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14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Plodding, poorly written, and boring to the end...if you get that far Aug 30, 2007
By Jasper T.
"Spectral Swedborgian"
First off, note that of the dozen or so reviews on this book that give it five stars, three of them are by the same person, Juan Alaniz, and are virtual duplications of each other; four of those remaining are by anonymous "Readers" whose comments are all stylistically the same and which all parrot the same language used on Mr. Kimmel's website to describe the book. For instance, from his site:
"Discover how extraplanetary beings see our world, how they see us. Discover the messages that ETs are giving to those Earth-humans with whom they interact. Discover the truth behind the mysteries of universe organization and life after death. See the uplifting messages about the transformation of our planet, what our planet could become."
Now the comments from "A Reader":
"This wonderfully written adventure provides an excellent opportunity to transform your own thinking into a more friendly, loving, and truth knowing being. It will wake you up to what's really going on in our government and media making you wonder who's really in control. The story gives the reader a better understanding of our planet's desparate state of affairs and the higher intelligences that graciously help keep us from destroying our planet."
If you can't see the similarity of style if not choice of phrases, etc., then you aren't reading very carefully.
I've heard Mr. Kimmel speak, and I've visited his website. He tells the same tired few stories over and over again. He started off as a successful venture capitalist and was one of the inventors of the modern credit card. The father of a girl he was dating once took him into his study and showed him a copy of "Project Blue Book" which "may" have contained information missing (read here, removed) from the current Blue Book reports released for public consumption. Then, a buddy confided in him that "they just found a base on the back of the moon!". Mr. Kimmel promptly forgot this little event, and, in fact, seems to have been utterly oblivious to the import of his girlfriend's father's revelation. Not letting either of these events' significance sink in at the time, he suddenly and mystically gets things in gear, tosses off his former venture capitalist life, and takes up a new life filled with ET excitement including near constant interaction with others who claim they have communications with various and sundry forms of non-terrestrial, intelligent life forms.
Why is this short biography relevant? Because the plot of the book Trillion is merely a retelling of these same few stories Mr. Kimmel gives everywhere he speaks or anywhere you can find something online written by or about him. The protagonist, Ryan Drake, is a thinly veiled representation of Mr. Kimmel himself...OK, that's giving it too much literary credit... Ryan Drake is a carbon copy of everything Mr. Kimmel says about himself. If you've heard him tell his few stories then you already know about everything there is to know about Trillion's hero.
The book's entire plot can be summarized very succinctly: Ryan Drake meets ETs. Ryan Drake leaves his world behind and goes off to intermingle with ETs. Ryan Drake introduces ETs to some other people. Each of them leaves his or her world behind and runs off to commune with ETs. Ryan Drake introduces ETs to still more people. They leave their worlds behind and join him. Ryan Drake goes on a long car ride, introduces the ETs to a few more people and they leave their worlds behind..... If you're waiting for me to throw in something different; something new, such as a real plot twist or some kind of substantive content of any kind, welcome to my world. That's exactly how I felt as I read the book. I kept waiting for SOME kind of plot to develop. Something. Anything... It never did. The only thing of note that happens in this book is that everyone who gets exposed to Drake and his ET friends ends up joining the cause and becoming yet another missionary going out and collecting still more people to join the cause. It's like the Mormon or the Jehovah's Witness missionary efforts on steroids, except that Drake seldom meets anyone who won't join his cause once he tells them what it is.
Mr. Kimmel's real life message is this: There are non-terrestrial intelligences involved in our world who would like to assist us in cleaning planet Earth up and in helping us help ourselves. There! You've just been spared from reading a couple of hundred pages of that same message being stated over and over and over again. OK, Mr. Kimmel, we get your point. But a single idea does not make an entire novel; at least not one that is compelling and interesting to read.
I will be brutally honest. I bought both Trillion and the sequel, Decimal together. I forced myself to read through most of Trillion but alas, Mr. Kimmel should have stuck to venture capitalism and restricted his writing to making notes in his own daily journal. Or at least he should have hired a competent ghost writer; someone who had even a smattering of knowledge about character development, plot structuring... even just plain old good story telling. There is none of that to be found in Trillion. It is plodding, boring, monotonous, repetitive, predictable (because it simply keeps repeating itself ad nauseum,) and written as though by someone with only grade school level knowledge of the craft of writing fiction. I tried. I really, really tried, but I could not force myself to finish the book. There was just nothing there worth reading. As for the sequel, Decimal, it sits gathering dust on my bookshelf. It's never even been opened for a cursory perusal. Trillion is so bad, all I can think of to do with both books is pray I get invited to a white elephant party at some point because, boy, do I have a couple of white elephants I'm going to get rid of if I do. Trillion is THAT bad.
