Anthony Andrews Books

This is the last time I am going to read a book with a Stephen King reccomendation on the cover. After the tedious The Ruins, I thought I'd give Haunted a try. I more or less enjoyed Herbert's Sepulchre, though the twist ending was apparent about half way through the story. It didn't take nearly that long to figure this one out. There are so many things that don't work in this book it's hard to know where to start, but probably the most egregious is the pointless b-plotline that is too obviously padding inserted into a too short book. The attempted twists and turns, the cliche characterization, the back story, are all laid on so thick that this reads more like a story from the pulps of the 1930s rather than a modern novel. The main character stumbles about, noting all kinds of strange phenomena and clues without ever getting a hint of what is obvious from the first moment he steps into Edbrook. I'll give Herbert another chance or two, but I am not optimistic.

James Herbert,one of the masters of horror has written a book so scary it will make you noticeevery little sound at night when you turn of the light and try to go to sleep.Very crepy for sure

'Haunted' is another of James Herbert's more 'concise' thrillers, along the lines of 'The Rats' and 'The Magic Cottage'. Despite its relative brevity, the action tends to drag in places for the first two-thirds of the book. In fact, most of the main plot until around chapter 20 is just exposition for the 'shocking revelation' about the true nature of the Mariell family and their home, Edbrook. The trouble is, this information isn't exactly a huge shock if you pay any sort of attention to the earlier chapters...or if you've seen 'The Sixth Sense', or even read 'The Magic Cottage'! In spite of this flaw, the aftermath really saves the day here.
The opening chunk of the story seems remarkably quiet and uneventful for a Herbert tale. The most interesting parts are actually digressions from the main plot, shown as flashback sequences from the viewpoints of Ash's two colleagues, Kate and Edith. Both sequences are entertaining,and insightful about Ash as a character, but they seem to point out the lack of action in the main story.
As mentioned before, there is very little humor or 'comic relief' in 'Haunted'. This is something of a departure for Herbert, as he always includes some (usually dark) joke to lighten the tension at some point.
The one attempt at jokeiness falls flat, as Herbert inserts a long-winded filling-station attendant into one of those scenes where a major character 'just wants some information'...and the guy doesn't shut up for about two pages, spewing a non-stop monologue of 'Northern English-accented' rural speak! This, and a similar 'stream of conciousness' moment involving the discredited fortune teller(speaking in 'the voices of the dead'), are moments that take away more from the story than they add to it, as they seem to be there more for Herbert's amusement than the reader's benefit.
What really saves 'Haunted'(and earns the book another couple of stars) is the last half of the story. As we learn more about the respectives pasts of both David and the Mariells, the tension begins to accelerate, and we're left with a satisfyingly scary read, as well as a hint of things to come in Ash's next appearance, in 'The Ghosts of Sleath'.
A book for patient fans of the author and the genre. Patience will be rewarded!

This is a spooky, well-written haunted house novel, a gothic ghost story that is a wonderfully atmospheric. The author is Britain's premier writer of horror stories. Having read many of his other books and been thoroughly satisfied, this one is no exception. Those with an interest in haunted house stories will find this one most entertaining and enjoyable.

David Ash, a man with a skeleton in his closet, is a professional investigator of psychic phenomena with a penchant for debunking so-called supernatural occurrences. After receiving an intriguing and pleading letter from a Mrs. Webb about ghostly apparitions at Edbrook, the rural manor home in which she resides, David goes to Edbrook, only to be met by the Mariell clan, consisting of Christina, and her brothers, Robert and Simon. It turns out that Mrs. Webb, in addition to being their aunt, is also their old nanny, whom they all still call Nanny Tess. She is clearly terrified of something that is going on in at Edbrook, and the Mariells all seem to be humoring her.

The Mariell siblings, at first, appear to be somewhat eccentric, but later seem to be more than just a little twisted, as it soon becomes apparent that all is not right in that household. There definitely are things that go bump in the night, and the ghostly apparition of a young girl seems to glide about the house and grounds. Moreover, Nanny Tess always appears to be in a state of acute, though restrained, terror.

