent it and fast forward to the end. "Dust" is a bust.

Rating:
Summary: Pompous, preachy, an un-thrilling thriller
Review: A tedious examination of a totally implasible scenario resulting in the end of "life as we know it". Uninteresting characters spend endless pages discussing the philosophical and metaphysical reasons behind and implications of an occurrance that would certainly destroy the planet's current eco-system, but just could never happen. In addition, in the afterward, Pellegrino reiterates the urban legend regarding the death of Dr. Charles Drew, and claims it true. His poor fact checking further undermines any credibilty the science in this book may have ever had.

Rating:
Summary: Great premise but disappointing ending
Review: Terrifying, but completely acceptable end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book. Heavy on the science but fairly easy to understand. Moves along at a rapid pace and is great entertainment (but you will scratch a lot.) However, the ending seems pieced together from a bunch of B grade action movies. Be sure and read his Afterword.

Rating:
Summary: Great Science - Weak story
Review: Some great scientific theory mixed with weak characters and story. However it is recommended reading for the ideas put forward.

One question: Wouldn't it be possible to outrun a 'mote'?

Rating:
Summary: Earth on Edge
Review: A very chilling view of humanity's place in the universe...the bottom line is the Earth is not in danger, the ecology is not in danger, but humanity is in danger when the balance of nature is upset. What disturbed me in this tale though, is the idea that all our interference with the ecology had nothing to do with the insects dying off and the resulting plagues--it was just a regular blip. A blip that by all rights we really shouldn't be able to fix. As a result, there was too much going on in this book to give it five stars. But, I got the message, enjoyed "Dust" immensely and I'm searching for more books by this author. Also, this vegetarian just rescued a tiny ant in my kitchen and sent her outside--intact! My world view has evolved a little more, thanks to "Dust."

Rating:
Summary: Snowballing plot based on the scientifically possible
Review: This book started out kind of slow and uninteresting at first. I debated on continuing with the rest of the novel. But, once more of the foundation for this horrifying chain of events took place it became much more believable and enjoyable. Having interest as well as a bit of knowledge about scientific principles relating to the environment helped keep my interest as well. I was continually waiting to see what part of the earth's ecological web he was going to use next. I would reccomend this book to people who have an interest in ecology and to the "end of the world" buffs.

Rating:
Summary: Okay; not great, but okay
Review: The fact that the author quotes as truth the hackneyed and quite disproven urban legend about Dr. Charles Drew's death (supposedly he, the black man who made blood transfusions possible, died because a white hospital would not admit him after a car wreck and he bled to death) makes me wonder about some of his other premises. I agree that the characterizations are very weak and the people part of the book was uninteresting. But most of the scenerio is plausible and it's refreshing that someone else sees that while humans may not last, the world will keep right on ticking. Not worth reading twice, but maybe worth reading once.