If you want to read interesting fiction that blends true fiction with what some consider to be factual accounts, stick to the writings of someone like Whitley Strieber. He, at least, can write, even if one does not accept everything Mr. Strieber believes or says he's experienced as being purely factual. If you like your UFO reading based more on the factual side, then read some of Nick Redfern's work. But stay away from Trillion.
I have no axe to grind with Mr. Kimmel. His basic philosophy is one that is worth thinking about a little, though you could get much more detail from reading the Urantia Book. That is, by the way, the source of Mr. Kimmel's ET philosophy. A little research on Mr. Kimmel's past reveals that he discovered the Urantia Book and, presto! he was a convert. Everything after that was just his little spin on Urantia's ideas.
I genuinely wish I could end this review saying something positive about Trillion. About all I can honestly come up with is...it's under $20, and, it ended...eventually...at least it would have, if I could have forced myself to wade through the last chapter or two.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 ABSOLUTELY THE BEST YET THRILLER IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S GOING ON IN OUR UNIVERSE!! May 08, 2006
By Margaret C. Jacob
"grail buff"
If you're interested, as most people are, in Who You Really Are, How our world fits into the UNIVERSE, and what should be encouraged next to have better people within a nicer world, This book and it's sequels, Decimal, and then Creating the Cosmic Paradigm, is for you!!!! It sheds light on how the dark, controlling forces of our world can be encouraged to be changed for the good. . . with a little bit (a lot) of help from our extraterrestrial, intraterrestrial and celestial friends!!! It is a novel, but based on lots of currently provable truths, from Dr. Steven Greer's books like DISCLOSURE, from Jim Marrs and David Wilcock's books. As good as THE DAVINCI CODE, but in current time!!!!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great ideas Dec 28, 2010
By Anthony J. Steventon
I really enjoyed reading this book. The ideas and concepts are VERY interesting. The reason for the 3 stars instead of 4 or 5 is due to the fact that the writing itself needs improvement. The ideas presented are better than the prose, and I am hoping that Kimmel's other books see improvement in that area. I would recommend this to friends.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 "Humanity must step up and take charge if its destiny" Oct 31, 2002
-Robert S. McNamera. Quote is from chapter five of Trillion. Highlights
Rogue INS agents bent on the destruction of alien contacts and those they have come into contact with; spectacular remote viewing induced journeys; high desert pursuit; secret business deals involving the dark agenda of a wealthy, elitist insider; trust building interactions between species; also discover high risk-taking 'travelers' who have come to educate human beings, to teach them life enhancing lessons from their progressive home world, who's purpose is to introduce - one person at a time, if need requires - methods on how to create and sustain a more abundant, viable future. These 'people' from another world literally give up their home planet, and their families, sacrificing it all on a one way trip traversing vast space to our modern hurting world. Enjoy verbal sojourns in Trillion that literally take you in the minds eye to the extra-terrestrial's home world, allowing you to view their culture as well as the local evolving galaxies. These are just a few of the finely crafted themes that run throughout Trillion. I recommend this book as a very compelling argument for peaceful 'teachers' that clearly defines the contemporary players involved in the extra-terrestrial field of uncommon reality. With Trillion, Mark Kimmel demonstrates his understanding of the issues and implications underlying contact between mankind and ET. He sets the needed tone for the opposing view of ETs - that of peaceful, yet fallible, and highly advanced, enlightened beings - which fortunately runs contrary to the negative characterizations of a major sample of the usual world attacking or genetic alteration/abduction stories written on the subject. Think good aliens this time! I give the book a rating of 4.5 out 5. If it had been more fully developed (longer to develop the filial relationships of the characters) I may have enjoyed it even more. But then, my guess is that a much larger story line was trimmed down to make this spirited, highly inspiring and insightful story a more accessible read.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
WOW!!! This book delivers. Aug 16, 2002
By Nick Curto
A MUST READ! This amazing new book by Mark Kimmel addresses the much larger purpose of our lives on this planet. I has "URANTIA BOOK" thinking in it too that makes the story sail higher and higher. I thought that the descriptions of the desert were first rate and let the reader feel the very soul of the desert environment! The story is exciting, moving, uplifting, and gives the reader excellent new info along the way. This book calls for a sequel! (It would also make an excellent film.)
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