As a romance heats up between David and Christina, however, David appears to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the household. Too late, he realizes the nature of the evil within this isolated, rural manor house. In the end, it takes the force of something beyond the grave to save him from an almost unimaginable horror.

Those who enjoy this book will also enjoy the wonderful film of the same name adapted from this book. It is an excellent adaptation with a stellar cast. It stars Aidan Quin as David Ash, Kate Beckinsale as Christina Mariell, Anthony Andrews as Robert Mariell, Alex Lowe as Simon Mariell, and Ann Massey as Nanny Tess. This wonderful haunted house story transitions beautifully to film. It is as spooky as the book.

The hero, David Ash's stubborn adherence to skepticism in the face of ghosts that set him on fire and try to drown him is rather touching. What will it take to make him believe in the supernatural? In one unintentionally funny flashback, which seems to be completely unrelated to the main story, Ash attends a fake séance and jumps up to denounce the medium. He claims she is not really communicating with the dead, she is reading the minds of the living. She is a telepath.

He believes in paranormal powers, just not ghosts.

This book has the energy and many of the scenes from an old Hammer B-grade horror movie. If you enjoy those movies as much as I do, you'd be disappointed if, after a slow pan to an open casket, the corpse's eyes didn't pop open; if the hero didn't discover the family mausoleum and hear something scratching inside a tomb; if he didn't descend into the cellar and get bitten, bopped on the head, or set on fire. "Haunted" will live up to your wildest expectations in this regard.

A bit of this lunatic energy is drained away when the author hops from viewpoint to viewpoint like a grasshopper on a hot sidewalk. I would have preferred Herbert to have stuck to the third-person, David Ash POV, unlikeable though I found this hero. He drank too much, smoked too much, didn't seem to care for anyone other than himself, and had absolutely no sense of humor. He evoked so little sympathy in me that I was inclined to speculate on what new horror would prey on him, even while he was making a pathetically feeble attempt to ward off the current ghastly apparition.

Read this book if you're a Hammer film aficionado. It is fast-paced, very creepy, and you don't really have to care what happens to any of the characters.

This book is full of useful information, maps and tips on traveling to Germany. If you are even thinking about visiting Germany this is a good read, and it well organized. It is mostly in black and white and the print is a little small, other then that it is a wonderful guide.

This guide is very helpful. I like the way the authors discuss everything in brutal honesty. It seems more like they are giving you the opinion of a friend rather than a boring textbook description!

This book contains 99.9% you need to travel in Germany and it also tells you where to find the last 0.1%. You cannot leave for Germany without it. Especially, you are the first time be there.

Found this travel guide to be incredibly helpful for the novice traveler. In depth information covering all the regions of Germany, including great recommendations on places to stay and some incredible museums. I even found the section with general travel advice helpful, with some good tips on how to save some Euros whether you are traveling by train, bus, or car through the country. And personally, I don't know if I would have found out about so many things to do in Cologne without this guide =)

Ok, first off it annoys me to no end that Duisburg is not found in this book at all but 5 cities of equal size with both historical and economic importance are found. Whats more is that there are no real mentionings of how to get around on foot, by bicycle or scooter. Other than that this book is sadly the best one I could find when comparing about 10 or so German Travel Guides at my local bookstores. I plan on writing my own travel tips, guides and more and then submitting them to Lonely Planet.

This is an adequate guide, but was disappointing in a few areas. Firstly, it is not geared to someone making a comprehensive West Africa trip but rather reads like a collection of individual country guides. It's OK if you are going to just fly in a hang out in a single country, but planning cross border itineraries is a chore. There could be better integration for the area.

Secondly, using the maps and references to them is a bit taxing. Place names that would likely be obsure to the reader are presented in the text without specifying country or area; the only way to figure out where or how is to scan maps randomly for some idea of specifically where they are talking about. Place names are often referred to with different spellings, or more colloquially, in the text than on the maps, making finding them once again a tiring guessing game. There is a lack of consistency. Beyond that, the maps are small and lacking in detail. In other words, you can sort it all out, but this guide makes you work harder than you should have to. You get the feeling that it needed to be proofed once more.

