Boy, this is as strange a book as Ballard has ever written. What an original and creative mind, to have produced "Empire of the Sun," "Crash," this book, and his 25 or so other novels, along with tons of reviews, stories, and articles.

The book is about a crack in the nature of space-time, which appears first in Africa and then in Florida, Europe, and China as well. What happens is that matter reverses its progress into the future, and instead starts moving into the past, and the myriad moments of existence then crystallize into a frozen yet eternally alive crystalline state, "The Crystal World."

Those who enter the state and manage to escape can do nothing but try and make their way back into it, even while their present-day selves fight against this overpowering urge. Another great movie property, for David Lynch or David Cronenberg, perhaps, or even James Cameron.

Too bad Ballard's so popular: he can't win the Nobel Prize as a result. No such author has done so in decades.