Rating: 
Summary: An engaging read, despite its flaws.
Review: Maybe 3.5 stars, actually...I won't bother to review the plot itself, as I'm sure you can get the gist from previous reviews. I wasn't sure I was actually going to read "The HAB Theory." I had it laying around for a while then decided to give the first chapter a shot. It quickly grabbed my attention and before I knew it I was 80 pages in. Eckert's style in this book is a bit long-winded, but I think that adds to the realism. Great care is taken to describe every detail of each scene, such as the characters sipping coffee between dialogue, or the details of operator assisted phone calls the characters must make. It takes about 150 pages before the HAB Theory itself is even discussed. Also, some of the speech is rather stilted, like everyone is a proper British gentleman. John Grant's son even used the word, "Jiminy!" at one point. The book drags a bit in the last half, with lots of long conversations and speeches, full of much science and history talk. Despite all this, Eckert pulled me right along. I think it was the antici......pation of what may come. The book, published in 1976, is quite dated in certain aspects, but I think this is somewhat charming. Though the time is never stated, from clues I'm guessing the story takes place around the year 2000. The characters definitely could have benefitted from cell phones and CD-ROMs (instead of phone booths and microfilm, as in the story). All the characters are reasonably interesting. Even the subplot involving the emotional stuggles of John Grant's wife and, ahem, his girlfriend is compelling. Those two women have issues, I'll tell you what. Poor old Herbert Allen Boardman (after whom the theory is named) is a sympathetic character despite shooting the president. The U.S. President himself is a likable guy and so is the president of Kenya and his family, who play an increasingly important role throughout the story. The novel has a fairly large cast, but not unmanagably large. As for the science of the HAB Theory, it smacks of the misdirections and vagaries of creationism or UFO conspiracies to me (no, neither of those are directly involved), but I was willing to suspend my disbelief for purposes of reading the novel. But Maybe one day I'll eat my words... A bit long-winded and unbelievable...some readers might be bored, but I recommend giving it a shot.
Rating: 
Summary: The HAB Theory: The Novel of Verisimilitude
Review: Most people who have read The HAB Theory remember it even years later. The reason most often given is its subject matter: that the earth is subject to a capsizing of the polar ice caps every six or seven thousand years. Such readers are entranced by the many loose historical, geological, and biblical ends that its author, Alan Eckert, has so convincingly tied up. Even I, when I first read it back in the 70's became a convert. I checked upon the historical references in the book, and found out that most of them were either literally true or close enough so that what I was reading seemed to be incontestably true. Eckert's description of the ancient maps which showed Antartica as ice-free, his mention of the Peruvian and Chinese oval discs which suggest the existence of a pair of antediluvian civilizations, his analysis of numerous Biblical events all lend credence to the core belief that this planet has been long overdue for a capsizing. Yet,I quibble. There is nothing concrete that I can bring forth to refute him, nor perhaps do I wish to. I might add though that the recent glacial warming that is currently reducing the sizes of the two polar ice caps (the caps must grow for the tipping to occur), seem to suggest that our planet must have had numerous warming periods lasting many millenia, thus negating the tipping factor.
I reread the book recently, and found it as gripping as ever. The love scenes between the hero John Grant and his wife and mistress were clumsy and irritating. Eckert is at his best when he sticks to the hard scientific give and go dialogue which really carries the book. If the earth ever really does tip over, I hope that when it does, I will be lucky enough to be at one of the two pivotal points. Probably not,though.
Rating:
Summary: This Is The Best Book I Own!
Review: ...This book is without doubt the best book I own. The story leaves you thinking it could really be true! Who knows, it just may be true. Honestly, the hype is warranted BUY THIS BOOK!
Read the book then do your own research, it could become something of an obsesion...
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