The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Started by Unbeliever, April 25, 2017, 07:55:14 PM

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Unbeliever

This is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read! As soon as I finished it, I started right over at the beginning, and read it again.

Have you ever considered what it would be like if you could return to your childhood with all the knowledge and memories you have now? I bet most of us have wondered something similar - but Harry actually does just that. He goes on a wild ride through time - again and again. But he's not alone, there are quite a few others that are like him, called kalachakras, or Ouroborans. When a message comes from the future - they can pass information backward (and forward) through time by a most clever means - he finds that someone of their kind is doing that which is forbidden to them, and the result is that the world will be ending sooner than it should.


Here's the wiki:

QuoteHarry August was born in the women's washroom of Berwick-upon-Tweed station in 1919, leads an unremarkable life and dies in hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1989. He then finds himself born again back in 1919 in the same circumstances, gaining the knowledge of his earlier life at an early age. He is an 'Ouroboran' or 'Kalachakra' and is destined to be reborn again and again. He is not alone and is soon contacted by the 'Cronus Club', an organization of similarly affected members, who look after him in subsequent lives. But Harry is rare in that he is also a 'Mnemonic' and can remember everything from his previous lives. Then as the end of his eleventh life approaches, a young girl Kalachakra gives him a message from the future for him to take back in time to his next birth, for problems lie ahead for mankind; and Harry finds himself at the centre of a battle, using his contacts and memories over several lifetimes to save the future from the mysterious and obsessive 'Vincent'.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Fifteen_Lives_of_Harry_August



I highly recommend this great book. Let me know if you read and like it.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Sorginak

#1
Of course I have.  I imagined the concept when I was a kid during the 80s. 

Mike Cl

Unbeliever, you recommend it and I will have to read it!  Right down my alley and yes, I've often wondered what it would be like to go back in time with my current knowledge.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

Quote from: Mike Cl on April 25, 2017, 10:15:06 PM
Unbeliever, you recommend it and I will have to read it!  Right down my alley and yes, I've often wondered what it would be like to go back in time with my current knowledge.

Pythagoras was the first Westerner to claim he knew his previous lives.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

But he wasn't talking about having lived the same life dozens of times. Harry and the other kalachakras always started over in exactly the same circumstances every time. Just think, you could get a PHD in every possible subject, and become a real renaissance man (or woman, as the case may be...)!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on April 26, 2017, 07:39:10 PM
But he wasn't talking about having lived the same life dozens of times. Harry and the other kalachakras always started over in exactly the same circumstances every time. Just think, you could get a PHD in every possible subject, and become a real renaissance man (or woman, as the case may be...)!

So was that a borrowing from Nietzsche or vice versa?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

I have consciously thought about "if I relived my life" many times.  A frequent part of dreamtime too.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on April 30, 2017, 07:23:44 AM
I have consciously thought about "if I relived my life" many times.  A frequent part of dreamtime too.

I am more progressive than you, I am dead and gone already ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

If a book or a movie involves time travel, count me in.  I even have a "Time Travel" category in my movie library.  There are so many fascinating scenarios that can be delved into.  I thought I'd heard them all, but every once in a while, some writer comes along with a new "what if" scenario, that I haven't thought of before.  Now I'm thinking creative writers are still just scratching the surface of things to consider about time travel.

SGOS

I just ordered it.  Didn't even read the reviews or wiki link.  Hell, it's time travel.

Mike Cl

Quote from: SGOS on April 30, 2017, 01:43:29 PM
I just ordered it.  Didn't even read the reviews or wiki link.  Hell, it's time travel.
Have your read A Door Into Summer or Farnham's Freehold?  Both have time travel and were written by Heinlein.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Unbeliever

Quote from: SGOS on April 30, 2017, 01:35:53 PM
If a book or a movie involves time travel, count me in.  I even have a "Time Travel" category in my movie library.  There are so many fascinating scenarios that can be delved into.  I thought I'd heard them all, but every once in a while, some writer comes along with a new "what if" scenario, that I haven't thought of before.  Now I'm thinking creative writers are still just scratching the surface of things to consider about time travel.
Have you ever come across a book called The Last Legends of Earth? There's some time-travel stuff in it, and it was a fun read, too. Another book that I can highly recommend, and another that I read twice back to back. I haven't yet read the rest of the tetrad, though; I will as soon as I can find it.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Cavebear

I wait for movies to show up on cable TV.  Any good time travel ones coming up there soon?
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Unbeliever

#13
I enjoy time-travel stories, too, very much. Here's one I recently read that was memorable:

The Time Traveler's Wife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_8WZxHScMk



Some of these time-travel tales can get really complex!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

SGOS

Quote from: Unbeliever on April 25, 2017, 07:55:14 PM
@Unbeliever
This is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read! As soon as I finished it, I started right over at the beginning, and read it again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Fifteen_Lives_of_Harry_August
I highly recommend this great book. Let me know if you read and like it.
Received the book today.  It took 11 days since being shipped on May 1, even though Amazon implied it was being shipped from Florida.  Instead, it arrived International Priority with a Royal Mail stamp from Great Britain.  I'm wondering if this doesn't have wide circulation in the US.  But I'm guessing it will.

I'm 50 pages in, and it grabbed my attention on the first page.  The writer uses an easy flowing style that avoids pretention, while creating a pleasant rhythm, an earmark of good writing in my opinion.  I know.  It's a strange thing to applaud, but it's something I always look for.  If I put a book down and a half an hour later, I can still play the rhythm in my head, I start taking as much interest in the writer as the content.  These are they writers I seek out for seconds. 

Claire North = Catherine Webb, also writes under the name Kate Griffin.  Why all the pen names?  Published her first book at the age of 14.  She must be having an identity crisis.  Author of books for young adults?  This book seems more adult that that, although it's been 15 years since she was 14.

At any rate, I'm expecting the book to be a satisfying experience.  I'll try and remember to comment again later.  So when's the movie coming out?