I agree with the accusations of ethnocentrism mentioned previously, but I've grown used to it in LP guides, and in a way appreciate seeing the author's predjudices up front.

Use this guide and you'll have a fine trip, I think, but you'll spend too many hours wrestling logistic details from the text when you could be perusing the fun stuff.

I use LP, Rough Guide, and Moon guides alternately when I travel. Actually, I usually buy all three, study them all before departure, and take the one I think is most useful. I have not found any one brand to be consistently better or worse, it varies by area and author. In this case I think the Rough Guide is much better. It very neatly addresses all my reservations above, and with a better layout.

Indeed, this book ("Lonely Planet West Africa") did a good job in outlining many of the popular tourist attractions that are located in this Sub-Saharan region of Africa. I also appreciated its details on several tourists' trails, accomodations, means of transportation, and so on. However, I was very disappointed to note that (just like the "Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring") this book is full of discouraging comments. Some of the phrases Lonely Planet used in this book are quite offensive.
For sure, most foreigners who travel to (West) African countries are not expecting to see a paradise, but that does not mean that there is no better way of presenting real and imaginary negative thoughts. This book is smeared by terms and phrases, which I consider derogatory to both (West) Africa and (West) Africans. As a result of this, I will never recommend it to anyone until there is a change of heart by Lonely Planet in subsequent editions.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel it is the best written LP I've ever read (and I've read and traveled with many LP titles). I used the Sénégal section and found the hotel listings current and the maps very accurate. I really liked the special boxes with additional information on dangers, scams, and personal safety. I personally witnessed many things that I had read about in this book, making me ready for would be scam artists. One guy approached me and said "Remember me from the hotel lobby?" I had to keep myself from laughing. I replied back "I think so, which hotel?" and he didn't know what to say. With LP West Africa you will be well prepared to travel in one of the hardest places to travel in the world.

NOTE: The book is 4 years old and the region is even more unsafe now then it was 4 years ago. Be careful when traveling there.

This book is practically the bible for W. Africa travel. I lived and worked in W. Africa for 3 years (2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer) and I never went anywhere without consulting LP. The information is as accurate as anything out there. It offers you suggested itineraries and "off the beaten path" suggestions as well as the traditionally touristy destinations. Many parts are less objective than other parts and the writers tend to harp on corruption. But W. Africa is a pretty corrupt place in general. If you don't like the editorial sections, skip 'em, the info you need is still there.

I once said I would never buy a Lonely Planet guide again, so disappointed I was with their Iceland and Greenland book which was poorly researched, inaccurate and full of rabid anti-American rhetoric.

For my trip to Ghana, it was, however, a choice of only three books available: a semiprofessional Bradt's Ghana (not a guidebook really, more an amateurish newsletter), supremely boring Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. I bought them all in the name of research.

I would say Lonely Planet is best of them all, although certain chapters preaching about evil ways of Western capitalism still reek of Lonely Planet's self-appointed role of bettering the world. Quite annoying, really, and in many cases hypocritical, coming from a lean-and-mean profit-making publishing house.

Most facts about travel, eating, accommodation, etc are accurate and well-researched, although as usual information to someone with a bit bigger budget is very fragmented.

They could give more information about useful websites for both ticket booking and accommodation.

Overall, if you are only buying one book for West Africa, this is the one. If you can get two - buy the Rough Guide as well: it may be boring and cultural information reads as if it was written by your local tax office, but you will get many additional addresses and phone numbers.

Born in Scotland but an immigrant to the United States as a teenager, Andrew Carnegie has been variously characterized as a "captain of industry" or a "robber baron" by those who have chronicled his rise to wealth and fame in the latter nineteenth century. After selling his steel company to J.P. Morgan at the turn of the century, Carnegie devoted himself to philanthropic goals. He gave away more than $350 million to various causes and endowed more than 250,000 libraries. His philanthropic activities were underpinned by a fundamental belief in the virtue of hard work, perseverance, and self-improvement through education, hence his emphasis on libraries and the endowing of other educational organizations. Fundamentally, this book offers a restatement of the "Horatio Alger" myth of the "American dream" of success through personal commitment. At the same time Carnegie seeks to pass on his wisdom gained through a lifetime of effort. A significant and fascinating statement of American industrial individualism that is required reading for all who wish to understand the history of the United States in the latter nineteenth century, Carnegie's autobiography also served as a model for many others to follow. Unfortunately, few achieved the success that Carnegie enjoyed despite the diligence they may have registered.

It has been over a year since I ground my way through this book. My lack of adaptability to the Olde Worlde English may have contributed to this. I found this to be a long book about an interesting individual whose sole purpose for writing the book, I have concluded, was to leave a lasting, self-congratulatory reminder of his own life. I must disagree with a previous review that stated it was a must for any young ambitious person. I am; it wasn't.
For sheer inspiration from another person's life, I would recommend works on Lincoln, the Wright brothers (Kill Devil Hill), Richard Branson, Edison, Spielberg, Mme Curie, Bruce Lee, Iacocca and Einstein.

The vanity of today's uneducated society is breathtaking. White is black and black is white and 'a little knowledge' is indeed proving very dangerous. This book (along with the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin) should be read by every American citizen - to relearn what America once represented.

For example, Carnegie Steel, the world's largest company in 1900, was NOT a corporation; it was a private partnership. The sale of the company to JP morgan (for half a billion dollars) was done on a handshake; a contract was a mere afterthought. Reputation and honesty and customer service were THE guiding principles of the era. 'Individual responsibility' was considered a good thing in those days.

America now has more lawyers per capita than any other nation on Earth. Our politicians now attempt to micro-manage every detail of our lives. You break a fingernail and sue the universe. We have become terrified of freedom. Read this book if you want to understand how America rose from a third world country to a superpower between 1800 and 1900 - without government intervention or welfare or all the millions of rules and regulations we now hold so dear. We have traded away our freedom for security. The price is higher than you think.

I'll admit that my primary motivation for reading this book was somewhat shallow--I basically wanted to read about how one of history's most successful businessmen amassed so much wealth. To be honest, the book didn't really give as many details as I would have liked on that particular interest. But what I got along the way made the book worth it.

First and foremost, after reading 350 pages of Carnegie writing about his life you feel like you really start to know him, to get a sense of what kind of human being he was, and even to get a sense of his somewhat remarkable confidence level that exists in conjunction with his pretty inspiring level of benevolence and compassion. But I think even more than getting a sense of Carnegie, you get a sense of the time he lived in. Some of the most engaging parts of the book for me were the first-hand accounts of Lincoln during the Civil War, or Carnegie's conversations with President Harrison about a small uprising in Chile. You also hear about how he handled the strikes of steel workers, an occurence I'd only read about in history books but never learned directly about from the perspective of the manager.

All throughout Carnegie peppers with his nuggets of wisdom, and you get the feeling he knows people want them really badly but that he chooses to give them sparingly.

In the end, I probably will never re-read this book, but I feel better educated about one of history's greatest industrialists, greatest benefactors, and the time he lived in after having read it. If you have a nascent interest in history, you will most likely enjoy this book; if you're looking for a "how to make your millions" from a master, I would look elsewhere.

This book was pracitically written for the ambitious young man, as there are many references to this. Mr. Carnegie serves as a great role model, which I feel is quite important, especially considering the terrible events in schools lately. Carnegie emphasizes the importance of self-improvement, knowing your talents, being kind, and also the importance of public speaking. You will learn important lessons thru personal anecdotes of his life. This book should be required reading for every adolescent attending high school.

I am planning my holidays to Venice and I found the book very interesting.
In a city were you can do all your visits on foot is very usefull a guide so detailed and easy to read. I am sure that following it I will not miss anything!!

This is an appalling book - worth recommending primarily as a strange kind of scholastic conceit and not without its attraction. But it can feel like a computer data dump.

Imagine you had a guide to the Metropolitan Museum that just reprinted the wall tags. It told you where the pictures were, who painted them, what the titles were, when they were done, and possibly included a note about something else - usually like who the patron was. But it didn't show you the pictures or often tell you why they were interesting or important. And didn't put anything in historical or social or any other kind of perspective. And had no narrative/story-telling abilities. That's what this book does for Venice.

Here is a representative paragraph, in its entirety, from chapter 3, The
Basilica of San Marco:

"In the lunette above above the door at the end of the transept there is a 13C mosaic portrait of St Mark. The tympanum wall has a superb Gothic rose window of the 15C. The soffit of the arch that springs from double columns on either side of the niche has mosaics of Sts Anthony, Bernadino, Vincent and Paul the Hermit, all mid 15C."

That is the tone of the book, although there is usually more Italian. (The default position on naming is Italian. For instance, the raised well-heads that are part of Venice are all noted as "vera da pozzo," and it seems like each one encountered as part of the strolling must have its attributes documented, rather like it was a church.) A huge amount of work went into this book - the dates for all the well-heads seem to be provided - and it probably killed off a proofreader or two.

The concept of the book is to provide a walking guide to Venice. It's a walking guide made up primarily of historical footnotes.

Even here, the book as a physical object fails the idea.

It is entirely b&w save the cover. In the ca. 400 page guidebook, there are 16 pages of grayish photos - the sort associated with books of the 1930's maybe. Elaborate descriptions in the book aren't connected to a photo.

The idea of this book - although in my mind the practicalities are not made sufficiently clear from the outset - is that you use it to take various guided walks through the city. The walks are numbered, and there is a series of maps in the back of the book which provide dotted lines and arrows to follow. Problem is: the walks are chopped up into different maps. The maps are small - there are 20 sections in the overview - broken up to fit the book which is a slightly undersized trade paperback. Meaning you'd likely need to carry a magnifying glass. The walks overlap, the whole mess is done in variations on gray, and heaven help you if you actually want to follow the dotted line in the Castello, for instance. There should have been separate maps for each walk, and they should have appeared either in front of or behind the description of the walk.

Look at this book in a library before buying it. If you want a guide, buy a guidebook (this isn't one). If you have 4+ histories on Venice already, take the plunge.

I would encourage anyone planning a trip to Venice to try and get a copy of this book. Unlike the ordinary travel "dictionaries" which exhaustively catalog restaurants, hotels, and "must see" sites, but ultimately leave you on your own when it comes to making key decisions on how to best "attack" a place as overwhelming as Venice, this provides a strong point of view on how best to enjoy Venice. Additionally, the historical commentary and insite provide the necessary depth to understand this enchanting city, without becoming an academic tome. I am forever grateful to the companion who sent me their copy of this book.

My only regret, as I now live in and am avidly exploring Italy, that Mr. Freely has apparently devoted the bulk of his writing to Istanbul and not provided readers the opportunity to view other Italian cities through his eyes.

Not quite a page turner, but factually correct throughout. Now I've finished reading it, I'm using it to prop up that wobbly filing cabinet in the corner.

Andrews' book is one of the standard introductions to British imperial history from the 15th through 17th centuries. The book provides a chronological overview of British exploration and colonization efforts, but also discusses motivations and imperial ideologies. There are more recent and more specialized works than this now 20 plus year old account, but it still serves its purpose well. With good footnotes and bibliography, the book can also lead readers to more specialized sources (primary and secondary) in any area it covers. I would recommend the book as an introduction for anyone with a serious interest in the origins of early modern British empire.

couldn't get the newest edition before i left for egypt. some of the prices in here might be off. general sites and advice - excellent! added advice: any sites in luxor, go either really early or really late. ignore the people. for kahn el-kahlili in cairo, to get rid of peddlers, just keep walking. they won't follow you past the area in front of their store because it's the next store's territory.

I Order this Product on the 20 of April, and I have not receive it yet, not even a tracking or email, and this seller advertised that is suppose to be received by the 23rd of April, I am traveling on April 30, and because of them and misleading information i will be lost, in another words don't buy from this seller

I love buying from Amazon. Amazon is prompt with delivery & efficient with service. AMAZON, you need to come to RSA, where I live. I love reading books so I shop online for Amazon's unbeatable prices & added value for money. I really got a good deal from Amazon with my Lonely Planet Egypt Guide & now I am off to Egypt with my book:-). Thank You Amazon for great prices!!!

Satisfied Customer

This book is fantastic, I wore it out during my year and a half stay in Egypt and it was essential in planning a lot of my trips. In a land where bargaining rules you need to know the rules of the game and this book not only gave you tips to finding good bargains but also provided you with pretty accurate estimates to what the normal price would be (which is often not what the average tourist pays). I also enjoyed this book because the english spelling of arabic words was much closer to the spelling used in Egypt, this is not the case for other travel guides I've seen. One warning though, when I first read this book I was a bit afraid of what I might find in Egypt, but for the most part I learned that the negatives described in the book were worse case scenarios. Egypt is a fantastic place w/ too much to see, make sure you visit Dahab if you go!

Being reasonably familiar with egypt,i was impressed with the thorough and impartial narrative.Lonely planet remains my favourite travel guide.

After having studied this book whole-heartedly for an entire semester, I feel that it just doesn't do a very decent job of relating the material in an inviting manner.

The topics are typically unorganized and almost seem to ramble, resulting in frequent, incoherent jumps. As such, I was forced to read and reread each and every sentence to try and follow the authors' intended message. Moreover, the authors' have seemingly tried to insert unnecessarily long words where their shorter, more easily understood counterparts would've more effectively conveyed the meaning of the text. After all, verbosity leads to unclear, incoherent things.

In conclusion, I would not recommend the purchase of this book. The authors' are not well versed in textbook construction as it seems they put less effort into instructing the students and more effort into writing an impressive-sounding, but generally over-inflated, book.

We use this book as the main textbook in my Genetics class. Although I agree that the problems at the end of the chapters are quite useful, I think most of the time the book never gets to the point.
1.Its historical facts sometimes make more than half of the chapters and it really annoys me, specially if I need to learn the concepts for next day.
2. Sometimes concepts are explained with examples, examples which may not be clear for everyone and may not help get the general idea.
3. The order of the book is kind of mixed, some concepts which have already been mentioned in early chapters are not explained until some chapters later.

As famous as this book is for Genetics, I do not recommend it for students like me who need to understand the concepts and apply them next day at a lecture and who have had already a good background of cellular and molecular biology.

I found this book to be confusing and hard to decipher at times!! I sometimes had to read the paragraph several times to get it and then I would find later in the book somewhere, what I was confused about was explained somewhat better. This book caused me to waste a lot of time trying figure out things. Perhaps better organization would be helpful. I wouldn't recomend this book.

The first time we recieved this book it was the answers to text questions only. The second time we did not order it but somehow by just looking at the web site it got orderd thus we had to return it cause we had already purchased it somewhere else.

Covers the topics very basically. Good for an undergrad class but not anything more.

For players in securitization who need to know more about structured finance including new securitized markets, this book is a great resource!

This wasn't a particularly good overview of the securitization market. It focusses on cash U.S. mortgage backed securities.

This is yet another compendium of contributed works. While this book isn't awful enough for one star, it isn't good enough for three. I woudl have felt more neutral if it said anything new or anything that you can't get from the fixed income research group of an investment bank or trading house for free, such as one right here in Greenwich.

This book is terrible for the quant who wants to learn some technical stuff about MBS and ABS (for example, prepayment model or default model ....). I know the authors are doing business to sell their prepayment model. But I don't think that's the good reason that this book contains nothing more than MBS/ABS overview. If you want market/product overview, maybe this book is the answer.

The title of Davidson's work certainly doesn't lack in aspiration, however, it proves the point that appearances are deceptive! It's disappointing in comprehensive coverage, bar maybe it's narrow scope on MBS. Worse though, statistics and contents are largely outdated. Even though I found a few rare pages worthy of reading, I still can't recommend this book to anyone. There are many superior alternatives in the market.